WALKDEN are refusing to get ahead of themselves despite closing in on a first Bolton League title in 10 years.

The men from the Oval are now a maximum of two wins away from Premiership glory after beating closest challengers Farnworth Social Circle in a hard-fought home clash on Saturday.

Captain Jonathan Fowler and Co have opened up an 18-point gap over the two Farnworth clubs in second and third with four left to play and a maximum of seven points for a win.

They host bottom side Atherton on Saturday.

First-team manager Abid Riaz said: “We’re not there yet, but we’re very close.

“The lads are still focused and are taking each game as it comes. That’s what we’ve been saying every week. Come the weekend, we’ll be ready to go again.

“But we can’t take Atherton lightly. They’ve beaten Horwich, and we’ve learnt a few lessons this season. We got beat by Astley Bridge in the Hamer Cup. Cricket’s a funny game.”

On Saturday, Walkden won by 14-runs on Duckworth Lewis following evening rain.

The hosts posted 253-6 from their 50 overs, led by professional Akbar Ur Rehman’s superb 105 off 126 balls. Hasnain Abbas (32) and Nick Stobart (38) provided valuable support.

It was Rehman’s second league hundred of the season and his fourth in all competitions. He is the division’s highest runs-scorer with 612, while he has topped the 1,200 mark in all cricket.

No wonder he has be re-signed for 2019.

“Yes, he will be with us next year,” confirmed Riaz. “We’re trying to keep all the lads together.

“The pro’s just batted superbly. He batted pretty much through the innings, and that’s how he’s batted for us all year.”

This win was no walk in the park for a Walkden outfit who suffered only their second loss of the campaign to Bradshaw last weekend.

Chasing 254, Social Circle, who have kept Walkden just within range courtesy of some impressive recent form, were going well at 117-2 after 30 overs.

Will Shuttleworth (36) and South African sub pro Niel Hornbuckle (43) were going nicely having shared 63. However, both fell in successive overs to Tahir Maqsood and Liam Jackson.

From there, they slipped and were unable to get back up above the required DLS score, reaching 133-4 from 33 overs when the rain came.

Riaz added: “Around the 26th over, they were about 10 runs ahead.

"It would have been a very close game, but we got those two crucial wickets.

“They’re a young side and have some good players like Chris Barrow, who is a very dangerous all-rounder and can win games on his own. So this was a big win for us.

“We lost against Bradshaw last week.

“To be honest, we should have got 250 and ended up 213 all out. At one stage, we were back in it bowling wise, but we didn’t have enough runs.

“It wasn’t the worst thing because it was a reality check.

"The lads were a bit down, but we got back to business immediately.”