AFTER two consecutive years of heartbreak, Woolston Rovers are aiming to take the play-off lottery out of the equation this year.

In each of the past two seasons, Rovers have been involved in the end-of-season shake-up to win promotion from National Conference League Division Three.

Having lost 32-8 to Drighlington in the 2016 promotion final, Woolston reached the same stage again last year only to fall 16-10 to Dewsbury Moor Maroons.

Both seasons saw Rovers make a late run into the play-off spots having had poor starts – something head coach John Fieldhouse is keen to avoid in 2018.

Four of their first five Division Three fixtures will be played at their Monk Sports Club home and Fieldhouse has urged his team to take advantage.

“Opposition coaches have said we are the best team to not get promoted, but that is no consolation,” he told the Guardian.

“At the end of the day, they have been promoted and we haven’t. We’ve probably been the best football team, but we’ve not reached our end goal.

“If we don’t get points early on, it may be that the lads start to think ‘here we go again, play-offs again!’

“Like anything in life, some people can’t face the pressure of going down the failure route and thinking about what may happen.

“The fixtures have come out pretty good for us, with four of the first five games at home. If we could win those four, if not all five, we’ll be sitting pretty in first or second spot.

“That will give a lot of confidence to the guys and enable us to kick on.

“We want to be up there this season rather than sat trying to come from behind at the end of the season.

“We’ve done that for the past two seasons, not quite made it and ended up in the play-offs.

“It’s a challenge and we have to embrace it and take it head on.”

While the first team’s campaign ended with disappointment, Woolston’s A team were all-conquering in 2017.

They won all four trophies available to them last season, gaining promotion to Division Three of the North West Men’s League in the process.

Fieldhouse says some of the history-making squad will be rewarded with more Conference rugby in 2018 and he believes the way the club is set up with allow them to thrive at a higher level.

“Some of them are ready to step up and we’ve had conversations with those guys about doing so,” he said.

“Some of them did last year but fleetingly but there’s plenty that are good enough to hold a spot down.

“We treat everybody as a first-team player. We all train together, the first team, second team and under 18s.

“We all play with the same structure and gameplan, which revolves around the team and not the individual.

“Everybody knows what their role is, so if a player comes from the under 18s or second team into the firsts, they know what to do. It’s automatic for them.

“I’ve done that at Bank Quay and Leigh East and it’s been successful, so why change it?”

Beyond the open-age squads, Woolston’s junior section is also thriving and Fieldhouse says everything is “looking rosey” for the future at Monk Sports Club.

“The progress that has been made within the club in the past three years has been pretty sensational if you look at all the players that have come through,” he said.

“We’re probably the only amateur team in the north west that gets 40 or 50 lads turning up for training. That’s a massive positive.

“I know the club’s junior section is thriving, John Morris has got an excellent under 18s squad and the A team with Andy Penny won four trophies last year. They’re looking really strong again.

“Everything is looking rosey. If we can just get the first team over the line this year, we’ll go from strength to strength.”