North West Counties League First Division North
Ilkley Town’s GroundHop clash with Garstang on Sunday afternoon (kick off 2.30pm) is the first of five cup finals, according to Sam Dexter.
Ilkley are in a battle to avoid relegation as they sit only two points above third bottom Ashton Town.
The situation is precarious but Dexter remains positive going into the season’s climatic period.
“(One positive is) we’re not getting smashed every week,” Dexter told Non League Yorkshire.
“We’re getting beat 2-1 or 3-2.
“I can’t tell how crazy this Division is in relation to who beats who.
“You could argue Bury at the top will win nine times out of ten but down near the bottom anybody can beat anyone.
“We had an awful run recently but we have been losing by the odd goal so we know if we can manage these key moments in games, the tide will start to turn.
“We have five games left and we need to make sure we finish the season on a positive note.
“I don’t know (what it will take to be safe) and I think I would be silly to put a number on it.
“Anything could happen.
“There’s some massive games coming up and no-one has an easy run-in.
“We have to treat every game as a must-win and we can win these five games.”
Ilkley are full of confidence as they ended a bad run in the league by thrashing promotion-chasing Golcar United 6-2 last weekend – a display Dexter was clearly delighted with.
“We were really good and I think it was our most complete performance of the season,” he said.
“That’s a fair way to describe it.
“Previously we won on penalties at Steeton on the Tuesday night and it gave the players a much-needed lift.
“We had lost five on the bounce prior to that – all by one goal.
“We were due a big result.
“Going into the Golcar game, we knew it was going to be a really tough game but Golcar hadn’t played for three weeks.
“We knew we had to start quickly and brightly and we did that.
“We were very much deserved winners.”
Ilkley’s ground is likely to be packed for the visit of the groundhoppers and Dexter expects it to be a great occasion.
“I’ve heard there is a lot coming,” he said.
“I quite like that it is on Sunday as people have more time on their hands and they may think ‘oh I might pop down and watch that’.
“Garstang are a good side so it makes for good viewing.”