THEIR title dreams may be over, but Basingstoke Town are assured of a place in the Vanarama Conference South play-offs and are looking to end the season on a high.

Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Sutton United left Town five points behind leaders Bromley with just two games to play, but results elsewhere mean that they are now certain to finish in the play-off places.

Saturday’s Hampshire derby against Havant and Waterlooville will go a long way to deciding exactly where Jason Bristow’s men end up in the final reckoning.

Town go into the game at The Soccer AM Stadium third in the table, level on points with in-form Havant, who sit fourth. Victory would keep either side in the race for second place, give them a great chance of finishing in the top three and assure them of a place in the top four.

Finishing second would be a big deal for Basingstoke on a number of levels. It would be the club’s highest-ever league position, beating the third place they managed in the Ryman Premier League 14 years ago, but more importantly, it would guarantee them home games in both the second leg of the semi-finals and the final itself.

Town manager Bristow said: “Finishing second is still a realistic aim and it would be a big achievement.

“We have just got to finish as high as we can. That’s been the aim all season. If we can’t finish first, we want to finish second. If we can’t finish second, we want to finish third, and so on.”

With the title pretty much out of sight and his team already sure to extend their season, Bristow needs to perform something of a balancing act over the course of the next two games.

The Town boss wants to finish as high as possible and go into the play-offs in good form, but he would also like to rest key players for the post season.

To make life even more complicated, Basingstoke could face Saturday’s opponents in the play-off semi-finals in just two weeks’ time.

“As much as we want to win the game and finish as high as we can, we don’t want to show too many of our cards to a team that we could face in the play-offs,” Bristow said. “On the other hand, we lost to Havant earlier in the season, so we don’t want them to do the double over us.

“We want to win the game. Hopefully there will be a big crowd and we’ll get three points, because we always want to beat Havant, no matter what the game is. They are no different, so it should be entertaining.”

Robbie Rice is expected to return to action after a calf problem, so Town have no injury worries. However, they will be without Shaun McAuley and Liam Enver-Marum, who will be suspended until the second leg of the play-off semi-finals after being sent off at Hayes and Yeading United.