IF you’re going into a match with the unbeaten league leaders, you’d want to have a nine-match winning run in your back pocket.

And that’s just what Taunton Town have as they travel to Hereford this Saturday (ko 3pm), a run which boss Leigh Robinson puts down to having players who will “crawl over broken glass to win games”.

Division 1 South & West pace-setters Hereford have a fearsome record of 23 victories from 26 league matches this season, their latest success being a 1-0 win at fifth-placed Mangotsfield United on Tuesday night.

And their only dropped points at home came in a 2-2 draw with Didcot Town in October.

But the Peacocks have leapt from 14th to seventh in recent weeks thanks to their games in hand, and stand on the brink of a playoff place thanks to victories over Barnstaple, Evesham, Paulton, Mangotsfield, Totton, Wantage, Tiverton, Bideford and Totton again last Saturday.

The key to that run, Robinson said, has been the team’s “fantastic mentality”.

“We’ve been on winning runs before, but this one is remarkable off the back of our FA Cup run – often teams can hit a bit of a low afterwards, and struggle for motivation, but we have incredible winners in our squad.”

The Peacocks are now just two points off Salisbury in sixth, and have played at least three games fewer than all the sides above them, heading into their Hereford showdown.

Robinson added: “It’s vital not to be intimidated by the surroundings [3,000 fans at Hereford’s Edgar Street].

“But we’ve had big games this season, so it’s not alien for us.

“We’re on a fantastic run – so we need to remember what we’ve been doing well.”

And in Jordan Rogers (14 league goals) and Matt Wright (15), Taunton have in-form strikers to match Hereford’s leading goal-getters John Mills (21) and Michael Symons (17).

Somerset County Gazette:

GOAL-GETTERS: Craig Veal, Ross Staley and Matt Wright, who all scored last Saturday. Pic: Tim Norbury

There’s also a return to Edgar Street for Ross Staley, who joined the Peacocks from Hereford in October 2016 and was outstanding at left wing-back last Saturday, scoring twice.

Robinson said he was “fairly certain” that Craig Duff and Pierce Mitchell, who missed the Totton game with hamstring injuries, would be fit for this weekend, meaning the manager has a full squad to pick from.

And he is not looking to add to that squad, saying: “We’re very happy with what we’ve got – there’s no need to tinker.”

Taunton fans have filled up spaces on the supporters’ coach, so the club upped the capacity to 53 seats, for a vocal travelling support for this crunch tie.

On the fans, Robinson said: “The Cup has got more people engaged, more noise home and away – long may it continue.”