CROOKLANDS face one of their toughest assignments of the season tomorrow when they travel to high-fliers Charnock Richard – but boss Jon Bell insists the pressure is off.

Cassies are in good spirits after their 1-0 derby victory over Vickerstown last weekend and hope to make it two consecutive West Lancs League Premier Division victories when they head to Lancashire.

Facing them will be one of the division’s top teams and title challengers.

But Bell knows his side are underdogs and that suits him down to the ground.

“It’s a tough game, but we always look forward to going there,” said the 31-year-old manager.

“You know it is going to be hard down there but the good thing is there is no pressure on us. They are near the top and we are around mid-table, so we will just go there and do our best.

“We have always given them a decent game in the three years I have been involved, and we turned them over once, so hopefully we can go down there and give them a good game.”

Positive news for the Dalton side sees the return of veteran marksman Dave Mansergh, who missed the Vickerstown win after serving a ban following his sending-off against Longridge last month.

Mansergh has been a reliable source of goals for the Longlands Park men down the years and Bell hopes he can sneak another one or two tomorrow.

“It’s good to have Dave back. He is having a good season for us and is still banging the goals in,” said Bell, who has struggled to get a consistent team on the field this term due to work commitments and injuries.

The changing shift patterns at the Furness area’s main employer – BAE Systems – has spelt trouble for local football teams and amateutr sport in general, with players unable to make themselves available week-in, week-out.

“We’ve struggled getting a settled side out,” said Bell.

“A lot of our lads work at BAE and they can play for three or four games and then they miss three or four games.

“It is killing local sport and it’s probably going to be the same with the cricket next summer.

“We’ve also had a few injuries, but whenever we have got near to having our full side out we’ve generally done all right. It has just been hard work getting a full side out on a regular basis.

“You are scratching around for players and that has an effect on the reserves as well.

“It’s really hard getting a competitive squad. The reserves started really well but they’ve had a couple of defeats and that’s partly because we have had to take players off them.

“We always manage to get enough numbers but when you are going away to the likes of Longridge and Charnock you need somewhere near your full squad to have any chance of competing.”

Bell’s side lie 11th in the 16-team division and have been buoyed by last weekend’s derby victory – a result which came courtesy of an unfortunate second-half own goal from Town’s ex-Cassies man Danny Graham.

“It was a good win,” said Bell. “We played all right in spells. It was a really heavy pitch and we did well to get the game on.

“It was a competitive game, pretty even, and we managed to come out on top.”

Vickerstown will be licking their wounds after losing narrowly at Crooklands and will hope for a better result at Southport Hesketh as Dave Round’s injury-plagued troops bid to move clear of the relegation scrap.

There are two derbies in the West Lancs League programme, with Challenge Cup North clashes seeing Walney Island host Millom and Furness Cavaliers take on Furness Rovers at Rampside Road. Swarthmoor SC head to Kendal Town in the same comp.

Division One action sees Dalton United and GSK Ulverston Rangers with home games against Hurst Green and Wyre Villa respectively, while Askam go to Ladybridge and Hawcoat Park have a tasty third-versus-first encounter at Burscough Richmond.

Scott Redhead has made a great start to his time in charge of Holker Old Boys with two wins out of two so far, and the Stags will be full of confidence as they head to Rochdale Town.