Assistant-manager Peter Hawkins says Chatham Town are facing “seven cup finals” as they bid to retain their Ryman League, Division 1 North status.

The Chats travel to third-placed AFC Sudbury on Saturday and they still have to play three other top-five sides – leaders Needham Market, Harlow and Brentwood Town.

Hawkins said: “We’ve got a tough run-in and Kev (Watson) and myself are looking at four wins to stay up.

“We’ve also got to play Barkingside and Cray Wanderers, who are both in the bottom three, and if we can win those two and then scratch out some points in the other games, then we should be OK.

“We don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves but we’ve got seven cup finals to play.”

Chatham picked up a crucial three points last Saturday with a 1-0 home win over Maldon & Tiptree.

Hawkins said: “It was a scrappy game, Maldon have got nothing to play for as they are probably safe. It was more like an end-of-season game than a relegation battle.”

Watson’s resources could be stretched to the limit this weekend, however, with Joe Loft ruled out by injury and Liam Hickey and Lawrence Collins both unavailable.