Lack of experience has hit Leyland bid

The men from Fox Lane have not won in the Northern League Division One since beating Morecambe at home on the opening day of the campaign.

Since then they have been well beaten by St Annes and Garstang, while Chorley claimed a winning draw over them in the derby clash at Windsor Park on Saturday.

Their only other cheer this summer has been a winning draw over Penrith.

However, the team has been missing a few key players, including all-rounder Henry Thompson while Makinson’s son Andrew has also been 
absent.

Makinson himself – a 
fixture in the Leyland line-up for many years – is currently sidelined with a problematic shoulder injury.

“I don’t like to make any excuses, but we have had quite a few players missing. Henry Thompson is training to be a lawyer. He told me in the winter that he will be missing for the first six weeks of the season because he is studying for exams.

“Once these exams are out of the way, then he will be okay to come back. He will be missing for another three games

“My lad Andrew has been out for the last three games, but he’s back this weekend.

“There’s myself as well, so we’ve been missing three fairly experienced players.”

James Rounding has taken over captaincy duties in Makinson absence.

“I think James has done well,” Makinson added. “He’s not done anything that I could have done differently.

“I think it’s just been a case of the lads who come in are less experienced than what we had.”

Leyland are at home to Fleetwood this week and will be buoyed by beating them last Sunday in the Lancashire Cup.

This Sunday, the club 
welcomes both Preston and Chorley to Fox Lane for the second instalment of the Readers T20 Cup.