Tonbridge Angels manager Jay Saunders explains why he hasn’t looked at the National League South table this season

Improving Tonbridge are only six points off the National League South play-off places - not that Jay Saunders would know.

The Angels boss has steered clear of the table and has no plans to look at it any time soon.

Their success in challenging for a play-off place last season raised expectations at Longmead.

And while their form - not helped by a stream of injuries - hasn’t hit the heights this term, things aren’t so bad.

A run of one defeat in five games has lifted them out of the bottom four and up to 15th, just six points off St Albans in the final play-off spot in a tight division.

Tonbridge host Chelmsford this Saturday (3pm) and Hampton on Tuesday (7.45pm).

“God’s honest truth - I haven’t looked at the table once,” said Saunders, whose side won 2-1 at Truro last weekend.

“I couldn’t tell you where we were.

“We over-achieved last year - not in my eyes, because I always said I wanted to try and make the play-offs - but we did in a lot of people’s eyes.

“Because of that, a lot of supporters felt we should make the play-offs this next year, that it was the next step, but all along the biggest thing is establishing the club in the top 10 of this league.

“Since they came into the league, they’ve pretty much struggled, so if we can back up what we did last season and finish in the top 10, that’s progression.

“There’s a lot of clubs ahead of us both in terms of finances and how long they’ve been in the league.

“We’ll keep working hard and once we get everyone available, we’ll be in a good position.

“You always want to be doing better but there haven’t been many games where we’ve had our strongest XI out.

“It’s not easy when you’ve got three or four players missing every week.

“It’s like you’re putting out fires all the