Improving Tonbridge are only six points off the National League South play-off places - not that Jay Saunders would know.

The Angels boss has steered clear of the table and has no plans to look at it any time soon.

Their success in challenging for a play-off place last season raised expectations at Longmead.

And while their form - not helped by a stream of injuries - hasn’t hit the heights this term, things aren’t so bad.

A run of one defeat in five games has lifted them out of the bottom four and up to 15th, just six points off St Albans in the final play-off spot in a tight division.

Tonbridge host Chelmsford this Saturday (3pm) and Hampton on Tuesday (7.45pm).

“God’s honest truth - I haven’t looked at the table once,” said Saunders, whose side won 2-1 at Truro last weekend.

“I couldn’t tell you where we were.

“We over-achieved last year - not in my eyes, because I always said I wanted to try and make the play-offs - but we did in a lot of people’s eyes.

“Because of that, a lot of supporters felt we should make the play-offs this next year, that it was the next step, but all along the biggest thing is establishing the club in the top 10 of this league.

“Since they came into the league, they’ve pretty much struggled, so if we can back up what we did last season and finish in the top 10, that’s progression.

“There’s a lot of clubs ahead of us both in terms of finances and how long they’ve been in the league.

“We’ll keep working hard and once we get everyone available, we’ll be in a good position.

“You always want to be doing better but there haven’t been many games where we’ve had our strongest XI out.

“It’s not easy when you’ve got three or four players missing every week.

“It’s like you’re putting out fires all the time.

“That’s why I don’t get caught up in looking at the table.

“You keep working hard and things will change.”

Tonbridge’s victory at Truro was all the more impressive in the face of a defensive shortage, with Ben Swift suspended and Tom Parkinson, Jamie Fielding and Kodi Lyons-Foster all on the sidelines.

In their absence Saunders paired 19-year-olds Joe Tyrie - recalled from Sittingbourne - and Ethan Sutcliffe, making his debut on loan from AFC Wimbledon.

“They’d never even met,” said the Angels boss, whose side led 2-0 through Sonny Fish and a Lewis Gard penalty before Truro’s late reply.

“They hadn’t trained together - nothing - so it was a big ask.

“But when you look at two young centre-halves coming together like that, it speaks volumes of the performance.

“The boys performed really well. We dug deep and got the win - I was over the moon.”