Bognor's marathon men have been urged to lift themselves for another big effort tonight.

The Rocks play their 64th game of a gruelling campaign when they take on Dulwich Hamlet in the semi-finals of the Ryman premier play-offs at Nyewood Lane.

Jamie Howell's side came agonisingly close to clinching the title on Saturday when a 4-0 victory over Hendon saw them finish just a point behind champions Hampton and Richmond Borough, who claimed the only automatic promotion spot courtesy of a goalless draw with Enfield.

Howell admits Bognor's hectic schedule - tonight will be their ninth game in April - couple with the disappointment of finishing as runners-up means they have not enjoyed the perfect preparation for such a big occasion.

But he is confident his players are capable of turning on the style once again when it really matters having already overcome the odds on numerous occasions this season during their record-breaking run to the semi-finals of the FA Trophy.

Howell said: "I'm aware of the danger of feeling sorry for ourselves after going so close on Saturday. Dulwich will be thinking they have got another bite of the cherry but for us it is a little bit different as we did everything we could to win the title and just fell short.

"What we have got to do is forget about that now and focus solely on tonight's game because if we do that then I know we will give Dulwich a good game. I think we deserve to go up because we have had a brilliant season but to achieve that we need to win two more games.

"My only concern is that this is our 64th game. The players have surpassed all my expectations this season and been fantastic all the way through but I need to ask them to dip into the well hopefully two more times to pull it out."

Bognor finished 13 points clear of Dulwich to earn home advantage and will start as hot favourites having won their last 12 league games at Nyewood Lane.

But Howell is aware that it was Dulwich who were the last Ryman premier team to beat the Rocks on their own patch back in November and is expecting a close contest.

He added: "Our record at home is excellent and we are playing really well at the moment so everything is pointing in the right direction but the play-offs can be a bit of a lottery.

"We normally have quite a good record against Dulwich but they have beaten us twice this year so hopefully we can even things up a bit. Our games are always very tight and are good to watch so I expect another close match and whoever makes the fewer mistakes or gets a bit of luck will probably win."

On-loan Albion striker Chike Kandi is the only doubt for Bognor after picking up an injury in training with the Seagulls yesterday.