Bury Seniors are finding it tough on the road in the early weeks of their 2014 Lancashire County Red Rose League campaign.

After their top five finish last term, the club’s best result for a number of years, a difficult fixture list sees them face seven away matches in their first eight games.

With Seniors matches traditionally seeing the home side emerge victorious, final league placings tend to be determined by the number of points picked up from away matches.

Although Bury show three consecutive away defeats before today’s opening home match against Knott End, the picture is not as bleak as it may seem as their points return from these matches is on a par with last year. Hopefully a string of home games should see the Unsworth Hall side start to climb the table.

Last Tuesday’s visit to Ormskirk, to meet high-flying Hurlston Hall, followed the early season pattern, with Bury fiercely contesting all seven matches only for strong local knowledge tipping most of the games in Hurlston’s favour. Top performers for Bury were Brian Simper and Peter Dawson, who claimed the visitors’ sole point.

This week has been a busy one for the Seniors. On Tuesday, they hit the road for the annual friendly match with Accrington.

Yesterday saw the Unsworth Hall course host the club’s Over 55s’ Open Championship. Once again a high calibre field of golfers from Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria pitted their wits against Bury’s premier course, which received rave reviews following last week’s Lancashire Boys Championships.

Today marks the opening home league match against Knott End, with the return trip to North Lancashire scheduled for next Wednesday. The eagerly awaited home league derby, against reigning champions – Bolton Old Links, has now been postponed from May 29 to September 4 as the Bury course is hosting a major corporate day.