Farsley Celtic and Guiseley still eyeing the play-offs

The West Yorkshire side have 11 games remaining this season however, seven of them are against teams currently involved in the promotion fight.

Lakeland said: “We’re going to have to put an unbelievable run together and we’re going to have to do it playing the biggest and the best teams in the division.

“It’s going to be incredibly difficult but there’s no pressure on us. Our first port of call was to get to enough points to survive and we’ve managed to do that.”

The manager also believes that being the underdogs in this play-off push does increase the expectations on their rivals saying: “I think all the teams that are up and above us – and even two or three that are around us – there’s a hell of a lot more pressure on those clubs to make the play-offs than there is on us.

“That’s something we have to use to our advantage.

“We have to go into every game being as competitive as we can, but play with a little bit of freedom and the confidence of knowing that every game for us from now on is a free hit.”

Farsley’s run of tricky fixtures begins this weekend with a clash against third-placed Boston United. After winning six straight league games, Boston were finally stopped in an unexpected 3-0 home defeat to Gateshead.

Despite the loss, Lakeland is still wary of the opposition saying: “They’re in excellent form and they’re having a great season. They’re a good side and it’s going to be a difficult game for us but one which we’ll enter as underdogs with no pressure on us.”

Guiseley will also have their sights on the play-offs when they take on Kidderminster Harriers this weekend. The Lions lost ground on their rivals after squandering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home against Gateshead.

Joint-boss Russ O’Neill said: “Although they had a lot of possession in the second half, I think we got ourselves into a position where we should have gone on to win the game.

“Whether they’re full-time or part-time we can’t relinquish two-nil leads at home at that stage. We’re very disappointed to have only picked one point up.”

Two weeks ago, Guiseley suffered a similar disappointment when they let their first half 1-0 lead slip against Telford. Two goals from Marcus Dinanga in the final half hour of the contest left the Lions empty-handed.

O’Neill added: “We’re disappointed. We wanted to be in and around that top seven.

“[Against Telford] We let another lead slip at home in a game that I feel we should have gone on to win. We should have more points on the table after those two weeks.”

Guiseley can still make the play-offs however, they will have to overturn a seven points deficit with 11 games remaining.

Elsewhere, bottom-of-the-table Bradford Park Avenue will be looking for just their fourth win of the season when they take on Leamington.