Chalfont's play-off hopes are a thing of the past, according to boss Danny Edwards after their latest defeat.

The Saints had been firmly in contention for a spot amongst the top five in Southern One Central before Christmas, but have dropped off the pace in the New Year after five defeats from seven games.

Saturday’s 3-2 loss against Bedworth United dropped Chalfont down to 11th in the table, 12 points off a play-off spot, and that has forced Edwards to reconsider his ambitions of gate crashing the top five.

He said: “It’s a real kick in the teeth that we’re not going to be challenging for the play-off spots, but because we’ve had such a bad run – taking one point from 18 – that the little group behind us have now caught up and we’ve dropped down a few positions.

“We really want to try and finish eighth, which would be the highest the club has ever finished in the Southern League. It’s still attainable but it’s going to be a hard slog because we’ve got a tough run-in.

“But if we can do it it would be fantastic. We certainly want to finish in a top ten position and if we don’t it will be a disappointment.”

Despite losing for the fourth time in five games on Saturday, Edwards was more upbeat about his side’s performance as they took the lead through Aaron Lansiquot and gave a good account of themselves at second place Bedworth.

John Carroll netted in stoppage time to pull a goal back after defensive errors had handed the hosts a 3-1 lead, and the Saints manager felt it was an improved display.

“I don’t mean to be derogatory about the sides that we’ve played in recent weeks but they’ve been in the lower reaches of the league and our performances have obviously been disappointing because they’re games you expect to win.

“When you’re playing a team that is top of the league away from home you know that it’s going to be a tough game. The first 20 minutes we were excellent really, really good and deservedly went 1-0 up.

“I don’t know if deserved anything from the game as, on reflection, Bedworth were more penetrating in their attacks, but there was a lot of positives.”

Northwood are the visitors to Mill Meadow tomorrow, with Edwards targeting no less than three points to halt his side’s slide.

“We beat them earlier in the season 2-0 and it was a close game. We played some good football going forward on the day and won the game deservedly, but knowing Northwood they will look upon us as a team they’re expecting to beat.

“We need to turn some of these good performances into wins and it’s important we win on Saturday.”