Lucky to survive the drop to division three last season, Timperley begin SL34 as one of the favourites to earn themselves a top flight spot come the end of the year. The turnaround in expectations at the Park Road Stadium primarily down to the form of Garry Robinson’s two loan signings, Maksim Mikulich (from Doncaster) and Oliver Lawson (from Nottingham). The pair made an immediate impact at second string, with each scoring paid ten in the Pelicans opening pre-season victory at Warley, where Mikulich previously spent time on loan. Strong scores followed in the side’s two comfortable home wins, the only blip to date for the promotion seekers in the warm-ups being a 55-35 loss at Kelvedon. That result probably says more about the prospects of the league newcomers rather than Timperley, the win the third of three straight by a double figure margin recorded by Iain Brine’s Stream. They too have made a key loan signing to enhance their prospects, Warley asset Pavel Mikula taking on the role of third heat leader with a GSA of just 6.49 with great aplomb, the Czech star averaging nearly two points higher than that mark in pre-season, aided by a 13 point haul at top flight Coventry this week. His low mark allows Brine to select at strong partnership at reserve, Janis Pouchinsky especially benefiting from taking on one of those roles, the Estonian having contributed scores of 13+1 and 10+1 in the club’s first two home fixtures. Like Kelvedon both fellow third tier sides Redhill and Bolsover have already won away from home against higher division opponents in the preliminaries, which has increased expectations of a highly competitive promotion race in the season ahead.