DESPITE the setback of a defeat last weekend, skipper Jake Brown feels Halstead Town's promotion dreams can stay on track if they can win their final four games of the season.

The Humbugs' hopes of taking the Thurlow Nunn League division one south title were dealt a blow when they were beaten 1-0 by leaders Hashtag United last weekend.

They now head to third-placed White Ensign on Saturday sat second in the table and nine points behind Hashtag, although they do still have a game in hand.

So they know a strong finish to the campaign is essential if hopes are to be kept alive.

Even if the leaders can't be caught, though, second place and a chance of going up is still very much in their hands and Brown said nothing short of targeting 12 points from their remaining games would do.

“We have four games left and we need four wins," he said.

“Then we’ll see where that puts us at the end of the season.

“If that’s first place then great, if it’s second then we’ll see what happens within the system of second-placed teams going up.

“But we have to finish with strength; with four wins and we’ll see where it takes us.

“We have done so well to get where we have so far and we’ll see where four wins takes us.

“It’s important to not let performances drop off going forward.

“We can’t let all this hard work that we’ve put in be wasted because of three or four games.

“We don’t want that to happen and we want to finish as strongly as possible."

A crowd of 833 was at the Milbank Stadium to see the top two go head-to-head last weekend - a record attendance at step-six level anywhere in the country this season.

It was Hashtag who dealt with the lively atmosphere best in the first half as they took a decisive lead and although the hosts dominated the second 45 minutes, they were unable to get the crucial equalising goal.

Brown added: “I think we lost it in the first half.

“There were so many people there and we let the occasion kind of get on top of us a bit.

“I didn’t think we were a million miles off in that first half, but we needed the kick up the backside at half-time to tell us that we were good enough and remind us that we should embrace the atmosphere.

“I felt we did that in the second half.

“I don’t know how we didn’t score in that second half; we had two cleared off the line and should have had a penalty."