S&B open with trip to Rainhill

FOLLOWING comments and submissions from a number of clubs in the Med Imaging Liverpool Competition, the league’s management committee has issued a revised set of fixtures which offers all three Southport teams a rather better balanced opening to the 2015 season.

For example, Southport and Birkdale begin their campaign with a visit to Rainhill before hosting Lytham on May 2 and the 2014 Champions Ormskirk on May 9.

A visit to the Wirral to play Wallasey rounds off an early sequence Chris Firth’s men would probably have accepted, given the infrequency of any easy games in the ECB Premier League.

At Sea Cop new skipper Derek Sykes may not be complaining too loudly either after being handed a home match against Maghull on the opening day of the season followed by visits to Nothop Hall and St Helens Town before returning to take on Rainford on May 16.

Ainsdale’s 2015 league season gets under way with a visit to Aigburth to play Liverpool before a home match against Sefton Park on May 2. New skipper Andy Barlow then takes his team to Crow Lane East to play Newton-leWillows followed by a home engagement against Wigan.

The only Southport derbies in the league this summer take place on June 20 when Ainsdale host Fleetwood Hesketh with the return match at Sea Cop being scheduled for September 5.

Southport and Birkdale: April 25: Rainhill (A); May 2: Lytham (H); May 9: Ormskirk (H); May 16: Wallasey (A)

Ainsdale: April 25: Liverpool (A); May 2: Sefton Park (H); May 9: Newton-le-Willows (A); May 16: Wigan (H)

Fleetwood Hesketh: April 25: Maghull (H); May 2: Northop Hall (A); May 9: St Helens Town (A); May 16: Rainford (H)