“The lads are up for this fight,” declared Workington Reds assistant boss Steven Rudd - ahead of Workington Reds battle to stave off the threat of relegation.

Rudd, who rejoined the club a couple of weeks ago as assistant to manager Lee Andrews, says the players’ effort and commitment to the Borough Park cause cannot be in any doubt.

And he believes there is still time to turn the season around and try and keep Reds up in the Northern Premier League.

“We have numbers at training and they have all been excellent, the lads are up for this fight,” said Rudd.

“They are really positive, despite where we are in the league.

“The commitment has been excellent, you can’t knock that at all. The lads are doing as much as they can.

“If we can turn that effort and commitment into results, starting on Saturday, then we can begin to move forward.”

Rudd also said with players returning back to the line-up there is more pressure for places which is providing some healthy competition in the ranks.

He said the players are well aware of the pressure and know that they have to step up on the pitch or others will come in to take their place, as the management duo are also still looking to bring in some new faces as well.

“The lads have got to do their job in the starting XI,” added Rudd, who will welcome back Gari Rowntree from suspension and Kieran Maguire, who missed last weekend due to work commitments.

But experienced defender Dan Wordsworth will still be unavailable as he serves the last game of his suspension.

“Kieran will be back in the squad as he missed out last weekend through work, which is disappointing but obviously has to come first.

“But he is back and putting himself about in training, wanting to get back in the side.

“All the lads have to know they need to come into the team and make a difference. There is competition for places now and there is pressure on the players to perform.”

Reds manager Lee Andrews has targeted the next four games to try and begin their fightback, starting with Saturday’s visit of mid-table Bamber Bridge to Borough Park, ko 3pm.

After that they have another home game against Mickleover before making the trips to Grantham and then bottom-of-the-table North Ferriby.

Workington are currently 10 points adrift of safety as they sit next to the bottom of the league but they do have games in hand on the teams immediately above them.