Kent League leaders Minster host second-placed Hayes on Saturday with a sizeable gap at the top - but the captain knows they can’t ease off.

A win for Minster last Saturday against Sandwich Town, coupled with defeat for Hayes, means their lead at the top of the Premier Division table is back up to 26 points with six games to play.

Minster captain Dave Masters doesn’t want to see that gap reduced and, more importantly, hand their title rivals a timely boost ahead of the run-in.

He said: “We have a lot of confidence at the moment.The boys are doing well, but we need to keep on it.

“There was a bit of bickering at times on Saturday as people are still striving to do well. That is a good thing, I like a bit of that.

“A few of the boys had a go at each other but it was all right at the end, it just means they care and they are pushing to do as well as they can.

“We don’t let people slack off, we’ll keep going until the end of the season. We’ve got six games left, not a lot - before we know it we’ll be back to the winter and back freezing cold on the building site!

“If we win then we’d probably only need one or two more to win the league but we have to try and win against Hayes. It is not about the points situation, it is about the momentum which comes with it.

“If they go and beat us then it gives them a bit of hope and a push for the rest of the season and puts them in a good place.

“We have to try and beat them and beat them well to put them out of the picture, but St Lawrence (in third) are still floating around it, waiting for someone to slip up.

“In football terms, this one is like a six-pointer. It would be big for us to win, obviously.

“We will be pushing hard. They have got to come at us, we can just play our cricket and do what we do, it is down to them.

“They have got to put on a big score if they bat first and knock us over as cheaply as possible if they bowl first.

“The pressure is kind of more on them than us but, on the other hand, I think we have to play with the same kind of pressure that we have to win and not think about the points situation and how far ahead we are. We need to play as if we are chasing them.”

Minster had lost the week before and were keen to bounce back at Sandwich.

Masters chose to bat after winning the toss and his side posted 295. The skipper hit 45 and Dan Stickels 32 for an opening partnership worth 49.

Kai Appleby hit a 75-ball 100 and James Speer enjoyed a good day with bat and ball. He scored 42 off 24 balls before taking four wickets as Sandwich were 271 all out in reply.

Speer had taken the wickets of the Sandwich top three, leaving them on 19-3, before a recovery led by Ryan Davies’ fine 133.

“It was a good game of cricket,” said the skipper.

“We played very well after the shambles of the previous week. We built a bit of a platform and got a bit of luck along the way, to be fair.

“They dropped quite a few catches but we posted a decent score and they got close, they made us panic a bit. We probably dropped five or six catches again so we repaid the favour for what they did.”

Saturday’s match with Hayes at Gilbert Hall gets under way at 12pm.