Douglas host Altrincham Kersal at Port-e-Chee in round three of Regional Two North West on Saturday.

Home wins apiece last season and two narrow AK losses at home to date in this national level six campaign against Burnage and Winnington Park suggest another tough encounter, but early Douglas form has been encouraging.

As the Manx side catch up with fixtures under the belt, history shows that Port-e-Chee becomes a difficult place to visit.

Championship-chasing Waterloo’s experience in winning at Blundellsands last September in round one, and then losing at Port-e-Chee in the concluding April league match encapsulates the massive improvement during the course of the season.

The Achilles’ heel in the past few years was a lack of pre-season preparation that left Douglas on the back foot, but now with three very competitive fixtures completed Douglas can kick on and there’s certainly the personnel to do so.

The front row are promising with Owen Carvin, Josh Campbell and Conor Garland improving with every game, and there’s unlikely to be a fitter prop than marathon-running Simon Hoddinott.

Skipper Blake Snell leads by example, and alongside Harry Cartwright the core of the scrum is solid.

Flanker Ian Larson’s step up to league action looked seamless, and with Liam Kirkpatrick pulling the strings and Mark Oldfield possibly returning alongside Blake Everson and John Dutnall, Douglas have the nucleus of a talented back-row where newcomer George Anthill can thrive.

Nathan Robson will only be more determined to keep the scrum-half spot as Craig Martin lurks in the wings, and in summer signing Matty Wood at outside-half, Douglas appear to have landed a real gem.

With Harry Hewson, Josh Duncan, Kyle Martin, Will Cain, Ollie Corkish, Cal Dentith and Jonty Cope bringing genuine pace and guile out wide to the pristine Port-e-Chee surface, there’s much to look forward to. Kick-off is 2pm.

TONY WILSON-SPRATT