Keith Wilson knows how important it could be for his Burnham Ramblers team to carry their recent upturn in form into the end of the season in the Essex Senior League.

Ramblers will be looking to make it three wins on the bounce – something that manager Wilson says has been a scarce commodity this year – when they host Ilford at Leslie Field in their final home game of the campaign on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

It will not be Burnham’s last outing of the season as was originally planned, though, as they have a trip to London Bari to fit in after that fixture was postponed by a waterlogged pitch at the Old Spotted Dog ground last weekend.

Wilson said that game had been scheduled to be played on Wednesday as a season’s finale for Ramblers and they will be looking to go out on a high note after a campaign that their manager admits has been a testing one.

However, his players are rising to the task at the moment and Monday’s 3-1 win at Hullbridge backed up their previous win against Greenhouse Sports and Wilson knows how important it could be to continue playing well to the last minute of the last game.

He said: “It makes a massive difference if you can finish well.

“If you finish poorly, there is no game coming up on the Tuesday or the next Saturday to get over it and you have three months for it to play on your mind.

“It’s so important for us to finish on a positive note as it will give us something to build on for the summer.”

So the Ramblers boss is delighted that his team are finding form at a crucial time and he felt their win at Hullbridge, which saw goals from Ricky Evans, Ollie Hanlon and Charlie Kirby.

Wilson added: “We did really well.

“We rode our luck a bit at the beginning in the first 15 to 20 minutes when we couldn’t get our heads above water and they were all over us, but it changed when they got a penalty.

“Harry (Aldridge) made a good save and that lifted us as a team.

“Ricky scored a good goal and we really had a hold of the game before being the better side in the second half.

“I made a few tactical changes at the break and we looked very comfortable.

“We went two-nil up, but then conceded from a bit of sloppiness in midfield, however, before they could get up any head of steam, we scored again and were coasting after that.

“I think it showed that we only had to make one change from the side that played Greenhouse, whereas for most of the season, we’ve been having to make three, four, five changes for every game due to injuries, unavailability and people not performing.

“We’ve now broken the sequence of win-lose and it was great to put in back-to-back good performances.”

However, Wilson admits that his team’s upturn in form hasn’t affected his thoughts on whether he will decide to stay on as Ramblers boss next year or not and he will still sit down with club members to discuss his position after the end of a campaign that has been testing.

He added: “My thoughts are still the same and it’s a discussion I will have to have.

“Things do have to change at the club, but I want to stress that I’m not blaming the club as I think that’s how some people have taken it.

“That’s definitely not the case.

“It’s just that if we are going to be successful, some things do have to change.

“I’ll carry on giving it my all for the last couple of games, but I will sit down at the end to make my decision.

“It will be whatever is best for the club – not just for me.

“If I think there is someone else out there who can do it better than me, I will take a step back but if I think I will do the best job, then I will stay.”