WAYNE Goodison is happy 1874 Northwich are making progress and is intrigued to discover how they measure up to one of the league’s best teams.

A sequence of three successive wins in all competitions, and a tally of 11 goals, is reason for optimism ahead of a trip to Bootle – hosts with a shot at catching leaders City of Liverpool.

“We’ll find out where we are,” said Northwich’s co-manager.

“We feel we’re a better side than our position in the table and our mind-set has to be that we can go there and win the game.”

It’s a feat they managed in the corresponding fixture last season when Jake Parker’s goal separated the teams.

1874 also prevailed when the Bucks visited Barton Stadium in September.

However they will be greeted by buoyant opponents on Merseyside who have risen to second place in the standings, eight points adrift of top spot but with a game in hand, after winning 11 successive matches.

They will be aware though that they have never beaten Northwich on home turf.

Goodison said: “We’ll need to put in a good performance but given how we’ve played recently I expect us to.

“It’s a certainty we’ll be put under more pressure than we have in the past couple of games and we’ll have to deal with that.”

1874 have collected maximum points from games against the bottom two clubs – West Didsbury & Chorlton and Abbey Hey – and are 12th in the standings.

With 10 games left, Goodison and joint-boss Paul Bowyer have challenged their players to improve on last season when they finished seventh.

They also have semi-finals to play in two knockout competitions; the Macron League Cup and the Mid-Cheshire District FA Senior Cup.

“We set our objectives before Christmas and they haven’t changed,” said Goodison.

“If lads want to play in the cup games, then it’s important they continue to play well.

“A strong finish to the season in the league is important because we want to take some momentum into the summer.

“We learned a lot last year and know what we’d like to do differently next time around.”