GAVIN Butler is under no illusions about the task which faces GSK Ulverston Rangers when high-riding Buscough Richmond head to Canal Foot on Saturday.

The second-placed West Lancs Division One outfit will scent victory against a Rangers team still smarting from a 2-0 reversal against Poulton last week.

But that was GSK’s first competitive match in 13 weeks because of the horrendous weather, and despite a first home defeat in a long time, Butler saw lots of improvement from his team as the game progressed and will be looking to conjure up a victory tomorrow.

He will hope Rangers will have benefitted from that run-out for the clash against a side who scored a 3-1 win over the Ulverston side in October.

All he wants now is that it’s game on, but more heavy rainfall could throw the fixture into serious doubt.

“It has put a lot of rain down and it’s looking dodgy,” said Butler.

“It will be a real tough game, they are up there challenging this year and they probably gave us our toughest game this season when we played them away.

“We had our first game in 13 weeks on Saturday and it is going to take us a few weeks to get back on track I think.

“We just started slow, you could tell we hadn’t done much. We have trained in between but it is not the same as matches.

“The second half was a lot better, we got stronger as the game went on so hopefully we can carry that on into Saturday’s game.

“We should have a strong side out, so we should give them a game. They are second in the league, it will be tough, but last year we beat them at our spot. They are beatable, but it just depends on the day really.”

He added: “I hope’s it’s on because it will give us a good chance to bounce back from Saturday. I think we will be sharper as well because on Saturday you could tell in the first half-hour, we were 2-0 down because we started sloppy and were poor. In the second half we were the better side and unlucky not to get back in it.

“It is definitely a game that we should be going in looking to win. We have always done all right against them here, but they have always beat us at their spot.

Expected to join Butler in the line up are Danny Leech, James Pinnegor and Sammy Lightfoot.

Furness Cavs, who travel to Walney Island in West Lancs Division Two, have played just once since October 31, when they won 4-3 at Croston Sports, having trailed 3-1 with 15 minutes to go. The only competitive fixture since then was the Furness Senior Cup tie with Hawcoat Park reserves in January which they won 4-0 with goals from Kyle Delves, 2, Marc Curtis and Ryan Rodgers.

Despite a lack of match action the lads have been enjoying training, with Marc McAloone from the Barrow AFC development team coming in and putting on a series of excellent sessions.

For the management team of Stu Roberts and Lee Rodgers, Rodgers himself is the only injury concern, otherwise there is a full squad to pick from.

Holker Old Boys stretched their unbeaten run to 12 games after a Mike Rushton hat-trick and a Ben Rebello goal earned them 4-1 midweek North West Counties Division One win over Daisy Hill.

The Stags – who sit fourth in the table – host leaders Barnton tomorrow in what should be a cracking Reusch First Division Cup quarter-final tie.