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City joint manager confident of result
Lancaster City joint boss Michael Stringfellow is confident his side can get a result against promotion contenders Skelmersdale on Saturday, despite his side’s poor run.
The Dolly Blues are on a four-game winless run in league and cup following Tuesday night’s 2-2 home draw with Burscough.
And Saturday’s visitors to Giant Axe have won 13 of their 14 Evo-Stik First Division North games this season and were 7-1 winners against Prescot Cables in the Doodson Sport Cup on Tuesday night.
“They’re a very good footballing side,” said Stringfellow.
“But anyone can beat anyone on their day. We just need everyone to perform, we can’t have people having an off day.
“If all 11 perform I’m sure we can get a result.
“It’s been difficult but we do feel that things are improving week on week.
“It was always going to be a slow process but we are making strides.”
Tuesday’s draw was a hard one to take for City as they surrendered a two-goal half-time lead.
“I think everyone was really disappointed after the game,” said the joint City boss, who played 90 minutes in central defence.
“First half we really played quite well and we scored two really good goals.
“But in the second half we took our foot off the gas and gave away two silly free kicks.
“We knew they were strong from set pieces and mentioned it at half-time but we conceded two sloppy goals.
“When you’re finding it hard to score goals and then concede goals like that it’s frustrating.”
The Dolly Blues’ cause hasn’t been helped in recent weeks with injuries to several key players.
Goalkeeper Rich Whiteside picked up a calf injury in Tuesday night’s draw and Stringfellow’s fellow joint boss Neil Wainwright is set to be out for months rather than weeks with a knee injury picked up in the 3-1 defeat to New Mills on Saturday to add to an already lengthy injury list.
Stringfellow said: “It’s been difficult in the last two or three games because we’ve had a lot of injuries.
“Rob Wilson put in a shift on Saturday and Tuesday when he wasn’t 100 per cent fit and I filled in at centre back and wasn’t fully fit.”
But City were boosted on Tuesday night by two new signings.
Young left back James Short, signed on a month’s loan from Morecambe, played 90 minutes and midfielder Simon Wills came off the bench on his return to the club.
“With James, Ryan Elderton played against Curzon in central midfield and did really well so we’ve been looking for someone to play left back,” said Stringfellow.
“We went to see (Morecambe boss) Jim Bentley and he helped us out and I thought James was outstanding on Tuesday night.
“We never wanted Simon to leave in the first place because he was probably our best player at that point. He’s been injured for the last two or three weeks so that’s why he came off the bench, but I think he will be a big plus for us.”
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Weather for Lancaster
Thursday 20 June 2013
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 12 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
