BOSS Paul Collicutt wants Evesham United to recreate past glories in a bid to emerge from the promotion pack – but admits it will be tougher than ever this season.

The Robins have been frustrated in their quest to build momentum so far but remain within six points of the second automatic promotion spot in Southern League West in spite of slipping to 10th place.

Following the postponement of Sunday’s clash with Swindon Supermarine, nine of Evesham’s next 10 scheduled fixtures are against teams in the bottom half.

United have put together some imperious runs of form under Collicutt, not least in 2014-15 when they won 24 out of 28 matches and last season’s 12-game unbeaten sequence in the league.

But while the Evesham manager firmly believes the race for the Premier Division is still alive and kicking for more than half of the division, he argued every opponent would be capable of giving his side a tough time.

“You only have to look at the results over the weekend to see how competitive things are this season,” said Collicutt.

“Taunton is the team at the top and rightly so. They’re doing very well and look like running away with it but then you have a cluster of dozen, maybe 14 teams battling for second spot and the play-offs.

“There are no easy games in this league. Bishop’s Cleeve gave us as good a game as some of the top sides.

“Any team that can put together a run will do themselves a big favour and in the years I have been at the club we have had some good momentum.

“Last season we were unbeaten in 12 and any team that can do that has a very good chance of taking that second spot.

“When I say a run, I mean getting wins. I would rather go out to win a few and then lose one or two because there is a big difference between three points and the one you get for a draw.

“Everybody raises their game, especially when they come to the Jubilee and that has caused us problems. It’s something we have to get over and very quickly because our home form needs to improve to have a chance of the play-offs or second.

“I look at the squad and we have some good players but we have to start proving it. We have to man up and get things going.”

Collicutt acknowledged the frustration of missing out on a match over the weekend with Sunday’s snow wiping out Evesham’s fixture 24 hours after tenants Gloucester City took to the pitch.

“I would prefer to play, particularly on a Sunday,” said Collicutt. “There are people involved in the game who cannot come on a Saturday so you hope to entice those.

“There was a lot of interest in the game and we had a lot of people ringing up so I was very disappointed but it was the right call, without doubt.

“I like the continuity of having the games and prefer the lads to be ticking over in proper game situations. I think everyone is the same in that respect.

“That said, you want the conditions to be decent as they were for Gloucester’s game on Saturday. It just turned bleak very quickly like it did everywhere else.

“We may have to look at indoor training if the weather continues as it is.”