SEASONED campaigner Steve Fletcher reckons Cherries must put themselves within striking distance now if they are to complete an odds-defying late play-off surge.

The club legend believes Cherries have given themselves “half a chance” of gate-crashing the top-six party following a fine run in recent months.

Lee Bradbury’s men saw their progress checked when a draw at Hartlepool on Saturday and midweek defeat against Leyton Orient left them four points behind sixth-placed Stevenage, who have three games in hand.

Fletcher has labelled today’s trip to basement club Rochdale Cherries’ most important match of the campaign so far – because they cannot afford to let their rivals extend the gap.

Fletcher told the Daily Echo: “The bookies probably wouldn’t fancy it but we know what we have got in the dressing room and we know what we are capable of. We have showed since Christmas what we have got in the locker.

“If you are catching up teams, you can only do what you can do and are always going to rely on other teams to slip up. It takes a bit of everything – your good play and for teams to have a bad run.

“But it happens. You see it every year and I can’t see it being any different this year – I just hope we are the ones that do it.”

Fletcher also thinks more than one place could be up for grabs as end-of-season nerves kick in at the top end of the table.

Cherries’ record appearance-maker added: “I don’t think we are just fighting for the sixth spot but what we have got to do is get straight back on the winning path.

“If we want to stay in the hunt, we can’t have that gap being, realistically, any more than six points coming into the last 10 games of the season.

“If it starts getting to eight and 10, I think it would be extremely difficult and you would be relying on others.

“We have got to stay in touch and I believe we have got to keep within those six points going into the final push.

“I think it is the biggest game of the season at Rochdale because it could determine whether we stay in the hunt or if, all of a sudden, it is getting closer to a 10-point gap.”