LEADERS Kendal County host third-placed Sedbergh Wanderers in the top of the bill fixture from the Talbot Insurance Westmorland League programme on Saturday.

Although Sedbergh can be ranked still only as "dark horses" rather than front-line title contenders at present, they would be only two points adrift of County if they won the three games they have in hand over the top side.

Sedbergh striker Mike Harrison is the league's leading goalscorer but has a period of suspension coming up.

The hypothetical position is something that is not lost upon County manager Dave Chambers, who says a win for his side is vital after the sides had drawn 4-4 earlier in a September meeting.

He said: "It's absolutely imperative that we win on Saturday as we want to kick on and make a good start after Christmas, something we failed to do last season and for which we paid the price."

County still have painful memories of how they went down 2-0 to Penrith Reserves last Christmas, their first league defeat of the season and which plunged them into a downward spiral from which their title hopes did not recover.

This year County have had a run-out during the festive break, by playing a friendly at Milnthorpe which they won comfortably, and also training on Monday and Thursday of this week.

"Everybody is fit and ready and seeing that we've lost once already this season I don't expect us to do so again now," added Chambers.

Meanwhile, there was sad news of the demise of Victoria Sports Club, who have withdrawn from the Second Division because of a lack of available players.

The loss of their pitch at the Jubilee Playing Fields, which are undergoing remedial work, is also thought to have played a part.

The other club using the Canal Head ground as a temporary measure, Kendal Celtic, have switched first-team matches to sharing pitches with Holme Athletic in the North Lancs League, underlining the problems.

Victoria's points have not yet been removed from the official Westmorland League tables.