HARTLEY Wintney skipper Jamie Teale believes it is crunch time for his side.

The village outfit do not want to find themselves getting dragged into a Southern League Division One relegation battle for the rest of the season.

However, they have lost their last three matches, which have all been against sides in the bottom half of the table.

As a result, Hartley are just five points clear of the drop zone and this weekend they face a visit from sixth-placed Andover.

After that, they have a run during which they play three of the current top four sides in the division, so Teale feels his side definitely need a win on Saturday to set them up for the second half of the season.

Looking ahead to his side’s home game against Andover, Teale said: “It is crunch time for us now.

“I was hoping we would win our last two games as they were against sides below us, but we just have not batted for 50 overs and scored enough runs.

“We have a run of tough games coming up now and by the end of the July we could find ourselves in big trouble, so Saturday’s game is really important.”

Andover will arrive in Hartley having won their last two games, beating Bournemouth and Calmore Sports.

This is after they suffered three straight losses against the top three teams in the table.

Andover have a real danger man in David Taylor.

The former county cricketer has already scored more than 500 runs during this campaign and averages just over 100, making him the league’s top batsman.

Teale is fully aware of the danger Taylor poses, especially at Hartley’s small village ground and said: “Taylor is a player we need to get out early.

“You know that if he reaches 30, he is probably going to go on and score 80, 90 or 100.”

Hartley will make two changes to the side that lost at Rowledge as Danny Plume and Will Ross are both unavailable.

Into the side will come top order batsman Matt Kerr and Jonny Kerr, who will give the village side a three-spinner attack.

Looking back on the defeat at Rowledge, captain Jamie Teale said: “It was a dreadful wicket.

“It is a brand new surface and the ball was keeping low one delivery and then popping up the next.

“A score of 160 or 170 would have been enough for us, but we were never going to be able to defend 110, even with our good bowling attack.”