AFTER his team got their Premier Division campaign off on the right foot, Little Lever manager Matt Barnes is quietly confident of success this season.

It was not the prettiest performance they will ever put in, but Little Lever won their opening fixture, at home to Bury GSOB, 3-1, with goals from Craig Bingham, Ste Yates and Matty Woods, and Barnes believes the signs are good as they look to improve upon last season’s sixth place.

“I definitely feel like we deserved to win on Saturday, even they (Bury) admitted they were second best,” he said. “It was all down to our attitude, that’s what won us the game, especially to come from 1-0 down, we dug in and, to be fair, we did have chances to score more.

“It was not the best football we’ve played, and nothing like the stuff we were playing in pre-season, but in the end I think we were just too strong for them.

“It was good that we shared the goals around too, and we showed that someone other than Jack Coop can score for us. A lot of people have been wondering if he even played because his name wasn’t among the scorers!”

With some new faces at Mytham Road, Barnes feels he has the squad to challenge at the top this year, and possibly even break Failsworth Dynamos’ two-year hold on the title.

And, ahead of hosting Old Mancunians this weekend, Barnes feels there is no reason to fear anyone – even the side who proved something of a bogey team recently.

“We have brought in good lads with Andy Lighthouse, Greg Mills and Ste Yates, and there are a couple of talented young lads coming through,” he added. “There is good competition for places in the team, right across the board, so we feel a top-three finish is definitely possible.

“You want to win it of course, and we’ll be trying to do that, and some of the top teams, Failsworth included, seem to have lost a few players. At the end of the day we’re happy with what we’ve brought in and with the squad we’ve got we should be up there.

“We’re confident going up against Old Mancs this week, even though they’re a bit of a bogey team. They took six points off us last year and they’ll be confident so we’ll have to be right on it. If we show the same attitude on Saturday, and this season, we’ll do okay.”

In the opening-day derby, last season’s runners-up Old Boltonians sent Blackrod Town, third last term, away empty-handed after a 3-0 home win, with goals by Sean Rushton, Lucas Gaynor and Tom Allcroft.

Blackrod will hope for a more positive result when they host Rochdale St Clements – 9-1 winners against Mostonians on Saturday – tomorrow night.

Horwich St Mary’s Victoria lost 4-2 at Old Blackburnians in their first match of the season.

n In the Manchester League, Bolton County and Breightmet United both suffered defeats.

County lost 3-2 at home to Rochdale Sacred Hearts while Breightmet went down 5-2 at Tintwistle.