Daisy Hill return to league action on Saturday when they make the short trip to face Darwen in the North West Counties League First Division North (3pm).

After a positive run of results in October, two successive defeats by a single goal in the past two weeks after good performances was a disappointment.

And Daisy assistant manager, Jack Iley, says the players are now focused on starting to pick up points again.

“It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks,” admitted Iley. “We have spoken about needing consistency through 90 minutes of games, and sometimes we haven’t done that, and that is probably what has cost us and seen us on the wrong side of narrow defeats in the last couple of weeks.

“So it is something we are certainly looking to put right on Saturday, and there is a determination from the lads to put things right.

“The intensity in training this week has been really good, and the lads have knuckled down and really got the bit between their teeth, which is how it should be. Hopefully that intensity will be reflected on the pitch at Darwen.”

Darwen head into the game on the back of a 6-1 defeat at Winsford United in the FA Vase last weekend, and Iley is wary of the threat posed by a side who will be looking to bounce back after their heaviest defeat of the season.

“We know they have a strong squad with some very good players up there, and they have improved since the start of the season, and in recent weeks had picked up a bit of good form,” he said.

“Like us, they will be disappointed about their result last week, and will be coming into the game looking to put things right this Saturday.

“For us, it’s about finding the balance between us looking at them and trying to nullify the threats which we know they have, and also looking at how we cause them problems, and I certainly think we have a squad who can do that at both ends of the pitch.

“Darwen are a free scoring team who have scored quite a few goals in recent weeks, so that is something we will be paying close attention to, but we can’t just base our game on what they might do.

“We are hoping to give them moments to worry about at the opposite end too,

“We have got some technically very good players who would probably prefer playing on 4G surfaces, like Darwen have, especially at this time of the year, and it’s something that we will try to look to use to our advantage.

“It suits the way we want to play and suits our players too, and it should be a good game on Saturday.”