NOW that we've entered March, there are just two months left to the season and we've got a lot of games coming up in a small period of time.

There's always quite a lot of fixtures for everybody late on and the next few games are important for us. We need to get results that will steer us clear of any relegation battle.

Our next three games are against Bradford Park Avenue (twice) and Stalybridge Celtic, teams currently in the bottom three.

I would say we need to get a couple of wins in the next three or four games to put us in a safe enough position in the league table.

I think it will take more than beating Bradford at home on Saturday, though. We would need to win at least another one to make certain.

We didn't have a fixture on Saturday and I felt it was best to give the players the day off. They deserved it after putting a lot of effort into training and games in the last few weeks.

I've been pleased with their effort and I told them to go out with their families, enjoy the weekend and get back ready for training tonight.

I decided to watch Barrow at home to Stafford Rangers on Saturday. It was a good chance for me to have a look at two sides in Nationwide North and to pick up a few things on both of them.

It was a decent enough game, but from what I saw, we are definitely as good as both of those teams. We could compete with both with the players we have got.

We'll still be working on our organisation again in training this week. There are still things we can sort out defensively.

Even though we've kept a few clean sheets, it's important to keep it fresh in the players' minds and keep hammering it into them that defending well is still the basis of our game.

After that, we'll also do a bit more work in how we are going to break teams down and how we can create more in possession.

All the players have done very well in the last few weeks. Adam Webster with his goals, Leon Kelly has been excellent and I think the back three have done really well. I could go through the entire team, it's very hard to pick out individuals.

We are having a look at the fitness of a couple of players. Danny McDonnell has struggled a little bit with illness and it was the right decision to give him the night off at Lancaster last week. James Coates did an excellent job coming in but Danny should be back.

My ribs are still giving me a problem and that is frustrating. They are slowly improving and it's just a case of waiting to see how I feel towards the end of the week.

Liam McDonald broke a finger in a reserve game a while ago and had an operation on it last week. We are assessing it but the injury has stopped him from working so we have to be careful.

He just has to let it heal and then take it from there. Liam was hoping it would be okay for Saturday but we will have to see how painful it is for him nearer the time. It is all about how we can look after the injury and protect it.