CRAIG Edwards has said Billericay Town’s games in hand “mean nothing” after they went down 3-1 at home against league-leaders Maidstone United.

Town lost 3-1 at home on Monday night, their first defeat at New Lodge in 15 matches, despite taking the lead early on.

Harry Baker put the hosts ahead with his first goal for the club after only 10 minutes, before Jack Parkinson and a brace from former Town man Jay May in a five-minute spell at the end of the half ended their hopes.

“It was a mad five minutes,” said manager Edwards. “Our game plan went perfectly for the first 40 minutes against the best team in the league but we couldn’t keep it together at the end of the half.

“They got the equaliser with five minutes of the half remaining and I would have been disappointed to go in level as their keeper made a world-class save from Rowan (Liburd).

“That would have made it 2-0 and we all thought it was in but it wasn’t to be and they took the game away from us at the end of the half.”

Town are 13th in the table, but winning both games in hand over the sides above them would see them climb a point above fifth-placed Met Police.

Edwards said his side looked leggy after a difficult run of five games in nine days, but he said having the rest of this week to recover, ahead of next Saturday’s match against Hendon will stand his team in good stead.

“We have games in hand but they mean nothing,” he said. “You need to get the points on the board and until we do that it doesn’t mean anything.”

“We look forward to a little break this week and the boys will be ready for Saturday. The strikers look tired and, as tough a game as Hendon will be, we need to get a positive result.

Five of Town’s remaining 10 games are against sides in or around the relegation places, including a game against Canvey Island at the end of the month.

“We have some tough games to go but we still have a chance of making something happen,” said Edwards. “It is in our own hands which is important. With a bit of luck we will put in a really strong challenge come the closing weeks of the season.”