BOSS Karl Gormley is hoping to "focus on the football" as Raiders prepare to face Darlaston Town in the latest episode of an arch rivalry.

Gormley stressed any bad feeling had "blown over" following skirmishes at the end of a 1-1 draw at Claines Lane last season.

Raiders ended up with a fine of £515 and supporters were issued with bans but Gormley's thoughts are firmly fixed on tomorrow's West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division action (Saturday, 3pm).

“We’re hoping it’s all blown over now," said Gormley.

"It has been nine months or so, we have played them two or three times since and there’s been no problem.

"We now get on well with the chairman over there so we’re just hoping we can all focus on the football and see a good game.”

It is a good time for attention to be on football matters with Raiders racking up a 3-0 win at Wolverhampton Casuals in the Premier Division League Cup on Tuesday, a side that has shipped just five league goals in 18 league matches to date.

"We could have won by four or five really," Gormley added.

“I had a chat with Chris (Cornes, assistant manager) before the game and we decided to change the formation and go 4-3-3.

"We knew how good they were defensively and thought we had nothing to lose so we just went there and had a go at them.

"We have had some good performances this season and the other night showed just that.

“We’re very pleased and hoping we can continue that into this weekend against Darlaston and moving forward.”

Form had been tough to come by before Christmas due to delayed redevelopment work at Claines Lane preventing Raiders playing there and Gormley admits that influenced results and performances.

“It was so difficult not having a home ground before Christmas with all the uncertainty that brings," he added.

“There seemed to be more going on off the field than on it but in the past few weeks we’ve been able to focus more on football."

And with the upturn in form, Gormley believes promotion is still achievable for 13th-placed Raiders with four spots up for grabs as a one-off this season.

“We have a good run of games coming up," he said.

"If you look at the table there’s about 10 points from fifth down to us so if any team can put together a good run of results you can shoot up the table. That’s what we’re going for and that starts on Saturday.”

This will be the third time the adversaries have faced off this season with Raiders winning both previous games, thrashing Darlo 8-4 in the league before securing a 3-2 success in the Premier Division League Cup.