Boss Jamie Howell believes the return of striker Jason Prior could be the difference between Bognor mounting a push for the play-offs and being dragged into a relegation scrap.

The Rocks travel to third-place Hendon today sitting in ninth place in Ryman premier but closer to the dropzone than they are to the play-offs in terms of points.

Prior will be available for eight games over the hectic festive period after joining on a month’s loan from Margate and Howell hopes he has a similarly positive effect on results as he did on his previous spell at Nyewood Lane.

Bognor won three of their five league games following Prior’s capture – drawing another – in October to climb away from danger with the former AFC Wimbledon striker bagging four goals to move on to 99 in total for the club.

Howell said: “I think Jason will make a big difference. When we played Whitehawk in the Senior Cup on Tuesday I felt we did okay but we lacked any kind of threat in the final third.

“The team needs to believe we have got somebody who can score goals and Jason gives us that. Just having him in the side gives everybody renewed confidence so hopefully he can have a similar impact to last time.

“The only danger is that people think because Jason is around that we will automatically win as that is definitely not the case. We have got some difficult games over the next month and we need to pick up some points to make sure we don’t get sucked into trouble at the bottom.

“The way the table looks at the moment we could go either way. We are in a pack of teams who will be thinking that if they can go on a decent run it will propel them into the play-offs but on the other hand a bad spell we mean we are dragged into a relegation battle. We may be ninth but that is a genuine concern.”

ROCKS' TOP SCORERS

  1. Kevin Clements 216 goals
  2. Matt Russell 134
  3. Luke Nightingale 109
  4. Adie Miles 104
  5. Jason Prior 99

Prior enjoyed a prolific spell at Bognor after joining from Moneyfields in 2009 as he plundered 95 goals in 126 appearances to help the Rocks reach the play-offs for two years running.

He could bring up a century of goals for the club at Hendon but still has a long way to go to threaten Bognor’s all-time record scorer Kevin Clements who found the net an astonishing 216 times between 1978 and 1989.

Howell added: “It would be nice if Jason could get to 100 as he has done well for Bognor and I would like to think the club has been good for him over the years too.

“It would be a great achievement on a personal level but my only hope is that when he does score his 100th goal it is a winner and not a consolation goal in 4-1 defeat or something as that wouldn’t be very fitting.”

Prior could also do his parent club Margate a big favour over the next month with Bognor due to play title rivals Maidstone next weekend following the clash with third-placed Hendon.