DEESIDE DRAGONS host Altrincham on Sunday looking for just their third back to back win of the season.

Following their second biggest victory of the 2018/19 Laidler Conference against Blackburn, the Dragons now turn their attentions to eighth placed Altrincham Aces who they take on at The Den this week, before travelling to visit in Manchester on January 26.

And player-coach, Marc Lovell, is targeting nothing but maximum points to gather some much-needed momentum as the season enters its final stages.

He said: “They’re a well organised, and hardworking team so it’ll be a hard game, but we’ll be looking to get two wins against them.

“We’ll have to be on the ball because Altrincham will be working hard and coming to win. They will be tough games. We’ve played them twice, and it’s been difficult, so it’ll be nice to get two wins.”

While Deeside recently celebrated a resounding 13-2 victory over Blackburn Hawks 2, Altrincham go into the game at Deeside Leisure Centre with just one win in their last 12, and Lovell adds:

“It’s definitely a chance for us to get a win, but they’ll also be looking it at from their perspective and hoping to get back to winning ways against us, especially with them being close to us in the table.

Penalties could be a deciding factor in the upcoming match, with Altrincham (739) and Deeside (557) accruing the most penalty minutes in the league. It is, however, something that Marc Lovell is aware of.

He says: “Penalties are an issue for us because there’s been games where it’s cost us points. When you’re constantly a man down, it takes the wind out of your sails and you can’t get any momentum going.

“Hopefully we don’t have a long night of penalties!

“It’s vital to get the wins against Altrincham because if we drop points, we go even lower, and the games will start running out, so we want to pick up as many points as we can.”

After their two fixtures against Altrincham, the Flintshire club have just another eight games until the end of the season, all coming against sides currently above them in the league table.

However, with the four teams closest to the Dragons facing one another this weekend, the upcoming games against Altrincham present Lovell and his side with an ideal opportunity to reduce the five-point deficit between them and fifth placed Bradford, while opening a gap of their own over Coventry – who the Dragons presently sit level on points with.

The player-coach says: “I do have a look at the fixtures and who’s playing, but I don’t look too deeply into it because we don’t want to get too wrapped up in other games.

“We do look at the results though, especially with Coventry who are really close to us and have been enjoying some good scores lately.”

A day before the Dragons face-off against Altrincham, Bradford Bulldogs head to Telford looking to leapfrog their opponents in the league, potentially rising into third place if Hull fail to win their home tie with Coventry.