LITTLE Hulton Reds secretary Phil Hodgkinson has praised his side’s new young guns despite their stuttering start to the season.

Little Hulton sit near the bottom of the North West Men’s League Division Three having won only one of their first four opening games, which came last time out against Bolton Mets neighbours.

But Hodgkinson believes his side’s fortunes may be about to change thanks to the club’s injection of youthful talent.

He said: “The encouraging side is we’ve got two or three young lads who have come in and that’s what I want, to start bringing younger players in.

"A lot of our players, no disrespect, are not as good as they used to be.

"They’re about 30-years-old so we could do with some younger blood coming in”.

Hodgkinson has been particularly pleased with new scrum-half Kyle McDonagh.

“He’s not got much game time yet but I’m very impressed with him," he said.

"He is a good kicker of the ball and a good passer.

"He’ll be a cracking player when he fills out a bit as he’s only 17 years old.”

Little Hulton’s hard-fought win against the Mets before Easter came as something of a relief for a team that usually challenges towards the top of the division.

And Hodgkinson believes their aspirations still lie there.

He added: “Top four is achievable.

"There are a lot of new teams that have come into the league and we don’t know the standard of them yet but we usually finish around third or fourth every year”.

“We’ve started poorly but hopefully we’ll get better.

"It’s started off very poorly actually. We’ve had some bad results but we’ve played some decent teams.

“We’re off and running now and we are a good team when we move the ball about.”

Little Hulton travel to Burtonwood Bridge on Saturday, while Bolton Mets visit Crosfields A.