EVERGREEN goal-machine Carl Waters would love nothing more than firing Millom’s young guns to championship glory this season.

Danny Pattinson’s side lie third in West Lancs League Division Two, in what looks like being a three-way fight for the two promotion places up for grabs.

After winning their opening eight league games, Millom’s form has dipped slightly of late, but they know if they take full advantage of their games in hand on the two teams above them, Ladybridge and Leyland, they will be in with a great chance.

Integral to their promtion hopes is the clinical finishing of striker Waters, whose goalscoring prowess shows no signs of diminishing, despite him now being 37 years old.

The club’s all-time record scorer with more than 450 goals, Waters has already netted 14 times in the league this season, and will look to add to that tally tomorrow when mid-table Thornton Cleveleys reserves visit town.

Waters knows the importance of the Red and Blacks taking the three points to keep the pressure on leaders Ladybridge and especially second-placed Leyland, who Waters feels are their biggest threat.

“We had a great start to the season but we’ve dropped a few daft points lately so we want to get back on track,” said Waters.

“We can’t afford many slip-ups now if we want to go up so we need a win. We won our first eight league games, but since then we’ve won, drawn one, lost one since then.

“But I suppose 11 games in and 28 points, we would have settled for that at the start of the season.

“Now we’ve got to try and cling on to Leyland’s coat-tails because they are unbeaten and they’ve only drawn two.

“Looking at the league, it is looking like two from the three of us, but you never know, one of the top teams might fall apart and another team might come through. We’d like to go up as champions, but Leyland are looking pretty strong.

“We’ve got games in hand on Ladybridge and if we win them we’ll go well above them and if we win our games in hand on Leyland we’ll be a point behind them, so it’s very close at the top. They will be the big games for us because we’re really trying to go up this season.”

Millom go into tomorrow’s game on the back of a hard-fought 2-1 Furness Senior Cup win over Dalton United, when Waters and Jamie Pattinson were on target.

“I wouldn’t say we were fortunate, but Dalton missed a couple of chances in the second half and they could have won it,” admitted Waters.

“But we managed to scrape through and I suppose that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

Waters feels player/boss Pattinson is doing a great job in charge of a squad, where a clutch of promising youngsters are blending nicely with experienced old heads such as himself, goalkeeper Lee Hanna and skipper Matt Towler.

“Danny is doing really well,” said Waters. “The good thing about Danny is he does a lot of research and puts a lot of time in and does a lot of good drills in training. I can’t fault him really, with it being his first year in charge as well.

“We’ve got a good, young side now, with a good defence. We’ve got some big, strong lads at the back – Jordan Williams, Chris O’Brien and Otis Holliday – and I don’t think we’ve conceded many goals this year.

“They are doing well, and it’s a good mix of youth and experience and everyone is putting it in.”

Waters also praised his fellow veteran team-mates – goalkeeper Lee Hanna and captain Towler.

“Lee is in his 30s now but he’s playing really well, probably the best I’ve ever seen him play,” he said. “Our captain Matty leads the team well but he has just had a baby girl, so he might not be travelling away for too much longer.

“And I keep saying maybe it’s my last year and I’ll drop into the reserves, but I’m enjoying it, so I’m going to keep going as long as I can.”

With Millom now operating four teams – newcomers Millom St James joining the reserves and A-teams in the Furness Premier League pyramid this season – the future of the club looks to be assured, for when the likes of Waters does decide to hang up his boots.

“We’ve got a lot of under-16s coming through and they all need somewhere to go and last year we had some lads who couldn’t get a game so it’s working really well,” he said.

“We’ve got a mix of young lads and older lads who are coming towards the end of their careers, and we are getting four sides out every week, which is great.”

Waters’ remarkable career has seen him score close to 650 goals, taking in spells with Haverigg United, Holker Old Boys, Lancaster City and Barrow AFC, where he played alongside recently-returned Holker Street hero Grant Holt.

“It’s good to see Holty back at Barrow,” he said, of a player who went on to grace the Premier League with Norwich City.

“Obviously our career paths were a bit different after Barrow, and he’s done well for himself!

“They’ve started winning a few games since he’s come so he is obviously having a positive effect on them. He was always a decent lad when I played with him, and a good lad off the pitch.

“I haven’t spoken to him since he left Barrow, but I don’t think he would have cause to pass through Millom very much!”