THE return of former captain Danny Lafferty along with a number of key injured players has sparked Radcliffe Borough back to life, believes manager Danny Johnson.

The Boro boss was pleased with his side's battling display at Lancaster City on Saturday after Sam McMahon's late equaliser from the spot saw them claim a 1-1 draw.

They remain just above the drop zone, third from bottom in Evo-Stik First Division North.

But Johnson says he has seen signs they will soon return to the kind of form that saw them go four matches unbeaten in September.

"Danny (Lafferty) coming back in has allowed us to change the shape of the team and get players back into their proper positions," said Johnson, who moved quickly to bring back the former captain to the Belvoir Stadium after a summer switch to Trafford did not work out for him.

"Rick Smith has been filling in at centre-back, so the switch has allowed us to push him back into midfield, where he can do more damage to the opposition.

"We have also been boosted by the return of Aaron Walters at left-back.

"He has been out injured for quite some time and a lot of the goals we have conceded have come from attacks down that side.

"Add to that the return of Sam McMahon, who had scored five or six goals for us before getting injured, and we are starting to look back to our old selves."

Boro fell behind to an early goal at Lancaster at the weekend but after some last-ditch defending stopped the visitors from adding to their tally before the break, Johnson's men laid siege to their goal in the second half.

"We were very disappointed not to get all three points in the end," said Johnson.

"I certainly felt we did enough in the second half to win the game.

"Chris Cheetham (the Boro keeper) had nothing to do after the break, virtually the entire game was played in their half.

"The lads ended the match playing the kind of football we were four or five weeks ago and that is encouraging.

"It's no coincidence the improved performance coincided with the return of a few key players, especially Danny.

"All of a sudden there's a lot more competition for places, whereas over the last few weeks some of our players have probably felt like they were guaranteed a game. That's not the case now."

Boro will look to continue their revival at mid-table Brighouse Town, who came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw at the Belvoir Stadium earlier in the season.

"They were excellent on the day, I have got to say," added Johnson.

"A sending off when we were 2-0 up changed the game, but they produced some really good football and I was very impressed.

"So it is going to be a tough place to go and get a result but I maintain that we are good enough to do that."