ACCRINGTON will be hoping it will be a case of third time lucky after landing Peter Sleep as professional for the remainder of the season.

The hard-hitting Aussie takes over at Thorneyholme Road after Nathan Astle's shock exit to county side Nottinghamshire last month.

The Lancashire League side have twice tried to lure Sleep to the club in recent seasons but on both occasions got the knock back as the former Rishton paid man is contracted to Lancashire as second team coach.

But due to the unforeseen circumstances, the two clubs have come to an agreement - much to the delight of chairman Peter Barrett.

He said: "We were devastated when Nathan left and were very upset. He had made a very good start to the season for us and it looked like we were going to start to climb the league.

"However we are very fortunate to get a player of Peter's calibre as a replacement and while we will only have him on match days, his ability to motivate other players is going to be a tremendous boost for us."

Having finished rock bottom for the past two seasons, Accrington must have been spirited by their start the season. But a run of defeats has seen them slip back down into the bottom three.

But the side have a chance of returning to their winning ways and picking up their fourth victory of the season when they travel to fellow strugglers Nelson on Saturday. Fixtures Saturday, League: Bacup v Haslingden, Burnley v East Lancs, Church v Todmorden, Enfield v Colne, Nelson v Accrington, Ramsbottom v Rawtenstall, Rishton v Lowerhouse.

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