The NORTH West Counties Football League is set to return to action in the opening weekend of August, and will see three local sides start their new season.

The new season kicks off on Saturday, August 4 with FC Oswestry Town, Ellesmere Rangers FC and St Martins FC all starting their campaign.

FC Oswestry Town will welcome Sandbach United in their opening home game in the premier division, while Ellesmere Rangers FC also play at home, as they play host to Rylands in their opener.

St Martins start their season with an away fixture at Barnton who suffered relegation at the end of their last campaign.

The following weekend will see some of the league’s sides competing in the Emirates FA Cup extra preliminary round, with a chance of progressing to face some of the bigger names higher up the English football pyramid.

Ellesmere Rangers will be in action in this round as they are set to face Leicester Road at home on Saturday, August 11.

Should they progress to the next preliminary round of the competition, they will play again on the weekend of August 25.

With all three local sides competing in the same division this season, football fans in Oswestry will be treated to six non-league derbies over the season.

However, There does seem to be some initial confusion with the fixture list however, with Ellesmere Rangers set to take on St Martins and FC Oswestry Town at the same time of 7.45pm on Tuesday, August 21.

FC Oswestry Town will be looking to improve on last season’s 19th placed finish, while Ellesmere Rangers and St Martins will be looking to achieve similar finishes to last season which saw them end up in sixth and fourth.

Both Ellesmere Rangers and St Martins are taking steps up to the league following transfers into the division, with Ellesmere joining from the tenth tier of the English pyramid, and St Martins joining from the eleventh tier.