Millom go for a record tenth victory in the Barton Townley Cup final when they meet Ulverston at Craven Park tonight.

Now in it’s 38th year, the final has staged many great games and both teams go into the clash with an air of confidence.

North West Men’s League side Ulverston start as underdogs against Conference Three side Millom, but their never-say-die attitude could see them to victory.

In the semi final they came back from 28-16 down to beat Barrow Island, while the Woolybacks saw off a determined Dalton side.

Coach Dennis Porter, in his first season in charge, is optimistic that his side can pull off a win, saying: “We are capable of winning. As we showed in beating Barrow Island, our lads have that never-say-die attitude.

“I have the utmost respect for their coach Tom Sibley, who knows the game inside out and I am aware of their young talent with my involvement with Furness Raiders. But we have a good bunch of players and though key players are out, we have lads to step up to the plate.”

Porter is hoping his leader Matt Story takes to the field after missing the last couple of games.

He added: “He is our go-forward leader, lads feed off him but if not we are in good hands with Tom Spedding, who plays a similar role.

The key players out are Mark Wilkinson (ankle), Howard Rowley (thumb) and star of the semi-final win Sam Shepperd, who has other commitments, while James Porter has been cleared of any serious head injury.

Old heads Marc Dixon and ‘Dinger’ Bell are included in the 18-man squad.

Creative half-back Jonathan Hodgson is ruled out of the Woolybacks squad, while late tests await Hanley Dawson and Rickie Donaghue with both having niggling injuries.

Coach Tom Sibley, who includes himself in the squad, said “We will miss Hodgson but we will still field a strong side.

“We know we are going into a tough game, we know we can’t sit back and have to get on top of their pack then we will look to exploit them out wide. It should be a fast game on a dry pitch and could be very close at the end.

“We have really trained hard for this one - we love to be involved in the Barton Townley Cup, with it being a local competition.”

Luke Brady has work commitments, but overall the Woolybacks will field a strong side. Young lads that have impressed of late are Kian McPherson,Charlie Emslie and Astin Mossop and are in contention for places.

Guest of honour is former Australian Test forward Rod Reddy who played for Barrow then coached them in the late 1980s.