THE width of the Foyle is all that separates St Johnston and Bready.
In the standings of the North West Premiership, there is little to separate their respective cricket teams.
Just two points of a difference has Bready marginally better placed heading into Saturday’s final day of League action in the 2015 season.
St Johnston, Donegal’s only cricket club, need something of a minor mathematical miracle to avoid making the drop back into the Championship.
Bready, their nearest relegation rivals, host Strabane in Magheramason and, just across the Foy, St Johnston take on Eglinton at the Railway Road.
Picture caption: The old and the new as veteran St Johnston player Alan Macbeth and youngster David Anthony discuss tactics.
For Ian Macbeth’s Saints to survive, they must post a massive win against Eglinton and hope Strabane do likewise at Bready.
It’s been an encouraging season for St Johnston despite their lowly position.
Macbeth has several young players like Michael Rankin – who is just back from injury – David Anthony, David Lapsley and Ryan Macbeth that the Donegal side will hope to keep hold of.
Wins over Ardmore and Bready have kept alive St Johnston’s hopes of pushing away the cold hand of relegation, although they remain favourites for the drop.
With a little more conviction last weekend they might well have moved even closer to survival, but they lost out by three wickets against Ardmore at The Bleechgreen.
In a game that was reduced to 30 overs because of its late commencement, St Johnston reached 156, with Alan Macbeth (38), David Lapsley (33), Ian Macbeth (26) and Kevin Martin (23) the pick of their batsmen.
Ian Macbeth took three wickets during one blistering over as St Johnston’s attack began to grow in confidence, but Forster Mutizwa, the Ardmore professional, stepped in just in the nick of time as his 86 helped steer Ardmore to a win.
