ANDREW Davidson has begun his fourth spell as captain of Settle after the players called for his return at a team meeting last weekend.

After leading the club to a league and cup double last summer, Davidson stepped down as captain with the intention of taking more of a back seat role at Marshfield.

However, his successor, Stuart Hornby, found the challenge of following in his footsteps too demanding so Davidson was reluctantly reinstalled on Saturday, an appointment that coincided with Settle recording a timely league double, which kept alive their slim hopes of overhauling Clitheroe in the race for the title.

"Basically, Stuart Hornby lives in Bolton and he was finding it hard to captain the team when he lived so far away," said Davidson.

"When you're captain of a side, you've really got to live in the town so you can meet people and keep in contact with them on a regular basis.

"Stuart was starting to struggle because of that so our pro, Saj Fernando, then took over on an interim basis but he had similar problems, so the players held a meeting on Saturday and said they wanted me to take it back on again, which I've done."

Davidson is no stranger to the role of captain; he first skippered the Settle first team at the age of 19 and has since spent a total of 11 years in the role during three separate spells.

This time, however, rather than targeting titles and silverware, his mandate is slightly different.

"My aim now is to create a new side with the youngsters we've got at the club," said Davidson.

"We've got three or four players in our U13S and U15s teams who have bright futures ahead of them and I'll look to blood them and keep bringing them on.

"It's not about winning titles and silverware; it's about building a team that can be competitive."

Davidson may have a clear vision of the future, but he also has a keen eye on the present, too, and while he admits it's now going to be very difficult to overhaul Clitheroe in the race for the title, back-to-back wins against Blackburn Northern and Barnoldswick last weekend, the first decided on run rate, have given him slight hope.

"I don't think it's realistically possible because 18 points is a lot to make up, but if they slip up a couple of times and we keep winning then we could have a big chance," added the Settle skipper.