PURTON captain Tom Whittaker says last weekend’s crucial win away at fellow strugglers Hinton Charterhouse has given them belief they can stave off relegation in WEPL Wiltshire.

Victory for Whittaker’s side saw them climb off the foot of the table and push beaten opponents Hinton to the bottom in the process.

Although only one team is likely to go down once the season is complete, Whittaker is eager to put as much distance as possible between his side and bottom place over the final three games.

And they will not be short of motivation for Saturday’s encounter as it is a local derby at home to Swindon.

Near neighbours Royal Wootton Bassett are also in the relegation fight as they the side immediately above Purton in the standings, 17 points clear of Whittaker’s side.

However, they can bolster their own hopes for survival this weekend as their latest match is away at fourth-from-bottom Calne.

For Whittaker, though, he sees no reason why Purton cannot find an end-of-season spark to kill off the looming threat of relegation once and for all.

“For us, last weekend was almost like a cup final. We probably had to win to stay in the league. We did that, so it has given us a chance,” said Whittaker.

“We are not exactly sure what is going to happen in terms of teams going down, but the way we are looking at it is that there are three games left and we have got to win two of them.

“That is definitely something we think is achievable, but we will just take it one game at a time.

“I think there are about 15 points between us and Bassett and 20 points between us and Calne.

“We want to finish as high up the table as possible and if we can get another two wins that could see us up to third from bottom or fourth from bottom.

“A lot of the teams towards the bottom are playing each other in the final few weeks so there could still be a lot of shuffling.

“If we do what we know we can do and play as well as we can, we are confident we can stay up.”

Purton’s battle for survival continues with a home match against local rivals Swindon, with this weekend’s meeting the first of the year between the neighbours after the reverse fixture at the County Ground was washed out.

“The boys are all buzzing for it already,” said Whittaker.

“We didn’t get to play Swindon earlier in the season because of the rain but we know all of their players and they know ours.

“I am sure it will be a really good competitive game.”