LUCTONIANS captain Alex Smith is pleased with how his team have been performing lately and is confident they will finish the season strongly.

Injuries to key players severely hindered Luctonians earlier in the season, which resulted in them languishing towards the foot of the National League 2 North table.

But the Kingsland side are now back to a near full-strength team and they only need one more point from their final three games to guarantee they stay up.

"I thought we were a mid-table, stroke top half side, but the injuries we suffered hurt us," explained Smith, who has is currently nursing a dislocated elbow.

"But since we have got players back we have produced some really good performances and that is reflected by the results we have had.

"We still need another point to be mathematically safe, but our last two games are at home and we tend to back ourselves against anyone at our place."

Last Saturday, Lucs grounded out a 24-17 win against Tynedale.

"It was a really good win," added Smith.

"It was a tight first half and we weren't at our best, but in the second half I thought we controlled the game really well and our defence was awesome.

"We thoroughly deserved the win."

Tynedale started with purpose and were rewarded with a Jack Harrison try after nine minutes.

However, Luctonians dug deep and responded through an Adam Knight try following excellent work from John Kelly.

Jonny Morris added the conversion,

Lucs continued to pin the away side back into their own half and added to their score with another try.

Guy Kirkby went over from a driving maul, with Tynedale's Scott Powell being sent to the sin bin due to an infringement in the build-up.

Tynedale responded well and punished Lucs with a second Harrison try.

Luctonians were guilty of handling errors early in the second half and Tynedale scored another try thanks to James Spencer.

But Lucs persevered and took advantage of a second yellow card for the away side.

Dan Smith touched down and, with time running out, Morris added another try from a driving maul.

Morris then added the conversion.