Boss Mark Fell fearing season will fall flat for Lancaster City

Their 2-0 defeat to league leaders Matlock Town at Giant Axe left them in 10th place in the NPL Premier League, several points shy of the teams in the upper reaches.

Before they can address their league form, Fell’s men shift focus to the FA Trophy this weekend when they travel to Witton Albion – a team just below them in the table.

The Matlock defeat was a frustrating one for Fell, with them falling behind a few minutes before half-time before conceding a second goal in the second half as they sought a way back in.

Fell said: “After Matlock made it 2-0, we huffed and puffed – that would be the right description.

“We have to address that, how we do things as we look to get back into games.

“The risk is we are going to be a mid-table side with nothing to play for after Christmas.

“We’ve got a tough run of games before then, Buxton have to come here and we go to Scarborough. We have got to play a lot of good teams between now and Christmas, we have to pick up some points to keep ourselves in it.

“We’ve got to stay in among it, keep ourselves in with a chance after Christmas and see where we are, see if we can get some reinforcements in and freshen it up.”

Fell had two new faces in the squad against Matlock, having done some transfer business at the end of last week.

He signed striker Nathan Reid from Holker Old Boys, then secured Brandon Lonsdale on loan from Blackburn Rovers’ Under-23s and both could feature this weekend.

Reid started the game, with Londsdale coming on as a second-half sub.

Said Fell: “I was really impressed with both lads.

“Nathan has really ability and presence, he has the ability to roll off defenders and bring others into play.

“He’s come up two or three leagues to a division where it is fast and intense, he’ll be great for us once he settles in.

“I’ve seen enough from Nathan to know that if we create enough chances and clever play around the box, he will do a job.

“Brandon was brilliant when he came on, he got the crowd going.

“Players who do that coming off the bench will force their way into the side.”