Kennington manager Dan Scorer feels the introduction of play-offs in Southern Counties East also has an impact at the other end of the table.

Ton have made big strides in their fight for Premier Division survival, climbing off the foot of the table up to 17th.

They’re five points clear of bottom side Welling, with 12 games remaining, but there’ll be no gimmes in the closing months, with the season now kept alive for so many clubs.

The play-offs keep the promotion door open for many, while the likes of Ton need points stave off relegation.

“There’s easily 15 teams in the league still fighting for something, whether that be to stay up or to get into the play-offs,” said Scorer.

“So it’s not going to be like it has in previous seasons where a lot of teams that have been pushing earlier on in the season died off.

“We don’t have the luxury - everyone’s still fighting and pushing for something.

“It means we have to stay switched on and pushing all the way to the very end which I know we’re capable of doing and I’m confident we can do that.”

After appearing to turn the corner with back-to-back wins in January, Scorer felt Ton let themselves down in successive league defeats by Lordswood and VCD and a heavy cup loss against Deal.

Five points from the next three games - all with clean sheets for stand-in keeper Dan Smith - got them moving in the right direction again.

League leaders Glebe proved too strong in their next match, inflicting a 3-1 defeat as Joe Mant, rated as the best No.1 in the league by Scorer, returned from injury.

With Ton wanting to ease Mant back in, Smith was back between the sticks against Erith Town but broke his foot conceding the opening goal in a 4-2 away defeat.

It means Mant definitely plays on Saturday as Ton, who have also been without Tom Scorer, Charlie Owen and Alan Phillips, look to bounce back away to fellow battlers Stansfeld.

Scorer said: “It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster but I think the most important thing is, despite losing the last two games to Erith and Glebe, the performance levels have been there and that’s all we can ask for.

“And they’re two performances that, in fairness, against the majority of sides in the league, we’d get something from.

“Obviously it’s a big game on Saturday against Stansfeld that we’re looking forward to.

“We go into it slightly depleted but we go into every game between now and the end of the season knowing that injuries, suspensions, and everything else have been against us all season, so nothing changes for us really.

“We just keep battling away and hopefully come away with a huge three points.”