WHILE Winnington Park enjoyed an afternoon off on Saturday, Northwich’s attention was on beating Aspatria in an attritional cup clash.

But player-coach Sam Naylor believes a 19-3 success, a third successive win in all competitions for his side, was perfect preparation for this weekend’s derby encounter.

“We felt under pressure last time because we’d been losing games,” he said.

“It’s different now – we’re playing with confidence.

“We’re conscious too that we’ve beaten Park the past three times we’ve met.”

In fact, Blacks have never lost a league encounter with their neighbours in five previous games.

However Naylor told the Guardian his side had learned more from losing to Winnington, in a fiery Cheshire Vase clash at Burrows Hill last summer.

He said: “We were too pumped, too fired up.

“It meant we couldn’t put into practice the tactics we’d prepared, nor were we calm at important moments in the match.

“In the league games since, we’ve been much better in those aspects.

“We know anything can happen in a derby, and I expect Winnington to make things tough for us.

“I’ll be telling the guys to be on the front foot, to keep the pressure on if we score.

“That way we can control the game better.

“If it becomes a dogfight, then it will be close and more unpredictable.”

With a promotion play-off place now 17 points away following a victory for Liverpool St Helens at the weekend, Naylor concedes pride is the prize for Saturday’s victor.

Park have won more matches – 12 – this term, but trail Blacks in the table after collecting fewer bonus points.

“It’s a long way to second place now,” said Naylor.

“All we can do is keep winning games while trying to score as many tries as possible.

“If we’re realistic, it’s probably too much ground to make up in the games we have left.

“We’ll probably start to think about next season in the coming weeks, and I’ll discuss with [vice-chairman of rugby] Rollo Hawkins how we can progress.”

Northwich will be without Chris Dale, ruled out for the season’s remainder with an arm injury, while Chris James (hamstring) is a doubt.

Naylor himself has been nursing a knee injury, but expects to play against Park.

John Brotherton, Jack Watts and John Harrison missed Saturday’s meeting with Aspatria, but all three should be available again on Saturday.