MANAGER Paul Marshall says Pickering Town's home form is their "Achilles' heel" - but, with the right attitude, they can get a result this weekend.

The Pikes welcome Stocksbridge Park Steels to Mill Lane on Saturday (January 19, 3pm) in the Evo-Stik League east division looking to notch only their third home win of term.

Both sides come into the game having picked up a point in their last fixtures. Basement side Stocksbridge held seventh-placed Marske United to a goalless stalemate while Pickering earned a 1-1 draw at Frickley Athletic.

On the road, Pickering have picked up 17 points from 12 matches, winning four and drawing five, at a rate of 1.4 points per game. At Mill Lane, the Pikes have taken just seven points from nine, equating to 0.8 points per game. If Pickering were able to replicate their travelling form at home, they would be two positions better off than their current 15th-placed ranking.

The Pikes, however, seem to have enjoyed their meetings with Stocksbridge, whom they have played twice this season - once in the FA Trophy and once in the league - winning 3-0 and 2-0, with Josh Greening scoring four of the five goals.

In spite of this record, Marshall said: "They're not a bad team - they got a draw on Saturday against Marske. We've managed to take our chances against them.

"It will be a tough game because our home form is our Achilles' heel. We haven't been beaten away since September 1. At home we're expected to attack more and be more entertaining.

"Maybe we just don't create enough chances at home. We create on the break away from home. We've got to be more confident and have more quality in the final third.

"We've lost six games at home and three away, even though we've played more away than we have at home.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out where our problems are.

"A good result and we can kick on from there. We've just got to do better at home and have more confidence in everybody's ability.

"We created 10 good chances against Ramsbottom and we haven't done that since. We played well against Marske. It's just doing it more consistently.

"It will be exactly the same as every other game - if we turn up, play with the right attitude and the right work ethic, we'll win. We've got good players who can take points off anybody."

Against Frickley, captain Nick Thompson gave Pickering the lead midway through the first half with a turn and shot on the edge of the six-yard box only for Jacob Hazel to level for the hosts just after the half-hour.

The Pikes put on a solid defensive display in the second half and could even have snatched it at the end through Greening.

With Pickering having just passed the halfway point of the season, Marshall has also spoken about his promoted side's progress this term and their aims for the remainder.

He said: "The first objective was to stay in the league. For a team like Pickering Town, it's amazing to be playing at this level and to stay up here would be exceptional.

"But I'm always striving for improvement. With a game in hand, we want to get away from the bottom teams. If we get beat on Saturday, Stocksbridge will only be a point behind us and they're bottom of the league.

"It's a very average league this season. Other seasons, there have been teams who were very poor at the bottom who were always going to be relegated. This year, anyone can beat anyone. We went to Tadcaster and beat them. It shows the standard of the league.

"If you play well on any given day, you'll win. Underperform and you'll get beaten. We underperformed against Sheffield and got spanked.

"That's the nature of this league. The objective was just to stay away from the bottom two positions for the last month of the season, but I think it'll be harum-scarum now.

"When we get positive results, it's always one step forward, one step back. But we're all learning about the league. We know how to grind results out."

The only potential change to Saturday's squad is George Bissett, who is nearing a return from a calf injury.