Lowestoft Town manager Jamie Godbold is satisfied with his team's progress in the Evo-Stik Southern League Central Division as they gear up for a battle for survival.

With 17 matches left to play the Trawlerboys stand one place and one point above the relegation zone – and Godbold would be more than happy if that remained the position at the end of the campaign.

In an interview on the club's official website, the Trawlerboys' boss made it clear that he always expected a tough challenge when he took over with Andy Reynolds during the summer.

'When we came we had two contracted players; one of whom decided to leave when we came in (Rory McAuley) and the other who has been out injured for the entirety of the season so far (Travis Cole),' he said. 'It then led us to the task of assembling a squad that was capable of playing at step three under the budget constraints that we had.

'I believe we are where I feel we set out to be at the beginning of the season because from day one, our collective goal set out by staff and players was to stay in the division.

'I think we started off really well and picked up some really good results in the first few games of the season and unfortunately for one reason or another, we just haven't been able to maintain those early season results.'

Speaking ahead of Saturday's home match with 14th-placed Redditch, Godbold added: 'I don't think there have been too many games where we've been out of our depth, which probably has surprised me a little bit. I can only think of three or four games where we just didn't show up on the day. In most other games, we've definitely been competitive and really made teams work. We have conceded last minute goals which has had a major impact on our league position – without them you can add another seven or eight points to our tally and then we become a mid-table team because that's how tight the league is.

'The games in this league are really closely-fought and there's been too many games where we have just fell on the wrong side of the victory. It happens too consistently for it to be unlucky so obviously game management is a key area where we have fallen short.'