Sutton United player coach Steve McKimm insists his side cannot afford to get carried away with a run of form that has seen them beaten just once in their last 17 encounters.

Boss Paul Doswell’s men beat Waltham Abbey 2-1 at the weekend before Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Margate as they claimed four points on the road - stretching their unbeaten run to 12 games.

It puts them in pole position to secure a top-five finish well ahead of schedule as they now sit 11 points clear of Wealdstone in sixth, while they have at least one game in hand on their other play-off rivals.

But McKimm says his men mustn’t take their foot off the gas as he would like to see his side finishing the season on the crest of a wave.

“We’re absolutely chuffed with four points from the last two games. We are on a run at the minute and we’ve just got to keep it going,” he said.

“We’re doing really well, but we are not in the play-offs yet.

“We are the only ones showing a bit of consistency at the moment - alongwith Kingstonian - but you can easily go on a losing streak and see it blow up in your face.

“We’ve got to get as many points as we can, as quickly as we can, so we can go in into the play-offs with confidence and with fresh legs because we don’t want to leave it late like we did last year.”

A Bradley Woods-Garness penalty and Karim El-Salahi’s first goal of the season secured the points at the weekend, before Doswell rotated his squad to good effect as Steve Perkins’ equaliser earned a point on Tuesday.

Skipper Jason Goodliffe is expected to be fit for Saturday’s visit of struggling Bognor Regis Town, as is Francis Quarm who was rested for the mid-week stalemate.

Sutton face a run of three home games in eight days and McKimm reckons boss Doswell’s strategy of rotating his squad will prove to be a winner.

“We’ve got a relatively small squad of 18, but whatever team Paul puts out we are confident we can go out and win each game,” he added.

“It is not a case of dropping people, it is more a case making sure people stay fresh and it has worked for us so far.

“Games against the likes of Bognor are not a given. They will be fighting for their lives. The next three games are by no means easy, but if we can get as many points as possible we will be in a strong position.”

Sutton’s next three games: Mar 20 Bognor Regis Town (h), 23 Harrow Borough (h), 27 Hendon (h).