ATHERTON LR must forget about a disastrous start to life this season in the Unibond Division 1 and concentrate on cup action at Northern Counties East Premier Division side Liversedge in the FA Cup preliminary round..

The trip across to West Yorkshire is quite daunting for a Rovers side that has followed a simply awful pre-season build up with two heavy defeats in the league.

Paul Griffin misses the tie because of holiday and Simon O'Brien signed from Stoneclough, plays a last game before a fortnight suspension.

One of the few to perform acceptably in the home 2-0 defeat by Leigh RMI on Bank Holiday Monday, Mark Stewart, returns to his cricketing duties with Greenmount tomorrow, but will be back in soccer action for Monday's visit to much-fancied Ashton United .

Atherton Colls face a long trip to Durham's Horden Colliery Welfare. Former Bolton Wanderer Mick Bennett misses the trip through a torn hamstring picked up in the home Monday 2-0 defeat by Trafford.

Colls' joint manager Steve Walton has hinted that he and partner Ian Lamb are fast losing patience with their team's goalscoring telly and changes to the forward line look likely with Gary Davenport, the player who missed virtually the whole of last season after an horrendous car crash injury, maybe coming into the 1st team picture after some excellent performances in the Reserves.

Radcliffe Boro a will be in Unibond Division 1 action at home against Gretna. Kevin Glendon's side has surprisingly lost both opening fixtures of the league campaign, b

but the boss isn't too despondent. "We've been playing really well over both games", he said.

. "Amazingly we've hardly put a foot wrong and had lots of possession but we have looked blunt up front. On Monday we had twenty five corners and still didn't score!"

Daisy Hill entertain old rivals Ashton Town at New Sirs in the NWCL Division 2 with manager Jimmy Hulton still singing the praises of some of the youngsters on his club's books. "Two weeks ago our Reserves won 3-1 at Wigan St Wilfs in the Wigan Cup with a side that only had one player over the age of twenty one," he says. "I decided, particularly with the injury list we currently have, to give youth its fling on Monday in the game at Cheadle Town. I took six teenagers with us and we absolutely butchered Cheadle."

Fixtures for Saturday August 31

Saturday August 31 - FA Cup Preliminary Round - Belper Town v Leigh RMI; Liversedge v Atherton LR; Horden CW v Atherton Colls. Unibond Division 1 - Radcliffe Boro v Gretna. NWCL Division 2 Daisy Hill v Ashton Town. West Lancs League Division 1 Blackrod Town v Springfields; Eagley v Lansil; Turton v Vickers SC; Dalton United v Tempest Utd. Manchester League (kos 2.30 pm) Premier Division - Little Hulton United v Highfield United; Stockport Georgians v Atherton Town. Division One - Rochdale Sacred Heart v Breightmet United; GMP v Pennington. Bolton Combination Match of the Day. Premier Division - AFC Walkers v Hindley Green. Kick off 2.30pm at the Walkers Open Space Ground, Colefield Avenue.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.