Workington Town skipper Ollie Wilkes is confident the team can cement their place in the League 1 play-offs – even if they face the next step without him this weekend.

The experienced skipper said he has “an outside chance” of being involved on Sunday against West Wales Raiders at Derwent Park (3pm kick-off) but may be forced to watch from the sidelines as he continues his recovery from a clear-out operation he had on July 9.

“I’ll definitely be back in the next few games,” he said.

“We were hoping for this weekend but I’m still not confident.

“I don’t know if it’s worth the risk but there is an outside chance for this weekend.

“It has been very frustrating to be sat watching, especially in the derby.

“I was jumping up and down on the side because that’s why you play the game.”

Town’s “dominant” performance against their rivals at the Recreation Ground has only increased the captain’s confidence that his side remain in the hunt for promotion.

And he believes a similar display to the one which earned Workington a12-12 draw against the league leaders would be too much for struggling West Wales.

“The draw was sickening but we dominated field position,” Wilkes said.

“A performance like that against West Wales and I think they would find it difficult to challenge, no disrespect to them.

“The best side in the league couldn’t get out of their own half hardly.

“At the end of the day, we were one of the favourites for going up at the start of the year and an accumulation of things, including injuries and a coaching departure, have meant it’s been a topsy-turvy season.

“We’ve hit a bit of form going into the last few games and maybe this fixture has come at a good time, then we have a few weeks to prepare for the last couple.

“Everybody is looking down thinking they don’t want to play Town if we make it into the play-offs.”