Scott Jordan scoring one of his two tries last week against Huddersfield
Caldy vs. Preston Grasshoppers – KO 2.15pm
Team News
Hoppers coach Garth Dew keeps faith with the same pack as last week but the back line is changed as is the bench.
Sam Russell moves into stand off with Lewis Allen pushing out to the wing. Captain Phil Baines moves in off the wing into outside centre and Sam Kindred gets the nod at scrum-half. Then bench sees Richard Morton return after a spell on the sidelines. Joining Rich is Cypriot international Alex Zavallis-Roebuck who has been working with Dave Perry and his Strength & Conditioning team.
1. Oga Mabaya, 2. Phil Mills, 3. Pete Altham, 4. Reece Tomlinson, 5. Ally Murray, 6. Andy Napier, 7. Will Lees, 8. Chris Taylor, 9. Sam Kindred, 10. Sam Russell, 11. Scott Jordan, 12. Billy Woof, 13. Phil Baines (C), 14. Lewis Allen, 15. Mark Murray
Replacements: 16. Alan Holmes, 17. Richard Morton, 18. Jack Walker, 19. Alex Zavallis-Roebuck, 20. Harry Reddick
Preview
Hoppers and their faithful band of supporters will be making the relatively short journey to The Wirral and Paton Field this coming Saturday, hoping for a change in fortunes and a much needed victory.
The visiting side will reflect on a poor period of play after the interval last Saturday which gave them a mountain to climb during the rest of the half, something they almost achieved until a last minute penalty sent them to defeat by the narrowest of margins.
When the two sides last met at Caldy, the lead up to the game was much the opposite of the current situation. Hoppers were looking for their fourth consecutive win and the hosts had won just twice in their last eight outings. The current situation sees Hoppers with just two wins from their last ten games and Caldy in a rich run of form winning five of their last six games with their only recent defeat at the hands of high flying Ampthill. The visiting Grasshoppers will be hoping there’s also reverse of last season’s result from the game in Cheshire and kick start their season again in the lead up to Christmas.
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 fourteen league meetings between the two clubs, all in consecutive seasons since Caldy’s last promotion with our host holding the upper hand after doing the double over Hoppers last season. So Hoppers will be looking to even things up at Paton Field where they’ve been successful in three of their seven previous visits.
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.
