No fear for Taylor

Matthew Taylor

CLL CRICKET

FACING Lake Garage CLL Premier Division leaders and title favourites Norden this weekend holds no fears for Werneth skipper Matt Taylor.

The Coppice outfit are rooted to the bottom of the top-flight table at present, with 10 points seperating them from second-bottom neighbours Royton.

However, there is still no mention of the dreaded ‘R’ word in the Werneth camp following a significant upturn in fortunes on the pitch in recent weeks.

Taylor, whose gradually improving team have lost just once in their last five games, said: “We’re on a bit of a roll at the moment so we’re not frightened or feared of Norden.

“Yes, they’re a good side with plenty of quality players, but we’ve proved in recent matches that on our day, we can be a match for anyone in this division.

“We desperately want to stay in this division so we’ll keep battling away until the last game of the season.

“We were always going to be up against it having lost our first 10 games of the season, but since then we’ve gradually been getting a few crucial players back from injury, and that’s showed in our results.

“We lost Joe Taylor with a bad thumb injury and then I busted my toe on the eve of the season, but we’re both back bowling now and we’ve been taking wickets.

“In fact Joe took a wicket with his first ball when he returned for the recent game with Royton.

“Our position doesn’t look good I know, but again, if we can get everyone to turn up and keep playing well like they have been doing lately, then we’ll get the wins we need.

“If we can squeeze something out of the Norden game on Saturday then that will give everyone another lift. Not that we particularly need it, though. The spirit in the camp remains high and we’re still confident of escaping the bottom two.”

Saturday’s crunch Coppice clash gets under way at 1.30pm.

Werneth’s drop rivals Royton travel to a Clifton side who are just one point and two points above them.