HEAD coach Craig Burrows is confident Grove can rise to the challenge and climb out the relegation zone.

His side showed plenty of spirit in their 16-10 defeat against promotion-chasing Banbury last Saturday in South West 1 East.

Bicester and Marlow occupy the bottom two places in the table.

While Grove are only in the relegation zone by virtue of having won fewer games than Swindon, who they face in what could be a crucial final game of the season in April.

But with tenth-placed Wimborne a further 12 points ahead, picking up victories against their fellow strugglers is vital, starting this weekend when they travel to bottom side Bicester.

Burrows said: “There’s no reason why we can’t (stay up).

“However that’s two weeks in a row where we’ve maybe in the last ten minutes not been as clinical as we need to be.

“But we’re happy we’re in those positions to potentially win those games.

“I think the togetherness of the squad is enough to stay up, but that is not enough on its own.

“We need to keep on playing, working hard, but also need a bit of luck.”