THE top-10 race is hotting up in the Bolton League as Little Lever spearhead the best-of-the-rest assault to break into the top half.

All eyes are on Eagley who occupy the golden 10th position – the cut off point for next season's top division.

But closely chasing are Little Lever, Adlington and Daisy Hill, who are all within one win of capitalising on any slip-up.

Little Lever had their mid-table clash with Adlington abandoned due to rain on Saturday, but that has not dampened skipper Jon Kerrigan's spirit as he gears up his troops for the final stretch.

“We have four games left but there are no easy fixtures in this league,” Kerrigan said. “Anybody can beat anybody on their day.

“Our target was always to finish in the top half and given our rocky start, we are now in a decent position to achieve our goal.

“The reason we struggled early on was because we didn't have a professional and we have had quite a lot of lads missing this year through other commitments.

“Over the last couple of months we have had lads back and won six out of seven games which shows just how good a squad we do have.”

Kerrigan is currently serving a four-match ban but will be back for the final game of the season against Bradshaw.

Josh Gent will take over the captaincy for the next three weeks, but Kerrigan is confident his side will get the job done without him.

He added:“The top-10 chase does make the final run-in more entertaining but we have missed the boat. This should have happened 10 years ago.

“We are more than capable of getting enough points to finish in the top half. Kearsley will be a big ask but I'm not sure it will go down to the last game, especially if we can win a few games early on in the next few weeks.”