Two county derby matches catch the eye tonight in the West Lancashire League.
Whitehaven at home to Cleator Moor Celtic and Millom’s trip to Milnthorpe Corinthians both have much to commend them.
The west Cumbrian clash is often a bit tasty and, like last year, both clubs are fighting to break away from the relegation zone.
The bottom three are all Cumbrian sides with Celtic and Whitehaven just above Milnthorpe.
Celtic are the only one of them to have won a game, while Whitehaven picked up their first point last week at Millom.
Whitehaven’s player availability problems have been well documented and manager Jon Karl Benson – desperate for help on the touchline – believes it might be into next month before that particular problem eases.
Celtic’s problems were abundantly clear in their home defeat on Saturday – with manager Gareth Agnew believing they were not competitive enough in the first half against Lostock St Gerard’s but much better in and out of possession after the change round.
On the face of it Millom should be hot favourites to win at Milnthorpe as they lie in third place following last season’s promotion, while the Corinthians are the only side without a point.
But manager Dave Allan is well aware of what happened last week when it was a similar narrative at home to Whitehaven who arrived with no points on the board and left with a 1-1 draw.
Millom were very good on Saturday when they won at former champions Burscough Richmond but Allan’s message will be clear to his players – “Remember what happened last Tuesday.”
