Out-of-sorts Buxton will still present King's Lynn Town with another tough Evo-Stik Premier Division challenge, according to Gary Setchell.

The Bucks have not won in nine league games and have only found the net a paltry four times during their miserable run which has seen them slump to 16th. However, even though Lynn beat them 3-1 during that spell – and sit nine places above them in the table – Setchell is not expecting an easy afternoon at The Silverlands.

The Linnets' boss said: 'People will look at Buxton and see they're 16th, a low-scoring team, and in the middle of a bad run.

'But they are underachieving this season. If you spoke to anyone at the start of the season they said that Buxton have got good players, a good budget, and good history in this league.

'I've watched them play well in matches without getting the rewards they deserve. We were 3-0 up and cruising against them at The Walks and they came right back into it and could have taken it a bit closer than they did.

'Every game in this league is difficult, away games are even tougher to get a result from, and today's game will just be another example of that.'

Goals from Ewan Clarke, George Thomson and Jake Jones saw off the Derbyshire outfit at The Walks on January 11. But the away team dominated the last 20 minutes following Matt Thornhill's header and had they taken their chances could have clinched a shock point.

Right-back Peter Bore performed well on the day but will be unavailable for the second week running due to exam-based work commitments. Striker Massiah McDonald is eligible for selection after finally completing his lengthy seven-game ban.

The Linnets lost 2-0 to league leaders Chorley at the weekend and will be aiming to get their play-off hopes back on track come 3pm. But Setchell concedes his back-to-back promoted troops are starting to feel the effects of a mammoth early-season effort to get used to the demands of the Northern Premier League.

The Walks chief, whose team are two points off the top five but have played more games than a host of their rivals, said: 'To be honest, three or four players are not hitting the levels they did three or four weeks ago.

'It's our first season at this level, we've put in a lot of hard work, and maybe it's starting to catch up with one or two of the lads. Every game is high intensity, week in week out, and with the travelling we have to do maybe a few of the players are starting to feel it a bit. Maybe we'll see a bit more squad rotation in the coming weeks to keep the players fresh as we start to finish what's been a tough and gruelling campaign.'

A pitch inspection will take place at 9.30am.