NEW Milton captain James Park knows any neighbourly harmony will have to take a back seat when they lock horns with Bashley tomorrow.

The Green and Golds make the short trip to Bashley Road for the first Southern Premier League top-flight encounter between the clubs.

Since the league was revamped in 2000, the New Forest rivals have been restricted to doing battle in cup competitions.

And while there may have been no love lost between the players on the pitch, the clubs have always enjoyed a good relationship behind the scenes.

New Milton loaned Bashley covers ahead of them staging Dorset’s prestigious T20 friendly against Hampshire last month.

And Bashley were happy to return the favour by allowing Milton to borrow a water pump to get Fernhill in shape for a recent Hampshire League fixture.

Park told the Daily Echo: “There is certainly a bit of rivalry between the clubs and this is a game the Milton lads are looking forward to.

“I have played against Bashley twice for Milton and it is a fairly heated match. I am sure this will be no different.

“I know the club hierarchies get on well. They are fairly noisy neighbours so hopefully we will quieten them down a touch!”

The match will involve four of Bournemouth’s 2010 Cockspur Cup-winning team with James and Nick Park lining up for Milton and Chris Ridley and Simon Watkins for Bashley.

“Knowing a few of their lads reasonably well, I am sure there will be mutual respect between the two sides,” said James Park. “We know their game as well as they know ours.”

Despite failing to get off the mark since being crowned Division One champions last season, New Milton’s four defeats have all been by a narrow margin, the last of which saw them go down by two runs against Alton in the club’s first taste of timed cricket six days ago.

Park added: “We have probably just lacked a bit of belief that we can make the step up to this level but I haven’t seen anything to worry us.

“It is disappointing to have lost four out of four and we just want to get that first win on the board.

“Only four of our lads had played timed games before last week and we acquitted ourselves well. The game went down to the last over and we couldn’t really have done much more.

“It was a good experience and, as long as we have learned from it then, hopefully, there will be brighter things to come in the next few weeks.”

Joe Hall and Ryan Beck come in for Toby Edwards and Lee Beck, while Tom Gates replaces Jake Lilley for Bashley.

Bashley: Porter, Gates, Thurgood, Jacques, Bailiff, Watkins, Ridley, Digby, Neal, Thomson, Nash.

Milton: Arnold, Park, Park, Wakefield, Elliott, Haggaty, Loader, Watts, Gargaro, R Beck, Hall.