Ogier believes Saints now biggest rivals

NORTH coach Micky Le Prevost defiantly insists his side will fight to the death to retain their Priaulx League crown, despite going down 3-1 to Bels in the weekend top-of-the-table clash. Superbly executed goals from Matt Drillot, Marc McGrath and Scott Bradford at Northfield sent Bels three points clear of their rivals with a game in hand.

But both sides still have St Martin's breathing down their necks.

'If Bels think they have won the league or it's only St Martin's left, it's rubbish. We will not give in and we will be there at the death. I believe and the players believe it will go down to the wire and it's far from over.

'I won't let them drop their heads and they won't. The boys will keep their heads up and we will be up there challenging for the league at the end of the season,' he said.

'I'm disappointed and I don't think we deserved to lose that game. They took their chances and we didn't - it was such an even game,' claimed Le Prevost.

'We had a couple of chances in the first 10 minutes. They went up the other end and two of their goals were bad marking from throw-ins and the third we gave the ball away from a free kick.

'If we had taken our chances, it would have been a different scenario. That is the reason they beat us - they were not better than us,' he said.

Bels coach Micky Ogier said: 'I thought they created a few chances in the first 20 minutes and after that we started to take the game to them and scored three quality goals.

'We have camaraderie and everyone is working for each other and enjoying themselves. They are well up for it and you could see out there today that we knuckled down and worked hard and got what we deserved out of the game, which was a win.

'North are not out of it, but I think Saints are our main rivals now.'

Ogier even confessed he had a wager on Saints with a bookie at the start of the season at 8-1 and classed it as good value for money.

'The game against Saints on 29 December is very important - it's a six-pointer,' said Ogier, who is already in the Christmas spirit.

'Just a reminder to the boys that at 6.30 on Monday it's fancy-dress training. Don't forget or there will be a fine,' he warned his squad.

Bels expect to have Sam Cochrane and Paul Ramsden back for that match with Saints, but injured Simon Marley will be missing for at least three months.