HALESOWEN Town are facing a key spell in their fight to avoid the drop from Southern League Central.

The Yeltz now take on three sides in the bottom half of the table, starting with this Saturday's home clash against 12th-placed St Ives Town (3pm kick-off).

That will be followed by a trip to 17th-placed Barwell a week later before 13th-placed Royston visit the Grove on February 2.

They go into the weekend on the back of last Saturday's narrow 1-0 defeat to Alvechurch and boss Rob Smith thinks his side are edging ever closer to a big three points.

He said: "We've had another few sessions together now and I'm seeing the right signs.

"I know for a fact that the players I have brought in have got enough, not only to keep us up but to be comfortable at this level.

"I've worked with a lot of them before and know what they're capable of. There is no need for us to start panicking just yet. One win could be enough to lift us out of the relegation places.

"We know the next three games are important for us and that we have to start picking up results sooner rather than later.

"Our home form is going to be important as well and hopefully the fans can come on Saturday, put aside any negativity and really get behind us."

On the Alvechurch game, he added: "It was a poor game, the conditions weren't great and both teams cancelled each other out.

"They are a good side so cancelling them out does show how we're improving but again we've come away with nothing to show for it.

"That is something we need to change because, again, we didn't cause them any problems going forwards.

"They scored from a free-kick that was a blatant handball against their player but that was just one of a number of poor decisions on the day."

Smith did bolster his squad last week with the capture of forward Andre Wright.

However, he'll now be giving his new players time to bed in before making too many more additions.

He added: "Andre is another option upfront for us, he has a good pedigree and is capable of scoring goals at this level.

"It's now time for the squad to bed down and start working with each other on the training pitch, so besides the odd one or two, there won't be many more coming in."