There is an air of quiet confidence about unbeaten Ammanford AFC boss Gruff Harrison ahead of Saturday’s top of the table clash with Llanelli Town.

With the Welsh League Division Three season hovering around the midway mark, the meeting of the two sides is already being touted as the campaign’s key fixture and there is every expectation of a modern-day record attendance at Ammanford’s Rec.

Should Harrison guide his side to an unprecedented 16th back to back win, the youngest manager in the country will see his charges draw level with the side which has lead the division for the majority of the campaign - with a staggering five games still in hand.

Harrison, December’s Manager of the Month, is all too aware that the visit of Llanelli has whetted the appetites of his club’s support, but also knows that the game is likely to prove the biggest challenge his side has yet faced.

“We know it is going to be a tough test,” he told the Guardian, “Llanelli are a really good side, but I have no doubt that they will be expecting just as much of a test as we are.

“We have prepared well for it and we think we are ready.

“We all know it is going to be a big game but we are looking forward to it – we are confident and we are in the best possible position given the debacle of the summer.”

The summer’s debacle left Ammanford kicking their heels as the rest of the division got on with the season and Harrison found himself starting the campaign some ten games behind the competition.

Ammanford were forced to play 11 pre-season friendlies just to fill their time as their row with the FAW and Welsh League over the club’s controversial relegation to Division Three rumbled on and on.

“We were lucky to have had a decent run in the Welsh Cup so we were able to play a few competitive games,” he said, “but we found ourselves in a ridiculous position.”

For his side to have reduced the arrears to just five games and find themselves with a 100 per cent winning record and on the brink of top spot is a testament to Harrison’s work ethic and the attitude he has been able to instil in his players.

“What happened over the summer definitely helped bring us all together,” he said.

“There is a unity about the club, the players and the supporters that has certainly been strengthened because of what we went through.

“We lost one player to a Division One side so we can have no complaints about that, but everyone else has stuck together.

“It has made us grow stronger because we have all been in it together.”

The events of the summer have also helped foster a “them and us” attitude in the changing room and Harrison has not been afraid to use it to his advantage.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t talk about it to the players and every team-talk I give makes mention of it,” he admitted.

“We have not always played great but we have been able to dig deep and find that extra something to get the win.

“It has given the players the extra incentive to get us back to where we belong, and when we have needed it we have had this extra ten per cent to our performances that I think is down to what happened.”

A sense of injustice alone is not enough to get Ammanford to where they are however.

“It would be a mistake to think our position is down to anything other than hard work,” he said.

“We put in a huge effort over the summer and we have earned the points we have got.

“I have always put the work in and so have the players - that is a credit to them.”

Graft, hurt and talent are the real ingredients of the club’s current unstoppable charge to the top – coupled with the goals of the signing of the season.

“Craig Frater was a year younger than me at school,” said 25-year-old Harrison of the former Manchester City youth product who has netted a mind-blowing 26 goals in 15 games since signing for Ammanford from Felinfoel RFC’s second team.

“For someone like Craig to have joined Ammanford says a lot about the club and what we hope to achieve.”

“After being released by Man City I think he fell a little out of love with the game and drifted around for a few years.

“To have signed him from a rugby club’s second team says a lot about how he felt for the game, but he has been fantastic since joining.”

With Frater scoring goals for fun and Ammanford looking like an unstoppable force, Harrison’s manager of the month aware might not be the only one on his mantelpiece come the end of the season.

“We are taking things one game at a time. It would be foolish to look any further ahead than that.

“We have set ourselves a 75-point target which in previous years has been enough to get promoted.

“At the start of the season we set out our goals in six-game sections with the target of winning at least three games in each section, but obviously we have exceeded those expectations.

“It would be extraordinary for a side to win every game and I have not even considered that as a possibility. I am not even looking at winning the title, at least not yet.

"The only goal is to get this club back to where it belongs.”

Pragmatism might well be the watch-word when it comes to his end of season targets, but for a local boy like Harrison, some things have a little more meaning than others.

“If someone was to offer me third place now I would take it in flash,” he admits, “but only if Cwmamman weren’t in second.

“My only target is to get us promoted – that and finishing above Cwmamman.”

With such a calm hand on the tiller, a promotion charge should be plain sailing – provided Harrison’s one game at a time philosophy ensures his side remain focussed on their next opponents and then their next.

Ammanford play host to Llanelli Town at the Rec tomorrow (Saturday). KO 2.30pm