NORTHOP HALL HEAD FOR CALDY TODAY IN GOOD SHAPE

Date: 6th May 2017

A Paul Edwards copyright exclusive for L&DCC Official Website.

Two from two and plenty going on at Smithy Lane

It was, you might argue, the relegation no one saw coming. Northop Hall won four of their first seven games in 2016 and were contenders to win promotion to the ECB Premier League. However, they

managed just one more victory in the remainder of the season. Three defeats and two abandonments in their last six games saw them relegated because they had fewer bonus points than Prestatyn.

It would be easy for people at Smithy Lane to declare that their only objective for the 2017 season was to win promotion back to the First Division. But like so many officials in the Liverpool Gin Liverpool Competition’s bottom two tiers, Matt Pritchard, Northop Hall’s chairman takes the longer view.

“Ideally we’ll get back at the first attempt but this club is not just about that,” he said. “It’s about developing young kids like Jac Kennedy and Carwyn Johnson. It would be nice to get back this season but it’s not the be-all and end-all.

“Relegation was really tough to take. It went down to the last game of the season and some players decided to leave when it happened. But I have written to all the guys who opted to leave and wished them the best of luck. I quite understand why people wanted to play in the Premier League or go back to their former clubs. One feels inclined to applaud such broad-minded objectivity and it has been accompanied in these early exploratory weeks of the season by fine wins over Wavertree and Alder, victories which have featured a host of fine performances.

“We’ve been really impressive in both matches. Jamie Griffiths has got runs and wickets, Danny Clubbe has got wickets and Karl Evans is just brilliant in the dressing room.

“Dave Kennedy is our captain, he’s coached these lads all the way through and still does. We’re very pleased with the two performances so far and the aim is to maintain that level against Caldy.”

Both Pritchard and Kennedy know that winning promotion will not be easy but they have put last year’s disappointments behind them and are sanguine about the new season.

“We know that Maghull and Liverpool are going to be tough and Southport Trinity seem to have found themselves a very good opening batsman,” said Pritchard. “There’s going to be at least five or six teams fighting it out for two promotion spots but if we’re up there, contesting one of them at the same time as bringing on all these youngsters, that will be really good. Our junior set up is second to none.”