Dereham Town entertain Brentwood Town at Aldiss Park this evening with their play-off hopes hanging by a thread.

The Magpies must beat the Essex side to keep alive their slim chance of making the top six and sealing a play-off position in the process.

A run of only one win in nine games has seen Dereham slip out of the play-off reckoning with Neal Simmons' side 11 points off sixth place with only 12 points to play for.

Dereham had been in contention for automatic promotion during the first half of the season but they were unable to maintain that pace whilst a three-point deduction for fielding an ineligible player earlier in the campaign hardly helped their cause.

Dereham will be expecting to arrest their alarming form this evening when they take on lowly Brentwood, who are still in need of points to guarantee their Bostik Division One North safety.

Two late goals cost them the points after a gritty performance against Haringey Borough on Saturday. Manager Neal Simmons has some players available again that have been missing,

'It was a disappointing result on Saturday with such late goals following the hard week we have had,' he said. 'We will be trying to secure the highest possible finish and we are hoping to freshen the squad up with some returning players. Brentwood have had some interesting results of late so we will be treating them with the same respect as every other team in this league.'