PADIHAM skipper Callum Clarke believes his side’s season starts here after rain washed out their attempts to get a first victory of the campaign last weekend.

Their home game with Great Harwood was rained off on Saturday meaning Clarke’s men are still searching for their first win having been beaten by Brinscall and Euxton in their opening two fixtures.

MORE TOP STORIES:

And Clarke wants this weekend’s league match with Edenfield, who are also without a victory, to be the catalyst for a winning run.

“We want to get that first win to really start out season,” said Clarke.

“No-one is too down and everyone is training hard. We have been a bit unlucky so far but we have a good squad and hopefully we can get that win on Saturday.

“We’ve only played two games and it was always going to be a tough start for us. But it is still early days, if we win our next 10 games then no-one will remember us losing our first two.”

Clarke believes bringing in four new faces over the summer - including new professional Ben Heap who joined from Lancashire League side Lowerhouse - can also go some way to explaining the slow start.

“We have brought four players in and we are trying to integrate them into a starting XI,” added the skipper.

“That takes time but what we have learnt is that we don’t like losing.

“We want to win every game and at the start of the season the aim was to try and get promotion.

“We haven’t forgotten about that but we will be putting to one side to try and make sure we get that first win under our belts. Hopefully we can kick on from there.”

Padiham face a double header this weekend with the first round of the Ramsbottom Cup taking place on Sunday when his side entertain Brinscall hoping to avenge the early season loss.