BANKFOOT Cricket Club captain James Lee insists his side must continue to push forward ahead of their derby clash against Baildon this weekend.

Lee's side have won their previous two fixtures and are putting a run together at a crucial time, as the season enters the half-way mark.

However, they come up against a tricky Baildon side, who have made a resurgent run up the table, and heading into Saturday's fixture, they sit in fifth spot, only two places behind this week's away side.

Lee has called for his players to remain focused on the task ahead.

He said: "We are playing pretty well ourselves at the moment, and we are on a decent run of form.

"Hopefully, we can keep it going, but obviously Baildon have playing well too, and have climbed the table from being quite low at the start of the season, to being just behind us.

"So, we are keen to keep them at bay and sort of keep the top four going, although I'm not sure the weather is looking great at the moment for tomorrow.

"There is a little gap forming at the minute between the top four sides, and Baildon in fifth, so it's important we keep that gap as wide as possible.

"We must keep the pressure on the top two as much as we can, in the hope that one of those sides slips up at some point.

"So that is our main focus at the minute, really trying to look forward, rather than looking at what is behind us."

Lee added: "If we do lose against Baildon, then it could be a problem for us, as they will start to close in on us.

"It will be interesting to see how they've come on from when we played them earlier on in the season, and Johnny Reynolds got eighty odd out of their one-hundred team score.

"It will definitely be one to keep an eye out for, as they've been batting really well recently, so they'll certainly present us with a challenge, and we won't be taking them for granted.

"Of course, they have Johnny Reynolds, and he seems to get a big chunk of their runs, and obviously they've got players like Simon Bailey that have been around for years and that can be dangerous as well.

"So, we need to be wary about their threats. I think they've got a new bowling attack too, in comparison to recent years, when they've had one of two players getting most of the wickets for them."

Woodbank, who currently sit in third, continue to chase down Ossett in first place, and Lee is pushing his side to be in the hunting pack.

He said: "It's going to be a challenge, that's for sure, but we are only half-way through the season. There's a heck of a long way to go. It only takes Ossett to lose two games in a row, and we will be right on their heels."