Despite Radcliffe Borough’s recent poor form, physio Ronnie Evans is in confident mood ahead of Saturday’s derby showdown at in-form neighbours Ramsbottom United.

Kevin Glendon’s struggling side, who slipped into the bottom two of Evo-Stik Division One North after defeat to Mossley a fortnight ago, go into the match 24 points behind their promotion-chasing rivals.

But Evans is hoping the Stainton Park outfit can take all three points away from the Harry Williams Riverside Stadium.

“Form goes out of the window in a derby match,” said Evans.

“Ramsbottom are a very good side. They’ve got some really good players down there, they play good football and they are a difficult team to play away from home.

“It’s going to be a really tough game for us but we will go there with a positive mind and hopefully we can get a result out of it.

“Because it’s a derby our lads will be trying that little bit harder. “We’re going to give it a right good go and hopefully take three points from them.”

Boro’s fixture against sixth-placed promotion hopefuls Lancaster City at the weekend was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Stainton Park.

Evans said: “It would have been nice to have a game at the weekend but we got a full training session in on the all-weather pitch on Monday.

“Hopefully the players will be refreshed for the derby match. We’ll be looking for plenty of energy from them.”

The Stainton Park side, who have now lost the services of loanee Richard Wright, who has returned to Fleetwood Town, have been boosted with the news that Danny Lambert is almost back to full fitness. “Danny has been injured for two months and is about two weeks away from returning, so it will be good to have him back. “Matt Landregan is our only other injury concern. He has a bit of a hamstring problem, but I’m sure he’ll be fine for Saturday.”

With the addition of on-loan strikers Aiden Wainwright, who scored on his debut against Mossley, and Kurt Willoughby from League Two Fleetwood Town, Evans believes Glendon now has the reinforcements he needs to stave off relegation.

“I’m certain we can turn it around. It’s been horrendous with injuries. We haven’t had any proper full backs in the last couple of months,” said Evans.

“With Lambert coming back and the two new strikers coming in we’re feeling really positive. “I think they will make a difference. They are fitting in well and hopefully they’ll offer us some energy up front,” said Evans.

“We don’t see why we can’t finish at least five or six places above where we are now.”

Boss Glendon echoed his physio’s sentiment: “We’ve got nothing to lose. We go into every game thinking we can win it,” he said.