SILSDEN face a huge month in their surprise battle for promotion from the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, starting at home to Winterton Rangers on Saturday.

The Cobbydalers are led by rookie bosses Matt Cavanagh and Luke Lavery, and are riding high in fifth.

Runaway leaders North Ferriby look set to storm to the title, but the runners-up will take part in a promotion play-off later in the season.

Winterton currently occupy that coveted second spot, but Silsden are just four points behind them having played a game less.

After Winterton, Silsden host Barton Town, seven points behind them but with three games in hand, on January 21 and visit North Ferriby a week later.

Cavanagh said: “It’s a really tough month for us.

“It was supposed to start at Barton on Monday, but the game was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.

“That’ll be rearranged for a midweek, which isn’t ideal as it means travelling 90 miles to get there on a Tuesday night after our lads have been at work.

“Regardless of when that gets rescheduled for, we’ve still got them at home this month, as well as a tricky game at (mid-table) Knaresborough, then that really tough one against North Ferriby.

“If we can come through this run with some positive results, we can really start thinking of that top-six to top-eight finish or better.”

The fixture against Winterton marks Silsden’s first home one since mid-November, with five league games in a row on the road since.

Cavanagh said: “At the start of the season it felt like we were at home all the time.

“But it’s been so long now, and with the forecast this weekend, we might not even get the Winterton game in.

“It’s good to be at home, because it means fans coming through the gate, where we can treat them to some entertaining football.

“It’s something we can all look forward to on Saturday.”

On the challenge of facing Winterton, Cavanagh said: “You want to play against the very best teams and they’re up there in the table for a reason.

“They’ve got a prolific striker in Josh Walker, but you can’t do loads of homework on them as they’re a fair distance away (in Scunthorpe) so it’s hard to get to their games.

“We’ll do what we can in terms of looking at their strengths, as well as seeing where we can exploit them.

“They’re in form like we are, with both of us winning our last three league games, so it will probably come down to who plays best on the day.

“We’ll just aim to do the basics well and see if we’ve got match winners in our side.”

The Cobbydalers already have a proven one in Talent Ndlovu, whose late double helped his side down rock-bottom Yorkshire Amateur 2-1 last time out.

Cavanagh said: “We had a lack of training over Christmas due to the weather, and I knew we’d find Ammers tough, even though they’re bottom.

“We were lucky to win the match, and it wasn’t Talent’s best game in truth, but he saved the day late on.

“He’s been great in a lot of our games though, and leads from the front as our vice-captain.

“He’s been a great addition (from Eccleshill United) to a good squad.”