DAVE Warne is not too disappointed over Walney Central narrowly missing out on a place in National Conference League Division Three for 2019.

Although they were promoted from North West Men's League Division One, 2018 proved a frustrating season for Cents as they went through a long period with no home games due to opponents from Lancashire forfeiting fixtures rather than travelling to South Cumbria.

That lead to the club making a late decision to apply for an NCL place, but despite meeting all of the criteria it was West Cumbrian side Hensingham who were elected ahead of them.

Nevertheless, there is no bitterness from Walney joint-coach Warne and he is optimistic the same fixture problems will not occur again for the Central Drive outfit in the Premier Division next year.

"We were a little bit disappointed, but to be honest it was a bit of a late decision to go in for it," said Warne.

"It was the lack of games in the North West League which made us think we weren't getting enough game-time - we went through a 12-week period without having any home games, which was quite crippling for the club.

"We put in a last-minute application for the NCL, and we had a guy come out and met all of the criteria, but we were just unlucky.

"There are no sour grapes, we've been promoted to the Premier Division of the North West Counties, we'll be playing a better standard of opposition and when me and (joint-coach) Dave Bell went to a meeting, we were promised more teams would come down to Cumbria and play next year."

There is a buzz around Cents for 2019, particularly with former Barrow Raiders back row Matty Holmes returning to the club, along with hooker Matty Elliott.

Pre-season training is already well under way, with Walney also due to find out who they will face in the first round of next year's BARLA National Cup today.

"We've been training for nearly five weeks and we're raring to go," said Warne.

"We're just looking forward to the season, the lads are flying and we've been training twice a week for the past month now, and the proper stuff starts after Christmas.

"We're raring to go in the Premier Division."