Caldy vs. Preston Grasshoppers – KO 2.00 pm
After last weeks fixture against league leaders Macclesfield was washed out at a soaked Lightfoot Green, Hoppers head to the other side of the River Mersey for an encounter with fourth placed Caldy this coming Saturday.
Garth Dew will be hoping his side can improve on their recent form at Paton Field where the visitors haven’t had any success on their last three visits, bearing in mind they only lost by a couple of points in the home fixture during late September when an injury time try turned the game in Caldy’s favour.
While Hoppers will be looking to improve their recent unbeaten run, the home side will still be smarting after losing at home last week to Stourbridge after beating top side Macclesfield the previous week.
All but one of the five teams below Preston Grasshoppers before start of play last week picked up points, which means it’s vitally important Hoppers keep up their own recent momentum.
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 seventeen league meetings between the two clubs, all in consecutive seasons since Caldy’s last promotion. Our hosts currently holding the upper hand so Hoppers will be looking to reduce their current seven wins to ten defeats margin in games against Caldy.
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. Since then just a couple of consecutive wins under Dave Baldwin’s leadership have given Hoppers the spoils at Paton Field from a total of seven further visits.
Photo courtesy of Miek Craig – Hoppers current leading try scorer Scott Jordan can’t escape the clutches of the Caldy defenders on this occasion.
