Dave Anderson knows Barton Town Old Boys have an outside of winning the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
GroundHop day or not, a local derby with Cleethorpes Town is a “big occasion”.
That’s the view of Barton Town Old Boys manager Dave Anderson as his side prepare to host the title-chasers in the first game of the second day of the NCEL Easter GroundHop tomorrow morning.
Barton welcome Cleethorpes at 11.30pm as they bid to dent their rivals’ Toolstation NCEL Premier Division title ambitions and Anderson cannot hide how important the day is for the club.
Anderson told Non League Yorkshire: “It’s obviously a big day for the club and adding to that it’s a local derby.
“Marcus (Newell) has done a terrific job at Cleethorpes and whilst we are rivals, it is great for the local area to have two big thriving non-league clubs.
“It’s a big occasion, the GroundHop is an added spice, but this would have been a big game anyway.
“Obviously it will be great to get a good crowd for the game, but it’s a game we look forward to on our calendar anyway.”
Quite remarkably, Barton still have a chance of winning the title because they still have to play Shaw Lane Aquaforce and also Worksop Town home and away.
A win over Cleethorpes could bring them into the reckoning and Anderson said: “I’ve said to the players that if we don’t manage to push for the title we’re definitely going to have a big say.
“We’ve got Worksop twice and Shaw Lane after Cleethorpes.
“If we don’t win it ourselves we’re going to have a big say and we won’t be doing anyone any favours we’re in every game to win it.
“We’ve got seven cup finals left. We’re 12 points behind Worksop but obviously playing them twice could close the gap if we take our chances, I’d say the top 5 or 6 all have a chance and no-one is out the running yet.”
After finishing second last season, the Old Boys haven’t quite built on their position last season, mainly due to a huge dent in their season between January 14th and February 14th when four games were postponed.
Barton also lost their opening four league games.
Anderson added: “This is the bench mark, the lads have done amazingly.
“After those first four games and to look where we are now is amazing, we are not a million miles away from the top four.
“We’ll try and pick up as many points as possible and keep our focus. It’s not out of our reach to do it this year, but we’ll go again next year hopefully even stronger.”