BASINGSTOKE Town manager Jason Bristow admits that the busy festive period could go a long way to defining his side’s season.

The Dragons begin a run of four matches in the space of 10 days with a home game against struggling Staines Town on Boxing Day (3pm). Two days later, they travel to Ebbsfleet United, with the return game at Staines and a home fixture against Eastbourne Borough scheduled for the new year period.

Town topped the Vanarama Conference South table during the autumn, but they have failed to win any of their last five league games – a run that has seen them slip down to eighth.

Bristow said: “Most teams will be thinking that it’s important to get a run going over Christmas, because it can define your season.

“If you pick up three or four wins in a couple of weeks, it can really set you up for the second half of the season, but if you don’t play well, then gaps can appear.

“We need to be in the leading pack if we want to push on in the new year and make sure that we are in contention right up to the end of the season.”

Having made themselves very hard to beat over the last couple of weeks, Town will be determined to take all three points when bottom-of-the-table Staines Town visit The Soccer AM Stadium.

Bristow’s men seem to have stopped the rot, drawing their last four games after 90 minutes, but they need to turn draws into wins if they are to get back into contention at the top of the Vanarama Conference South.

Bristow said: “It’s important that we get back to winning ways. The squad is in confident mood because the last three performances have been pretty good and we seem to be getting back to playing the way we know that we can, but we would take a scrappy win on Boxing Day.”

A home game against a Staines side, who have lost 12 of their last 13 games, would appear to be the perfect fixture to enable this, and with the return taking place on New Year’s Day, Town fans will be expecting a productive festive period.

“We are targeting three points and could do with beating Staines twice if we want to gain some ground over the festive period,” Bristow added. “Staines are not having a great time, but they have had a bit of time off, which might help them, and every game is difficult in this league.

“If things do not go quite as well as we hope, it will not be the end of our season, but if we are able to get some good wins then it will really help us.”

On Sunday, two days after they face Staines, Town face a difficult trip to Kent for a game against fellow promotion hopefuls Ebbsfleet United, who have a new manager in ex-Welling boss Jamie Day.

“Individually and collectively, they are a fantastic side, but we have beaten them twice already this season, so we should not be overawed,” Bristow said. “It might take Jamie Day a couple of weeks to get going as their manager and hopefully we can catch them in that period.”

Town go into the Christmas period with several injury concerns. It is hoped that Simon Dunn and Chris Flood will recover in time for the Boxing Day fixture, but the news is not so good elsewhere.

Captain Jay Gasson has a broken toe and could be out for a further six weeks, while Manny Williams could also be out for a while with a knee problem and Liam Enver-Marum also looks set to miss the entire festive period.