Mayfield fixture review

Mayfield are hoping to keep their momentum going as they play hosts to Stanningley at the Mayfield Sports Centre this weekend.

Last week's 90 – 0 victory over Stanley Rangers will have given the lads a massive confidence boost but coaches Matt Calland and Sam Butterworth are sure that confidence will not manifest itself in complacency. Stanley were very much under strength and the game ended up as "nothing more than a training session", said Calland, "but it was certainly a useful run out for us".

"We have a full squad to select from this week after missing four players last week for various reasons so there are some tough decisions to be made for Sam and myself.

"We performed well all over the park with Taurean Sheehan, Todd O’Brien Paul Brearley and Joel Hinchcliffe all showing some good touches in open play while Si Moore, Aiden Gleeson and Ben Butterworth again showed that they are important members of the squad.

"Both Sam and I played last week and we felt that gave us an added dimension in attack we are both available again this week and we’ll give a lot of thought before we name the seventeen to face Stanningley.

"The Leeds based side is bottom of the league with just one win to their credit but they will be coming here looking to get their season started so we cannot underestimate them we have prepared well and worked very hard on maintaining our defence we didn’t concede last week and it’s important we try to repeat that today.

Mayfield Alliance hit the road with a visit to Leyland Warriors. Leyland are a couple of spots above Mayfield with two wins from three outings including an impressive 50 – 20 win at Ince so they will be tough opponents to say the least. Mayfield go into the game on the back of a 28 – 10 victory over Haresfinch.

Caretaker coach Dunc Simpson was pleased with the way his charges performed last week: “Leon Ashworth stepped down as coach due to work commitments, though he is still playing, and we were worried how the lads would respond.

"To their credit the response was fantastic, we out-played and out-enthused a big robust Haresfinch side.

"This week will be a different game all together, Leyland are a quality side and we will have to give 100% for the full eighty minutes if we are to take anything from the encounter.

"We allowed Haresfinch two first half tries before we got our act together in defence, we can’t do that this week, we need to carry on with the same intensity we showed in the second half of that game.

"It’s not just about skill and fitness and the will to win you have to have the right mental attitude to play this game well and that’s something I need to impress on the lads.

"Again we have a large squad to select from and I will be delaying selection until the last minute, but you can be sure the team selected will be the best team on the day to do the job in hand."

Fixtures.
NCL Div 1 Mayfield v Stanningley ko 2.30
NWM Div 1 Leyland v Mayfield ko 2.30