FIREFIGHTER Gary Stones is used to answering emergency calls, writes ANDY NEILD.

So when Ramsbottom United boss Ken Bridge needed helping out of a crisis earlier in the season, Gary was more than happy to lend a hand.

United have been plagued by goalkeeping problems during the last six months.

First, Paul Horridge, who became increasingly erratic towards the end of last season, quit the Riverside for UniBond outfit Barrow in the summer.

Then Bridge snapped up Chadderton stopper Mark Bedford as his replacement but a couple of howlers in United's opening games saw him quickly shown the door.

That meant assistant boss Mike Kelly had to be pressed into service to fill the breach.

But while the veteran performed admirably as United reversed a slump which had seen them sink to the bottom of the table, Bridge knew it was little more than a stop-gap measure.

That's when he decided to recruit Stones from Trafford.

And the former Atherton Collieries stopper has repaid his faith with a string of top performances which have coincided with the side's surge up the FNWTL First Division.

United are currently 12th in the table going into tomorrow's home game against St Helens. And Bridge has paid tribute to the stunning contribution Stones has made to his team's revival - which led to him receiving the FNWTL First Division Safe Hands award for November.

"Gary has done very well since he joined us and it's nice for anyone to receive an award," said Bridge.

"Good keepers are very hard to find because there aren't many of them about.

"But Gary has overcome a few problems recently with 'flu and work commitments to fit in very well at the club.

"I tried to sign him last season when he was at Atherton LR but we just missed out because he wanted to try his luck with Trafford in the UniBond League.

"But he didn't feel he was getting much of a chance there so, when I inquired about him again this time, he decided he wanted to come.

"We signed Mark Bedford at the start of the season but I was very disappointed with his performances and it cost us in a few games.

"Gary has solved that problem for us now."

But United's change in fortunes is not solely down to the form of Stones.

Striker Russell Brierley has also been instrumental with 22 goals, which makes him the league's second leading scorer.

And Bridge is delighted with the way he has responded after taking some stick from the terraces last term.

"There were one or two remarks thrown his way," said Bridge. "But he had started the season recovering from a double hernia and then he dislocated his shoulder so he was always struggling for fitness.

"But I never had any problem with how he was playing.

"This season, he's been more like himself but he's a quality player and, like goalkeepers, good strikers are also hard to come by."

With the upheavals of the opening month now behind them, Rammy are entering the festive period in a position of strength.

And Bridge is quietly confident the year 2000 may turn out to be a memor- able one in the club's history.

"I've always said the Millennium was going to be our year and, with a bit of luck, we may be in the frame.

"I'm confident the second half of the season is going to be even better for us than the first half has been."

Bridge reports no injury problems ahead of tomorrow's clash against St Helens.

But the biggest doubt could be over United's Riverside pitch, which was waterlogged earlier in the week.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.