ANY side which struggles to field a team on the opening day is likely to struggle all season and so it has proved for Tenbury.

From day one the omens were bad when they had to telephone Droitwich to say they were short and would not fulfil their opening fixture.

The two-point fine which followed meant their task of surviving the relegation trap door from North Midlands One would start with a points total of minus two.

And for weeks they looked as though they might not reach nil again with one heavy defeat following another.

In three games during the autumn they conceded 229 points without troubling the scorer themselves.They even broke the three-figure barrier with an 111-0 defeat at mid-table Redditch.

The player shortage had reached crisis level and with youngsters moving away from the area because of a lack of higher education in the area the club's position looked grave.

But just as it seemed the club would implode the tide turned. Former players returned, the injury list shortened and farmers, who had been unavailable due to work commitments, rejoined the fold.

Slowly they turned the corner and their defeats narrowed week on week until finally in December they registered their first win of the season with a 17-8 success at home to Birchfield. At one stage they even strung together a sequence of three wins in five games including sweet revenge over Redditch and win over high-flying Droitwich who had thumped them 66-0 just seven days earlier.

Sadly league restructuring has meant they are still doomed to relegation but at least they can now look forward to a brighter future.

They are now consistently fielding a second team, a feat which looked impossible earlier in the season, and taking a drop in league status should mean a winning campaign next year.

Everyone enjoys playing for a winning team so with a little momentum they could even mount a challenge for a quick return to North Midlands One. One thing is for sure, if they show the same fighting spirit next season as they have done in the second half of this, they are due for happier times at Penlu.

Monday, April 12, 1999.