Lavery flies Canaries’ nest

BARWELL FC captain Richard Lavery has left the club after to join Rugby Town.

The former Hinckley United skipper, 38, spent four seasons with the Kirkby Road side, narrowly missing out on the play-offs in his last season at the club.

It was a frustrating season for the Canaries last year, with the team’s form ranging from 13 straight wins, to five straight defeats and loosing the Leicestershire Cup final at The King Power Stadium.

Lavery said: “I have been there for four seasons come the end of last season and I just needed a fresh challenge.

“I still feel good, I played more than 40 games last season. It was a shame last year, we went on the run and then two or three players left and we didn’t replace them, if we replaced a few players or didn’t have the injuries I think we could have made the play-offs.

“But Barwell is quite a small team so they are doing well to be in that league in the first place.”

Rugby Town play in the Evo-Stik Premier League Northern Division which includes some teams that have recently been in the National League Premier division, such as Hyde United.

Lavery added: “It’s the first year I’ve played in this league, so it’s a bit of a leap into the unknown. But we’ve been playing well in pre-season so it should be good.

“I didn’t really want to drop a level, but there are no clubs around here playing the level of Barwell.

“I want to help this team be in the same league as Barwell next season.”