Bowring dip is not a concern for Jamie King

A 14-0 whitewash of Hanmer four weeks ago had the 2016 County Cup winners riding high in third spot.

But defeats away to Ifton and Newport have followed – although they did pick up five points from each trip – before a rare home defeat against Burway.

“I’m still pleased with the start we have made,” said King. “I said to finish in the top half would be nice and we are still on course to do that, even though we have slipped up the last few weeks.

“The weather didn’t help (against Burway) and it took the home advantage away a little bit, but they played very well and were better than us. We came off with no complaints.

“We got five at Ifton and Newport which I was pleased with, so hopefully we can bounce back this week.”

King takes his side to Hanwood, a team sitting one spot above fifth-placed Bowring.

“They play their home green very well and it will be another tough game,” added King.

“We will be calling up a couple of players from the second team to cover for holidays, but they are more than capable of stepping up and I’m not too concerned.”

Hanwood are only in their second season in the league, but after establishing themselves last year they now look to have kicked on.

And joint-captain Mark Shore believes that was shown by last week’s 8-6 defeat at Ifton, the venue where they suffered a 14-0 hammering on their Premier League debut.

“To get six points and improve the aggregate by over 100 chalks from last season shows how far we have come in the Premier League,” he said.

Bylet face the second of two tough home clashes when, after entertaining defending champions Sir John Bayley last week, they host table-toppers Castlefields.

The Bayley boys are eight points off the leaders but have played just four of their 10 matches at home.

They host Wem USC with skipper Tom Roden admitting where his team’s strength has been so far.

“Our back four have been superb so far this season,” he said.

Newport and Burway both picked up impressive victories on the road last week and they meet at Granville Avenue.

Second-placed Meole Brace returned to form last week and they go to Wrockwardine Wood.

Skipper Pete Bound said: “All our top players are playing well at the moment and that’s a bonus because it has an effect on the rest of the team.

“The greens tend to be quicker in the second half of the season which makes going away from home trickier. It will be tough because they did well at Castlefields.”

At the bottom end of the league, there is a crucial clash between Chester Road and Hanmer.

St Georges’ home clash against Ifton has been postponed and re-arranged for next Wednesday. The funeral of Cameron Tyler, son of Ifton player Simon, takes place tomorrow. He passed away last month from meningitis, aged 10.

A league spokesman said: “The league would like to wish Simon Tyler and his family our thoughts on Friday.”