Lancaster City aiming for Top 10 as they face Morpeth

Lancaster City will aim to get their fifth consecutive win at home when they face Morpeth Town.

The Dollies have had much deserved victories at the Giant Axe against Matlock Town, FC United of Manchester, Whitby Town and Marske United in the last few weeks which has seen them rise to 14th in the NPL Premier Division.

It was only in the middle of last month when manager Mark Fell, who reached 150 games in charge of the club on Tuesday, admitted his side needed to pick up points to stop them from “getting into trouble” with regards to the relegation zone.

However, City are now 10 points clear of 19th place Nantwich Town and their next four games are all against sides 16th or lower in the league.

That 16th placed team is Saturday’s opponents, Morpeth Town, whose last game was a 2-1 home victory over Nantwich Town. However, on the road, the Highwaymen have only taken 12 points from 45 this season.

Their away record has been the biggest reason why they are where they are in the league – they have been decent at home, winning half of their league games at Craik Park.

One of those games was the previous meeting between these two sides back in September, a high scoring affair that ended 6-3 to the hosts. They met again a couple of weeks later in the FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round, with the Dollies progressing to the next stage with a 3-2 win.

Mark Fell said the next aim for his group of players was to get in the top 10 places.

“It’s all right saying ‘you’re playing teams around you’, that doesn’t make them straightforward, that doesn’t make them easier.

“We’ve got vto be ruthless, we’ve got to keep that momentum and have that mentality to keep going and keep picking up those points that we thought we would get - there’s always been a belief here that when we got players back, we could put out a consistent side that would pick up wins. We’ve done that, that’s credit to the lads.”

Lancaster City v Morpeth Town kicks off at 3pm on Saturday (March 4) at Giant Axe.

Adult tickets are priced at £10, with concessions (which includes those with a season ticket for a club in the top four divisions) at £7. Tickets for juniors (ages 14-17) are priced at £5 and under 14s go for free if accompanied by an adult. Armed forces enter for free on production of their warrant card.