Manager Paul Doswell has poured cold water on talks of Sutton United winning the Skrill South title.

Last weekend’s 2-1 win at Farnborough saw United close the gap on the leaders Bromley from 20 points at Christmas to seven points on Saturday afternoon.

After the mid-week round of games omitting United, they lie fourth in the table, five points below second placed Eastleigh and a single point behind Ebbsfleet.

Eastleigh have a game in hand on United, and two in hand on Bromley.

That, Doswell says, along with Eastleigh’s home form and the financial backing of fellow promotion hopefuls Ebbsfleet, will prevent United taking top spot.

However, the boss, who has presided over seven wins in nine games, reckons the club will be more than satisfied with a play-off berth.

“Us and Bromley are in the same boat financially speaking, if we went up we’d do our best but the pressure is not on us,” he said.

“The Skrill Premier is a big step up for us in all sorts of ways, but we would take it. We want to achieve it, but we were not expected to be up there in terms of winning the title.

“The pressure is on Ebbsfleet and Eastleigh, they are geared up for Skrill Premier football. Eastleigh are yet to play teams in the bottom five, and they face them at home.

“Their away form has been poor but at home they don’t lose very often at all.”

He added: “We’re consistently good at the moment, and we are purely concentrating on the play-offs.

“If we make them, we’ve reached our target because we wanted to be in mix.

“If we get promoted, great. If not, no one has died – that is our view.”