"THREE points to get us off to a cracking start," that's what Lancaster City's manager Gordon Raynor has demanded of his players as they kick off the new season against Runcorn on Saturday. It's a tough first fixture for the Blues, in 26 matches against the Cheshire side Lancaster have only won five games, but Raynor believes he has built up a strong team. "After losing a few players over the summer months I feel that I have replaced them with players of the same quality, if not better," said Raynor.

"Pre-season games have gone very well and the players have responded to all that's been asked of them. Runcorn will be a good test for us, as will Hyde United on Monday evening. We've had other managers watching us during some of our friendlies and the word on the grapevine is that we're the fancied outsiders. Every year there's a surprise package and I hope this year it will be us."

There's an air of expectation at the Giant Axe with many believing that Raynor has put together a resilient team that will show plenty of mettle in what is a tough league.

Chairman, Terry McWilliams, said: "The players started training early and are very fit. There's a buzz at the club which wasn't there last season. The players are up for it, they want to get cracking and I think Gordon has strengthened the defence, stabilised the midfield and put height up front to give the wingers something to aim at."

A call has gone out to the people of Lancaster to get along to the Giant Axe to cheer the Blues on.

Mr McWilliams added: "The club needs more supporters through the turnstiles to cheer the lads on. It definitely helps the players when the crowd get behind them and we would encourage the people of Lancaster to come down to the Giant Axe to support their local club."

Gordon Raynor at Giant Axe

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.