CHRIS LAKEY Wisbech play hosts to match of the day in the Ridgeons League this afternoon when second-placed Lowestoft will be trying yet again to take over top spot in the Premier Division.

CHRIS LAKEY

Wisbech play hosts to match of the day in the Ridgeons League this afternoon when second-placed Lowestoft will be trying yet again to take over top spot in the Premier Division.

Both teams faltered in midweek, Lowestoft losing at Bury and fourth-placed Wisbech beaten in torrential rain at Mildenhall - leaving leaders AFC Sudbury relieved after being held at home by Dereham.

What is clear, though, is that every game any of the top five teams play is a must-win - and none more so than this afternoon's Fenland Park showdown.

"It's a massive, massive game, for us and Lowestoft," said Wisbech boss Dick Creasey.

"It might just determine whether we finish in the top three or not.

"We might end up kicking ourselves for our performance at Mildenhall, but there's nothing much we can do about it now.

"They're a good side are Lowestoft: we had a good game down there in January when they just edged it and we were probably a little unlucky."

The Fenmen had won six and drawn one of their previous seven games before their midweek setback, and Creasey is hoping it was just a one-off.

"It was very frustrating, I can't quite put my finger on what went wrong," he said. "The last three or four games we have been superb but at Mildenhall we weren't at the races and really had a bad night, front to back.

"Then you look and see that Sudbury dropped points and Lowestoft lost and you just wonder how vital it might have been."

Four of the division's top strikers are likely to be on show this afternoon, although for once Lowestoft's Gary McGee and Russell Stock 39-goal partnership is overshadowed by their opposite numbers, Liam Harrold and Liam Nimmo, who have scored 54 league between them.

Harrold's 30 goals make him the league's top scorer, while Nimmo is second on 24 - and McGee third with 23.

"My boys are a phenomenal partnership," said Creasey. "Being the sort of bloke I am I have a little go when they miss one, but their record speaks for itself doesn't it?"

Events at Ram Meadow, where third-placed Bury - who lost their second midweek game, at Histon Reserves, on Thursday - entertain fifth-placed Needham Market, will also have a big say in the shape of the table come this evening.

And Wroxham will be keen to flex their muscles against Sudbury at Trafford Park.