Keep up the good form: Lancaster City boss Mark Fell's message to his players

It appeared to be all doom and gloom when the Dolly Blues found themselves in the NPL Premier Division relegation zone in the opening months of the season.

However, boss Mark Fell and his players have not panicked, believing their fortunes would turn around soon.

From being in the bottom four, City have now risen to 13th following Saturday’s battling 1-0 win at home to Ashton United at the weekend.

And Fell is keen to see his men maintain their upward trajectory when they host Marine at Giant Axe this weekend.

The two teams have already met this season when they played out a 0-0 draw in August.

"We are now carrying some momentum, so let’s see where we can go,” Fell said. "We are certainly looking up this division.

"We have already played Marine and it’s going to be an attritional game, like it was against Ashton last Saturday. I think we are only five points behind Marine now so if we beat them, we will go two points behind with a game in hand.

"It’s amazing how quickly it shifts. The lads are bang up for it and want to carry this run on.”

Fell felt his men deserved the three points against Ashton even if it required a contentious goal from Brad Carroll to settle matters.

There was some dispute as to whether the ball had crossed the line, but the referee’s assistant was was in no doubt.

"It was hard for us to see from 60 yards away but the lads are adamant that it went over and the linesman’s made the decision.

"I think on the balance of play, we probably deserved it.

"We created three really good chances first half and they created one which was from our mistake.

"The second half I thought we were flat for 25 minutes although the pitch is a major problem for us. That’s why we are better away from home at the minute.

"I am going to have discussions with the club about how we can make it better.”Last night, Fell was expected to make some changes for the LFA Challenge Trophy tie at home to Bamber Bridge.