Lake Garage CLL: Title hopefuls facing crunch

CROMPTON and Oldham face two massive games tomorrow as the Lake Garage CLL title race enters a critical phase of the season.

With 10 sets of fixtures remaining, there are still seven clubs entertaining realistic hopes of clinching the championship and even Royton, in eighth place, are not totally out of it.

Heywood are setting the pace and are clearly the team to beat, but they face some tough fixtures in the next few weeks, not least a trip to Crompton and a home fixture against Norden on successive days in the middle of this month.

Tomorrow they entertain Clifton in a match they will expect to win, so it is vital that second-placed Crompton overcome Monton and Weaste.

Monton take on Heywood in Sunday’s John Willie Lees Wood Cup final, so they may well have one eye on that showpiece fixture.

And if that proves to be the case, Crompton must take advantage and return to winning ways following their defeat at the hands of neighbours Oldham on Sunday.

For their part, Monton are still in the title race and they, too, will know that victory is essential if they are to keep tabs on the top clubs.

On the same points as fourth-placed Oldham, Monton have a powerful squad packed with potential match-winners.

Crompton’s attacking style with the bat is terrific to watch, but it can also be their downfall, a factor exploited by canny Oldham skipper Mel Whittle last weekend.

A slightly more measured approach would not go amiss tomorrow when Crompton welcome back Aqib Zulfiqar from injury.

The teenager adds plenty to the side with bat and ball and was certainly missed against Oldham.

Norden are the visitors to the Pollards tomorrow, so Oldham will need to be at their very best if they are to make it six wins in a row.

Victory for Whittle’s in-form side would move them within touching distance of Norden, who have found an able replacement for former professional Asif Mujtaba in Jean Symes.
The South African is third in the professionals’ batting and bowling averages and has slotted neatly into a Norden team containing effective batsmen such as Hashim Malik, Nick Brierley and Greg Tattersall, and overseas amateur Zane Arthur, whose wicket-taking exploits have helped Norden to secure eight maximum-points victories this season.

Royton returned to winning ways against Werneth last Sunday, but are still without the services of skipper Guy Lovell for tomorrow’s trip to Rochdale.

Sixteen points behind the leaders, Royton have plenty to do if they are to get themselves back into the mix, but victory at Redbrook would be a good starting point.

Werneth’s mid-season recovery came to a grinding halt last weekend with defeats at the hands of Heywood and Royton so tomorrow’s trip to Milnrow is a key fixture if they are to stay ahead of fellow strugglers Ashton and Middleton.

The loss of several key players, including Darren Shadford and Alan Durose, left a huge whole in the Werneth side, but they have battled well this season under young skipper Andy Walker.

Professional Loku has been steady rather than spectacular, but a strong performance by the paid man tomorrow would be extremely valuable to the Werneth cause.