ANDY Preece says his players have their eye upon the table’s summit ahead of tonight’s trip to fellow pacesetters Chorley.

Northwich protect the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division’s only unbeaten record at Victory Park, where they seek a fifth successive win that will put them in first place.

“It’s a big game for both teams,” said the Vics boss.

“We won’t win or lose the title because there is still a long way to go, but we want to remain unbeaten and keep going the run that we’re on.

“They’ll be just as desperate to knock us off our perch though.”

Vics will need to breach the league’s meanest defence, for Chorley have shut out the opposition in four of their seven games.

Preece told the Guardian he hoped to learn a lot about his new-look team from watching them against a rival he considers among the favourites for promotion.

He added: ““Can we compete with them? They’ll test us, no question.

“There is a question to be answered about the players’ bottle and whether they can raise their game to play in an important game.

“We’ll need to be ready to go again because there will be a large crowd and a good atmosphere; I’ll learn a little bit about where we are against one of the best teams in the league.”

The visitors are likely to be without Lewis Short as he continues to nurse a shoulder injury, but defender Raphale Evans and midfielder Steve Abbott are available again after injury.

Top scorer Michael Clarke hopes, on target in each of Vics’ past four matches, hopes to continue his scoring sequence too.

Chorley boss Garry Flitcroft could hand a first start to former Witton Albion full back Ali Brown following his arrival from Radcliffe Borough on Friday.

However ex-Northwich midfielder Jamie Vermiglio (groin) is unlikely to feature because of injury, nor is attacker Chris Denham (groin) or Mark Ross (knee).

“The reward for the winner is to go clear at the top of the table, so there’s a lot to play for,” added Preece.

“We can get better yet, but I have to be happy with the start we’ve had, particularly when we looked at the fixtures list before a ball had been kicked.”