Leeds Tykes looking to put some distance between themselves and National Two North rivals

Head Coach Pete Lucock says it’s important they resume their National Two North campaign with a bang.

“I think after losing a game last week to the weather and not having adequate conditions for training, everyone is just ready to crack on with the season,” said Lucock.

“I think we developed a lot as a team coming up to Christmas, and I think everyone is just raring to go. I’m expecting us to hit the ground running, and pick up from where we left off.

“It’s really important [to start well], teams haven’t played for four or five weeks and I think you can get a jump on it. If we’d just sat down and not done anything, and rested on what we’d done for the last 18 months, everyone would catch up so we just need to hit the ground running.

“To be honest, I’m probably looking for us to kick on too, we’ve probably not been at our best in spells but the last few games we started to hit our straps so for me I’m looking for us to really kick on.

“We’re pretty much as we were going into Christmas team wise, we have a couple of long term injuries but we’ve been without them for a while.”

The Tykes are sitting pretty at the top of the league having been gifted an early Christmas present as main rivals Lymm lost to Sheffield.

The league is as tight as it can get with one point separating the top three of Tykes, Lymm and Sheffield.

Lucock says that can only drive them on.

“It’s all really tight,” he added. “It’s a really exciting league and now all the games mean something. The luxury we have is that Sheffield and Lymm both have to come to us.

“So everything’s to play for and it’s all in our hands. It’s probably a challenge that as a group we’re all really looking forward to..”

He expects the Ionians to cause plenty of problems.

“Their league position probably doesn’t do them justice, they play some good stuff on the front foot, they move the ball well and they’re going to be a real threat,” said Lucock,.