Enfield Ignatians’ coach Emile Hertz has challenged his players to take 38 or 40 points from the 50 left available this season as they seek promotion to London One next year.

Seventh-placed Ignatians currently have 30 points and are a long way behind league-leaders Saffron Walden but they remain in touch with third-placed Rochford Hundred, who have 42 points.

Hertz said: “We’ve passed the half-way stage of our league campaign and, with ten games remaining and 50 points on the table, our aim is to take around 38 to 40 of those.

“We are also aiming to lay down a marker for next season and show the sort of the form that will eventually get us promoted to London One.”

Enfield have been made to pay for a slow start to their campaign but Hertz’s men have enjoyed an upturn in form of late.

He said: “It’s true to say that we were probably under-cooked at the start of the season for one reason or another, and it showed in the opening defeats against Rochford Hundred and Braintree.

“However, there have been genuine signs that things are starting to turnaround.

“We’ve brought skills coach Steve Atkinson into the set-up and in our last two home games we showed a lot of attacking flair in the defeats of Chelmsford and Braintree.

“The first-half performance against Chelmsford was the best we’ve played all season.

“Chelmsford came into the game on the back of seven consecutive wins, but the players were well up for it and showed what they’re capable of by running-in four first-half tries.”

Ignatians have promoted a number of youngsters into the first-team and Hertz believes the team have had more swagger in recent matches.

“The side are looking much more confident with the ball in the hand and the players seem to be enjoying themselves,” he continued.

“We’ve had a number of ex-Colts come into the fold such as Luke Ellis, Luke Stack and Tom Jordan, and they’re all bedding-in very well.

“Wes Warren, at eight, has been massive for us, while Tom Killey and Frank Stavrou are also on the up.”

Warren’s six tries have contributed to what is currently the fourth most prolific attack in the division with Jordan Wilson (122 points), Tan Mbonu (11 tries) and Dan Savagar (seven tries) all helping Ignatians take ten bonus-points this season.

The side have been let down however by a leaky defence and Hertz insists the players are working hard to tighten up.

“Most of our defensive deficiencies are down to missed tackles and this was particularly evident in the first-half performance against South Woodham Ferrers,” he said.

“It’s something we’re working hard at redressing.

“If we aspire to promotion, we need to start winning at some of the tougher away arenas. However, I’m happy so far.”

Ignatians are away at Norwich on Saturday.