MALVERN Town boss Neil Hunt is confident his side can keep their promotion dreams alive in the Travel Factory Alliance by defeating derby rivals Westfields tonight at allpay.park (7.45)

It will be the first time the clubs have met this season after the original fixture on December 27 last year was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

Malvern are currently third in the league, trailing leaders Rushall Olympic by eight points and second-place Chasetown by three points. They have only lost once in the their last seven games.

Victory in Herefordshire will go a long way to helping Town chase their second consecutive promotion, but they are hampered with three key players unavailable.

Midfielder Nathan Jukes is injured, while suspended pair Duncan Preedy and Darren Bullock are out. Defender Dave Howes (cruciate) is Westfields' only injured player.

Malvern boss Neil Hunt said: "It's a local derby, it's the closest one we have and both teams will be out to get three points.

"At the end of the day, we've got 14 games left and we have to win 12 to realistically have any hope of promotion. To be perfectly honest, the top six sides in the division are paying a lot more than what we are and we consider ourselves very fortunate to be where we are.

"When you look at the size of our club, our support and our budget compared to others, we have done really well.

"We are missing three key players, they would be playing week in week out for us. But it is an opportunity for other people. Darren is a big influence for us, but he has missed the last two games and we've picked up six points. It may be a case of signing a couple of players just for this one game."

Westfields chief executive Andy Morris said his club were intent on claiming the bragging rights and eager to attract a crowd in the region of 200.

He said: "Malvern are having a cracking season since getting promoted and it is nice to renew old battles with them. It should be a great game and we hope a lot of people come down here to see it.

"They are a very dangerous side and have scored plenty of goals this season. We will be all out for a win, though, because we need the points."