THE deterioration of both his unbeaten run and the fitness of his players isn't denting Nigel Coates' confidence.

The Colne manager will take his 14 fit bodies to Newcastle Town attempting to bounce back from two consecutive defeats, having previously not lost for 16 games.

Although Paul Walker has declared himself fit and Steve Cunningham is available after missing the Marsden Trophy knock-out by Burscough in midweek, Coates still has a lengthy injury list to contend with.

Jason Heffernan and Danny Potts will be out for more than two weeks with strained ligaments, Gavin Cooper is still out and Kieron Roberts is rated 50-50 for the trip to Newcastle.

Coates said: "We'll still go there with confidence because we've only lost one league game in I don't know how long!"

That came last Saturday against St Helens, before Burscough inflicted Colne's second 3-0 defeat on them in four days.

But Coates added: "We only had 12 players available because of the registration situation, which meant we couldn't get anyone signed to play.

"Against a quality side like Burscough on their own patch you're always going to be up against it, but they didn't themselves down."

Coates had to name himself among the substitutes but admitted that circumstances would have had to be extreme for him to have come on.

"Only if there had been a fatal injury!" he said.

With Colne being seven points behind third-placed Newcastle in NWCL Division One, it's almost a must-win game in terms of them threatening the promotion-chasers.