WOODHOUSE Grange CC captain James Finch insists there is no need to reflect too hard on last week’s home defeat to Yorkshire Academy ahead of their home clash fellow high-fliers Sheriff Hutton Bridge on Saturday.

The former Yorkshire 2nd XI off-spinner also maintains his side are taking a relaxed approach to their chances of Yorkshire Premier League North success.

Third-placed Grange suffered their first complete loss of term last Saturday as they were bowled out 75 runs short at home to Academy – a result that allowed Bridge to creep above them into second with 137-run victory at Acomb.

While Finch admits tomorrow is an important game, he has made it clear that the importance is as much based on eradicating the disappointment of last week as it is asserting Grange’s title credentials.

He said: “It’s obviously a very big game in terms of second against third, but we also had a disappointing weekend last weekend and we’re excited to have another big game and a chance to put it right.

“Last Saturday was our first disappointing performance of the season – regardless of the result this Saturday, everybody’s looking forward to putting in a good performance in a type of game you look forward to anyway.

“I think we’ve demonstrated (title credentials) anyway, to be honest. Anybody who has played us has seen that we’re competitive.

“But there’s a long way to go – we’re not halfway through the season yet – and I’m sure there are other teams, not just us and Sheriff Hutton Bridge, looking and thinking they have a chance.

“We never thought we’d be anywhere near winning the league, but if we can be competitive from here to the end of the season, we’ll see what we can do.

“We came up against a strong Yorkshire Academy side on a really good day. We were a little bit off it but by no means is there any need to worry about it – we’ll dust ourselves off down and go again.

“Whoever we play, we’ll be competitive against them – whether we finish second, third, fourth, we know we’ll be competitive.

“We’re quite relaxed just seeing what will happen. If we can turn up every week and play the cricket we know we can play, we know we’ll give anyone a good game.”

Grange are waiting for news on Simon Tennant. Otherwise, the team will be the same as last week.

Commenting on the importance of his former Barnard Castle teammate and the overall strength of the side, Finch said: “If he (Tennant) is fit, he’s one of the first names on the team sheet, so we’re hoping he’ll be available.

“We know what we want the team to look like.

“We’ve got a strong core of players. We’re nearly halfway through the season and we’ve got what we’ve got with the players we have. There are few players in other teams I would swap ours for.”

Table-toppers York will be looking to build on last week's 19-run winning draw at home to Scarborough when they host Yorkshire Academy tomorrow.

At the other end of the table, Acomb will hope to recover from defeat to Sheriff Hutton Bridge when they host second-bottom Sessay, who lost by 36 runs at Stamford Bridge last week.

Bridge travel to Harrogate tomorrow while Clifton Alliance - who lost by four wickets at Castleford last week - host Scarborough.