MARTIN Poste has urged his players to show their true selves when they take fellow promotion-hopefuls Stockport on Saturday.

Both teams have lost three of their past four matches in North One West while the hosts at Moss Farm will be motivated to avenge a heavy 50-26 defeat in the return.

“The real Northwich needs to show up and I think that they will,” said Blacks’ director of rugby.

“It’s a big game, that’s for sure.”

Northwich lost 32-12 at second-placed Blackburn last weekend and sit sixth in the table.

READ > Blackburn 32-12 Northwich: match report

A distance to Stockport is four points while a gap to the promotion play-off position is now nine.

There is less margin for error than previously for a side that has finished third in each of the past two seasons.

Poste, who reached 100 games at the helm against Blackburn, should be boosted by having key players back.

Will Du Randt couldn’t travel to Ramsgreave Drive because of work commitments while Martin Balshaw and Sam Naylor both missed out with a virus.

All three are in contention to return.

“We’re still not quite at a stage where we can afford to have too many of our best players missing,” said the Blacks’ chief.

“And we remain an enigma don’t we?

“Last week I said Blackburn had become a bit of a graveyard for us and it remains a ground we don’t ever play well at.

“It was an important half-time huddle because we risked a hiding and they were running riot.

“Fortunately we stopped that and scored more points than they did in the second-half.”