LIVERSEDGE are riding high again in the Toolstation Northern Counties East League - and manager Jonathan Rimmington is praying that he can keep playing his strongest team as often as possible.

Sedge had a slightly sticky spell just before Christmas, with just one win in six in all competitions, but a dominant draw at leaders Penistone Church on December 21 has been followed up by three consecutive wins.

That has left them in fourth on 36 points ahead of today's game at Knaresborough Town, but they are only two points behind the top two, Penistone and Hemsworth Miners Welfare.

What is more, they have three games in hand on the former and four on the latter.

Asked how Sedge have turned their form around again over the last month, Rimmington said: "We've always been doing all right really, and we weren't far off (during that bad run).

"But we don't always get our strongest team out every week, and that often means playing people out of position. We've brought some new faces in to freshen things up and I think we're difficult to play against.

"We've got big lads up front and we're good in midfield. Now we just need to stop the opposition scoring.

"We're trying to compete at the top, and I do think we can, but some of the lads are not always available."

They proved they could compete at the top in that aforementioned draw at Penistone four weeks ago.

It is a sign of how Sedge, who finished last season in mid-table, have improved this year, as the seemingly impressive result left Rimmington feeling deflated.

He said: "We should have beaten Penistone. They put us under pressure in the first half, but in the second we really opened them up.

"We had a couple of new lads playing in Paul Walker and Jack Steers who did well, and it was only a mistake in the last minute that stopped us from winning.

"They're top but they have not beaten us this season, as we won (1-0) at home against them."