Lancaster City manager seeks a perfect end to the season

Last weekend’s last-gasp defeat to Witton Albion has left the Dolly Blues 11th in the NPL Premier Division, nine points adrift of the play-off places with three matches remaining.

The first of those is Saturday’s trip to Stalybridge Celtic, followed by Bamber Bridge’s visit to Giant Axe on Easter Monday.

While a top-five finish looks to be beyond City – barring a freakish series of results – there won’t be any easing up on their part.

Fell said: “We won’t be downing tools in the last three games.

“We owe it to the club and the supporters to give it our all and our target is to win three games.

“I thought we let ourselves down last Saturday, based on the importance of the game and the fact we needed to win all of our games to be in with a shout (of the play-offs).

“The fact is we committed players forward in the last 10 minutes, looking for a goal, and got caught.

“I said to the players at half-time that, if we got beaten, it would be by having a go – and I’d be more comfortable with that than by being cagey.

“We got caught by a bit of a sucker punch but we weren’t at our best and you’ve got to be at your best in every game.”

After a draw and a defeat in their last two games, next up for City is Saturday’s early start at Stalybridge.

The match kicks off at 12.30pm to avoid a clash with the Manchester City-Liverpool FA Cup semi-final later that afternoon.

While Fell’s players seek a first win in three, their hosts need three points to pull away from the wrong end of the table.

“Stalybridge are fighting for points so we have to go there and match their intensity,” Fell added.

“When you look at the games we’ve won, early goals have been decisive and they’ve come because we’ve shown intensity at the start of those games.

“They are all tough games we have left but they are three games where we can have a go.”