MICHAEL Farley will be happy when the football season finally ends.

The Radcliffe Cricket Club first-team captain has been struggling for numbers in the opening three weeks of the Greater Manchester League season.

With one game rained off and the other two resulting in defeat – including Saturday’s match at Ashton – it has been a tough start for the Racecourse side as they look to establish themselves in Division Two B following last season’s promotion.

But there is no panic and Farley remains positive the club is going in the right direction as they continue their revival following a difficult few years financially.

“The goal hasn’t changed, our aim is still just to stay in this division as it was at the start of the season,” said the skipper.

“We knew we wouldn’t light up the division and to be honest we’ve not noticed too much of a difference from last season.

“But we just need to get a win under our belts to get us going.

“We have been struggling for players and it’s been difficult to get two teams out at weekend, but we’ve done it and we’ll continue to do all we can to keep doing it.

“We haven’t got any money to pay players so we have to go with what we’ve got. But I have to say the spirit among those players we have is second to none.

“And things should get a bit easier in the next couple of weeks when we get one or two players back playing after they finish their football season.

“You can’t blame football clubs, they’ve got to play their sport as well, but it will be nice when the football season ends and we get a couple of players back to help us.”

On Saturday’s six-wicket defeat at Ashton, Farley added: “It was disappointing because we should have done better but one big positive was the performance of 15-year-old Louis Partington who batted 55 balls for four runs.

“He stuck in there and gave us great stability when we needed it. He showed great maturity in the way he played and helped Jimmy Dixon [who top scored for Radcliffe with 42] and for a 15-year-old to do that was no mean feat, so we’re very pleased with him.

“We were relatively happy with scoring 120 on the wicket but then it dried out as the day went on and became easier to bat on.”