....their Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Division One West debut.

Zack Dale was voted the outstanding individual performer over the 2017/18 NWCL Premier Division season and has now signed for the club which won the title.

He arrives at Linnets after netting 34 times for Barnoldswick Town last season, earning more man-of-the-match awards than any other player in the Step 5 league.

Dale's scoring exploits earned him a summer return to the Vanarama National League North with newly-promoted Ashton United, from where the striker or attacking midfielder has been recruited by Linnets on dual registration.

Dale is the second National League North striker to also register with Runcorn this pre-season - the first being Adam Gilchrist, who is on the books of FC United of Manchester.

Twenty-three-year-old Dale, born and bred in Burnley, is fresh from enjoying his best ever campaign in a career which has seen service to clubs on both sides of the Pennines.

He spent a year and a half at Barlick after returning to the game with Nelson, having sat out two seasons with a medial collateral knee ligament rupture sustained while playing for Clitheroe.

Prior to that, Dale had been with Guiseley AFC in Conference North and he has also played for Silsden and Colne.

Playing in all but two of Barnoldswick's 50 games last season, Dale finished fifth in the NWCL top flight's goal charts.

He picked up 18 man-of-the-match nominations on opposition votes - a single yellow card being the only blemish on an excellent disciplinary record over 48 appearances.