HONEST Vinny Hanson admits Rawtenstall’s Foster’s Lancashire League campaign has not been anywhere near good enough after they opened up 2012 with six straight defeats – but the captain and wicketkeeper is sure his men will only get better and declared: “Don’t write us off”.

Rawtenstall’s sixth loss of the campaign at the hands of Colne on Sunday saw them fall 16 points behind Rishton – but the game also marked the arrival of South African pro Jandre Coetzee and the team showed signs of turning in the right direction.

“The start hasn’t been good enough, that’s obvious,” said Hanson, 30. “But there are enough of us in the dressing room who have played a lot of cricket and seen it all before – so don’t write us off.

“We may have lost the first six – but there are 20 matches to go and cricket is the sort of game where you can easily get onto a winning run of six or seven.

“I honestly don’t think we are that far away. If you look at the Colne game we had lads getting starts and not going on.

“Colne’s pro got 70-odd and Nathan Whitehead a 50 – we were missing that but it will come.”

Coetzee’s arrival is timely for Rawtenstall after it was delayed by visa issues and then by the death of his mother and Hanson is hoping his man can make up for lost time.

“It does unsettle you when your pro misses the first five or six weeks of the season,” said Hanson.

“There was no way we should have been in the position we were in with Jandre.

“The visa issues were totally out of our hands and then his mother dies, which no-one could help.

“But he is here now and raring to go and make up for lost time.

“He only landed on Friday so didn’t have much time to get to know the lads but the signs were good. He can push the ball through a bit as he showed on Sunday and I am sure we will start kicking on now.”