Chester FC entertain Altrincham on Boxing Day with Steve Burr's men needing three points to reignite a season that has faltered in the past four weeks.
Chester have not won in five games and were knocked out of the FA Trophy on penalties on Monday night by AFC Telford United , who are bottom of the Vanarama Conference.
It has been a frustrating end to what has been an encouraging first half of the season and the Blues risk being dragged intro trouble if the winless run continues.
Chester are without the suspended Gareth Roberts, who sits out the second game of his three match ban after being sent off in the 3-0 loss at Barnet , and Peter Winn is unlikely to be involved having limped off on Monday night.
Ex-Ilkeston forward Kane Richards returns to the squad following a promising debut and should start on the left wing. Ben Heneghan was used in midfield against Telford but might be switched to back to his preferred right back spot.
First team coach Jon McCarthy reckons one positive result can help the Blues regather some of the momentum lost over the past month.
He said: “We’ll just keep looking for that next good result and there’s still plenty of belief, yet we still know there’s a couple of missing pieces that will make us better.
“I think we knew and the fans knew we’d have a couple of dips in amongst the highs. With what we’ve got, we knew there was going to be ups and a few little downs but we’re ready for it.
“We’re almost back with the squad we had at the start of the season where we said, look, there’s a certain type of game we need to be winning and these two Altrincham games are key.
“We talked about beating the Braintrees and the Telfords, which we have done in the league.
“We’ll get back to basics with our feet on the ground and see if we can make sure we win these games and we’ll try and build again."
Altrincham boss Lee Sinnott feels his side are improving as the season goes on but wants to keep taking things one step at a time.
Alty were promoted through the Conference North play-offs yet had a difficult start to the campaign, losing five of their first six games.
Results remained disappointing in September but a win over rivals Macclesfield Town at the end of the month provided something of a catalyst.
Sinnott’s team are on a good run with one defeat in seven and have opened up a seven-point gap between them and the bottom four.
Alty head to the Swansway Chester Stadium on Boxing Day (2pm) on the back of a draw with in-form Dover Athletic after James Lawrie’s spectacular equaliser in time added on.
“We’re growing, we’re maturing and we’re putting those bricks in the wall that I was on about,” said Sinnott.
“There’s plenty of work left to do, of course there is, but we are a more battle hardened team now than we were in the first month.
“We have more about us and I think results have panned that out.”
Chester have faced the Robins twice since the club was reformed, winning both meetings.
Sinnott’s squad still contains a fair chunk of the those involved in the last game between the clubs, including Lawrie, the dangerous Damian Reeves, Shaun Densmore and evergreen goalkeeper Stuart Coburn.
Alty will host the Blues in the return fixture on New Year’s Day and Sinnott has hinted he will look to rotate his squad to cope with the demands of the Christmas schedule.
He said: “If you’re playing four games in 10 days, maybe the workload will change because it’s the festive period. We’ll have to look at injecting fresh energy because if you’re looking at especially the first two games then 72 hours is not long at all is it?
“That’s something that’s going to have to be gauged but everybody looks forward to their football at Christmas and new year, don’t they? We know that it comes with the territory and we’re obviously looking to keep putting points on the board.
“We’re into the 30s now and like I said since I have been here, it’s about how quickly can we get out of the 10s and get to the 40s and then you take it from there.”
