Striker Liam Hope believes the reason for Enfield Town’s recent slump is that teams are treating the Towners differently following their recent march towards the play-offs.

An unbeaten run of eight league matches catapulted Enfield into unlikely play-off contention before a run of five defeats from six which has threatened to end those aspirations.

Asked why the Towners had appeared to hit the barriers in recent weeks, Hope said: “We just seem to have lost a little bit of our rhythm really. We have come a long way in a short space of a time and a lot of teams have started to play a bit differently when they face us.

“We are used to being able to sit back and counter attack but now teams are sitting deep and asking us to break them down. We just need to get back to pressing high up the field and winning the ball back quickly.

“We had it when we got promoted out of the division below, but it has been different for the last couple of years because we have been struggling near the bottom.

“The way to do it is to play with a bit more width and make sure we move the ball a bit quicker; it is about setting the tempo ourselves really.”

The forward continued: “I think it is a mentality thing. We had a lot of new players arrive recently and the club has been used to survival or scrapping in the middle of the pack and that change has been hard to adapt to.

“The majority of the time before the last two years the club has always been at the right end of the table but we have started to pick up now.

“There is not a massive difference between the quality of the teams in this division and you see that when you lose three or four on the bounce and fall down the league a bit. But you also see it like we did recently when you win five or six and suddenly you are knocking on the door of the play-offs and we need to get back up there.”

Despite their recent slump, the Towners are perched in 12th place in the Isthmian Premier Division – just seven points shy of the play-off places.

And whilst manager Bradley Quinton has been reluctant to encourage talk of a top-five finish, Hope admits the players have discussed the possibility.

He explained: “We do talk about the play-offs and we do not feel there is any reason we can’t finish in the top five.

“There have not been many occasions where teams have been that much better than us – almost every game has been tight and even if we do lose, it is usually only by one or two goals.”

Despite becoming the club’s record goalscorer, Hope has not been pleased with his performances this term. He stated: “I am not really [happy with my form] – it has not been my best season. It has been very frustrating.

“To begin with I was playing a lot but not playing very well. I got injured for a while and since I have come back I have played less but definitely better.

“You can’t argue when you are not playing and we have won six or seven in a row and were on the verge of the play-offs.”