TWEED Valley Kings, sitting precariously in fifth place on the Gold Coast Soccer Premier League, host sixth-placed Burleigh Heads at Reg Dalton Oval this afternoon.

The Kings have 30 competition points and are seven points clear of Burleigh Heads but are languishing behind four others in the race for a spot in the four-team semi-finals series.

Broadbeach United (34 points) holds pride of place on the ladder on percentages alongside Southport, with Palm Beach and Merrimac in equal third position on 32 points.

A win against Burleigh Heads would have the Kings sitting pretty in the race for a finals berth.

Over the following month they face clubs that have struggled this year and are sitting in the basement.

If they can snare the three points against Burleigh Heads and then collect a swag of points throughout the rest of the month, the Kings should be firmly entrenched in the four by the time they face up to Merrimac in round 21 on August 13.

Never one to count his chickens before they hatch, Kings coach Craig Madden wants to get this one out of the way before thinking about what beckons down the track.

Even then, he isn't looking at the upcoming games against the strugglers as “givens”.

“You never know in this competition what team will turn up to face you. With players coming and going, line-ups change week after week,” Madden said.

First things first though, and the Kings will be looking to see off Burleigh with its tail between its legs this afternoon.

“If we can get away to a good start, we have the players and form to win,” Madden said.

“We had a close match with them in the first round when we had a 1-1 draw. They are a dogged team and they'll come here primed to take it right up to us.”

The match starts at 5pm.