Reserves opt out of Pontin's League

Last updated : 02 April 2008 By Dave Moore

The Latics' reserve side will not be taking part in the Pontin's League next season. Instead they will face a series of testing friendly games against quality opposition. They will take part in the Manchester Senior Cup, Lancashire Senior Cup as well a series of friendlies against high profile opponents. In the cups the Latics could come up against sides like Manchester United, Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool and Everton. Manager John Sheridan will be hand picking the friendly fixtures and it is hoped that the Latics can offer potentially higher profile games against a better class of

opposition.

Pontin's League Central Division reserve games this season have been hampered by injury problems and fixture backlogs caused by postponed games and these have had a bad effect on the first team squad which has also been hit with a huge list of injuries.

Alan Hardy told the official website, "The manager discussed this with the board at a recent board meeting. I must stress that we are not scrapping the reserve team, but instead the manager is aiming to enhance the standard of opposition we will be facing. The manager will have the flexibility to hand-pick games on an ad-hoc basis and we are confident this new arrangement will be of benefit to the club in a number of ways."