WARRINGTON Town boss Paul Carden is adamant his side are “much better” than when they last met Stafford Rangers ahead of their next clash on Saturday, kick off 3pm.

After two consecutive away games, the Yellows return to Cantilever Park and welcome Rangers, who provided the opposition in Carden’s first league game in charge last month.

Two late penalties from skipper Ciaran Kilheeney salvaged a 2-2 draw on that occasion and the Town boss says Saturday’s game will act as a mark of their progress.

“In a few ways, it will show how far we have come as a group since I’ve been here,” he said.

“I’m always confident in my team and I’m confident we are a much better outfit than when we last played Stafford.

“The lads showed great desire to come back from two goals down but the team has changed a lot since that day.

“We have a lot of new players now and are playing with a bit more confidence on the ball.”

Saturday’s game marks Town’s latest attempt to start a consistent run of good results having been beaten at play-off rivals Hednesford Town last time out.

An Ashley Sammon penalty, conceded through a foul by Lewis Codling, was enough to secure a 1-0 win for the Pitmen as Town also saw Mitch Duggan sent off for a two-footed tackle in the first half.

Despite having no complaints with Duggan’s dismissal, Carden was unhappy with the performance of referee Darren Wilding.

He has called on his team to make the officials’ impact irrelevant with their own performances.

“We’ll play worse and win games this season. With a bit more care and quality with our final ball we would have got something out of the game,” he said.

“Mitch won the ball with his tackle but, once you raise that second foot off the floor, you’re always going to get a red card.

“I don’t like moaning about referees, but if Premier League officials are getting criticised for making mistakes, what chance do we have at this level?

“He was trying to correct mistakes he made by giving decisions to the opposition, but that meant he made more mistakes.

“We’ve got to be better than the referee in many respects. We have to make sure our own performance is right so the game is influenced less by decisions.”

With Duggan suspended for Saturday’s game, midfielder Sean Williams will also miss out with a chipped bone in his foot.

However, in positive injury news, Carden confirmed striker Ben Deegan was nearing a return after a long absence with a broken jaw.