Halstead Town manager Mark Benterman is hoping that Lady Luck will be wearing a black and white striped shirt tomorrow.

The fourth-placed Humbugs head into the final game of the Thurlow Nunn League season knowing that they can still finish in division one’s top three and secure promotion to the premier division.

However, they need two things to happen – they must win at second-placed Ely City on the final day and also hope that Great Yarmouth Town, who are currently one place and two points above them, lose at home against Team Bury.

Benterman is proud of the late-season run that his team have had to keep themselves in the promotion race, having won 15 of their last 17 league games and all of their last seven division one outings and he is hoping they can extend that into the final day.

Getting a win at Ely is all that Halstead can do, but the boss knows part of his team’s fate lies out of their own hands.

He said: “Even before Yarmouth won [their penultimate game] against Woodbridge in the week, we knew we would have to win at Ely regardless to ensure that we could go up, so nothing has changed.

“We know we have to win tomorrow and the mindset has to be the same as it was.

“The only thing now is that we are relying a bit on Lady Luck.

“Yarmouth winning in midweek has made it a bit harder but we can’t affect that, all we can do is win our game and rely on Lady Luck.

“There isn’t anything else that we can do.

“Had you said to us 17 games ago that we’d have to win 15 of them to be in this position it would have seemed a huge task, but that’s what we have done and I’m very proud of the boys for what they have achieved.

“If it’s not to be it’s not to be, but we make sure that we go down trying.

“Yarmouth missed out on promotion on the final day last year when they were overtaken by Saffron Walden so they know the situation.

“Each team will handle the pressures differently – some will handle it and cross the line and some will struggle.

“The whole thing has kept changing in recent weeks.

“Will there be another twist? I hope so.”

Benterman said he expected a number of Halstead fans to travel to Ely to support his team and said whatever the outcome, they would treat it as a celebration of everything that had been achieved at the club this year.