The first league game back on home soil after two seasons of COVID cancellations was always going to be an eagerly anticipated occasion. Even more so when the fixtures were eventually announced - we would be competing against last year's Merseyside FA Cup heroes.

At long last, the gates of the Harry Williams Riverside Stadium will swing open for a competitive fixture for the first time since 31 October 2020.

It was 31 October 2020 – Halloween, a day that some describe as the ‘day of the dead’. What Ramsbottom United supporters and the rest of the non-league footballing community didn’t realise at the time was that it would also be deemed to be the day that the 2020/21 league season died too.

It is the final pre-season game of the season and it is always nice to welcome old friends and local rivals Radcliffe.

Two more pre-season games are left and the next one is the re-arranged trip over to West Yorkshire to play the newly joined Northern Premier League East side, Liversedge.

Its time for the Rams to go international as a trip into deepest mid-North Wales awaits Lee Donafee's side on Saturday - and it will be one of the tougher pre-season encounters that we will play.

This will be the first ever meeting between Ramsbottom United and Bury AFC - the new club being formed following the sad demise of the 135-year-old Bury FC.

One down, three to go this week as the Rams' pre-season programme heads to North West Counties side Irlam for match number four