Vagabonds face Orrell away this Saturday in round two of Counties Three ADM Lancashire/Cheshire.

Neither side got off to a great start last week but Vagas will surely feel the more positive.

They led 8-5 at half-time against visitors Ormskirk and they dominated the set-piece scrum, but Ormskirk’s lightning fullback scored two and had a hand in two more at the other end, proving the difference between the sides.

Orrell by contrast conceded an away walkover against Dukinfield and have suffered a five-point deduction in the process finding themselves on minus five points after only one match.

The Manx will undoubtedly see this as possible weakness and look for some away points.

Vagas didn’t do that much wrong last Saturday.

They led at the break and dominated at scrum time.

The handling was good too, they just got caught narrow a couple of times by a gifted and pacey full back.

They’ll focus on the problem areas in training this week but will probably change very little, subject to availability of squad members for travel.

Norman Winterbach looks to have signed from Southern Nomads too and is likely to help out up front.

Skipper Dan Bonwick has a centre pairing just outside him of Archie Benson and Cal Donnell who both looked sharp last week and Ethan Kermode was a great shout off the bench even if he did draw a yellow card.

On last week’s form this could be a Vagas win, however, Orrell almost won the 1991/92 Courage League title and although they’ve slipped some way down the rankings, there’s still some club pride there and overconfidence is something Vagas need to be aware of.

DAVE CHRISTIAN

Fixtures:

Friday, September 13

Isle of Man Academy U18 v Southport @ Ballafletcher ko 8pm

Saturday, September 14

Regional 2 North West

Douglas v Widnes@ Port-e-Chee ko 1.30pm

Counties 3 ADM Lancashire/Cheshire

Orrell v Vagabonds @ Orrell

Friendly

Douglas Celts v Western Vikings @ Port-e-Chee ko 11am