The second team travel down the M60 on Saturday afternoon for a Raging Bull Cup Semi-Final. Hoppers won the trophy in 2006 and having been losing finalists on two other occasions so they’re extremely keen to get their name on the trophy this season.
Hoppers beat Burnage 50-5 in a recent league encounter but were helped along the way by a red card and some porous Burnage defence. Young’s men know that Saturday’s tie is likely to be an extremely tricky encounter as the home side are celebrating their 75th anniversary whilst Burnage’s first team have a week off, thus easing the pressure on what has, by all accounts, been a stretched squad.
Preston by contrast have been hit by a number of injuries, particularly in the forwards, whilst there are also a couple of players away for the weekend.
Fortunately the playing resources are deep these days and Young can still call upon a strong squad. As a result they travel down to South Manchester confident that they can reach the final whilst providing the perfect boost before next week’s showdown with Fylde.
Meet time at Lightfoot Green is 12.15 whilst those travelling direct to Burnage should convene at 1.30 in readiness for a 3.00pm kick off. The squad in full is as follows:
Oga Mabaya
Alan Jones
Tom McGuinness
Dan Fletcher
Jonny Doney
Terry McGuire
Sam Gale
Russ Flynn
Tom Smith
Mark Murray
Antony Elliott
Cameron Berry
Harry Reddick
Andrew Pollock
Ollie Yates
Reps: Richie Sands, Doug Grimes, Harrison Moulding.
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