MARTIN Poste has said he expected Northwich to endure a testing start to the season and predicted a margin between his team and their rivals will continue to be narrow.

Blacks suffered a third successive defeat in North One West when they went down 27-21 at Burnage last weekend, leaving them 10 points adrift of early pacesetters Carlisle.

It followed a slender 35-34 reverse at Birkenhead Park seven days earlier.

In both games the visitors had to play catch-up in the second-half after falling behind.

“I’m looking at how we respond in those situations,” said Poste, director of rugby at Moss Farm.

“It takes some side to come back from 35-10 at Park and put 24 points on them in the final quarter.

“The reality is though that this division is more competitive than ever, and we’ll be asked questions every week.

“We knew the fixture list for September looked challenging, and that’s exactly what it’s turned out to be.”

Northwich host Blackburn, victors in three of their four games so far, on Saturday, kick-off 3pm.

It is an opportunity to get their campaign back on track, but Poste is wary of the problems the Lancashire side has caused for his men in previous seasons.

“We’re tweaking things while at the same time bedding in one or two new signings,” he added.

“That’s going to take a bit of time, which is normal.

“We’re calm; I’m unsure there is an outright contender who will be out on their own at the top of the table this season.

“The evidence so far is that everybody can take points from each other.”