AS St Helens Town completed their pre-season home programme with another couple of defeats to Maine Road and Burscough, both North West Counties Premier Division opponents, their full league fixture programme for the forthcoming programme was released.

Thursday night’s 3-0 loss to Maine Road was a tough blow to take, as the score bore little resemblance to the effort Town put into the game. Missing twelve first-choice squad members due to work and holiday commitments, St. Helens were soon under the cosh and went 1-0 behind in the early stages to a well-drilled Manchester outfit, but they rallied well and looked likely to equalise. However, a blatant foul on the edge of the Maine Road penalty box went unnoticed by the referee and a length-of-the-field break saw the visitors’ centre-forward go one-on-one with Tom Bradley in the home goal and, suddenly, a possible 1-1 scoreline became 0-2 and the remainder of the game was evenly contested until Maine Road netted a third ten minutes from time.

Saturday’s early kick-off against Burscough, newly relegated from the Evo-stik Division 1 North, was a game which Town started well and they led 1-0 thanks to an Andy Gillespie strike, but they lost their grip on proceedings as the temperature and tempo increased. Burscough, fresh from a recent 14-2 victory, strolled into a 4-1 lead, before Danny Forrester pulled a consolation goal back from 20 yards to make the final score 2-4.

Town will be hoping to record an opening victory when they travel to Rivacre Park, Ellesmere Port, on Saturday in their final warm-up game against Vauxhall Motors, kick-off at 3pm.

Hallmark Security League Division 1 games begin on Saturday, 12th August with a trip to New Mills, who were relegated from the Evo-stik League just over a year ago and dropped through the Premier Division last season. Town’s home programme begins on Thursday, 17th August, when new club Abbey Hulton United visit Ruskin Drive, but the new ground has to pass a ground grading test before it can stage the fixture and final building works have still to be completed.

The full fixture list, home games in capitals, is as follows:

Aug. 12 New Mills

Aug. 17 ABBEY HULTON UNITED

Aug. 26 Eccleshall

Aug. 29 Atherton L.R.

Sep. 2 Silsden

Sep. 5 Carlisle City

Sep. 9 HEMSWORTH M.W. (FA Vase)

Sep. 16 FC Oswestry Town

Sep. 20 Litherland Remyca

Sep. 30 Daisy Hill

Oct. 5 PRESTWICH HEYS

Oct. 7 CHADDERTON

Oct. 11 Holker Old Boys (First Div. Cup)

Oct. 14 AFC BLACKPOOL

Oct. 17 Prestwich Heys (League Cup)

Oct. 21 Stockport Town

Oct. 28 CHEADLE TOWN

Nov. 4 ECCLESHALL

Nov. 11 Prestwich Heys

Nov. 16 HOLKER OLD BOYS

Nov. 18 BACUP BOROUGH

Nov. 25 FC OSWESTRY TOWN

Dec. 2 Nelson

Dec. 9 DAISY HILL

Dec. 16 CARLISLE CITY

Dec. 23 SANDBACH UNITED

Dec. 26 Cammell Laird 1907

Dec. 30 Whitchurch Alport

Jan. 6 ALSAGER TOWN

Jan. 13 Sandbach United

Jan. 20 AFC Blackpool

Jan. 27 NELSON

Feb. 3 Holker Old Boys

Feb. 10 WHITCHURCH ALPORT

Feb. 17 Chadderton

Mar. 3 SILSDEN

Mar. 10 NEW MILLS

Mar. 24 Bacup Borough

Mar. 31 CAMMELL LAIRD 1907

Apr. 2 Alsager Town

Apr. 7 ATHERTON L.R.

Apr. 14 LITHERLAND REMYCA

Apr. 21 Abbey Hulton United

Apr. 28 STOCKPORT TOWN

May 5 Cheadle Town