Heyside face crunch time on three fronts

TRI-FACTOR: Heyside skipper Ryan Barnes is aiming for three successes.

CRICKET: HEYSIDE suffered a blip in their upward progress when beaten at home by Middleton in the Lake Garage CLL on Sunday.

But Ryan Barnes’ team knows it has every chance of bouncing back on three fronts this weekend.

Tonight Heyside go to Rochdale in the JW Lees Bitter Tom Hardman Twenty20 Competition. Heyside was dominant in the format in its Saddleworth League days and will want to lay down a similar marker tonight - the reason being Sunday’s repeat clash between the teams in the quarter-finals of the JW Lees Bitter Wood Cup.

Heyside reached the last 16 with a win over Monton and Weaste and will need to conquer another premier division side to go into the semis.

Sandwiched between the two cup ties is an important championship match at home to runaway leaders Crompton tomorrow.

Third-placed Heyside have set their sights on a top-two finish and promotion, but a match against Simon Wright’s unbeaten outfit is as tough as it gets.

Royton are the other local team in tonight’s T20 quarter-finals, having scraped through to this stage on countback. The team has slipped to third-bottom in the premier division, so victory is much needed tomorrow against Monton and Weaste.

In the Championship, the Heyside-Crompton derby takes centre stage, but followers of Oldham will be hoping for a change in fortune when they entertain Elton. The same goes for Werneth at home to Middleton.

twitter: @KeithMcHughOC