Ste Daley has lauded his Prescot Cables player after bouncing back to secure their place in the playoffs with a 2-0 win over Stalybridge Celtic.
Frontmen John Murphy and Kyle Sambor were on target for the Bulls to establish them in the top five for April 30’s semi-final, with City of Liverpool and Witton Albion embroiled in a battle for a place.
After flying high for the majority of the campaign, Cables slightly slipped down the table with Leek Town running out worthy winners of the league. However, the rise of Daley’s side has been, nothing short of, phenomenal after sitting in the dugout for their harrowing 6-0 home defeat to City of Liverpool in December 2021.
Fast forward 28 months later, they are battling for a place to host a playoff semi-final.
“The club isn’t used to being in this position, the players that we have put together, we were always quietly confident that we were going to have a good season, we wasn’t quite sure how quickly they’d gel and how they’d adapt,” Daley told Off The Park.
“I think after settling down, we had our expectations on the playoffs, to finish there it’s nice but credit goes to the players, these players have done fantastic through injuries, they’ve done unbelievably so credit goes to them.”
They travel to Trafford to bring the curtain down on their regular campaign. The Greater Manchester club have had issues of their own this season but managed to avoid relegation.
While Daley’s hopes of leapfrogging Runcorn Linnets to finish second remain faint, he insists they will still need to perform to earn three points.
He continued: “Trafford are a good team, we watched them against Leek and they could’ve beaten them in that game.
“They’re a good team with an experienced manager, they’re a good club but there’s no easy game in this division, it’s a tricky game, away from home so we have to do everything we can to finish as high as possible to finish in the playoffs.
“It’s a game where we can’t take our foot off the pedal and take things for granted. We’ll be ready for it and we’re looking forward to it.
“I don’t believe we’ll get second because I don’t think Runcorn will drop points against 1874 but in case they do, we’ve got to try win the game. If we win, we finish third which gives us home advantage but all the teams in and around the playoffs are good teams so there’s no real preference of who we play, there’s going to be four good teams fighting it out.”
