Lancaster City look to make it six wins from seven games

Lancaster City travel to Warrington Rylands looking to maintain their position at the top of the league form table.

The Dollies have won six of their last seven in the NPL Premier Division and won six in a row at home, and got their first win on the road since November in their last away game against Belper Town.

City are in a great position to improve on their points tally of 56 last season. They are currently on 51 and have a very slim yet mathematical chance of reaching the playoffs.

They had a difficult start to the season with frustrations in front of goal and an injury crisis but have steadily improved since, with their defence also being bolstered with the additions of Nathan Woodthorpe, Rudy Misambo and Pawel Zuk in the last couple of months.

Last Saturday, Lancaster beat Hyde United 2-1 on Non League Day in front of a crowd of 833 - their biggest crowd of the season, and manager Mark Fell said it was the best he had seen since he arrived at the club in 2018.

Fell’s side are 11th and are level on points with two teams, Guiseley and FC United of Manchester, but have played one less game.

Warrington Rylands, who sit just below Lancaster in the league, last faced them in October and lost 2-1, and there’s been a big change to the club since then.

Jody Banim left his role as manager in late January and was replaced by Michael Clegg in mid-February. Rylands have only won one game since he took charge, but that was in their most recent home game against Guiseley.

There have also been recent changes to their squad in the last two weeks. The Blues signed Dana Amaral on loan from Preston North End last Thursday, and announced earlier that week that AJ Leitch-Smith and Sean Cooke had left to join Hyde United and Nantwich Town respectively.

It’s just over three weeks until the end of the NPL Premier Division season and Lancaster have six games to go: April 1: Warrington Rylands (A), April 4: Liversedge (A), April 8: Gainsborough Trinity (H), April 10: Bamber Bridge (A), April 15: Ashton United (A), April 22: Guiseley (H).

Warrington Rylands v Lancaster City kicks off at 3pm on Saturday (April 1) at Gorsey Lane.