Final day drama: Chapman and Hillians prepare for their 'cup final'

The Hillians travel to Harrow Borough on Saturday knowing a win will secure another season in the Bostik Premier.

If they better what Tooting and Mitcham do against Met Police, Chapman’s side will also survive.

The rollercoaster season took another twist on Saturday as Burgess Hill picked up a point against Staines while Totting lost to Harlow.

And now for the third season in a row, Burgess Hill Town will look to survive the drop on the final game of the season.

Chapman said: “It’s our cup final. They players have to come off that field with no regrets, give it everything they got, and not leave anything behind.”

Chapman believes the point they won at Staines is very important. He said: “It’s given us an opportunity and now it’s all to play for. We know now if we can win on Saturday we stay up. That’s our incentive.

“We know what we have to do. Sometimes when you need just a point it’s hard to know what to do. We need a win so we have got to go for it.

“We will give everything we have got and try get the three points we need to keep us in the league.”

It’s been a frantic last few weeks for the Hillians with a huge fixture pile-up, but in the last two weeks they have had just two games and that has helped. Chapman said: “We have had a reall hard run in regards to congestion of fixtures. They have been ridiculous.

“But we spent a week of no games and we trained. We did set pieces and did a bit of work and it really showed on Saturday.”

The two teams Hillians and their relegation rivals face on Saturday - Harrow and Met Police respectively - both have nothing to play for, but Chapman is not expecting an easy ride for either club.

He said: “It’s such an eclectic league that there’s no gimmes. I speak to a lot of managers over the season and they all say the same thing, there’s no easy games and we know that.“Hopefully we can get a nice amount of fans there and we will give it everything we have got to try and stay in this league.”

This is Chapman’s sixth year at Burgess Hill Town and every season has been stressful for the boss - apart from one. He said: “In the six seasons I have been here I have had one season where it wasn’t stressful. That was the first season when we came eighth. The following season we lost out in the Play-Offs on the last day of the season, the following season we won the league and the last three have gone to the final day.

“For me it just shows you how hard it is at this level.”

And Chapman knows what he has to do to improve the club. He said: “We are trying so hard to stay in this league we have taking our eye off it a little and I need to get back to our youth, the 23s and build the club around them.

“We have made massive strides in six years. But we need to nurture our own kids again and build this football club again. Players like Tariq Richards and Charlie Bennett give me a real buzz.”

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