STEETON host AFC Blackpool on Saturday, with Roy Mason saying that a lack of a deadly marksman has proved costly so far this season.

With games running out in the North West Counties League Division One North, the Chevrons are technically four points off safety.

Mason confirmed that there is a possibility that no-one will be relegated from the league this season, but said Steeton would be doing their utmost to finish outside of the bottom two in order to absolutely guarantee safety.

Discussing why his side are still bottom ahead of the Blackpool clash, Mason said: "We’re very close to being a decent side.

"Me and (assistant manager) Brian Blackwell are working hard, there’s a real effort in training and even though we’re bottom, the morale is still there to succeed.

"But a lack of proven goalscorer, like we had with Andy Briggs and Ben Clarkson last season, has cost us.

"Ben’s only managed four this season and Luke Baldwin is our top scorer with eight, and he only came back to the club in November.

"Our Achilles heel is that we’ve been on top in games but when we're only 1-0 up we've lacked that ruthless streak to go two or three ahead.

"But the lads are still young and learning. In our last game at Pilkington, there was only Jerry White and Stevie Pearson that were over 23 and there were three 17-year-olds in the squad."

Mason added: "It's the first time in my career that I've been in this (lowly) position and it's been a tough time.

"But we're not getting down, we're working hard and we need a bit of support behind us because (Blackpool included) we've only got four more games down at Cougar Park this season.

"When you have a full stadium down there, with the tannoy music and (media man) Josh Chapman doing his thing, it really gets the place going, although it's up to us to make it happen on the pitch."

But do they need to make it happen? Mason brought up the intriguing relegation situation, saying: "The official line since the start of the season has been that two teams are liable for relegation.

"But because of the (national) league restructure, and a new division being created at step four, four teams each are getting promoted from Division One North and South.

"That means there's a need for new teams to fill that void so it could be that none are relegated.

"The FA will decide on a points-per-game average and when I last checked (second-bottom) St Helens and us had the first and second best record in England (of teams in relegation zones).

"Compare us with 23 points to East Hull, who are at our level in the Northern Counties East League and only have one.

"It means every point will count but we can't rely on that alone so we need to get out of this mess, so ideally that means getting out of the bottom two."