Optimism for Swift after win

BURSCOUGH produced one of the shocks of the weekend as they defeated fifth place Hanley Town at Victoria Park to move five points clear of the drop-zone.

Linnets trailed at half-time but turned the game on its head in the second half.

With relegation fears slowly being eased - Dave Sutton’s men have now won three of their last five - Burscough will now be cautiously optimistic heading into the future.

Chairman Mike Swift gives a considered assessment when asked why Burscough have struggled in the Hallmark Premier Division since relegation last season.

“Football is always a competitive game,” he says.

“Yes, there are ups and downs, but that’s football. That’s why the game is so attractive. It’s a matter of players available, a matter of the budgets available and it’s a matter of not being able to build a football team in one season.”

And Swift is certainly looking past short-term goals for the Victoria Park outfit, who recently announced plans for a new stadium away from their traditional home site.

“You have to build [a squad] over a number of seasons as we see in the Premier League.

“You can buy a good team and you can buy good players but whether they work together is another matter.”

Swift confirms that the damage to their current stadium is being dealt with swiftly, but refused to give a definitive time-scale for the new stadium as he continued: “I never give forecasts like that.

“When we do have timescales in place it’ll be announced as usual on the Burscough club website.”

The chairman also had an exciting message for Linnets fans who flock to Victoria Park every other weekend.

“Burscough football club is moving forward.

“We enjoy football at Victoria Park, it’s a ground with terrific heritage and we’ve got a project to look forward to. It’s exciting times.” Burscough travel to Maine Road on Saturday.