Preston Grasshoppers vs. Caldy – KO 2.30pm
Billy Woof squeezes over in the corner for Hoppers first try last Saturday at Lockwood Park.
Team News
Hoppers line up for this Saturday’s game against Caldy sees Will Lees and John O’Donnell move up from the bench to gain starting places with Sam Kindred and Harry Reddick taking their places amongst the replacements.
This will be Richard Morton’s one hundred and ninety eighth League appearance for Hoppers, and with the stalwart threatening to retire at the end of the season the team will be giving everything to ensure he has a victory to celebrate in his final game at Lightfoot Green which would also ease Hoppers relegation worries.
The full line up reads;
1. Dan Madden, 2. Phil Mills, 3. Pete Altham, 4. Reece Tomlinson, 5. Ally Murray (Captain), 6. Dominic Moon, 7. Will Lees, 8. Chris Taylor, 9. Harry Moulding, 10. Lewis Allen, 11. John O’Donnell, 12. Billy Woof, 13. Sam Russell, 14. Scott Jordan, 15. Mark Murray.
Replacements: 16. Brad Tuff, 17. Jack Banks, 18. Richard Morton, 19. Sam Kindred, 20. Harry Reddick.
Meanwhile, Caldy have announced the following starting fifteen plus replacements;
1. Colin Campbell, 2. Christian Jones, 3. Matthew Lowes, 4. Louis McGowan, 5. Tom Sanders, 6. Jack Collister, 7. Nyle Davidson, 8. Matthew Dowler, 9. John Broxson, 10. Rich Vasey, 11. Benjamin Eaves, 12. Thomas Banks, 13. Gavin Roberts, 14. Nicholas Royle, 15. Andrew Soutar.
Replacements; 16. Neil Dowridge, 17. Mark Williams, 18. John Weir, 19. Harrison Crowe, 20. Benjamin Jones.
Preview
Cheshire side Caldy make the relatively short journey from the Wirral to Lightfoot Green this coming Saturday after doing Hoppers a favour last Saturday in defeating fellow struggler’s Birmingham Solihull at Paton Field.
Hoppers grabbed a precious point last week at Huddersfield whilst the teams around them had similar outcomes in their games apart from Luctonians who gained ground with a creditable home draw over Chester.
It looks as if Hoppers season is going to the final game at Hull in a weeks time even if victory over this weeks visitors is achieved. The final opponents could find themselves already relegated by then if they lose at Portway on Saturday and give Birmingham Solihull much needed breathing space. Luctonians face a difficult fixture with a trip to Otley where they face Harrogate who’s Claro Road ground has now been taken over by the property developers before hosting Leicester Lions in their final game of the season. The Bees complete their season with a trip to Otley where they must be confident of gaining points.
As things stand, Hoppers have a three point advantage over Luctonians, four on Birmingham Solihull and are six in front of Hull.
Our visitors Caldy will notice Lightfoot Green at its busiest when they arrive on Saturday as it’s Preston Grasshoppers Family Fun Day where the clubhouse will be bursting at the seams and various events are scheduled for the grounds. Full details can be found at https://www.pgrfc.co.uk/events/family-fun-day/.
Caldy have had their most successful season since finishing second a few seasons ago when they travelled to London to face Richmond in the play off fixture, coming up just short of victory and promotion to National 1. They currently sit in third position closely followed by Sedgley Park, Harrogate and fellow Cheshire side Chester so will be all out for victory over Hoppers to keep their lofty league position.
The Inaugural senior game against today’s visitors was a pre-season warm-up fixture at Lightfoot Green prior to the 2004/5 season. Caldy had climbed the league ladder with a succession of promotions from the depths of South Lancashire and Cheshire 3, eventually gaining promotion to N2N as Champions of North 1 in 2007.
There have been fifteen league meetings between the two clubs, all in consecutive seasons since Caldy’s last promotion with our visitors holding the upper hand after doing the double over Hoppers last season and a ten points to nil victory back in December. So Hoppers will be looking to get back on the winning trail this Saturday and in so doing ease their relegation worries along with closing the current six wins to nine deficit.
The first league meeting was at Paton Field back on the 6th of October 2007 when Hoppers turned round a narrow half time deficit to eventually run out winners by twenty points to sixteen.
