Farsley Celtic are faced with the prospect of bouncing back against a Blue Square North title contender on Saturday after losing their last two games against fellow survival hopefuls.

Southport are currently second, just three points off the summit with a game in hand on leaders Fleetwood Town, while Farsley are nine points above the drop zone, despite their two consecutive defeats.

Celts manager Neil Parsley said: “We find ourselves with a difficult task in front of us; a massive task to try to get something from a home game. But what better opportunity is there to pull together and make a statement?

“When we were on our way back from the Hyde United game on Monday, it was mentioned. I picked the wrong side for that game and altered the system, for which I hold my hands up because I got it wrong.

“I thought that two games in three days might prove difficult and tried to switch things around. It backfired but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

“Because we got nothing from that or at home to Gloucester City last Saturday, we need to take some points from games like the one this weekend.

“We have to be looking for positive results that some might say are unexpected by taking points off teams a lot higher up the table than ourselves. But we have proved this season that we can get results against the top sides.”

Parsley is expecting to have a full squad to choose from, with left back Ryan Serrant returning. He played in the 1-0 defeat to Gloucester but was ruled out of Monday’s trip with a hamstring injury.