PORTLAND United boss Gary Bailey says there is “no pressure” on his side ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Brockenhurst (3pm).

The Blues find themselves in third position in the league, one point behind second, and despite having to win ugly last week, Bailey says that his side are feeling confident.

He said: “The team are in good spirits. We’re on a good run and confidence is high. We weren’t spectacular on Saturday by any means but we got the job done.

“We know we can play football but Brockenhurst are a good team, it’s always difficult at their place and they put up a good

fight when we played them earlier in the season, so I’m sure we’re in for a close encounter again this time.

“They’re a good team going forward, they have lively young players that can get at you and cause you problems at the back.

“We won’t change our approach too much. We try and set up the same every week. We always focus on us rather than the opposition and we’ll make sure we play to our full potential and make sure the players do what I ask them to do.

“We didn’t pass the ball particularly well (on Saturday) so our focus is on improving that.

“We’ll look to get our passing game going to be able to dominate possession and get ourselves on the front foot. “

With the Blues in fine form in the league, it would be normal to be feeling the pressure as Portland look towards more success in the future, but Bailey insists they are under no strain whatsoever.

He said: “It’s tight at the top but it has been all season. There’s seven or eight teams that you can throw a net over, but that’s where we want to be.

“There’s no pressure on us, we’re newly promoted and we’re doing fantastically well. We want to continue being up there in the mix.

“We know a couple of good results keeps us right in there and a couple of bad results could see us drop down so the only pressure we’re under is from ourselves to play to our full potential and, if we do that, the rest will take care of itself.”

Bailey confirmed that Sean Lillington remains an absentee, with Dorchester Town loanee Jordan Mullis to continue in his absence, while Lewis Clarke and Tom Richardson are doubts with hamstring and knee injuries respectively.

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