PILKINGTON PREVIEW
Here we go again! The start of a new season with all the anticipation, the hope, the desire and the dreams of what might happen across the next nine months. The Rams’ first stop on the 46-match ‘winter’ tour is Ruskin Sports Village where a rebuilt Pilkington await.
MATCH: Pilkington v Ramsbottom United
VENUE: Ruskin Sports Village, Ruskin Drive, St Helens, WA10 6RP
COMPETITION: North West Counties League Premier Division
DATE: Saturday 27th July 2024
KICK-OFF: 3:00pm
ADMISSION: Adults – £7, Over 65s – £5, Aged 12-16 – £2, Under 12s – FREE.
OVERVIEW:
Pre-season has gone, signings have been made and the hopes and dreams of all 24 (yep, it is still 24 in this league, unlike any other non-league division in the country!) teams are fired up and ready to roll as the 2024/25 North West Counties League campaign commences – the earliest ever league campaign coming with still six weekends of the traditional league cricket season to go!
The feeling is good in the Ramsbottom United camp with the signings made by manager Steve Wilkes fitting in well and the majority of the targeted players signing on the dotted line ahead of this lengthy league stroll. Good wins, solid performances and encouragement aplenty and it feels like a new dawn.
Will it be? Who knows in reality but match number one has come around quickly and the Rams travel west to St Helens and the Ruskin Sports Village to face a side that closed in 22nd place in the 2023/24 table and skated far too close to the edge for their liking in Pilkington, a side who were much fancied going into last season but things didn’t quite materalise as they would have wished.
It was a similar story to the Rams really. An 18th place closure to the campaign with just 13 wins and 50 points was not what was on the menu at the start of the season but that has been parked and the new season offers plenty of new hope.
Did we feel that twelve months ago when we travelled to Wythenshawe? Yes we probably did and look how that went!
There is always a sense of looking back at the history of the fixture and the Rams can look back on two 5-1 victories over the men in green last season – Kudo Chingwaro collecting a quadruple in the home game and Oumar Camara doing the same in the away at the end of the season.
But that was then and this is now. Both sides will bare very little resemblance to that and with new management at Pilkington always a key change, you can be pretty certain that there will not be a repeat of those previous league encounters.
HISTORY:
There were three meetings last season between the sides and, aside from the two league victories, the Rams managed to get through in the FA Vase, courtesy of a penalty shoot out after Adam Gilchrist had given the Pilks a 91st minute lead only for Oscar Radcliffe to equalise in the dying embers of the contest to see the match finish 2-2 and the Rams got home 4-3 in the spot kick lottery.
STEVE WILKES’ THOUGHTS:
“Can’t wait to finally get the season underway. Pre-season has gone well with the new recruits and we’re all looking forward to the Pilkington game this Saturday.
“Nobody knows what teams are like at this stage of the season. Hopefully we can do better than the 4-0 defeat at the start of last season at Wythenshawe.
“Pilkington will be a different side than the one we played at the back end of the season. They’ve a new manager and he’s brought in a few new faces. They’ve scored a lot of goals in pre-season, so we’re under no illusion how difficult a game it will be on Saturday.”
