Clitheroe are the visitors to The UTS Stadium on Saturday. Currently occupying 7th place in The BetVictor North West Premier Division, the Lancastrian outfit have hit a rough patch since the turn of the year; picking up only 1 point from their previous 4 League games.

Dunston FC on the other hand have started to show their quality in recent games, winning 3 out of their last 4 games. Last Tuesday saw Chris Swailes’ side come out of top in a 5 goal thriller against an in-form Ramsbottom United, whilst Clitheroe’s game away to Pontefract Collieries was abandoned with “The Blues” trailing 1-2.

In a build up to the game, we get the thoughts of the players. 

In form forward Scott Heslop commented “The boys put a great performance in on Tuesday, and on Saturday we need to do the same to keep up this good little run we are on. We have got 9  out of 12 points after playing 3 of the top 5, so it shows where we could be if we gained some consistency”. He added “Clitheroe will be a tough game, like every game in this league but I’m sure if we all put shifts in like we did on Tuesday, there’s no reason we can’t win the game”.

Michael Hall had this to say “It’s another big game for us on Saturday at home to Clitheroe. They’re in the top half of the table and realistically they’re a team we need to start chasing down over the next few weeks”. He furthered “We’ve shown we can beat anyone, we’ve beaten 3 of the top 5 sides so far but we’ve got to be more consistent and our home games are going to be massive”

With Karl Dryden unavailable due to a hamstring injury Niall Harrison has stepped up in recent weeks and impressed, particularly against Ramsbottom, as he pulled of a string of superb saves to ensure a Dunston win. When asked about the up-coming game Harrison commented “Clitheroe are sat just outside of the play-offs, so Saturday will be another tough game.”

“We have shown we are a match for any team in this League, especially with the wins over Tadcaster and Ramsbottom”.

“The Lads are full of confidence and rightly so. I think the performances have been really good of late, so we need more of the same on Saturday to pick up another three points” Going on to discuss his current form “On a personal level it’s great to be back playing again and helping the team to get results”. Adding “Coming back from injury over the summer, and with Karl playing well, I’ve had to be patient, but hopefully I can get a good run of games under my belt and as a team we can really kick on and put a good run together to start and climb the table”.