LITTLE Oakley manager Matt Carmichael says he and his players have an in-house target in terms of how many games they feel they need to win to achieve promotion this season.

The Acorns were a revelation in the first half of the Thurlow Nunn League first division south campaign, winning 11 and drawing three of their 18 matches.

They are top of the table - a point above Lopes Tavares, although admittedly having played three more games than the Londoners.

However, Oakley appear to be a in a very strong position, with the top four sides all being promoted this season.

"We haven't been too fixated on our league position but we have set a target, in terms of the number of games we want to win between now and the end of the season," admitted Carmichael, who takes his side to Wormley Rovers on Saturday.

"We'll just chalk them off as we go along.

"It doesn't matter too much where we finish but the aim is promotion and if we can keep knocking those wins off and get it into single figures we'll have a really good chance.

"I think it'll be quite a low total needed for promotion this year.

"No-one's pulling away and teams are dropping points and being pulled back.

"It's going to be tight to the end and so ultimately it's about collecting an amount of points and getting to the figure we feel we need to reach.

"Once we get there, hopefully that'll be enough.

"If we can repeat what we've achieved in the first half of the season, I think we'll go up.

"But going top is just a bonus and it doesn't mean anything at this stage.

"We just need to make sure we're either in the top four, or within touching distance of it, for as long as possible and I think we will be."

Carmichael is confident his side can achieve their promotion goal this season, largely because of their incredible firepower.

They possess three of the most feared marksmen in the division in Harry Mann, Luke Mayhew and Greg Rodger and recently added the prolific Jordan Heath to their ranks, signing the striker from neighbours Harwich and Parkeston.

"We always score goals," added the Oakley boss.

"Only once this season we haven't scored, away to Lopes.

"We know we're going to score the vast majority of the time with the quality we've got up front."

Carmichael is aware of one chink in his side's armour and admits they are often slow starters.

"We know we're not a first-half team," he said.

"We've tried to address it but don't want to worry too much about that side of our game, for fear of taking away something from what we're good at in the second half.

"Whoever we play, we tend to dominate teams in the second half because we're generally fitter."