Paul Morris went to Cheltenham Grammar School back in the day so he’s a pretty bright bloke.

But Cinderford’s director of rugby could be forgiven if he gets a little confused when he looks at this season’s National One table.

That’s because 20 games in, just 34 points separate top from bottom in the 16-strong league.

That compares with a 68-point spread from one of the divisions immediately below them – National Two South – and a 48-point spread in the division above them – the Championship – from seven games fewer.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Morris. “We’re seventh and have won only two more games than Esher who are 14th.”

Esher currently occupy one of the three relegation spots and Morris admits that keeping Cinderford clear of the drop zone is one of his driving forces.

Three wins on the bounce have helped put daylight between Cinderford and the bottom three – the gap is currently 13 points – but with a third of the season remaining Morris wants to push on and upwards.

“We’ve had a blinding three weeks,” he said. “We’ve taken 15 points, you need five points when you win, not four.

“Unashamedly I look at 14th place every week, that’s what we want to avoid.

“We’re top of the bottom 10 but I think we’ve got the hardest run-in of all the clubs, we’ve got six games away and only four at home.

“We’ve got to go to Rosslyn Park, Old Elthamians and Blackheath who are three of the top four and we’ve also got to go to Bishop’s Stortford and Cambridge who are scrapping for their lives.”

Before that Cinderford head to Plymouth Albion on Saturday, with the Devon club two points and one place below Morris’ men.

“They’re the best team we’ve beaten this season,” Morris continued. “We’ve got four home games left and we’ve got to win them all. I think we can win all 10 of our remaining games although I know that we probably won’t.”

A pre-Christmas run of four successive defeats seems a long time ago now for the newly promoted club – they’ve won four of their last five – and Morris added: “We had a sticky spell but we kept our heads down, kept working hard and we turned things around.”

Cinderford’s remaining four home games are against promotion-chasing Ampthill, Caldy, Rotherham and Darlington Mowden Park.