Bury boss Dave McNabb is prepared for a tough test against Longridge – but insists his side should approach the game with confidence.

The Shakers enter the fixture on the back of a 3-1 victory against Pilkington, and McNabb felt there were plenty of positives to take from their display.

“Longridge will be a really tough game,” he told The Bury Times. “Ashy (Lee Ashcroft) is a manger I know really well, a fantastic coach.

“He has got a well-coached, young side who are really good on the ball, will try to play the right way and have very good players in attacking areas. I have no doubts they will cause us problems.

“But after our performance against Pilkington in the last game, I think we should be really confident going into this one.

“There was a period in the game where it was in the balance, but it shouldn’t have been if you look at the chances created and the amount of possession we had. We should take a lot of confidence from that performance.”

The fixtures come thick and fast heading into the Christmas period and McNabb is relishing the challenge ahead.

“It is one of those periods in the year where you have a bit of a look ahead at the fixture list and see how challenging of a period it is going to be,” he continued.

“It is lots of games in a short period of time. People have family plans and selections can change. It is a really tough period, we have got some tough games, but it can be very rewarding as well.

“It is just about trying to gain that consistency in our performances, keep pushing and trying to pick up as many wins as possible.

“Fans will always look at the league table from the very first day. I think once you get through the Christmas period and get into the New Year, back down to one game per week, I think that is where most managers will start to look at the table and try to map out where they can potentially finish based on points and games coming up.”

McNabb took charge in September following Andy Welsh’s departure and is loving life at Gigg Lane.

The Bury chief challenged his squad to be more consistent throughout games as they aim to keep getting points on the board.

“I’m really enjoying it,” he added. “It is a tough league and we are doing okay. I think we need to drive a bit more consistency in terms of the way we are playing through games.

“But overall, the club has been absolutely brilliant. I am enjoying every second of it.

“It is tough but we are working as hard as ever and hopefully we can achieve what we want to by the end of the season.”