Atherton Collieries go into tomorrow's FA Trophy against Barrow AFC under the charge of one of the men who played a big part in their rise up the football pyramid in recent years.

Former captain Brad Cooke returned to the Colls as manager last Monday to replace Michael Clegg, who had left to take up the reigns at Northern Premier League rivals Ashton United the previous week.

As a player, Cooke made 265 appearances and scored 39 goals for Atherton and, under Clegg, helped lift them from the North West Counties League - where they rubbed shoulders with Holker Old Boys as recently as 2015 - to Division One West of the Northern Premier League.

He left to take charge of West Didsbury & Chorlton, but the Colls' rise with Clegg continued as they won promotion to the seventh tier of English football for the first time in their history last season, finishing seven points clear of Radcliffe.

Clegg's departure has had repercussions, as midfielders Ben Hardcastle (brother of Bluebirds midfielder Lewis) and Michael Brewster have followed him to Ashton, where AFC skipper Josh Granite used to ply his trade.

Atherton go into the match against Barrow at Alder House 17th in their division, but don't let that fool you into thinking that they are struggling for form (they have games in hand on the teams around them, for a start).

In fact, their 2-1 win over Hyde United, in Cooke's first match in charge, last Saturday extended their unbeaten run to seven games and came courtesy of goals from Danny O'Brien and captain Danny Lafferty.

They have worked hard to reach this stage of the competition, having come through three qualifying rounds to do so.

After seeing off Scarborough Athletic and Morpeth Town, Atherton showed they are no respecters of reputation when they knocked out Boston United, of National League North. A timely reminder that AFC must not take them lightly.