PETERSFIELD Town manager Ian Saunders threw down the play-offs gauntlet to his players on Saturday – and they well and truly picked up the challenge.

The Rams produced their best performance of the season to date to beat promotion hopefuls Royston Town 3-2.

In his pre-match preparations for his players, Saunders told them that if they could get a win on their travels at Royston they could go on to earn a play-off position in Division 1 Central.

Defeat, he said, would confine them to a lower half of the table finish.

Petersfield look to have rediscovered the spirit displayed by the players in 2014 and 2015 which earned them two league titles and back to back promotions.

They put in a superb performance on Saturday, reminiscent of the football which got them to the Southern League last season.

It would take some run of form for the Rams to force their way into the top five positions in the second half of this season. They currently sit in 14th place in the table, 15 points behind the play-off places but they do have two games in hand.

However, with that old spirit back in the Rams camp, anything is possible when you look back at the runs put together in the previous two seasons.

Saunders said: “I told the players if we could get the win at Royston then the play-offs could still be possible.

“It would take some doing but I’m buzzing after that performance on Saturday.”