Gary Setchell feels his King's Lynn Town squad are proving their play-off credentials but says he is determined to keep his players' feet firmly planted on the floor.

The Linnets secured their third victory in four matches with a 1-0 win at St Neots Town on Saturday, thanks to a late goal from player-coach David Bridges.

That sends Lynn into tonight's home clash with Merthyr Town in high spirits and just four points adrift of the play-off places in 11th place in the Southern Premier Division, with just eight points separating them from second-placed Chippenham in a congested top half.

'Merthyr battered us at the start of the season, I thought they would be top three but it hasn't worked out like that,' Setchell said of his side's opening-day 2-0 defeat in South Wales.

'They've got a long journey, we've now got two home games and, you don't like to look too far ahead, but if we could pick up a win or two then we are in the mix aren't we, we can't get away from that.

'People have got to keep their feet on the ground, we're a developing squad, we're a developing group and we've just got to keep developing in the right way and wins like that (St Neots) are going to help us immensely.'

Merthyr make the long midweek journey, a round trip of around 440 miles and eight hours travelling, looking to bring an end to a five-match losing streak.

The Martyrs have slipped to 19th place in the table, 11 points behind the Linnets. With another struggling side, Chesham, visiting The Walks on Saturday Setchell is aware of the big chance his side now face.

'We are play-off contenders, of course we are. There are probably 10 or 12 teams who are play-off contenders and we're one of them,' Lynn's boss continued, speaking to Lynn's official website.

'We proved it (at St Neots), we've proved it most of the season really with most of our performances. Yeah early on there were some sticky performances but we were a new side. There's a lot of togetherness there.'

The weekend win in Cambridgeshire was particularly satisfying for Setchell following a 3-0 loss to Kettering in his team's previous encounter.

'I'm so pleased with the young group bouncing back from that heavy defeat to Kettering,' he continued.

'St Neots are a top-five side but they just aren't getting the results and the performances at the minute, I'm sure they will, but what a performance by us, I'm so pleased.'

With any worries about a relegation battle now seemingly put to bed, Setchell admits he is loving the challenge of trying to piece together a push for promotion to step two of the non-league pyramid.

'This group of lads are great, honestly, I love working with them,' he added. 'We are going to have bad results because they're young and they will get bullied, but St Neots tried to bully us and because we could pop the ball around they couldn't really get close to us but their aerial threat and power is huge from set-pieces – and we dealt with that all day long.

'I'm a very, very proud manager right now.'