WITHOUT a win in their opening 10 league games, the West Lancs Division One table makes grim reading for GSK Ulverston Rangers.

Lying rock-bottom – with just one draw to show for their efforts ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Stoneclough – the Canal Foot side are desperately in need of a win to kick-start their campaign.

“It’s been a very, very difficult start to the season,” said club secretary Phil Grant.

“We’ve been struggling with players’ availability due to work and holidays, and we’ve lost a couple of our older, more experienced players from last season, so it’s a very young team at the moment.

“We played an away game a couple of weeks ago and our average age was about 20. We’re just lacking a few players with a bit of maturity who can steady the ship.”

Missing from the Rangers squad who finished in lower mid-table last season are three players Grant describes as the ‘spine of the team’ – former player-boss Gavin Butler, Danny Leech, who has returned to Dalton United, and talented youngster Sam Lightfoot, now playing North West Counties football with Holker Old Boys.

And as well as key players leaving, Rangers have also had to cope with the departure of manager of David Walker, with Dave Harrison having taken over the reins as player-boss.

“We lost some of our experienced lads, and we have been struggling for numbers and not being able to get a regular team out every week,” said Grant.

“We’ve got some good young lads like Callum Fawcett and Josh Cronin (both Barrow AFC under-18s players) and they have been playing quite well, but we just need someone with that bit of experience to push them along.

“Out of the 10 games we have played I think we have been leading at half-time in about seven of them, but we haven’t got that experience and maturity to kill games off and once we concede, our heads start going down.

“We need a win, however we scrape it, but it just doesn’t seem like we are going to get it at the moment.

“We’ve only won one game and that was in the Lancashire Cup on penalties (beating Wythenshawe on spot-kicks after a 1-1 draw with the Manchester side).”

Rangers’ problems have not been helped by not having had a decent good run of games under their belts due to postponements, and with Canal Foot being hit by heavy rainfall this week, tomorrow’s match against mid-table Stoneclough is also in doubt.

“It has just been stop-start. We have played a lot fewer games than some of the teams in the division so we are already playing catch-up,” said Grant, who is trying to retain a positive outlook about the rest of the season.

“Hopefully, with a couple of wins, we can get going,” he said. “With the position we are in at the moment there is only one way we can go, and that’s up!”

Unlike Rangers, Hawcoat Park have enjoyed a great opening few months of the season lying second in the table. Park face a massive third-versus-second match tomorrow at CMB – a team who have two points fewer than the maroons, but have four games in hand.

Premier Division Vickerstown are in good nick following a 3-1 win at Coppull United as they look to make it back-to-back league wins when second-from-bottom Eagley head to Park Vale. Eagley beat a youthful Crooklands side 4-3 last time out, so they will be no pushovers.

It’s Casuals’ turn to face Coppull tomorrow and Cassies will hope home advantage can help earn them three points.

Millom will look to keep up their promotion push in Division Two as they head to the seaside to take on Blackpool Wren Rovers reserves.

Brian Dawson takes his Holker side to Widnes looking for his first win since taking over as new manager at Rakesmoor Lane.

After seeing his side lose his first game in charge, 4-1 at home to Chadderton, Dawson is well aware of the size of the task ahead as his tries to revitalize the Stags’ NWC Division One season. That task continues with a difficult assignment at play-off chasing Widnes.

Only one game survived the deluge in the Furness Premier League top-flight last week – Holker reserves winning 2-1 at Bootle – so its fingers crossed that more pitches are deemed playable.

Leaders Hawcoat Park reserves head to Bootle, while second-placed Barrow Celtic go to Swarthmoor and it is fourth-versus-third at Rakesmoor where Holker reserves take on Kirkby United.