EVESHAM United boss Carl Abbott explained that a recent upturn in league fortunes has been fuelled by the "hard-work, graft and determination" of his players.

United have gone three games without defeat in BetVictor Southern League Division One South including back-to-back wins against Mangotsfield United and Melksham Town.

Abott has been impressed with his side's character of late and after what has been a testing season so far for Evesham insists he has a squad of players who are willing to stick at it to get the results.

"It’s been down to hard work," he said.

"When the chips are down and things aren’t going well you have to go back to basics ­— grafting and playing with intensity.

"There has been a lot of determination recently, especially with the weather, so that’s been a massive factor of our success in the last few weeks.

“There has been a lot of mitigation this season and we have been hit hard with injuries and player availability and confidence has definitely taken a big hit at times which has affected performance.

“We’ve picked up recently and we’re getting that confidence back which we're really pleased with.”

Abbot, who oversaw a complete overhaul of the squad in the summer after being appointed, admits that promotion would be "fantastic" but there is also a bigger picture in place at the eighth-placed club.

"Promotion would be fantastic," he added.

"But just trying to take as many points as we can between now and the end of the season is all we can do.

"If we make it then brilliant but if not then we know we have given it as much as we could. Then we can just go from there and continue to build.

"This season we have learned a lot and gained plenty of experiences. We have played teams we haven’t played before, gone to new grounds and also learned plenty about each other as well.

"We are trying to develop a squad here and improve performances and that’s the focus right now. We want it to be an organic progression."

Evesham host 14th-placed Bideford in the league on Saturday (3pm) after last weekend's visit to Willand Rovers was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.