A hectic couple of months for Penrith will start today with an away trip to Dunston UTS.

Jim Nichols' men have only played 20 Northern League fixtures this season - five less than this afternoon's opponents (3pm kick-off).

Despite the impending fixture backlog, the Bonny Blues only played once over the festive period.

"It seems ridiculous. We have so many games left and we have only played once in the past three weeks," Nichols said.

"Obviously, it's a chance to start picking up points now and start climbing towards mid-table, which is where I think we should be."

Penrith are yet to play Dunston UTS in a Northern League fixture this term, although the Cumbrians were knocked out of the FA Cup by them in August.

The Bonny Blues boss said: "We probably feel we owe them one.

"We played them away and were 3-1 up and ended up drawing. And then we just never showed up at home in the replay.

"The lads will be desperate because the FA is a big, big thing at our level and they went a couple of rounds further and you do think 'that could have been us.'

"But we are going there with a big squad."

Before the end of February, Nichols' troops will play 10 league matches and also have a League Cup tie at South Shields and a Cumberland Cup Quarter-Final penned into their diary.

But the Penrith manager admitted he knows how important results in the next month could be in terms of shaping up the rest of the club's season - and is not short of options this weekend.

"We had 16 at training on Wednesday and six missing, which gives an idea of how many players I have at the moment," he added.

"That leaves lots of tough decisions for me. But I would rather have it like that, rather scrambling around for players like I was a bit for Boxing Day.

"We also have a lot of young lads and, sometimes, I think it's good for them to come out of the team and take a step back."

Top goalscorer Martyn Coleman and Mathew Read will both return after respective one-match bans.

Nichols said: "It doesn't matter what level of football you are at, you are always going to miss your top goalscorer."