CARL Macauley believes Witton Albion will need to produce their best performance of the season to eliminate Workington from the FA Trophy.

However they head to Cumbria buoyed by winning four of their past five games in all competitions, a sequence started by a slender success against Reds earlier this month.

They teams also drew at Borough Park in August.

“We’ll have to be better this time around than in those two games,” said the Albion boss.

“It’s true that we’ve taken four points off them already, but in truth they were both tight games that could have gone either way.

“We expected a difficult game when the draw was made, and nothing has happened since that changes that view.

“Travelling up there is never easy because they don’t lose many at home.

“However we were in the driving seat up there [in August] before they scored a late equaliser.

“We’ve got ourselves into good positions in the league meetings, and we can take a lot of encouragement from that.”

Workington are in impressive form too, and a 1-0 defeat at Wincham Park is their only one in the past seven Northern Premier League fixtures.

It’s a run that has propelled them to sixth in the Premier Division table.

Indeed, only Matlock have left Borough Park as victors this season.

Witton will be boosted by the return of midfielder Prince Haywood following a suspension, while full-back Danny McKenna is available too after watching a midweek win at Runcorn Town while he nursed a calf injury.

Macauley said: “I was most happy to get through that game unscathed.

“We achieved everything we wanted to, and were able to rest certain players while giving others a chance they’ve perhaps not had previously.

“It was a solid performance, and I felt we looked strong.

“They made it difficult for us in the first half, and we changed our formation at half-time to help us penetrate more in the final third of the field.

“We had a lot of joy after that, and it’s a move that paid off.

“It was important for us to keep a clean-sheet as well after conceding three goals from set-pieces at Nantwich last Saturday.

“We tried something different, and it seemed to work.

“I’ll really can’t emphasise enough how crucial it will be for us to stay focused in our penalty area from free-kicks and corners [against Workington].”