ASKAM aim to go one better than last week when they entertain Leigh East at Fallowfield Park in Division Three of the National Conference League tomorrow.

Also at home last weekend, the Villagers went down 26-12 to Oldham St Annes in a game they were still in contention until the later stages.

Team news for the game is not good, with newly-appointed skipper Joe Satterthwaite ruled out with a a shoulder injury. The Askam camp will be hoping it is not serious as the talented half-back missed most of last season through injuries.

Vice-captain Kier Shepherd will play following a great performance last week but he will have to form a new half-back partnership.

Coach Gary Bolton was disappointed with the defeat at the hands of Oldham, saying: “We were blown off the park in the first period of the first half but we fought back to keep in touch. We will take a lot of positives from that game, but we will have to be more disciplined. We gave too many penalties away. We had a good session on Tuesday and spoke about several things, myself and Dave Hellon, we had a lot of things to work on.”

Bolton could have former Raider Jamie Butler back after injury and welcomes back Josh Steel to his 18-man squad. Missing out, however, are Chris Vanstone and Luke Duncalf who are unavailable.

East come on the back of a 22-4 home defeat at the hands of East Leeds in a game that was scoreless at the break. One to keep an eye on is full back Kieron Prescott who had a try disallowed before taking the man of the match award.

Millom are on the road in their first league game of the season, providing the weather doesn’t block their path to Oldham, where conditions at Waterhead Warriors’ ground are poor.

Coach Tom Sibley is looking for a much improved effort following last week’s shock defeat at Dalton in the Barton Townley Cup. The Woolybacks boss said ahead of the trip across the Moors: “We were not good and came up with too many errors. It was a typical local derby game played hard and close but our younger players can learn from that defeat. I don’t think Dalton were that much better than ourselves, we let them in for two soft tries. It was a blip so we now go forward with our league programme and hopefully get off to a winning start.”

Back in contention are Ethan Bickerdyke, Chris Heasley and Chris Warren while unavailable through work are Hadley Thompson, Niall Harris and Ross Brooks.