HALESOWEN Town boss John Hill admitted it was a big relief to finally guide his side away from relegation trouble.

The Yeltz secured their Northern Premier League survival with a hard-fought point at Stafford Rangers last Saturday.

They battled to a 0-0 stalemate to move 10 points ahead of bottom placed Sutton Coldfield and beat the drop.

Town have won five of their last nine games to erase their relegation concerns.

Hill said: "We needed to beat whatever result Sutton got and we managed to do that.

"It's unfortunate for them to go down but we have done really well to make sure we stayed up.

"I'm the first to admit that you shouldn't celebrate survival but there have been a lot of mitigating factors this season and a lot of things going on off the field.

"More than anything it is just a big relief to stay up. Our form over the last month has been really good. It's probably play-off form and that has been the difference.

"Our aim now is to finish the season as strongly as we can."

Yeltz will welcome Ashton United to the Grove on Saturday for their penultimate home game of the season.

"They have been one of the best teams we have faced recently.

"Hopefully we can enjoy the game. It'll be nice to see how far we have come."

Hales will be without the absent Roland Agbor or fellow forward Lee Knight, who has returned to parent club Bradford Park Avenue.

Jordan Goddard and Danny Bragoli may be fit for Saturday but Ivor Lawton's knee injury could keep him out.

Meanwhile, Hill says he'll also start planning for next season now his side are safe. That will include trying to keep former West Brom striker Lee Hughes at the club for another campaign.

He added: "We'd love to keep Lee Hughes here and that's what we'll be trying to do. We'll sit down with him at some stage and try and sort it."