PORTLAND United boss Kyle Critchell insists there is “absolutely no pressure” on the Blues despite being within touching distance of a play-off spot.

The Blues are in sixth place with four games remaining but must dislodge Brockenhurst in fifth to reach the post-season.

Trailing the Badgers by one point, the Blues ideally must win this weekend to keep the pressure on.

Lurking in eighth, though, are Baffins Milton Rovers who have two games in hand and lie two points off the islanders.

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However, Rovers must play Brockenhurst, seventh-placed Laverstock & Ford plus 10th-placed Sherborne in their next three matches.

Ahead of what is likely to be a tense finale to the Velocity Wessex League Premier Division season, Critchell told Echosport: “I’m just going to be cliché and say: ‘We’re going to take each game as it comes’.

“We are thoroughly enjoying the ride and there is absolutely no pressure on the players from me or from the club.

“Throughout the whole season we haven’t had that pressure and I believe that’s why we’ve been able to produce the performances that we have.

“We’ll just stick together and see what happens at Hamble.”

Portland must play their remaining four matches in the space of eight days to wrap the season.

They begin with Hamble tomorrow, then visit Fareham on Monday before hosting promotion hopefuls Shaftesbury on Thursday and ending their campaign at home to Brockenhurst in what could be a play-off decider.

Fortunately for the Blues, their squad is in rude health at the business end of the season.

“We’ve been quite lucky,” Critchell added. “When you looked at the original schedule it was very daunting.

“Now it’s a Saturday we’ve got a rest period. We’re not going to be training so they can recover.

“The squad rotation will be at play after that. We’ll always look at the best options and the best available team at that time to get the result.”

On Hamble, Critchell continued: “They score a lot of goals for a team in the bottom half of the league.

“Their statistics would be of a team in a higher position, but they concede, so we’re going to have to be as normal, resilient, organised and make sure we pose a threat the other way.”