LEISTON St Margarets will be after their third consecutive victory when they entertain leaders Achilles in the Senior Division of the Kingsley Healthcare SIL tomorrow.

Elvin King

LEISTON St Margarets will be after their third consecutive victory when they entertain leaders Achilles in the Senior Division of the Kingsley Healthcare SIL tomorrow.

After a miserable start to the campaign, the young Leiston side played exceptionally well in the second half and extra time to beat Anglian Combination Bungay in the opening round of the Suffolk Senior Cup.

And they followed that up last week with their first league success by beating bottom club Stowupland Falcons 6-0.

Gavin Jennings has taken over as player-manager and he has Jason Drew as his assistant.

Neil Cole resigned at the end of last season with long-serving club secretary John Barker saying: “He gave us plenty of notice that he wanted a year out for personal reasons.

“Neil still watches our games and is a supporter of the club.

“Gavin is doing a very good job with the lads playing well but not finding the net enough times.

“Hopefully the six goals they scored last weekend will boost confidence in front of goal although with respect to Stowupland it was not difficult once we gained control of the game.”

Free-scoring striker Darren Harper briefly re-joined Leiston St Margarets at the start of the season, but has now returned to Grundisburgh

Crane Sports also have a new manager this campaign with Ollie Langham now in charge following the decision by Robbie Beecroft to take a break.

“I will see how things go this season and take a rain check next May,” said Beecroft.

“I was finding it tough to find time to devote to football and Crane are in good hands.”

Beecroft led Crane to the final of the Suffolk Senior Cup last season when they lost 1-0 to Beccles Town at Portman Road.

Langham has previously player-managed at Westerfield and he was also boss at Bramford for a while. He played much of his Ridgeons League football for Stowmarket Town.

There are just three points between the top seven clubs in the Senior Division with Achilles returning to the top following their 1-0 victory over Crane last weekend.

Previous leaders Westerfield United were held 1-1 at Ransomes Sports, who remain the only unbeaten side in the division, but are in eighth position.

All SIL league matches will kick-off at 2pm from next Saturday, which is earlier than usual with the first Saturday in November the regular date to bring games forward.