Longridge Town boss is happy to be patient with his players

Town won 2-0 at Avro on Saturday, setting them up for Tuesday night’s trip to Ashton Athletic before Saturday’s FA Vase first round tie at Emley AFC.

Fifteen games into the NWCFL Premier Division, Town sit eighth in the table as one of six teams on 24 points.

Vauxhall Motors are the lowest-placed of those teams as they find themselves 11th in the division, albeit only five points behind an Irlam side sitting in third.

As one of the division’s smaller clubs, with a similarly-sized budget, Town’s approach is based upon fielding a number of youngsters and watching them develop as they play games.

That can lead to inconsistent performances, something which Ashcroft wants spectators to bear in mind when there might be an off-day.

He said: “That’s what people have got to understand.

“There might be times when they don’t play well, but when they do, they play very well.

“We had a 25-minute spell against Macclesfield where we were unstoppable.

“We will do what we’re good at. We play in a kind of unique way to everyone else in the division.

“Some teams can’t deal with us but we are where we are, we will keep taking teams on, and I think we will win more than we lose.”

A win at Ashton would send Town into fourth place before their FA Vase campaign begins.

A top-four berth would constitute a good start to the season given how tightly-fought Ashcroft believes the league will be.

He said: “You keep looking down the fixture list and thinking ‘Christ, every game is going to be difficult’.

“Litherland are bottom but they have turned it around because no-one wants to get relegated. Everyone’s fighting to stay in the division and we’re no different.”

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