Workington Reds boss Danny Grainger's team faces two crunch games in successive weeks – and he couldn’t be happier.

Grainger had seen his side get back to winning ways, beating Colne 3-0 to continue their reign at the top of the NPL North West Division.

But the next two matches could be pivotal in Reds’ hopes of still being top at the end of the season.

They face Marske at Borough Park on Saturday with the north east side eight points behind in fifth, but with four games in hand.

On Saturday, they beat Pontefract Collieries 1-0 in Yorkshire to underline their capabilities.

Then it’s a trip to Ramsbottom on January 25 with the Lancashire side lying second to the Reds, a point behind from the same number of games.

Grainger said: “I said when I took the job that these are the games I want to be involved in, ones that matter at the top end of the table.

“Unfortunately, Workington haven’t had many of these in recent years, so I hope we can get a good crowd down on Saturday to help us against a very good Marske side.

“It was important that we got back to winning ways after stalling in our last two games and I thought the players were terrific.

“They really were poor conditions to play in and at one point I thought the referee was going to call it off.

“But we stuck at it and I thought we were comfortable and deserved winners in the end against a decent Colne side.

“We got our goal at the right time in the first-half, although we hadn’t created much beforehand.

“Then the second goal right after half-time was perfect because they had just kicked off against the strong wind and rain and must have been a sickener.

“Scotty [Allison] put it away well and he is scoring freely now, but he’s so much more to us than his goals. His hold up play and link ups are first class.”

In fact, Allison, who has scored over 100 goals for the Reds has bagged 13 in the League, the joint second top-scorer behind Niall Cummins (15) of Marine.

Grainger had the luxury of bringing on new signing Cole Lonsdale for the last 25 minutes and he was well-pleased.

“I think we saw in that short space of time that he’s a decent footballer and can be very useful to us between now and the end of the season,” said the manager.