Lancaster City have special target in their sights

Tuesday's 2-1 victory over AFC Fylde in the first round of the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy came hot on the heels of a 3-0 Northern Premier League victory over Hyde United at the weekend.

It means the Dolly Blues have won four successive games on a seven-match unbeaten run in league and cup.

They are up to second in the NPL Premier, though seven points behind Radcliffe, who have maximum points after seven games and are the only team to defeat Lancaster so far.

Boss Fell said: “Someone will have to chase Radcliffe because at the moment they are going to do it by Christmas.

“Someone has to apply that pressure so why can't it be us?

“We have a belief and a real understanding in the dressing room that we can achieve something.

“I'm full of confidence in the team and the way we do things.”

Lancaster played more than half of Saturday's game against a 10-man Hyde side, who had Bradley Roscoe sent off on conceding the penalty from which Sam Bailey made it 2-0.

Fell added: “It was a really profesaional performance, I thought. I don't think they can have any complaints about the sending-off, and after that I thought we became very clever and cute in how we played.

"The third goal broke their hearts and the game died at 3-0. Technically

“It's another win at a tough place to come. That's five clean sheets in seven, so were building on solid foundations and we're creating a crazy amount of chances.”

Paul Jarvis scored both late goals on Tuesday to turn the tables on Fylde, who had taken the lead shortly before half-time through Danny Ormerod.

Lancaster gave a debut to Trey Turner, a Republic of Ireland Under-19 midfielder, who played for Oldham Athletic on a professional contract last season.

Lancaster remain in knockout action this Saturday, when they host struggling league rivals Marske United in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup.