Boss Mark Fell has played down Lancaster City's chances of reaching the play-offs

Lancaster City boss Mark Fell has dampened expectations despite his men moving to with six points of the play-offs.
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The Dolly Blues have been stuck in a mid-table spot in the NPL Premier Division for virtually the entire season.

And any hopes of finishing inside the top five looked dead and buried when they suffered three defeats on the spin at the end of last month.

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However, the accumulation of 10 points from 12 since, including three consecutive victories over the past week or so has got fans dreaming of a late charge for promotion.

Charlie Bailey celebrates his winning goal against Morpeth Town (photo:Phil Dawson)Charlie Bailey celebrates his winning goal against Morpeth Town (photo:Phil Dawson)
Charlie Bailey celebrates his winning goal against Morpeth Town (photo:Phil Dawson)

After beating title contenders South Shields a week last Tuesday, City followed that up with an away win at Stafford Rangers at the weekend.

In midweek, a Charlie Bailey strike was enough to see City defeat Morpeth Town at Giant Axe – a scoreline which certainly flattered the visitors.

With six games to go, Fell knows his men still have a chance of finishing inside the play-offs but there is certainly not much margin for error while they are dependent on other results.

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"Just to put a bit of a dampener on it, we are still rank outsiders to get in the play-offs,” said Fell.

Charlie Bailey celebrates his winning goal against Morpeth Town (photo:Phil Dawson)Charlie Bailey celebrates his winning goal against Morpeth Town (photo:Phil Dawson)
Charlie Bailey celebrates his winning goal against Morpeth Town (photo:Phil Dawson)

"But the fact is we are only six points away from it with six games to go.

"I think there is only going to be one place available. Everybody from us upwards is still in it.

"We are at the bottom of that pile so we are rank outsiders but we are the in-form team at the moment who are getting players back which is massively helping us.

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"I think Warrington, who are in fifth, are having a bit of a wobble.

"Regards to us, it’s a case of we’ve won these three on the bounce and we now play Nantwich at home on Saturday.

"They are above us in the form table but if we can beat them you never know.

"Warrington have to go to Radcliffe which is a bit of a local derby. If they lose then we could be looking at being only three points off the play-offs.

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"You can play it down as much as you want but these three wins – as unexpected as they were, let’s be honest – are a sign of how good we could have been.

"We will probably have to win at least five of our last six games to have a chance. I think four out of five will see us just miss out.”

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