A 2-2 DRAW at Warrington town last Saturday and Tuesday night's 2-0 home derby win over Daisy Hill has moved Atherton LR into the top eight in the North West Counties League Division Two.

It has been a quite incredible transformation of the Crilly Park outfit under the vastly experienced inspired guidance of manager Alan Lord.

When he took over at the end of November, Rovers were in the bottom five of the table at the end of the worst run in the club's 46 year history.

Only twice in all that time has the club suffered the indignity of demotion and the previous occasion was from the Unibond League. To be languishing near the foot of the bottom rung of the non-league ladder in a season following relegation was heartbreak indeed for the whole LR camp and in stark contrast to the heady heights of not so very long ago.

At the time Lord took over the reins just ten points had been accumulated in the opening eight games of the campaign. The record now reads a healthy 32 from 19. Questions are being asked in all seriousness about whether a season that was seemingly going absolutely nowhere could still see Rovers in with an outside chance of promotion.

Recent history has shown that anything can happen at this level at the end of the season with club's failing to meet ground grading criteria and being forcibly ejected to a lower division or even going out of existence altogether creating a vacancy further up. If Rovers can be there or thereabouts, top three or four, Division One football could just be a possibility next term.

Tomorrow's game at fourth placed Tetley Walker should provide a valuable indication to Lord about whether those aspirations are well founded.

Atherton Colls go into tomorrow's home clash at Alder House with Nantwich Town looking for a first win under new management duo Tommy Foster and Dennis Haslam.

On Tuesday, Colls went down 2-1 at home to Flixton to remain hovering just one place above the bottom two drop places but there was serious cause in the performance for optimism according to club secretary Emile Anderson.

"It was the best we've played for two months but it's just not happening for us for us at the moment," he says. "We weren't happy with the result but we are certainly happy with the way the lads played. If we can build on that then a change of fortune is just around the corner."