WITHAM Town manager Mark Ashford says his team's Bostik League division north survival fight has been condensed into a "one-game season" when their fate is still mostly in their own hands.

Despite the disappointment of a 3-1 defeat at Brentwood Town, Witham ended their Easter fixtures with a superb 1-1 draw against promotion-chasing Maldon & Tiptree that ended a five-game losing run and they now head to Basildon United for their final game of the season on Saturday.

Ashford's side lie one place above the drop zone and are still ahead of Romford thanks to a better goal difference of four, so they know a win at Basildon would make it difficult for them to be overhauled.

The Witham boss said: "We wanted to be in the position where we were going into the last game with it being in our own hands and although that's not strictly the case, we know that if we win, Romford will have to score at least five goals.

"It won't be an easy game at Basildon.

"John Sussex is their manager now and he was my assistant through a lot of the season and he'll know enough about us, but I feel we have momentum after that game against Maldon.

"Turning things around when you are on a poor run is one of the hardest things in sport, but I felt we got that back on Monday.

"Our approach ahead of that game was that it was a two-game season for us.

"I have been in a position in football where I have had a great season and been in with a chance for a title or a place in the play-offs and things have fallen away in the last couple of games.

"It feels like the season has been rubbish, which is ridiculous, but that's how it feels.

"We are the flip side of that where we've had a difficult season, but if we can get the business done in the last couple of games then any negativity will be wiped out.

"So we approached it on Monday by saying it was a two-game season; it didn't matter what had gone before and that's the same for this Saturday at Basildon - only it's now a one-game season.

"We can wipe out a lot of frustration with one good performance.

"We have tended to produce our best in big games against the better sides and the challenge for the players now is to take whatever mental approach they had against Maldon into the Basildon game."