Rattle vows Burgess Hill Town will fight to the bitter end to ensure Bostik Premier survival

Burgess Hill Town assistant manager John Rattle stressed that his side won’t give up their Bostik Premier survival fight ‘until it’s mathematically impossible’.
Burgess Hill Town assistant manager John Rattle.Burgess Hill Town assistant manager John Rattle.
Burgess Hill Town assistant manager John Rattle.

The Hillians are just five-points shy of safety, after their 3-2 comeback victory at Kingstonian on Saturday, with seven games left to go.

The run-in sees Hill host 18th-placed Corinthian Casuals on April 6 before they finish their campaign on April 27 with a potentially crucial trip to third-from-bottom Wingate & Finchley.

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Rattle said: “We’ve never given up and we won’t until it’s mathematically impossible.

“We have a points tally in our head and that’s what we’re aiming for. We know what we’ve got to do and that’s what we’re asking the boys to do.”

Last Saturday saw Hill come from 2-1 down at half-time to win 3-2 thanks to debuts goals from new forwards Ross Murdoch and Tommy Wood.

Murdoch, who is dual registered with Met Police, equalised on 43 minutes after Nathan Minhas opened the scoring for the Ks on 38 minutes.

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The home side went in at half-time 2-1 up after James Kaloczi scored on 45 minutes.

Murdoch then levelled before Wood, on loan from AFC Wimbledon, made his mark to make it 3-2 with ten minutes of the game to go.

Rattle hailed the instant impact of the duo after revealing the pair had little time to gel with their new team-mates.

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“The two new guys we brought in last week did well for us and both were rewarded with Ross getting two goals and Tommy getting the winner.

"We’re obviously very happy. Tommy had one training session with ourselves and with Ross we didn’t sign him until early Friday morning so we did no work with him.

“The two of them worked well as a pair.”

Burgess Hill Town host 14th-placed Margate on Saturday.

Despite Gate sitting comfortably in mid-table Jay Saunders’ side are on a seven game unbeaten run in the Bostik Premier, picking up five wins in this spell.

The two sides met at Hartsdown Park on November 3 and Hill, once again, came from behind to snatch a 3-2 away win.

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Rattle wants an improved home display against a ‘rejuvenated Margate side’ and their cause will be boosted with the return of two integral Hillians players.

He said: “We’ve had good home form leading up to Christmas. We’ve played well in parts at home but we need a better all-round performance to play against a rejuvenated Margate side.

“We expect to put together a similar squad on Saturday.

“Josh James and Pat Harding were missing through illness and missed last week so we will just keep tabs on them throughout the week.”

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