ANDREW SWARBRICK insists Chirk won’t give up on the Shropshire League Division Two title until it’s mathematically beyond their reach.

A 24-run defeat at the hands of Worfield Seconds meant Chirk lost further ground on leaders Wellington Seconds, who opened up a 43-point gap at the summit courtesy of a three-wicket win at Lilleshall.

But with five games of the season remaining, captain Swarbrick and his team-mates are not about to throw the towel in.

“We will never give up,” said Swarbrick. “We gave it the talk and now we need to back it up, and we’ve got five games of the season left to do that.

“We got ourselves to the top of the table and since then it’s all gone downhill, which is so frustrating.

“Everyone can see the ability in the squad is there to hurt teams, but we’ve just not played well enough in the last two games.”

Chirk’s batting let them down on Saturday as they failed to chase down Worfield’s 151 for nine, the Wrexham-based outfit dismissed for 127 with 18 balls of their innings remaining.

“Batting-wise we were awful, there was no conviction,” said Swarbrick. “It didn’t help that they had a first team player (Nick Hudson) come in and score 93, but that’s not an excuse.

“We bowled and fielded really well and it was our batting that has let us down again.

“We needed someone to kick on and get us a half decent score for us to win, but no-one could do that.”

A home clash with Montgomery is next up for Chirk, who are relishing another trip into the unknown after the reverse fixture was washed out.

“It’s something we need,” said Swarbrick. “We’ve done well when we’ve been heading into the unknown this season, so we are looking forward to the challenge.”

Shaun Walker and Mark Shaw return for Chirk, who are without Chris Martin.

Northop Hall are looking to prevent suffering a third successive Liverpool Competition Division One defeat at Prestatyn tomorrow.

Michael Barnes’ men have seen their slim promotion hopes dealt a blow by defeats to Birkenhead Park and Highfield.

Hall Seconds host Prestatyn Seconds, while the third string make their way to Northern Fifths.