Workington Reds manager Danny Grainger has warned his players they must be prepared to fight for the right to lift the NPL North West Division title over the final eight games of their league campaign.

Reds are in an envious position, 10 points clear of their nearest challengers at the top and with a goal difference which is vastly superior to every other team.

But their boss is not resting on his laurels and believes they can expect to come up against sides who are scrapping for their lives during the final run-in – with play-off places, survival and the title itself still to play for.

“To make sure that we’re in the running we need that kind of performance,” he said after Workington dug deep to grind out a win against Mossley in midweek.

“Whatever it is, teams are going to fight for it and we need to make sure that we’re ready for that fight.”

Reds are due to travel to face Tadcaster Albion tomorrow (2pm kick-off) looking for an eighth league win in a row and their 10th in all competitions.

And as well as predicting they will come up against a team determined to knock them off their pedestal, Grainger also felt his players would have to get used to playing on tricky surfaces over the final month and a half.

He said: “It’s going to be a similar type of pitch at Tadcaster to what it was tonight.

“It’s going to be heavy and there will be no lovely pitches to play on between now and the end of the season.

“It’s been a long, hard winter for every groundsman going and ours as well so credit to them for getting games on.

“We just need to make sure we pick the right team and freshen up enough bodies that the team is ready to go and play the way we know we can, identify their weaknesses and hopefully exploit them.”

Grainger did not have any fresh injury concerns ahead of training last night, with players coming off against Mossley on Tuesday night more due to worries about the referee showing more cards to his players and resulting in suspensions.

“I’ve got no issues at the moment,” he added.