MIDDLEWICH Town go in search of vital league points this weekend on the back of a big knockout win.

Goals from Chris Lunn and Michael Evans comfortably steered below-par Witches past West Cheshire League side Poulton Royal on Saturday and into the last 16 of the Cheshire FA Amateur Cup.

They will visit Witton Albion reserves in the third round on November 11, but next up, as they bid to keep pace with the frontrunners in Cheshire League One, is a tricky test at second-placed Styal.

“It wasn’t our best performance of the season against Poulton by a long way, but I believe good teams find a way to win the game when they are not at their best,” said Middlewich co-manager Ross Speight.

“We are into the hat for the next round and we kept a clean sheet so we must not be too disappointed with our afternoon’s work.

“It’s the biggest cup competition we enter so we always want to test ourselves against the best in the county.

“The furthest we have got in this competition is the quarter finals and we aim to improve on that.

“The lads know they can play better and we need to make sure we do away to Styal to try and reclaim the top spot in the league.”

Town, a point behind in fourth, will head to Altrincham Road looking for an improvement in performance while potentially missing their skipper Sam O’Sullivan, who injured his knee against Poulton.

Speight added: “We just lacked tempo to our game on Saturday at times.

“We’ve been playing well recently but this game wasn’t up to our usual standards.

“We tried to play the right way as we always do, and the ideas were great on the ball.

“There’s nothing major for us to improve upon, we just need to tweak a few things with a couple of injuries that we have in the squad.”

Middlewich lost 1-0 against Styal in August but gained some measure of revenge when they beat them 7-2 in a JA Walton Challenge Cup tie a fortnight ago.

Such contrast in those games makes planning this time around tough.

“It is difficult to plan or prepare for a team in this league as teams change their starting line-ups frequently,” said Speight.

“Our squad is very settled and that consistency shows with our results.

“It was a close game last time as it was 2-2 at half time. We were exceptional in the second half; if these lads hit top gear there are not many teams that can live with them.

“It is currently very tight from the top down to mid-table.

“We always seem to be playing teams around us at the moment, so it’s vital we continue to pick up points and obviously we’re looking to pick up maximum points on Saturday.”