Will Witton build on last week’s second-half recovery?
EVEN if Witton beat Ramsbottom tomorrow, Saturday, they will remain in the table’s bottom four.
However Tony Sullivan will tell his players that destiny is in their hands with 14 matches left of the season.
“We know our target,” he said.
“There’s no plan of hoping to beat one team and aiming for a draw against another – we want to come out of every game with something.”
He will wait until the last minute for defender John Shaw (knee) and newcomer Andy Fowler (shin) to prove their fitness, but Michael Simpson (knee), Dean Porter (groin) and loan signing Malachi Lavelle-Moore are ruled out by injury.
Ramsbottom surrendered a lead during a 3-2 defeat at home to Rushall Olympic in midweek, the first Premier Division fixture they have played since Jon Robinson was appointed as manager.
Albion recovered from two goals down to draw with Barwell at Wincham Park last Saturday.
Witton Albion will attempt to close the gap on the teams above them by beating Ramsbottom United at Wincham Park on Saturday. Source: footballwebpages.co.uk
Which version of Winnington Park will stand up?
WINNINGTON Park’s current sequence of three defeats is their worst in the league this season.
The men from Burrows Hill have lost four of five matches since the turn of the year, slipping to fourth in South Lancs/Cheshire Division One.
West Park, in fifth, are only six points further back.
It is perhaps timely then that relegation-threatened Ruskin Park are their guests on Saturday, a side that has been beaten on seven of their nine road trips this term.
Park’s home record remains strong, with only teams above them in the table – leaders Altrincham Kersal and neighbours Northwich – leaving as victors during the current campaign.
Winnington Park captain Harry Stubbs hopes to inspire a return to winning ways when Ruskin Park visit Burrows Hill on Saturday. Picture: MATT SAYLE
Vale Royal Athletics Club steps onto national stage
A TEAM of more than 40 runners will represent Vale Royal Athletics Club at Saturday’s English National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill in London.
The Knights Grange-based outfit has returned from seven of the past eight editions with a medal, including a bronze for their junior women’s team last time out at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park.
Two of that trio, Amelia Pettitt and Kate Moulds, did the same in 2013.
Vale Royal’s junior men, led by Great Britain international Elliot Bowker, and the junior women again – this time with England runner Katie Gerrard in their line-up, are the contenders to bring back a gong from the capital.
Organisers have announced that this year’s entry of more than 8,500 runners is the biggest in a decade.
Can Kellett make the cut?
STUART Kellett has work to do if he wants to reach this year’s UK Open finals.
The Northwich ace did not win a match in any of the first three qualifiers earlier this month, a record he will be keen to improve on at Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan from today, Friday.
He needs to rank inside the top 96, calculated by prize money won, after the six qualifying competitions to secure a place at next month’s televised stages at Butlins Minehead Resort.
The 33-year-old has done exactly that in each of the three UK Open tournaments since earning a Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tour card in January 2012.
Northwich ace Stuart Kellett hopes to secure a place at the UK Open for a fourth successive year during qualifiers in Wigan this weekend. Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Young rowers attempt to make an impression
SELECTORS for Great Britain’s junior team will cast an eye over five teenagers from clubs based in Northwich this weekend.
Leon Langmead, George Lawton, Greg Murphy and Beth Willford-Dutton, from Northwich Rowing Club, are among those hoping to make an impression on the water at Boston.
Grange School’s Scott Oszanlav-Harris competes in a double scull with Lawton.
For the under 16s a place on a sculling camp at the National Water Sports Centre, scheduled for April, is up for grabs.
Meanwhile the under 18s who make the grade will be invited to a further assessment, also in April.
All of this weekend’s trial races, against the clock, are over 5,000m.
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