Skipper upbeat over big task

Form team Castlefields are going like a train - but skipper Alan Mayhew is fully aware they could hit the buffers at Furrows Shropshire Premier League leaders St Georges.

Fields have picked up useful wins over Sir John Bayley and Bylet in the last two weeks to move up to fourth in the table.

But tomorrow evening's trip to Church Road represents a step up in class. St Georges have won all eight games so far to open up a commanding 19-point lead at the summit.

The defending champions were pushed all the way by Castlefields last year, and Mayhew still believes they could be in the championship mix once again.

But he accepts it will be a hard task to stop them on their own green, where they won all 13 games last year and have won every time so far this time around.

"Let's be realistic about it, by Friday night the chances are they'll have won nine out of nine," said Mayhew.

"But the purpose of the exercise is points-gathering and winning games.

"Our aim is to do better than we did last year as we only got three there. I'm reasonably confident that we will do better."

Mayhew also believes there is a new resilience in the Castlefields side which will stand them in good stead, both at St Georges and for the rest of the year.

"St Georges are an exceptionally good team, playing on greens that suit them," he added. "But we're not like the Castlefields club that existed 20 years ago.

"We knew then we were almost defeated before we started when we were on greens that didn't suit our style but that's not the case any more, so I'm not in the least bit concerned about tomorrow night.

"I've no doubt in my mind that we will do better than last year - it's just a matter of how much better."

Meole Brace currently occupy second place in the table, and they will be looking to keep the pressure on by picking up a big win away at Wem USC.

Wem have made a promising start, though they dropped to fifth after a 12-2 defeat at fellow high-fliers Ford last Friday.

Ford's form has surprised a few people,and they will be determined to return with useful points from their trip to Ifton in order to remain in the top four and a part of the chasing pack.

At the other end of the table, Newport have only got one win to their name so far and life hardly gets any easier tomorrow when they entertain Chester Road.

Chester Road have made an indifferent start, but will be keen to make up for last week's home defeat to Wrockwardine Wood.

Donnington Wood and new boys Bylet are both in the bottom four at this early stage, and their clash already looks an important one in the quest to avoid a relegation struggle.

Childs Ercall, who only finished second bottom last year, made a decent start but have slipped downwards of late. They will look to arrest that trend away at Sir John Bayley.

The weekend programme is completed by Wrockwardine Wood's tie at home to Archibald Worthington.

The Wrockites are aiming to build on their Chester Road glory, while AWC are another looking to escape the bottom four.