MILNTHORPE Corinthians return to action this weekend after nearly five months as they begin their season in The West Lancashire Leagues brand new Division Cup Competition.

Corinthians, who previously won The Senior Challenge Cup, have been placed into Group D and will begin with an away trip to Slyne.

They will be playing Carnforth Rangers, Storeys, and Galgate over the coming weeks.

They will also travel to play AFC Carlisle in the quarter finals of The Senior Challenge Cup on Saturday, 8 May.

Corinthians manager Jimmy Marshall said: “Obviously the pandemic has been hard for all clubs and it’s no different at Milnthorpe Corinthians.

"We have done our best to battle on and have still managed to start a few construction projects to improve our facilities which we are currently in the middle of.

FOOTBALL: Milnthorpe Corinthians return to action (Article and photographs by Richard Edmondson)

FOOTBALL: Milnthorpe Corinthians return to action (Article and photographs by Richard Edmondson)

"We have been trying to use the down time from football to do something useful.

"The league received unfair criticism when it curtailed the season in December which was a very early decision however it proved to be the right one in my opinion.

"I don’t think anybody wants to go from doing nothing for 7/8 months to then playing 3/4 times a week that would be unfair on everyone concerned not least the players. I am quite pleased with the supplementary cup as it gives us some competitive football without being too much fixture wise.

"Personally I was pleased with the group we have been put in with Wyre Villa, Galgate, Carnforth Rangers, Storeys and Slyne With Hest.

"As much as we would like to go as far as we can in the competition we will primarily use this as a pre season aiming to get as many minutes into the legs of our whole squad.

"Ultimately we want to be prepared for the quarter final stage of The Westmorland Cup which we would love to retain after winning it last year.

"Hopefully we can have some success in both competitions and then follow that into next season and get a full season of West Lancashire Football uninterrupted.

"Our main aim next season has to be to push for promotion although we are under no illusions that won’t be easy as its very difficult division.

"All in all we are looking forward to starting and with most players still available we are confident of being successful should we translate our potential into performances and get that little bit of rub of the green along the way.”