MATT Farr will send out Winnington Park’s players at Marple on Saturday with a simple message – to show their supporters how much they have improved.

The men from Burrows Hill lost last season’s corresponding fixture.

“I didn’t know that,” admitted the head coach.

“It’s something I’ve avoided, looking at past results, although of course a lot of the players here are the same.

“I don’t worry too much about what the opposition might do, and as league leaders I’d like to think they’ll be thinking plenty about us!

“If we can win there, then perhaps it is another sign of the progress we’re making.

“I’ll let others make that assessment.”

Winnington make the trip this weekend occupying top spot in South Lancs/Cheshire Division One after winning 10 successive matches to date.

They were denied by the weather an opportunity to extend that run last weekend when a scheduled meeting with third-placed Aspull was called off.

Marple sit 11th, but they did record home wins against Oldershaw and Oswestry last month.

However Park will arrive buoyed by making their best start to a season since league rugby moved to a structure with home and away fixtures in 1996.

Perhaps ominously for their rivals Farr, appointed in the summer following Roger Pickering’s resignation, believes his side have plenty of room for improvement.

He said: “We’re trying new things, and getting better.

“But it’s important to remember that we’re not full-time, and rugby at this level puts obstacles in the way of you developing.

“Guys have job and family commitments, and that can have an impact on numbers at training.

“It can limit what you can achieve in practice.

“We’ll reach the halfway mark soon, and will have had a chance to look at everybody at least once.

“It will get harder from here; other teams want to be the first to beat us, and we’ll become a scalp they’re desperate to take.

“But we’ll evolve too.

“We might not be able to do everything I’d like yet, but we’ve started to capture the attention of people at the club who have been persuaded to take a look on a Saturday.

“That’s been fantastic to see; I want us to play winning rugby in a way that makes us interesting to watch.

Kick-off on Saturday is 2.15pm.