AHEAD of two “monster” away fixtures, Neil Reynolds would dearly love to be tackling them with a fully fit and firing Warrington Rylands squad.

Unfortunately, however, he admits that is unlikely to be the case with several key men struggling with injuries sustained in their last game.

Captain James Neild and midfielders Harrison Hopper and Ben Hough all needed to be substituted during a 1-0 home reverse to Ilkeston Town on Saturday – a result that ended Blues’ five-match winning run in all competitions.

And as a result of a shock win for Mickleover against league leaders Macclesfield on Tuesday night, Rylands go into the weekend having dropped back into the Northern Premier League Premier Division relegation zone.

However, that very result may well give them heart as they prepare to visit a Guiseley side who sit second in the table tomorrow.

Reynolds says he is hopeful of having one key man back in contention in the shape of forward Alex Kiwomya but elsewhere, he says he may well be relying on his “warrior” players to go through the pain barrier again.

“We’ll hopefully have Alex Kiwomya back next week, but we are going to be light on numbers,” he said.

“Houghy’s come off just before the end of the game, Harrison Hopper’s had to come off with a horrendous ankle.

“We’re going to have to patch people up and go again, but I’ve got a team of warriors in there.

“If you look at people like Clive Smith – he played on Saturday with six stitches in his knee. These lads don’t want to miss games.”

Following their trip to Yorkshire this weekend, Blues face another formidable challenge when they visit National League North leaders Chorley in the FA Trophy third round on December 7.

Despite seeing their recent upturn dented at the weekend, however, Reynolds insists his side are ready to meet the challenges head-on.

“We had Guiseley watched last week and they’re a fantastic side,” he said.

“They’re second in the league, they lost their game to the weather at the weekend so they’ll be ready for us, and we’ve got to be ready for them.

“We’ve got two monster away games coming up – Guiseley who are riding high in the league and then Chorley in the Trophy.

“The last thing we want to be doing is going into those games downbeat, but we’re not.

“We’re disappointed with the result on Saturday, but we’re certainly upbeat about the performance.”