MARC McAloone hopes home advantage will play into the hands of Furness Cavaliers when they face Furness Rovers in tomorrow’s West Lancashire League Division Two derby clash.

Only two teams have come away from Rampside Road with maximum points so far this season, with Cavs taking four wins and two draws from their other league matches on their home patch.

Admittedly, Rovers are only making a relatively short trip compared to some visitors, but Cavaliers boss McAloone is in no doubt meeting their rivals on home turf gives his team an extra edge.

“We’re missing a few due to injury, but I think we’ve still got a lot of quality,” said McAloone.

“We worked hard at training on Wednesday to put some things into place we’ll try to do on Saturday, but we’re a really good side at home and we tend to get a lot more at home that we do away.

“It’s a really tough place to come and there are not many teams who have got points from us at home this season. It’s three massive points we need just to climb up the table a bit more.”

Two goals in the space of as many minutes from Ryan Fagan and Liam Shields proved enough to earn Rovers a 2-1 win at home in the first derby meeting of the 2018/19 season back in September.

The fortunes of the two team have diverged since then, with Rovers chasing a top-three finish and Cavs currently second-bottom.

However, they have games in hand on the sides above them and know a couple of positive results would see them quickly move up the table.

“We know how tough it is and we know the teams we’ve got to play, but we’ve shown we can beat or put decent performances in against anyone in this league,” said McAloone.

“We’ve got enough quality to get results out of any team in this league, especially at home, so we’ll work really and I’m sure we’ll start rising up the table soon.

“We just need a little bit of luck here and there, and hopefully everything from there falls into place.”

McAloone is not playing down the significance of tomorrow’s showdown either.

“The local derbies are really important and they’re massive games, regardless of where you are in the table because they’re games anyone can win,” said McAloone.

“Every team goes into them thinking they can potentially win if they play well and we know a lot about each other locally.

“We know what strengths people have got, so it’s about making sure we do what we can to try to win the game.”

Tomorrow's West Lancashire League fixtures

Premier Division (3pm): Haslingden St Mary’s v Vickerstown.

Divison One (3pm): Askam Utd v Stoneclough, Crooklands Casuals v Wyre Villa, Hawcoat Park v CMB, Ulverston Rangers v Millom.

Division Two (3pm): Croston Sports v Walney Island, Furness Rovers v Furness Cavaliers.