Austin stresses Harborough Town are in relegation dogfight as they edge out of bottom four

But he has warned his side that the hard work is only just beginning as they look to ensure they get the results they need to avoid the drop.

The Bees moved two places up to 17th on goal difference after seeing off a stubborn Biggleswade side who were reduced to 10 men for the final 30 minutes.

Harborough were twice pegged back after taking 1-0 and 2-1 leads through Riley O'Sullivan strikes, before Jutorre Burgess scored a sensational winner on 73 minutes with the Bees making their man advantage count following the dismissal of Charlie Briggs.

Austin was pleased with the result and some aspects of his team's performance, but laid out in stark terms how he sees the club's situation as heading into Christmas week.

"Let's make no bones about it, we are in a relegation fight," Austin told @HarbTownFC. "We tried to mask over that a little bit, with some humour when the FA Cup run, but for some reason we haven't adapated to the league.

"Whether that is because subconsciously we have got a bit ahead of ourselves, and I hadn't really mentioned the relegation fight, but on Tuesday I did.

"So I didn't want any songs after the game because we have nothing to celebrate, and we need to work our way out of this. It is serious now.

"We worked really hard to get to Step 3, and I want to work even harder to stay here."

Looking back on the win over Biggleswade, he added: "We came out with the points, and that is what we definitely needed.

"Biggleswade are a really honest team and they press in numbers, and if you can get through the two lines of press there is a bit of a gap in behind that, and that is what we were trying to work on.

"In stages it was okay, and I thought the boys did well."

Borough now host Alvechurch in a massive match at the Bee Hives on Saturday.

Alvechurch are one place below Harborough in the table, but on the same points, and Austin admitted: "Saturday is a big one, we are level on points with them.

"It is going to be a valuable win for whoever gets it, so let's try and do our best to be successful."