MICHAEL HERBERT says it is time for Woodley United to “reach for the sky” as they gear up for a pivotal week in the club’s history.
The Kestrels face back-to-back home games against Holyport and Chinnor on Saturday and Monday respectively, knowing four points will clinch promotion to the Hellenic Premier Division.
And those two league games come before Woodley face Marlow United in their first Berks and Bucks Intermediate Cup final next Saturday.
Herbert’s men go into this week in good form having recorded a 1-0 victory against Finchampstead on Tuesday night thanks to Josh Drew’s second half penalty, a sixth win in succession, which keeps their slim title hopes alive.
“We’ve got a big weekend,” Woodley boss Herbert told The Wokingham Paper.
“Four points from the next three games and promotion is ours.
“It’s nice that it’s fallen on a Saturday and a Monday.
“Saturday is the most important one and then we take it from there.
“It’s in our sights now so the players are really chomping at the bit.
“It gets to that stage of the season where it can get quite pressurised and it can get quite nervous but they seem to be enjoying it and enjoying the challenge so long may that continue.”
After a run of just one win in seven matches during February and March, Woodley have regrouped in style with six wins and five clean sheets along the way.
The successes have brought the Kestrels not only within touching distance of promotion, but also just six points behind leaders Penn and Tylers Green with a game in hand.
And Herbert says the title remains in their thoughts.
“That’s the thing we were pushing for against Finchampstead,” said the boss.
“It was 0-0 and we could’ve taken a point because it wasn’t the worst result.
“But we wanted to push on and we wanted to try and win it.
“Why not reach for the sky and really go for it?
“That’s what we did and fortunately enough we got a winner. We’ll be doing the same for the next three games.
“It looks like Penn are going to do it but we’re going to keep pushing them as far as we can.”
He added: “There was a spell where we had a couple of draws where we had some really tough games.
“I wanted to see the reaction from the boys. I wanted to see if they had it in them to put a run together at a nervous, pressurised time of the season and they’ve been absolutely outstanding.
“There’s still three or four games to go so I don’t want to tempt fate but in the last six games we’ve performed really well.
“We’ve shown a real drive and determination to get the results that we have so I think hopefully now we can just kick on and get results in our our final three games.”
