Liam Friend says Margate need to win at least half of their remaining games to be sure of a place in the Bostik Premier play-offs.

Saturday’s comfortable 2-0 home win over bottom club Burgess Hill Town was the Gate’s seventh in a row and stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games ahead of the weekend trip to Needham Market.

Steve Watt’s men have edged two points ahead of of Dulwich Hamlet in second and are 10 clear of sixth-placed Staines but central defender Friend says there can be no let-up in the final months of the campaign.

The 29-year-old former Folkestone Invicta man said: “Long term we are looking at the play-offs but unless we follow Watty’s mantra of one game at a time, we won’t get there.

“Every year points targets are set and you don’t get there or you get there early and then what happens when you get there, you don’t want to down tools or things like that.

“The target is probably six more wins and hopefully we get those as quickly as possible and then maybe we can start thinking further forward.”

Gate still have to play many of their play-off rivals but Friend, the club’s only league ever present, says every game at this level presents challenges.

He added: “I don’t think it matters who you play in this league, they are all capable of turning up and spoiling your day.

“All the teams in this division give you a game, I mean Burgess Hill were bottom but it was no easy game, we had to work hard.”

Friend has been a model of consistency since his close-season switch from Invicta, helping Margate pick up 15 league clean sheets despite having several different central defensive partners including Tom Wynter, Ben Swift and more recently George Essuman.

With regular captain James Rogers suspended, he has also skippered the side in the last two games, a role he admits he has enjoyed.

He added: “I think we’ve had 15 league clean sheets which we would have taken at the beginning of the season and we’ve still got 10-12 games to go, so hopefully we can get up to that 20-mark and push on from there.

“It was nice that Watty gave me the armband, it shows what he thinks of me. I’ve got relatively good experience at this level so I think I’m capable of doing it and two wins from the last two I’ve captained isn’t a bad record.”

Margate will be looking a complete a league double at Needham Market on Saturday having beaten the Suffolk side 3-1 at Hartsdown last month.

Skipper Rogers and Jack Evans are both available again after suspension but Tom Wynter has one more game to serve following the postponement of Tuesday's scheduled game at Leiston.

The Gate have also extended Aaron Simpson's loan from Gillingham until the end of the season.