Lowestoft Town talisman Chris Henderson believes playing in Vanarama Conference North is bringing out the best in the Blues' squad.

The Trawlerboys take on AFC Fylde at Crown Meadow this afternoon on the back of taking four points in their opening two games against Chorley and Solihull Moors.

Henderson, who opened the scoring against the Moors on Tuesday evening, believes the Blues are capable of raising the bar every time they come up against better opposition.

'In our first two games it feels like the kind of level we played against the top teams in the Ryman (League Premier Division).

'I think that's when we played our best football at times and produced our best results. It was always a case of the better the opposition, the better we played and hopefully that can continue to be the case.

'Saturday was a bit of a scrap and it probably took us a bit by surprise but I think we're finding our feet a little bit now.

'I think it's going to take us a few weeks to settle in because we're not really sure what we're coming up against.'

Henderson got the party started in midweek with a superb strike, coming off the right flank to hammer the ball home from 20 yards, settling Lowestoft's nerves in the process.

'For weeks I've been practicing my shooting in the warm-up, which I haven't really done in previous seasons,' Henderson, added dedicating the goal to his son, Herbie, who his girlfriend, Carly, gave birth to last month.

'I've been trying and practicing that and thankfully it has paid off. It's one of those where you know it's gone in as soon as you've hit it.

'It was nice to get my first goal of the season to get us on our way because I think we deserved it.'

Henderson will start against AFC Fylde this afternoon with the Lancashire outfit looking to bounce back from their 3-0 reverse against Stalybridge in midweek.

However, the Blues are likely to again be without Dan Gleeson as the skipper is still struggling with the glute injury that kept him out of the games against Chorley and Solihull.

In better news on the injury front, director of football Craig Fleming revealed that long-term absentees Bradley Woods-Garness and Dale Cockrill are not far away from making their returns.

'They have started to do a bit of rehab with the physio and they are progressing nicely,' said Fleming.

'We're starting to see a bit of an improvement, which is good. They will be massive for us because we are short on players.'

Fylde won the Evo-Stik Premier Division play-offs last term to move up to the Conference set-up. They lost 2-0 at King's Lynn Town but won the return clash in Lancashire on the last day of the campaign 1-0.