MARK Hawkes believes things are changing for his Heybridge Swifts side.

The Swifts manager has seen his team go on a good run of form in Ryman League division one north with only one defeat in December.

They defeated leaders Maldon and Tiptree 1-0 in their Boxing Day derby and ran riot against visiting Redbridge with an 11-0 victory last Saturday.

Swifts sit in third spot in the division, 13 points behind leaders Maldon and Tiptree who have one game in hand on them.

Crucially though Swifts are begining to open up a gap between the mid-table sides in their aim to finish with at least a play-off spot.

Hawkes said: “We have started to change the mentality at the club over the last couple of seasons.

“We have been a mid-table club, capable of beating any team on our day but not really stringing the results together.

“Now we are starting to see some of that consistency that I wanted to bring to the side coming out.

“We are nine or ten points clear of the teams that are in sixth, seventh and eighth place.

“We have now got a run of games coming up against mid-table teams, and if we can go to places like Witham and get points on their pitches then that will go a long way to secure a play-off spot for us.”

This weekend Swifts entertain Waltham Forest.