ASSISTANT Nick Crittenden believes the Magpies’ coaching staff can still learn from their final few games of the season, and the entire squad has the chance to “finish on a high”.

Play-off hopefuls St Neots Town are tomorrow’s visitors to the Avenue (3pm), the last time the two sides met in December, they served up an 11-goal thriller with the Saints running out 6-5 winners.

Despite that, Crittenden is looking for the county town squad to show their credentials.

“It’s a good chance for us to finish on a high and take that into pre-season and the start of next season,” he told Echosport.

“It will be a tough game but we also have a bit of the pressure off us now with being relatively safe.”

Crittenden’s strike against Poole Town on Monday eased fears of being clawed back towards the bottom three, but how it came about that the experienced midfielder was to start the game was something out of the ordinary.

“I actually wasn’t due to play,” he revealed.

“I was meant to be on the bench but Dan Smith was caught in traffic and got there right on kick-off time.

“It was more down to luck than judgement really, things could have been different but I’m glad I played and I’m glad I could do my bit to help the lads.

“It felt really good especially since I haven’t really played at all since Christmas.”

Safety can be assured for the Magpies should results go their way tomorrow, but former Chelsea man Crittenden is keen to look up rather than down.

“We are going to go into every game wanting to win,” he added.

“It’s also a chance to give a few of the squad players a go.

“It’s not a case of chucking them all in at once, it’s a case of giving one or two of them a chance here and there.

“We have had a squad of players who have travelled around with us and some of them deserve a chance to show what they can do and it’s right that we look at them for next season.”