Having suffered just one defeat in their last seven Conference fixtures, 21st-place Nuneaton Town have hauled themselves away from the foot of the table and now boast a fighting chance of avoiding the drop.

Liam Daish’s side had been 23rd in the standings until mid-February but victories over Gateshead, Welling United, Macclesfield Town and Wrexham have seen Boro move within seven points of safety with five games to play.

It will undoubtedly still be a tough ask of the Warwickshire outfit but Daish – who had a brief loan spell at Barnet in 1988 – has resuscitated a side which looked dead and buried after succeeding Brian Reid in September.

Reid, incidentally, oversaw his first Nuneaton Town match as manager in a 1-0 loss against Martin Allen’s Barnet last April; Valentin Gjokaj’s thunderbolt winning the tie for a young Bees side. He won just two of his ten games before being sacked.

Five defeats from the opening eight games of the season were enough to see the Global FC and Philippines’ Under-23 boss given the bullet – a 2-0 loss at home to Barnet proving to be the Scot’s penultimate home game in charge.

And looking ahead to his side’s visit to The Hive, former Ebbsfleet United boss Daish told the Coventry Telegraph: “I think it’s a good game for us to come back to.

“We’ve been on a great run of seven games without a defeat which ended on Saturday but this is a great opportunity – there’s a pressure on Barnet because it’s really tight up there with Grimsby and Bristol Rovers and just one point separating all three.

“They have got their own agenda so there will be a bit of pressure on them at home while we go there looking to get back on the horse.”

He added: “We have proved we can go to top six sides and get something. We went to Macclesfield and played very well and deserved our result so we’ll draw confidence from that.”

Indicative of the change of regime perhaps is the fact Nuneaton have used an alarming 45 players in the Conference this season – six of whom have been goalkeepers.

Oxford United loanee Max Crocombe is currently the man donning the gloves, though the 21-year-old New Zealander has recently been away on international duty with the All Whites. He was an unused substitute in a 1-0 defeat to South Korea on Tuesday.

Crocombe has yet to concede in his five outings for Nuneaton but with the international break not stretching as far as the Conference, Boro were without the former MK Dons and Buckingham Town stopper for the 2-1 home defeat by FC Halifax Town last weekend.

Reading gloveman Daniel Lincoln stepped into the breach but Crocombe should return to face the Bees.

Another shrewd addition has been that of former Gravesend & Northfleet (now Ebbsfleet United), York City and Barnsley hitman Onome Sodje.

The 26-year-old Nigerian is the nephew of Sam, Efe and Akpo Sodje, who have all carved out good careers in the Football League with numerous clubs.

Having worked under Daish at Ebbsfleet United, the Nigerian forward returned to England in October following spells in Albania, Algeria, Malta, Vietnam and Slovakia and has netted four times to put him level with James Armson and Andy Brown as the club’s leading scorer this term.

Daish has utilised the loan market well since his arrival at Liberty Way, with Nottingham Forest’s young midfielder, Josh Rees, and Stoke City defender Elliot Wheeler featuring prominently during the Boro’s recent improved form.

Nuneaton Town XI v FC Halifax Town (28.3.2015): Lincoln; Wheeler, Franklin, Dean, Streete; Ant. Brown, Walker, Rees, Ogleby, Armson; Gordon.