Farsley Celtic just missed out on the December Club of the Month award for the UniBond Premier Division but still ended up with the curse as they lost their first game of January last Monday.

The Celts started 2006 in poor style when Frickley Athletic snatched all three points at Throstle Nest with an injury- time winner.

But Lee Sinnott has backed his team to put that setback behind them when they take on North Ferriby United in the third round of the UniBond Challenge Cup at Throstle Nest.

"It is not a bad thing that this is a cup tie instead of a league game," said Sinnott. "We had a very average Christmas with one win, one draw and one loss.

"Ferriby are still top of the league but they didn't have a good result on Monday and we will be hoping to keep them on a losing run. We want to stay in the cup competitions as long as we can. Guiseley showed last season what a boost lifting a trophy is.

"The Frickley game was a bad day at the office. We have played them twice now and lost both but deserved at least four points from the games.

"Some seasons you just come up against a club that seems to have the cross on you. So we go again starting tomorrow." The Celts had four players missing for the Frickley game - Mark Bett, Ryan Crossley, Chris Stabb and Simeon Bambrook. Sinnott added: "It's not ideal having to alter a winning side but the players that came in were good enough. They are all back in contention for the visit of Ferriby.

Farsley (from): Cuss, McDaid, Stabb, Crossley, Serrant, Dugdale, Pemberton, Stamer, Krief, Shields, Iqbal, Watson, Knowles, Sanasy, Bett, Bambrook, Jackson, Rowe.