PAUL Bowyer has said 1874 Northwich can send a message to their rivals in the North West Counties League top-flight by beating Colne today, Saturday.

The visitors won’t be short of an incentive; their promotion hopes may be over, but they can do damage to those of a side that has yet to lose a Premier Division fixture on home turf this season.

They won last term’s corresponding fixture, and Ian Street’s assistant insists a repeat will give their players a psychological boost for the rest of the current campaign.

“The pressure is on them – they know they can catch Runcorn Linnets [at the top of the table] if they win their remaining games,” said Bowyer.

“But it’s a big game for us as well.

“A win would be important, and remind everybody that we should still be considered one of the best teams in this division.

“If we make sure we do the things we’re good at, then we’ll be in the game – that’s what we’ll be putting across to the lads before kick-off.”

1874 put behind them the disappointment of last weekend’s defeat at Squires Gate when they saw off Cammell Laird in midweek.

However the performances in those two matches demonstrated perfectly the inconsistency of a side that has slipped to fifth in the standings.

They start this afternoon’s contest nine points adrift of second-placed Colne, who have two games in hand.

Bowyer said: “We had to make changes to the team [after losing last Saturday], and it worked.

“More importantly, we improved with the ball – that was good to see. We can still get better though.

“Of course it was nice to keep a clean sheet as well, particularly as that’s something we’ve pointed out regularly in the past few weeks.”

Mike Brandon, who scored the only goal in last season’s meeting at the XLCR Stadium, is unavailable.

Craig Farnworth is ill, so will not travel, but new recruit Tyler Edwards is included in 1874’s squad.

After an encouraging debut on Tuesday, Ben Woods gets another chance to impress at full-back.

Kick off is at 3pm.