NEILSTON co-boss Derek Carson believes his team are right on track for a top four finish this season...and isn’t ruling out a title win.

The Farmer’s Boys currently occupy second spot in Conference C of the West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL), nine points behind leaders Drumchapel United.

However, with a couple of games in hand and a clash with The Drum to come, they are well within sight of the summit.

Winning the league would clinch promotion to the Premier Division, while teams who finish in second, third and fourth spots will make up part of the Championship next season – and Carson has hailed his players for putting themselves in a promising position, despite not having the luxury of the same resources that other clubs boast.

He told Barrhead Sport: “The aim at the start of the season for our Conference, which I think is the hardest of all of them, was to finish in the top four and get into the Championship.

“The top four look as if they will be the ones that finish there, going by the points gained so far.

“Drumchapel have dropped points recently, which has brought ourselves and Petershill right back in it. The momentum is probably with Petershill, with their games in hand, but if we win our two games in hand, we are only a few points behind Drumchapel – and have still to play them.

“The three of us will be looking at the table and thinking that, if we can go on a good run in the new year, we could challenge for the title.

“If you had asked us where we wanted to be at Christmas, we’d have bitten somebody’s hand off for it to be sitting second with nine games left to play.

“Going by our Conference, we’ve probably got the smallest budget, so it’s full credit to the boys. They come in and work hard on a Tuesday and Thursday and have played some really good football over the last year.”

Teams in the WoSFL are currently enjoying a festive break – and Carson admits the time off has been welcome.

He said: “The winter break at our level should be there all the time because it’s hard for these guys to commit and do football two or three times a week and also spend time with their families.

“I’ve always agreed with a wee winter shutdown for a couple of weeks to reset the batteries and, with the weather at this time of the year, training can be tough and games are called off.”