Jim Nichols is expecting basement-boys Chester-Le-Street to provide a stern test when they host Penrith.

The Cestrians are rooted at the foot of the Northern League table on 20 points and, with only three more league matches to play, they will have to win all three of their remaining games to stand any chance of escaping the drop. The Bonny Blues currently sit 16th.

When the two teams met at Frenchfield Park back in November, Penrith claimed a hard-fought 2-1 win.

And the Bonny Blues boss Nichols is expecting a similarly difficult game this afternoon (3pm kick-off).

He said: “Having looked at the table, they have to win to stay up. If they lose, they will go down and they will be desperate to avoid that for as long as they can.”

Today’s clash will start a run of three matches in five days for Penrith who will play nine fixtures in total this month.

“Including Wednesday night [a 3-0 defeat to Morpeth Town], we have nine games in 20 days, which is a ridiculous ask on our players,” Nichols said.

“You look at players in the Europa League and they get an extra day after games. But we will be playing again on Monday after today.

“I was talking to the Morpeth manager after the game on Wednesday and they are in a similar position [with a further seven matches to play before the end of their season].”

Meanwhile, reflecting on Wednesday’s defeat at Craik Park, manager Nichols said: “We played all right, to be fair.

“The difference is they had that little bit of quality. For half an hour, you would have struggled to see who were the title challengers and who were in mid-table.

“If you look at their manager’s interview online, he is talking about how well we played. That is encouraging.

“We just could not get the ball in the back of the net. It’s disappointing because 10 minutes put us out of the game, really. But that is how football is sometimes.”

Nichols will again have a healthy amount of options to choose from in his squad with Grant Davidson having returned after his honeymoon for the midweek clash.

Ric Faustino (ankle) is the only certain injury absentee.

Nichols said: “But that gives Jordan Lawson a chance.”