RESERVE teams often get the rough end of the football stick, but not so at Whitecroft where First team promotions have led to an influx of young players and helped revitalise the side.
It has been a season of contrasts for Whitecroft.
Joint manager Nick Baldwin explains: "Yes, we have lost a few players to the First team but we have been lucky enough to be able to call on some highly promising young players, mostly aged around 16. They have fitted in well with the older hands like Dean Lancaster and Ian McNally.
"It has been an up and down season. We have been as high as second and then down to mid-table. Had we lost to Worrall Hill it would have seen us in the bottom half, but we are too good to be there.
"We know we are not going to get promotion but we do have a promising side and I think we could have a really useful team next season."
Baldwin, who manages the team jointly with Bryn James, says all the young players are gaining in confidence and improving by the week. Names to watch for, he said, included Lewis Frazer-Holland and Matty Thomas.
For Worrall Hill, who prop up the Division Two table, it has been a difficult season. However, they competed well and were still in contention at half-time.
"Credit to them, they never gave up. But we took control in the second-half and in the end won very comfortably," said Baldwin.
Whitecroft included a hat-trick scored by Gareth Meek. The other was scored by Nick Beech.