STEVE HALLIWELL wants to bring up his century for Gresford Athletic in style by securing a crucial victory at Rhyl.

The director of football has been in charge of 99 first team matches since replacing Eddie Maurice-Jones in the Clappers Lane hotseat.

In an ironic twist, Halliwell’s ton will be brought up against Maurice-Jones’ Lilywhites on Saturday as Gresford look to put further daylight between themselves and the drop zone.

“It would be great to win it,” said Halliwell of his landmark fixture. “It’s something nice to look back on and the fact it’s versus Eddie and a fair few lads I know makes it interesting.

“We need the points and they haven’t got too much to play for, so the onus is on us to go and have a go at them.”

Halliwell was asked about his time in charge of hometown club Gresford, who he led to third place in his first season in charge, an achievement that earned him the manager of the year award.

“I had a big decision to make at the very start,” reflected Halliwell.

“I was reserve team manager and we were on a winning run of 12 or 13 matches.

“I didn’t feel too confident of stepping up at first because I didn’t know that much about the level, but I knew a lot of the players and decided to give it a go.

“As well as a third placed finish and manager of the year, we’ve reached a cup final in every season, which has been great.

“I’m a Gresford lad, I started playing for the village at seven years of age and I’m proud to be the club’s director of football.”

Gresford have been without a Cymru North fixture since February 8 when they were beaten 1-0 at Guilsfield, but a number of players turned out for the reserves against Cefn Druids two weeks ago and Halliwell’s men have tackled Brymbo in a friendly.

“We’ve managed to get a couple of games in, so the lads should be match fit,” added Halliwell, who has fitness doubts over captain Josh Griffiths and attackers Jake Eyre and Jordan MacCarter.

Ashton Williams and Joe Culshaw are suspended after seeing red in the defeat to Guilsfield last time out.

Gresford will no doubt be paying close attention to the outcome of basement Llanfair’s trip to third from bottom Porthmadog tomorrow, while Ruthin, looking over their shoulders, head to Bangor City and Conwy Borough, in seventh, play host to high-flying Guilsfield.

Buckley Town, meanwhile, hope to have the backing of the community as they attempt to ease their relegation worries with a home win against Penrhyncoch.

The Flintshire outfit are offering free entry to spectators with season ticket holders able to help themselves to a free hot drink on Saturday afternoon.

There will be plenty of family friendly fun events throughout the course of the day with the Globe Way gates open from 1pm before the 2.30pm kick-off.

On the pitch, Buckley, whose junior section were bag packing last weekend, are looking to climb out of the drop zone with a positive result.

Bucks boss Dan Moore said: “We’ve still got 12 games to play, the first of those against Penrhyncoch, and we will be looking to bounce back and pick up three points to move us in the right direction.”

If Buckley could add some quality in the final third to supplement their performance at Porthmadog, who won 2-0 in poor weather conditions, then the Flintshire side will be confident of beating their visitors.

Moore, who hopes to have a fully fit squad at his disposal, added: “There was no lack of effort, no lack of desire, just a lack of quality at times in the first-half led to us being too easy to play against.”

Corwen, two places and seven points adrift of Buckley in the table, will be out to boost their survival hopes and dent Colwyn Bay’s chances of securing the runners up spot.

Sion Tudor Jones takes his second from bottom Corwen to the Seagulls on Friday night eager to upset Craig Hogg’s men on home soil as they bid to climb above Flint in the table.