HEYBRIDGE Swifts are preparing for two monster fixtures that could make or break their season.

The Scraley Road side, who dropped back into the Ryman League division north drop zone following last weekend’s 4-1 defeat at home to Haringey Borough, head to fourth-from-bottom Waltham Abbey on Saturday.

Both sides are locked on 38 points.

They then cross swords with National League South high-fliers Concord Rangers in the Essex Senior Cup final next Tuesday.

Swifts boss Brown admits both games are huge – especially the league date at Capershotts.

“Saturday’s match is a ridiculously big game and I hope we get the right psychological response,” he said.

“As a group, me included, we have to show a determination to do better.

“The last thing you want is to go into a cup final with the weight of the world on your shoulders.

“If we win, we’d probably only need to win one more of our remaining three games to be fine.

“If we draw, it would probably be something similar. It would still be pretty positive.

“But if we were to lose, we’d probably need to win two of our last three games and that’s a massive ask.

“When you’re at the bottom of the table, you’re not expected to go on a winning run and so, first and foremost, we have to try and avoid defeat.

“It’s a massive fixture in a huge week for the club and it would go a long way to alleviating the pressure, heading into next Tuesday.”

Swifts suffered a bitterly disappointing loss at home to Haringey Borough, on Saturday.

Things started well enough when George Cole swept home an 11th-minute penalty.

However, Haringey’s Dean Fenton netted late in the first half and Nana Asamoah made it 2-1.

Jorge Sambu added a third two minutes later to give the hosts a mountain to climb. Anthony Macdonald then hammered the final nail in their coffin in the 90th minute.

Swifts have now dropped into the bottom three as Waltham Abbey won 4-3 at Bury Town.

“We started really well and, after missing a couple of chances, went 1-0 up,” said Brown.

“The problem was that we didn’t react at all well to them equalising.

“It was such a sloppy goal, from our point of view, and that was disappointing because we’ve been defending much better lately.

“Then we conceded twice in quick succession in the second half and were left facing an uphill battle.

“We didn’t get the reaction we hoped for and that was also disappointing, because there was still enough time to get something from the game.

“Everyone was very down afterwards.

“We know we underperformed and that’s a horrible feeling.

“You sit there in the dressing room just wishing you could play the whole game again.

“But we have to learn from our mistakes and move on.”

Swifts had another cup date on Tuesday night, winning 3-0 against Maldon and Tiptree in the Tolleshunt D’Arcy Memorial Cup semi-final.

Lamar Reynolds and Jack Barham (two) scored their goals.