Lancaster City's welcome victory over FC United of Manchester

​Dark clouds had gathered over the club recently after an injury-ravaged Dolly Blues’ squad suffered two defeats in a week leaving them hovering just above the relegation zone in the NPL Premier Division.

To illustrate the challenges the club has faced, they went to league leaders South Shields last Saturday week with just outfield substitutes and boss Mark Fell was forced into fielding sub-goalkeeper Curtis Anderson as a striker after more injuries affected his team.

Fortunately, the City boss has been able to bolster his squad over the past week with the acquisitions of Nathan Woodthorpe, Matthew Tweedley and Polish-born defender Pawal Zuk from Barrow.

And in front of a big crowd at Giant Axe at the weekend, City collected a much-needed three points thanks to a couple of superb headed goals from Nico Evangelinos and Christian Sloan in the second half.

"I am over the moon,” said Fell. “I thought it was a decent game to be honest.

"It was nice to have a decent crowd and i thought our fans got right behind us.

"First half an hour, we were wondering how this was going to go because we struggled to get to grips with their shape.

"But ultimately I thought we ground them down through hard work and endeavour.

“That win is about sticking together; it’s about everyone at the club sticking together, digging in and riding through tough period to earn the right to play like we did in the second half and I thought we fully deserved it.”

City face two more away games over the next week, starting with the trip to Stafford Rangers this weekend and Guiseley on Tuesday.

"A couple of wins propels you out of a trouble and then if you win two or three on the bounce, you can then talk about closing the gap on the top five,” said Fell.

"What we will have is a couple of players back. We might have Jamie Mellen, Pat Allington – we will have Brad Carroll back and Charlie bailey will be back from suspension so it will be nice to have some decisions to make.

"That gives us a boost going to Stafford who are struggling a little bit with form.”