Boss James Bracken bemoaned his side's  inconsistency on Saturday, but insisted Corinthian Casuals had enough about them to maintain a Ryman Division One South play-off challenge.

Casualsl crashed 2-1 at home to South Park on Saturday a week after an impressive 1-0 win at fourth-placed Herne Bay.

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Tough going: Corinthian Casuals found it hard to create clear opportunities against South Park

Kofi Quartey put Park 1-0 up on the stroke of half time before Dylan Merchant doubled the advantage six minutes after the restart.

Although Shaun Okojie got Casuals back into the game 15 minutes later, Casuals could not complete the comeback. 

They are four points adrift of the top five with 10 games to play of a campaign that is already among the club's most successful in memory.

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Casuals face play-off rivals Hastings United and Faversham Town in their next two league games before travelling to league leaders Folkestone Invicta.

And Bracken believes the trio of fixtures should hold no fears for his men as they have performed better against stronger opposition this term.

“Of course we’re still in the play-off race," he said.

"I said to the boys in the changing rooms that if we beat South Park, they should take five points from the next three games. A win and a couple of draws would be good against tough opposition.

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Up for it: South Park's Dylan Merchant leaps to guide home his match winning header against Corinthian Casuals on Saturday

“Ok – we didn’t get the three points, so now we need to pick up six from the next three. If we do that, then we’re still in with a shout.

“I said earlier in the season that if we’re three to six points outside the playoffs with seven games to go and if we can get up for the games that maybe aren’t so big on paper, then we’ll be in with a good chance.”

The problem has been getting up for matches against teams lower down the pecking order this term.

And Bracken admitted his men had a mental problem with playing the league's lower lights.

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Climb aboard: South Park celebrate Dylan Merchant's winner on Saturday

“I think the games we deem are winnable, we see the opposition turning up here motivated knowing they’ll be in a tough match. The teams at the top might still look at us as a bit of a softer touch," he added.

“But I also think it’s down to us and how we approach the games. We’ve shown what we can do against higher league opposition like Leiston and Grays and just last week away at Herne Bay. We’ve had plenty of good wins this season against top sides. We’re up for it.

“When we play sides lower down the table, we don’t seem to be able to get ourselves to the same level. It’s about hitting a consistent level every game. It’s solely a mentality thing. The lads are young and they’ll learn."