GREAT Harwood captain Alan Armer has backed his resilient troops to keep up the pace at the top of the Ribblesdale League.

The Cliffe Park outfit lead the way after three fixtures, topping the table on 25 points alongside Cherry Tree and Barnoldswick.

And Armer believes it's his side's ability to chase down totals - which has been a problem in the past - that has led to their promising start.

They kicked off their campaign with a gritty one-wicket triumph over Edenfield, before confidently chasing down Whalley's 121 all out last Saturday.

"It's been an excellent start for us", revealed Armer.

"It's good to be at the top, and it's nice to see sides like Cherry Tree up there as no-one really expected that. It's now a case of staying up there.

"We've chased down two quite good totals in our first two games and we possibly wouldn't have done that in the past. We've never been the best at it.

"In recent years, if we'd been chasing 120, we wouldn't have fancied it. But I've told the lads to believe they can do it.

"It's my first year as captain and I've looked to try and give the lads a bit of confidence."

Armer added: "We struggled at Edenfield on the opening day. But we bat all the way down, and Paul Newton and Stuart Maher got us past the finishing post.

"We were really pleased with our performance at Whalley - who I think will be right up there at the end of the season.

"They're a good side with ex-professionals like Neil Cordingley. They will take some stopping."

Great Harwood were left singing the praises of professional Syed Shahabuddin for their seven-wicket success at Station Road.

The young Indian all-rounder took 6-38 from 20.1 overs, including the prize wicket of Cordingley for 0, before steering Armer's men home with an unbeaten 36.

"Our pro did the business for us and that's what we want from him," added Armer.

"He's got a difficult name to say and has about 20 nicknames. But he's settled in very quickly and looks a good player.

"He's good at containing sides with the ball, although we've not seen much of his batting yet.

"But he did a great job on Saturday. We always knew that if he was in there at the end of the day, we would win.

"Unfortunately, both myself and Russell Whalley failed with the bat, so it was up to the pro to help see us home.

"It was nice to see Matthew Howarth get a few runs at the top of the innings.

"He said he was looking to get 400 to 500 runs this season and, so far, he's on his way there."

Armer expects it will take a while before the league table settles down, although he does not anticipate any sides running away with it this season.

He added: "Baxenden are the favourites. They will be right up there.

"But I think a lot of teams will take points off each other.

"It could be tight for most of the way. I don't expect it to a be a two-horse race like it was last year."

We've got Oswaldtwistle Immanuel, one of the league's so-called weaker teams, but they've got some very good lads.

We just need our pro to be at his best again.

If he can keep teams down to two-and-a-half runs an over, and Stuart will be doing his best at the other end.

And we've got to score runs against amateur bowlers.