COLNE boss John Lister is hoping that his young side will have learned something from last weekend's disappointing draw against Bootle as they travel to Ashton tomorrow.

"We have a lot of young players on a learning curve and that probably resulted in us losing a two goal lead against Bootle," he said.

"We showed a lot of naivety and if we had been a bit more experienced we would have consolidated. But our lads were gung-ho and looking to make it 3-0, that's the way they are.

"But they will learn from that type of situation and we are still making good progress this season. It is a vast improvement on last year."

Colne are above Ashton at the moment but Lister is expecting another tough test for his players in the NWCL Division Two clash.

"We have been keeping an eye on them with this game in mind and they have had some good results against the top teams, they are improving," he warned. "But we have done well against a couple of first division sides recently, we just have to make sure we defend properly."

Shaun Emmett's knee injury means he will be missing again while both Gary Poulton and recent signing Gareth West are also expected to be unavailable.