John Askey's paying no attention to Welling United's lowly status, he's expecting their guests to come happy to scrap it out.

Welling are facing a fight to stay in the Conference and the Macclesfield manager says he won't be taking them lightly.

When the two sides met in November, Macc were more than satisfied in bringing back a point from a goalless draw and with that match in mind, Askey is steeling his Silkmen for a hard afternoon's graft.

"The match at their place was tough, it's always a difficult place to go with their sloping pitch," he said ahead of Saturday's clash. "We came away with a good draw when we were there, I don't think many teams will get too much there so we know we have to put all our efforts into this one."

Macc worked hard to secure a point at Park View Road in November

Sixteen places and 24 points separate Macc and the Wings, who hover precariously above the relegation zone. Jody Brown's side may be six points clear of fourth-bottom Alfreton but they've played up to three games more than those around them.

Add to that their current form - Welling have taken one point from the last 18 available and come to the Moss Rose on the back of four straight losses - and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's something of a home banker.

The loss of their star talent to Peterborough, Harry Beautyman - who remains far and away their leading scorer with 11 goals before his switch in November - hasn't helped their cause either.

But Macc struggled against the sheer size and power of United last time around and it's unlikely that finesse will be Welling's watchword this Saturday.

And as they have just 14 games in which to save themselves, Askey (above) knows they'll be up for a battle.

"We've been doing really well and their form hasn't been great," added the boss. "And they've lost the lad who was their best player - they're in a relegation fight and they'll be scrapping but we'll keep doing what we have been doing.

"We know that if we can keep our home form going (Macc have suffered just one defeat at the Moss Rose all season) there's every chance we'll be in the play-offs.

"It'll be tough but it's one more game for us to look forward to, our objective is still to catch Barnet so we've got to treat each game the same, whether we're playing someone up near the top or fighting down at the bottom of the league.

"At this stage every team still has something to play for so it will be hard but we'll enjoy the challenge."