Gloucester City’s stadium will be rocking when Daf Williams’ side host Poole Town in an eagerly-anticipated Southern League Premier Division South play-off semi-final tomorrow (7.45pm).

Around 2,500 fans are expected and the vast majority will be hopeful that Gloucester can advance into Monday’s play-off final against either Farnham Town or Berkhamsted.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” said 33-year-old Williams, who is in his first season as Gloucester manager.

“We’ll try to treat it as a normal game but there’s no coming away from it, this game has a different feel. There’s a different significance to it.”

Defeat for Gloucester would mean the end of their hopes of returning to the National League – North or South – for another season.

Extra time and penalties may be needed to separate the two teams and Williams, a former caretaker-manager at League Two Newport County, said:  “In terms of getting a club promoted to a level we think they should be playing at, this is a very big game.”

Indeed it is and the home fans will have a big part to play as they look to return to the National League after a two-year break.

“The crowd have been behind us all season, they’ve been fantastic,” Williams said. “We’re averaging about 1,300 a game, there’s no doubt that we’ve got the best fanbase, the best support and the best following in the division.

“They deserve any success we can give them, hopefully we can deliver for them.”

Gloucester have been in the play-offs before, of course. Last season they reached the final, losing 1-0 at AFC Totton after winning at Walton & Hersham in a penalty shootout five days earlier.

Gloucester have been practising their penalties again but even though his side have already beaten Poole twice this season, finished seven points and one place ahead of them in the table and enjoyed the better form over the past couple of months, Williams knows just how tough it will be tomorrow.

“You can’t read much into what’s already happened this season, form does go out the window for games like these,” he said.

“These games are won and lost in moments, you need a lot of factors to go your way.”

Things have certainly gone Gloucester’s way for large parts of the season in terms of games won and goals scored.

They finished third in the division, winning 25 of their 42 games and scoring 93 goals.

“That’s something we’re really proud of,” continued Williams. “It’s the most games that Gloucester have won and the most goals that they’ve scored for 37 years.

“We wanted to play an attacking brand of football.”

They’ve certainly done that and in the past month or so they’ve hit six at Tiverton Town and five at Dorchester Town.

Poole will obviously be a lot tougher and they’ve shown improved form over the last couple of weeks, taking seven points from the last nine after winning just one of their previous eight games.

“They’ve changed their formation,” said Williams. “They’ve gone with a 5-3-2, previously they were a bit more expansive, a bit more open.”

Gloucester will be ready for whatever is thrown at them tomorrow but they will be without the injured Elis Watts and Jamal Mohammed and Williams continued: “We’ve had to overcome a lot of injuries this season.

“They’re important players but we’ve got a strong squad.

“We’re determined to bring success to this football club, nothing would please me more than to deliver it for them.”