Struggling Chatham face their toughest game of the season on Saturday when they travel to league leaders Needham Market.

It's almost two months since the Chats won a league game, while Needham have won eight of their 10 games at Bloomfields so far this season.

The 200-mile round-trip looks rather daunting, therefore, and Chatham manager Kevin Watson isn't surprised to see the Suffolk side flying high at this stage.

He said: "I think they’ll get promoted this season. They’ve been up there every season.

"They’re a well-resourced, well-run club with a good infrastructure and they haven’t got lots of other clubs around them. They’ve got some players of a very good calibre, with professional experience.

"They’ve kept the nucleus of a good team and that’s why they are where they are.

"We lost there heavily at the end of last season but when things aren’t going well, a challenge like this can be as good as anything. You know you can’t afford to try to coast."

Chatham lost 1-0 at Barkingside on Monday night and they're now just five points above the Ryman League Division 1 North relegation zone.

Watson said: "You look at the league table for what it is, looking both ways (up and down). We do need to be careful because you can slip into a bit of a rut, but we also need to be positive and look forward. We can’t be caught looking over our shoulder.

"Standards are not good enough at the moment. There’s a lot of effort there but you need more than effort. You need quality, desire, anticipation, will to win and team ethic.

"We’ve got to stick together and be strong mentally. It’s too easy to be negative about it but if people want to be good footballers, they need to play through the times when it’s not going so well."