BURNHAM have almost grasped safety in the Hellenic Premier Division with one game remaining this season, but Mark Betts insists The Blues are “are not safe yet”, writes Ryan Gibbs.

Henley Town would need to defeat Thame United this Saturday (3pm) to draw level on points with Burnham, which could see The Blues relegated for a third time as many years should they lose their final match at Tuffley Rovers on April 15.

Betts told the Observer: “I will be watching very closely at 5pm on Saturday, and getting text updates about the game. We’re not safe yet, but it should be a done deal. To go down three seasons in a row would be awful.”

Burnham have undergone a complete overhaul in management this season and, after Betts and Jon Palmer took the reigns in January, their form has improved drastically.

Betts said: “When we took over, out of 23 games Burnham had two wins and the rest were losses. We were conceding sloppy goals for fun, so there has definitely been a turnaround.

"I feel like we could have beaten Thame, but then we went down to 10 men and it completely changed the game.

“Teams turn up and think they’re playing Slough Town and have a go, but we only have a few players from The Rebels.

“Its been a great challenge. Of course it’s nice to work with a big budget and good players, but we’ve had to have a real quick turnaround and there was no one at the club we turned our back on.”

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Gary Reeves will step down as Burnham Chairman at the end of the season.

Betts added he would not change anything for the concluding game against Tuffley.

He said: “We want to enjoy the game. We will go out there no differently than we did against Wootton Bassett, which was a great atmosphere, and we started to play a little bit like an established side.

“I feel we’ve done extremely well, look at all of our games. If we win on Saturday that would be a great strike ratio.

“I’m really chuffed. We just need to go there and get three points.

“Out of 10 games, four wins and one draw is a good strike rate. Personally I would love to win five but I’m happy with results.”

The Burnham manager says he is more pleased for the people around the club, such as President, Malcolm Higton, who has been at the club for 30 years, and for Gary Reeves as this will be his last season as Chairman.

If The Blues manage to beat Tuffley safety will be guaranteed. Betts said: "Malcolm labelled this the toughest job in the world, and then to win the first two was great”.

“Our aim is to finish as high as possible, to finish out of the bottom three is what we want.”

With a win over Tuffley, Burnham stand a chance of finishing third from bottom dependant on Oxford City Nomads results.