WITH less than six weeks of the season remaining, there is everything to play for at the top of the Dr Martens Eastern Division.

As many as nine clubs can still claim to harbour serious intentions of filling the two promotion places.

Ten points currently separate the clubs in second and ninth place. But with most of the sides set to lock horns with each other before the season's end, things could change dramatically.

Eastbourne Borough currently head the pile by three points from Dorches-ter Town. But nothing is settled yet.

So who else is pushing for a Premier Division place?

While King's Lynn, Rothwell Town, Histon and Banbury United may have left themselves with to much to do to gain promotion this season, all are likely to have a major say on who actually goes up.

King's Lynn is never an easy place to visit, but both Eastbourne and Salisbury City have to head there. The Linnets are also more than capable of taking a point or three away at Bashley and Dorchester.

Dorchester were many people's title favourites at the start of the campaign and indeed, their impressive early season form suggested they would win the league at a canter. How-ever, a mid-term blip allowed others to catch up and overtake them.

But they are very much back in the equation now and seem to have hit a rich vein of form at just the right time.

With the likes of Martin Shepherd and Justin Keeler scoring goals for fun, we can surely expect Dorchester, who won at Newport IoW on Tuesday, to be there or thereabouts come May 3.

Goal difference may well be an issue and with the exception of home meetings with Eastbourne and King's Lynn, Dorchester look to have by far the easiest run in of all the promotion contenders.

Salisbury City are still in the reckoning despite dropping the points that saw them nudged off the top of the table a few weeks ago.

Manager Nick Holmes is adamant that even if they lose their appeal against the league's decision to dock them three points after recently fielding an ineligible player, their destiny is still very much in their own hands.

Victories at home to Chatham Town on Saturday and then Stamford on Tuesday night, followed by another in their Bank Holi-day clash with Bashley, could put a dent in their rivals' ambitions. Only a trip to King's Lynn should set alarm bells ringing for Whites fans.

In their favour is the fact that their remaining fixtures are all against sides facing mid-table mediocrity or relegation.

Bashley looked ripe to profit from Salisbury's slip, but they have not coped well with the pressure and three defeats on successive trips to Kent have helped stack the odds against them.

This campaign may yet have a sting in the tail, but one thing certain is that those followers of sides in the hunt, still have six more weeks of nail-biting and number crunching to endure before the final outcome is known.