Speaking to the press on Thursday morning, Brian Barry-Murphy previewed Saturday’s return to CCS.
Following City’s thrilling away victory against Bradford City last week, Brian now anticipates a stern challenge on home ground against the Hatters.
“I can’t wait for Saturday,” Brian began. “The pitch is looking really good, and we’ll be facing a team who have caused so many problems for us in the game at Edgeley Park. We’re really excited to test ourselves and see how much we’ve improved since that game, and try to play our best and win.
“Dave Challinor has done a great job with them, and obviously with them being in the Play-Offs last season they’re a powerful, skilful team.
“We’re fully aware of their strengths and how much of a punch they pack in their attacking play, but we feel as if we’re in a pretty good place ourselves and we’re looking forward to a really good game where both teams will go for it.”
Seeing Saturday's fixture as another opportunity to build on City's established form, Barry-Murphy targets continual improvement from the Bluebirds as the season progresses.
Continuing, Brian added: “The players are very aware of the demands that we’ve put on them. We’ve done really well so far, but the performance levels still aren’t where we’d want them.
“We don’t take any victory for granted in this league or any performance. Using certain markers, we can measure how much we’ve improved from the first half of the season, and that will be the case on Saturday.
"We were fortunate to get a point against Stockport in the corresponding fixture, and on Saturday we’ll have to prove that we’ve improved significantly to give ourselves a chance to win the game.”
Providing an injury update ahead of the weekend, Brian continued: “Ronan [Kpakio] is back in training this week, while Perry [Ng] hasn’t, so he’s a doubt for the game on Saturday, but if he trains well today and tomorrow he could be available.
“Ryan Wintle has had an issue with his neck, so we haven’t seen him in training since Saturday. David Turnbull is also ill at the moment.
He concluded: “Rubin [Colwill] is making brilliant progress and is back on the pitch alongside us but not training with us. We hope that he can join back in training in the next two weeks, and then it’s just a case of measuring how much team training he needs before he’s back into action. He’s a huge player for us, and I’m very excited to see him doing so well.”