Saffron Walden Town may be one of Thurlow Nunn League division one’s promotion favourites but their reputation won’t cause Halstead Town to divert away from their own philosophy.

Halstead head into today’s game at Rosemary Lane on the back of a rousing 3-1 win at Woodbridge Town last weekend that kept them just five points off third spot in the table.

It means the Humbugs are still keeping half an eye on the top end of the table, but today’s opponents have far more than that on the promotion race as they sit second ahead of their trip to Halstead.

Halstead manager Mark Benterman is aware of Saffron Walden’s strengths and that they have lost just once in the league all season and are unbeaten in their last 19 division one outings, but he is not prepared to change his own philosophies.

“Every game is a big one and this is no different,” he said. “It will be exactly the same as Woodbridge.

“We’ll look to get the ball down and play to our philosophy.

“There may be some changes in terms of personnel and we know Saffron Walden will bring a level of physicality, but we will stick to what we do and not worry about them.

“We will be under dogs, though.

“This time last year we were top dogs, but we’re not now and we have to deal with that.

“They are a physical team, but I’m not going to make any exceptions for them.

“If we start worrying about them and what they do then we’ll come away from playing to our philosophy."