BASINGSTOKE Town manager Jason Bristow has reaffirmed his belief that he has a squad capable of challenging for the Vanarama Conference South title.

The Dragons lost the first of their double-header top-of-the-table clashes last weekend, going down 2-1 at home to second-placed Bromley.

They have another huge game on Saturday (3pm), when they travel to Hertfordshire to take on Boreham Wood, who are five points clear at the top of the table.

Fifth-placed Town go into the game without a win in three, but Bristow remains bullish about his side’s chance of challenging for promotion.

“All of the top teams have got to play each other, so points will be dropped,” he said. “We just need to keep believing in what we are doing.

“We believe in the squad we have got, and if we can keep them all fit, then we have a great chance of doing something special.

“If we continue playing the way we have been so far this season, we have a great chance of getting into the play-offs, and even challenging for the title.”

Bristow has also given his backing to striker Chris Flood. Flood made a fantastic start to his career at The Soccer AM Stadium but has struggled to find the net of late, scoring just one goal in his last eight games.

Bristow has plenty of attacking options at his disposal, but he is happy with the job that Flood is doing for the team and has backed his top scorer to get back among the goals.

“Chris scored a lot of goals at the start of the season and now we are expecting him to score in every game,” Bristow said. “His work-rate is good, we are happy with his contribution elsewhere and I am sure the goals will start coming for him again.

“It was difficult when Liam Enver-Marum was out because we asked Chris to play a different role. Now Liam is back, he can play as the target-man, giving Chris licence to roam.”

Town go into Saturday’s game in Hertfordshire on the back of a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Bromley, but Bristow believes that his side could not have a better fixture as they look to bounce back.

“It’s a good game to have next because we will not have to say much in the changing room before they go out,” the Basingstoke manager said. “The players know what is at stake in games like this and they will all be desperate to go out and get three points.

“Players love to play in these sort of games and the fact that it means so much is a good thing. The squad is in good spirits and looking forward to Saturday.

“It’s important that we do not fall further behind, but if we were able to get three points, we would put ourselves back in the same position we were in before last weekend. We want to get the right result on Saturday and then we can focus on a good run of games in February.”

Boreham Wood have won three of their last four games, but they have not played for almost three weeks and Town will be hoping to catch them cold.

“They will either start the game slowly because they have not played for a couple of weeks, or come out all guns blazing,” Bristow added. “We allowed Bromley to have too much possession early on last week and will be looking to press Boreham Wood higher up the pitch.

“The game at our place was one of the best this season from a neutral’s point of view and we won it 2-1. We need to replicate that performance and make sure that we start on the front foot.”

Town will be without injured trio Simon Dunn, Jamie Brown and Jay Gasson. Dunn is expected to return to training next week, while Gasson is a couple of weeks away from full fitness, but Brown requires an operation on his groin and will be out for a long spell.

With Gasson still sidelined, Town have moved to extend the loan of Reading centre-back Rob Dickie for a second month.

Visit basingstokegazette.co.uk/sport for live text coverage on Saturday afternoon.