Ian Chapman hopes the pressure will be off now that his Burgess Hill side cannot become The Invincibles.

The Hillians suffered their first league defeat at the 37th time of asking when they went down 1-0 at home to Whyteleafe on Wednesday.

They remain 13 points clear in Ryman south with games in hand and four wins from their remaining nine matches will guarantee them the title.

Hillians host Chipstead today and boss Chapman wants his side to launch another unbeaten run to wrap up the necessary points as soon as possible.

The former Albion favourite has always played down talk of matching Arsenal’s achievement in 2003-04 when they went the entire season unbeaten in the league and were promptly dubbed The Invincibles.

But he admits the extra pressure which the unbeaten run brought may have detracted from the team’s main focus.

Chapman told The Argus: “There is obviously a disappointment not to go unbeaten but that was not the objective of the season “We are well ahead of where we thought we would be this season and we must just try to see it through.

“Because everyone got involved in talking about the unbeaten run, it became a big thing. I don’t think it affected the players but you never know.

“Hopefully now it will take the pressure off that side of things that it can’t be done and we move on from that.

“Also, in the games we have played in the last four or five weeks the other sides have really been up for it against us. That comes with being a big scalp. They wanted to be the first team to beat us.”

Spencer Slaughter could return today but Neil Watts is still missing through injury.