Rangers buoyed for Stalybridge

After beating Gainsborough last time out, Rangers welcome Stalybridge to Marston Road tomorrow (3pm) in their second home game in succession.

Steve Burr's side, who finished third last term, come to town in seventh place, some eight points and five places clear of their hosts.

Brindley will also have to patch up his defence for the Blue Square North clash, with Stuart Pierpoint out for two games through suspension. Short-term signing Alan Dodd goes straight into the squad as cover.

But the manager feels that if his side can turn on the style, they have the firepower to take three points.

He said: "Stalybridge are a good side, one of the best teams in the league, so we are expecting a tough game. We had a good win against Gainsborough, much more like what I want from the players, so we need to perform at that sort of level.

"If we play well, we have every chance of getting something out of the game. We have talent in our ranks, so we will not be expecting to get beat. There should be quite a few home fans so we will need to put on a show for them.

"It should be a good game."

Weather has kept Rangers out of action for two weeks, in fact Brindley's men have only got four out of eight fixtures off the ground in 2009.

The squad trained at the gym last night, to leave the pitch in the best possible state for the game.

The forecast is good but, with the erratic weather in recent weeks, the manager will take nothing for granted until his team take to the pitch.

He said: "We can't predict what the weather will do next. If we need to have a pitch inspection, it will be at 10:30am tomorrow and we will notify Stalybridge in advance. They have not got to come a million miles anyway, but every effort will be made to get the game on.

"We really don't want another postponement, we need to play."