chance

to climb

ladder

PROMOTION chasing Bacup Borough and Ramsbottom United will both be looking to overtake local rivals Colne tomorrow.

With Colne on FA Vase duty, it provides sixth in the table Rams and Bacup, a place behind them, with the chance to move up the division one ladder.

Bacup are expecting to hand a debut to former Barnsley and Hereford left-wing back Matthew Cross.

The 24-year-old was signed in midweek from Trafford and will be added to Brent Peters strong squad for their home meeting with top of the table Fleetwood Town.

"He is a great addition to our squad," said Peters.

Ramsbottom will be in buoyant mood for their away trip to Congleton, who are in the bottom half of the table.

The Rams notched a 2-0 midweek success over Abbey Hey with debutant Todd Heyes grabbing the opener - Ewen Purcell added the second.

At the other end of the table, Great Harwood will be grafting hard to close the gap with the division's other strugglers.

There was a real confidence booster for Town last weekend when they notched an impressive 5-3 home win over Stone Dominoes - a hat-trick from John Eastham and two goals from Paul Mashiter securing Great Harwood's second victory of the season.

They have home advantage again but they could find they face a tougher task as they take on third in the table Newcastle Town.