EAGLEY are making a mockery of pre-season talk of them being one of two Bolton League clubs being in a proposed second division.

The League were planning to kick off with two divisions after accepting nine clubs from the Bolton Association, taking their number up to 21.

Eagley and Tonge were understood to be the two clubs who would join the Association nine in a second tier.

But the plans were scrapped and one big division of 21 came into being after discussions over the fairness of any League clubs being demoted.

And Eagley have shown so far they had every right to be mixing it with the top teams after three wins out of six games played, including victories over two of the perceived better teams, Horwich and Bradshaw, in the last two league games.

The talk of Eagley being placed in the second tier is not something that is spoken about among the Dunscar team, but experienced player Danny Counsell says they have not forgotten it.

He said: “No one talks about it so I can’t say it’s something that spurs us on, but it’s there,” he said. “In the back of our minds it might be a bit of an incentive – well it is for me.

“We are concentrating on the league. It would be nice to be in the top half because everyone has us finishing at the bottom, we’re everyone’s whipping boys so it would be nice to prove people wrong.

“We’re written off before most games so it’s very satisfying to beat the good teams.”

Counsell, the vice-chairman and vice-captain of the club he joined when he was 13 and has played for for the 19 years, says Eagley have no fear of relegation if that is what is eventually in store for them.

“It’s good that we’ve brought in promotion and relegation,” he said. “It’s not as stale as it was, people have got things to play for now when they didn’t before.

“We’ve got no target. If we’re relegated we’re relegated, it’s not the end of the world and we’ll just start again next year.

“We just turn up and enjoy it, We’ve beaten Horwich and Bradshaw twice (they also beat the latter in the Twenty20 competition last Friday night) so we can’t be that bad.

“We’re a young team too. Apart from me – and this is my last year because of my knees – Paul Rayment, Michael Ward and Dave Shuttleworth all the players are young and will be around for a long time.”

Counsell puts much of the recent success down to a change in captaincy from himself to Asif Bhojani who is in his third season at Eagley.

“It’s made a massive difference,” he said. “He has made a few changes, a few changes in our approach to the game and he’s played well. He’s led by example.

“The pro Agar Salman has been great, The younger end is doing well – George Howarth and Jordan Lomax – who have been promoted from the seconds – Jack Wainman, Will Shuttleworth have all been great. I can’t fault anyone. We’ve got a complete new committee too with Steve Small the new chairman and the junior set-up is superb, the best we have ever had.”