Potters Bar Town boss Max Mitchell on a 3-2 win at Hashtag

The latest game was a 3-2 success at Hashtag United and although it leaves the Scholars in 15th, they are a huge 17 points clear of the relegation places.

And crucially they are only 13 points away from Carshalton Athletic and the final play-off place in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

And while Mitchell is not suggesting they will bound into the end of season showdown, the games in hand they have on the majority of the teams above them has him hoping of a much better final position this campaign.

"We're in a fortunate position," he said. "We've still got a lot of games in hand and there are still things I think we can achieve this season.

"Our approach and our expectation is to win games and eight out of our last 12 are at home.

"We've got to build but we've picked up some knocks. We'll make sure they get their rest in."

Ore Bello was one of the scorers for Potters Bar. Picture: PETER SHORT (Image: Peter Short)

The latest three points, their 11th win of the season, arrived the hard way.

They had conceded twice in the opening 19 minutes, Max Cornhill and Nathan Smith getting the home goals, but fought back.

Leigh Rose got one on 24 minutes before Ore Bello equalised on 32 minutes.

The winner came nine minutes into the second half through Valckx Fernandes and Mitchell was delighted with the impact of his squad.

The boss said: "I felt the game was really transitional. It wasn't allowed to flow for both teams.

"The three officials allowed the game to get out of control at times and it kind of spoiled it in the first half.

"We had a sensible conversation with them at half-time and asked them to let it flow more and it did open up a little bit in the second half.

"We were way too passive in the first 15 minutes but then we started to gain control.

"Our wide players started to get the ball forward into the right areas and we came alive from there.

"We showed real character after conceding two goals early on to come back in the way we did.

"Credit to the players, that was a big effort.

"We put in a big effort on Wednesday [in the 2-1 in at Cray Wanderers], the stats came back through the roof from that one, but to go and replicate that here is excellent."

There was praise for all the goal scorers as well as on loan Stevenage defender Louie Henry.

"I'm really pleased for Louie Henry," said Mitchell. "He assisted the third goal and we've been speaking to him about an individual development plan in terms of his crossing situations.

"He's gone and put the ball into the box and Valckx has got on the end of it.

"We gave the group a challenge, could we score from a set-piece, and we did.

"The game was so chaotic, especially in the first half, but I was really pleased with the goalscorers."

Former Billericay Town forward Ricky Modeste has signed for Potters Bar. Picture: TGS PHOTO (Image: TGS Photo)

There was also a debut for the hugely experienced Ricky Modeste, who signed from Concord Rangers in the week.

The former Dover Athletic, Billericay Town and Tonbridge Angels forward was given 30 minutes off the bench, showing enough to please his new boss.

The Scholars gaffer said: "We gave him a good 30 minutes. He's coming back from a slight tweak in his back and we felt he needed to be faded in.

"He made some really good decisions, especially in defensive areas when we needed him.

"But we looked like we would score on every counter attack, we've hit the post twice and we should have probably put them to bed.

"I'm sure the longer he is with us, the more he will understand about us and our expectations and we'll get a really good player into the squad."

Speaking on the club's website prior to the game, Modeste said: "It feels really good to finally get the deal over the line, I've been speaking to Max for a couple of weeks.

"After hearing his plans for this season and the next one, I know it's something I want to be a part of."