ALBION Sports have been the forgotten club in the area over Christmas and New Year but the Lions roared back into action in midweek and climbed into fifth in the Toolstation Northern Counties East Premier Division.

Kulwinder Sandhu saw his side slipping down the league table as other clubs had games while Albion were idle. It wasn’t the weather that was frustrating them, it was the fixture list.

The Lions are tenants at Farsley Celtic’s Throstle Nest which boasts one of the best playing surfaces in the area, so pitch problems are rare. They only had one home game postponed last month.

Albion had waited 18 days from their last game before Wednesday’s 3-1 home win over Retford United but it seems that the hiatus did not affect them too badly.

Spokesman Pete Cusack said: “It was surprising because we played a really good, quick passing game and the players didn’t look like they had been without a match in all that time.

“Kully always has the lads ready for anything but it’s been difficult for him and his coaches with no games scheduled and the weather affecting training more than the holiday period but they still looked sharp.”

Their last game had ended in a 5-3 defeat after their goal keeping coach Mark Bower, who was standing in for regular keeper Jack Bentley, had been sent off in the first half.

Bower was only in the side because Bentley was serving a three-match ban after receiving a red card at Bridlington Town in November.

Cusack added: “To say we hadn’t played for the best part of three weeks we showed we can perform well – if we keep all our players on the pitch!

“That was our captain James Firth’s last game out, he was serving a suspension but that’s over now so that’s another plus. The only blot was Marcus (Edwards, the club's leading scorer) limping off after taking a knock on his ankle.”