Witham Town manager Garry Kimble knows there is no need for his team to fear for their place in the Ryman League premier division.

Four away defeats in their last five games – including Saturday’s 1-0 loss at third-placed Dulwich Hamlet – may not be the form that Kimble and his players wanted to take into Christmas.

As they approach the halfway point in the season with a home fixture against Essex rivals Canvey Island tomorrow (kick-off 3pm), Town are sitting just one point above the relegation zone.

However, they have up to four games in hand on the sides below them and their performances in recent outings show they have more than enough to stay up, even if results haven’t been going their way.

Kimble said: “We need to keep calm and not be panicked.

“We need to keep playing how we have been because I’ve been very impressed with how we’ve done.

“We just haven’t had the rub of the green in terms of results.

“They will come, though, so I’m not panicking and I don’t think the players are either.

“We haven’t been in the bottom four all season.

“I know the gap has narrowed a bit after our last two results, but we have games in hand and if we pick up points there then we could be easing up into mid-table.”

Canvey will arrive on Saturday with Witham looking to avenge a narrow Essex Senior Cup defeat by the Gulls in November.

“All we have to do is make sure we’re organised for Saturday,” added Kimble.

“It will be a six-pointer as they are only just above us and we can’t afford to let them take three points off us, but it’s not like we’re going to go down if we lose.

“I’ve been pleased with our last two performances, more than happy, so we don’t want to be down.

“Those performances give us something to build on.”

Following tomorrow’s game, Witham’s next action will be at Leiston on New Year’s Day and then at home against Harrow Borough on January 3.