Jarvis and Bateman look ahead to derby clash

Slough Town travel to Burnham on Tuesday night with Blues boss Jamie Jarvis taunting - ‘the pressure is all on you’.

Jarvis’s Burnham team have been the surprise package in the Midlands Division this season and they currently sit second, three points ahead of Slough in third.

They already hold a win over the Rebels this term and the Blues boss believes his team could deliver their neighbours a decisive blow with another victory.

He said: “What I know is that the pressure will be on them.

“If we can keep a clean sheet for 80 minutes their fans will get on their backs.

“I know what they’re like.”

“Even if we lose we will still be ahead of them in the table.”

Jarvis’ counterpart at Slough, Steve Bateman, accepts that his team may have to deal with some extra pressure as they are the ones playing catch up.

But he insists that is nothing new for a club like Slough and he doesn’t believe it will affect the way they approach the game.

He said: “If we are still harbouring hopes of catching Hitchin at the top of the table then we do probably need to win the game. I think there probably is a bit more pressure on us, but that’s because of what this club has achieved in the past.

“People expect us to be above teams like Burnham and I’m happy to live with that.

“So what we have to do is go out and perform like we can do. It’s going to be a tight game as both teams are very strong.”

Jarvis also feels his team will hold an advantage over Slough due to the fact that his squad is filled with mostly local players.

The Burnham boss believes that will give them the edge in a local derby.

He said: “It doesn’t matter that it’s a derby as although we are made up of Burnham lads, they only have two local players and neither of them will be playing - so I think it counts for very little.”

Bateman, however, doesn’t feel this will be a factor.

He replied: “Jamie has got a group of players together who are all local and that, I think, is a huge factor in the performances they’ve put in this season.

“I’ve gone a different way, however, and it’s true that we don’t have everybody coming from within a 10-mile radius of Slough.

“But I really don’t think that will have any reference on the match. My players will be up for the game, I have no worries about that.”

For the rest of this story see this week's Express.