Spennymoor face their toughest game so far when they go to Brackley on Saturday afternoon in the Vanarama National League North.

Moors have collected a maximum of nine points from their three games so far, their latest victory being by 3-0 over Bradford Park Avenue, on Tuesday night to put them fifth in the table, three points with a game in hand on today’s opponents Brackley, who have won all four of their games and sit on top of the table.

But manager Jason Ainsley is playing down talk of this game being almost a top of the table clash.

“Like I said at the start of the season, our main aim is to reach 40 points this season because that should guarantee safety,” he said.

“We have four very tough games coming up, three of them against teams who are currently in the top half of the table – Brackley, Salford and Darlington – so nothing is easy!

“It is important that we get points on the board, because there will be times when the going will be tough this season, no doubt about it. Overall, I’m delighted with the way that the players have reacted to the challenges this season, particularly on Tuesday against Bradford.

“We maybe didn’t play all that well in the first half hour the other night, but any win is a good result in this league. That opening spell was a good learning curve for our lads, we could have been punished because Bradford had two or three good chances.

“We were clinical for a five minute spell near half time, and we controlled the second half. The players gave me everything, and that’s all I can ask for. We have kept two clean sheets so far at home, and we would have taken those when the season kicked off.

“We will be going to Brackley full of confidence, but we know that the game will be tough because they had a good FA Cup run last season, and just missed out on the play offs.”

Moors head southwards to Northamptonshire with a fully fit squad, with Mark Anderson included after recovering from injury.

Brackley, meanwhile, have scored fewer goals at home than they have away. They have beaten FC United and Nuneaton at home by 2-1 and 1-0 respectively, while they have won 5-0 at North Ferriby and 3-1 at Telford United.