Kendal Town assistant manager Keith Singleton admitted the games don’t get any easier as they look to put their derby demolition at the hands of league leaders Workington Reds to bed with a trip to second-placed Ramsbottom United on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

The NPL North West Division’s top side mastered the muddy pitch and tricky conditions better than their hosts to run out 6-0 winners, helped by a hat-trick from former Town man Brad Carroll.

And Singleton believes they just have to put the defeat behind them and not let it spoil what has been an improved run of performances from second-bottom Kendal, who remain five points clear of Pickering Town with a game in hand.

He said: “There’s no denying they were head and shoulders above us and it could have been more to be totally truthful.

“I think the pitch was maybe in the back of some of our players’ minds because we thought that it would be called off.

“I think we can learn from it but we’ve got to look at ourselves.

“We’ve got Ramsbottom next and they are obviously up there as well so it’s not going to be easy, we know that.

“We have got a couple of lads in and done well recently, it has just been a struggle on the ball.

“Our strikers aren’t firing and if you’re not scoring goals you’re not going to win games.

“However, I would say that we have been playing better away from home at the moment than we have been at home so hopefully we can take that into this game and give ourselves a chance of getting a result.

“We’ve just got to raise the morale, don’t get too down about last weekend and put what happened in that game to bed quickly.”

While this weekend’s game looks like being another daunting fixture for Town, who then travel to fifth-placed Marske United on Tuesday night before hosting Ramsbottom the following weekend, Singleton revealed they should have a trio of key players who missed out on the Reds game back in the squad this weekend.

Former Workington players Kieran Maguire and Sean Paterson were unable to face their old side, while Tom Stead was also absent with one suspended, one ill and another on holiday.

All three are expected to return and be in contention for Saturday’s game.

After this difficult next trio of games, Town will host struggling Ossett United ­– the side one place and one point above them – on March 14 then welcome Marske on March 28.

April starts with a visit to Brighouse Town on April 4, before a home game against play-off chasing Mossley on March 11 and a trip to 15th-placed Colne on March 13.

The penultimate fixture will be a tricky encounter with high-flying visitors Marine on April 18 before Kendal’s run-in wraps up when they travel to another side aiming for the title in Pontefract Collieries on April 25.