Flackwell Heath survived two stern examinations of their Hellenic Premier Division title credentials as they stretched their unbeaten league run to 22 games.

On Saturday Heath were staring at just a second league defeat of the season when they trailed 1-0 to Abingdon United with 70 minutes played, but four goals in seven minutes, including a hat-trick for Gavin James, fired them to victory.

And on Tuesday night the Reds played against Thatcham Town with ten-men for 85 minutes after captain Ben Sturgess was sent-off, but another two strikes from James secured an eighth consecutive win.

Manager Graham Malcolm said: “We went down to ten and put on a performance that was worthy of a league title winning team because we managed to sort it all out and get to half-time at 0-0.

“Second half we came out and scored two goals. We did it with a bit of quality to win a game where we had ten players for pretty much the entire game and it might just be the turning point in the season.

“I’ve got to hand it to the team they were brilliant to a man. Our captain got sent-off after five minutes but then we had ten league captains and they were excellent.”

The Flackwell manager is fully aware that the title is there for the taking for his second place team, who trail leaders Highmoor Ibis by one point with five games in hand.

The journey to the league summit has been a long one for Heath whose progress in cup competitions has meant they are yet to top the table this season.

“I think we will get across the line it’s just about how we do it,” said Malcolm.

“I don’t care how we do it. I don’t care if we win by a point, win by goal difference, I don’t mind because the reality is that these players have the opportunity to be league winners.

“That doesn’t come along very often and that’s all I’m interested in. Someone asked me about reaching 100 points – I’m not interested. I just want to win the league for the club and for those players.”

Ashleigh James, Dan Burnell and Sturgess all have two-game suspensions looming, with the former two having reached ten bookings for the season, and Malcolm believes that will present a challenge to his team in the coming weeks.

But the Heath boss remains confident of achieving something which was only a pipedream when the season kicked off back in August.

He said: “We finished eighth last season and our ambitions were to improve on that. We never, ever set our sights to win this league.

“Yes, we started the league, like all 20 clubs, looking at the top spots, but realistically, coming from eighth, we were looking to improve. One thing’s for sure we’ve certainly done that.

“That’s what I think makes it even more special that we’re coming from eighth last year and tenth the year before. That makes it an incredible journey for me.”