February 10, 2022 - 1570 views
North Wales Crusaders forward Kieran Sherratt believes Sunday’s third round Challenge Cup tie at Swinton Lions will prove to be a good marker for the 2022 campaign.
After seeing off community club Leigh Miners Rangers in the second round, Crusaders have been handed a trip to Swinton, who were relegated from the Championship last season.
It’ll be the first time Swinton and North Wales have gone head-to-head in a competitive fixture since 2015, when the Lions earned promotion from League 1.
On the cup tie, Sherratt said: “It’ll be a really tough game as they’ve probably got one of the strongest squads in League 1.
“They’ve retained a lot of their squad from the Championship and had a big win in the second round so it’ll be a test for us.
“As they’re in our division and will no doubt be one of the favourites, it’ll be good for us to see where we’re at and what our expectations can be for the new season.”
Crusaders’ cup tie at Leigh Miners was their first outing of 2022 as the pre-season friendly at Barrow Raiders scheduled for the weekend before was postponed because of injuries and COVID-19 cases in the North Wales camp.
Sherratt reckons Crusaders will only get stronger the more game time they get under their belts.
He said: “We’re learning new partnerships and getting used to playing with each other.
“It would’ve been nice to have had the friendly at Barrow, but I thought we grew into the game at Leigh Miners the longer it went on.
“There’s still a lot of the same lads here from when I played for the club in 2020.
“We’ve got plenty of talent in the squad, with both older heads and some new blood coming through.
“It’d be nice to do well in the cup as the start of the league season is still some way off, but we’re taking each game at a time and all our focus is on trying to get a positive result at Swinton.”
