WITTON Albion have lost their past five league games away from home but Gary Martindale believes they can pull off a result against promotion-hopefuls Stourbridge.

He told the Guardian that an FA Trophy exit at Workington would serve to further motivate his players tomorrow afternoon.

“We’ve a knack of bouncing back,” said the assistant manager.

“It’s something we’ve done time and again over the past couple of years, and I fully expect the same to apply this time around.

“I can sense when a dressing room is suffering, and those lads were hurting [after losing to Workington].

“They’re desperate to put things right this weekend.”

However they will have to do so without captain Anthony Brown, who serves a suspension after being cautioned for a fifth time this season.

Defensive duo Michael Wilson (ribs) and Danny McKenna (calf) are both doubts due to injury, while Matty Devine (hamstring) is ruled out indefinitely.

A shortage of cover in Cumbria led to front man Rob Hopley switching to defence in the second-half.

Witton remain in the table’s top-half ahead of their trip to the West Midlands, and will draw level with their seventh-placed hosts on points if they beat them.

Despite a disappointing recent run of results away from Wincham Park, Martindale insists that Albion can still be happy with how the campaign is unfolding.

He said: “We’re learning as a management team, and so are the players.

“This club has been outside of the Premier Division for a couple of years, and so we’re adjusting to what’s required to do well.

“We’re in a position from where we can still make a run towards the top-end of the table, and that’s encouraging for a promoted side.

“There is plenty we can improve upon, and we’ve addressed things in training this week that were exposed by Workington.

“It’s pretty unforgiving at this level if you let your standards slip for even a second because the opposition are always going to be good enough to punish a mistake if you make one.

“That’s happened to us recently, and we know that we can be better at both ends of the field.”

He said that a visit to Stourbridge, considered by many to be contenders to be promoted this season after reaching the play-offs last term, is one to be excited by.

The Glassboys could be vulnerable too; they have won only three of nine league games on home turf to date, and lost the past two.

Martindale added: “These are the big games you look forward to when the fixture list comes out, perhaps even more so when you’re stepping up to this level.

“We’ve proved we can beat the best when we produce ours, but our determination to put behind us last weekend’s defeat would be the same whether we’re playing Stourbridge or Sutton Coldfield.”