Thirteen straight league victories may not be enough to gain BAA Wanderers promotion this weekend, but whatever happens coach Kenny Thompson is proud of what his young team have achieved this season.

Boulevard and Devonshire Colts are in the two promotion positions going into tomorrow’s final round of matches and are favourites to secure the two places for the Premier Division next season.

BAA are hoping for a slip-up by one of the top two as they go into their own match against Young Men’s Social Club knowing that only a win will do them any good.

Boulevard need just a draw against Somerset Eagles to make certain of promotion while a win would crown them as champions. Colts, with BAA just a point behind, must beat St David’s at Police Field to succeed where they failed last season.

“In this whole run we knew we had to take care of our side of things and knew the position we put ourselves in with a slow start,” said Thompson, referring to the team’s first five matches when they picked up only a single point.

However, 12 straight wins since then catapulted them up the table and into the thick of the promotion race.

However, even a thirteenth straight win tomorrow may not be enough as Boulevard and Colts are determined not to fall at the final hurdle.

“The only thing we could do was win matches which we’ve done with 12 in a row, which is an excellent run,” Thompson said. “It’s the same for Sunday, we can only concentrate on our match and get the result and see what happens in the other matches.

“It’s not in our hands but we’re focused on what is, which is winning the match on Sunday. I’m very proud of this group of players, they have worked hard the entire season, including pre-season and the first five matches when we didn’t win a match.

“We continued to work, sorted ourselves out, got a break and went on this run. It’s been an amazing run and an amazing group to work with. I couldn’t be more proud of the group overall, no matter what happens on Sunday.”

Last weekend’s match against his former team was defaulted by Eagles at White Hill Field but Thompson denies suggestion that they did him a favour by failing to field a team. Despite the 3-0 default win margin, Thompson was not happy with the no-show.

“At this time it doesn’t look like a goal difference thing, although last week there was a possibility that goal difference could come into it,” he said. “We’d rather have played the match last week, not just for goal difference but for the integrity of football. Things should be settled on the pitch, so we were disappointed not to play.”

It is hoped Eagles will have a team for their match with Boulevard who need just a point for promotion. Boulevard drew with Devonshire Colts last weekend to hold on to top spot, leaving Colts having to beat St David’s in their final outing.

In tomorrow’s other matches X-Roads will play Wolves at Garrison Field and Ireland Rangers host Paget Lions at Malabar Field. All the matches will start at 4pm.

*You can follow the promotion run-in live by following The Royal Gazette’s Twitter feed #race4promotion.