Thornton Cleveleys travel down to Liverpool to take on Ashville for the first time in the NWCFL First Division North on Saturday
The Reds come into this fixture on the back of their first league defeat since the middle of August.
At home to Darwen last weekend, the Salmoners took a two goal lead, and while Josh Winder (pictured) netted his seventh league goal in four games to pull a goal back, TCFC failed to equalise.
The Reds have since dropped to fourth place, level on points with Flixton in third and one point behind second-placed Cammell Laird, although TCFC have a game in hand over both opponents.
Ashville are 10th in the First Division North. Having needed a few weeks to record their first win of the season, the laterally moved side have grown in confidence and have six wins to their name.
Although they were knocked out of both the Edward Case Cup and the FA Vase against fellow league opposition in Bacup Borough and Woolton, Ashville pulled off a major upset in their most recent game on Tuesday evening,
In the Cheshire Senior Cup, they eliminated Nantwich Town, who compete in the Northern Premier League Division One West at Step 4 of the football pyramid, in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw at 90 minutes.
These sides have never came face-to-face before, meaning the Ray Parker Stadium will be the venue for the first ever meeting between the two.
Manager Paul Gregory said he wants to see a reaction from his players and praised squad depth once again ahead of the game.
“We are after a reaction this week. We took ownership last week and we felt we got it a bit wrong in the first half but put it right in the second half. For one reason or another, we didn’t get anything out of the game.
“Last season we would have said Darwen were a very, very tough team and they are up there, but now we are matching these teams. We have got to get in and around the playoffs and beat the teams around us to be anywhere near the playoffs at the end of the season.
“It is another tough game at an unknown ground. Weather is going to be a big factor for us, soft ground, wind. Another team that is hit-and-miss, but they laterally moved from the South division, so they are no duck eggs.
“We go there with a 16-man squad and a bit of rotation with a couple of injuries, but we have a strong enough squad so we will go there and compete – we will see what comes of it at 5 o’clock on Saturday.
Discussing player availability, Gregory said: “Joe Robinson is back and Matty Hughes as well. Matty is a great lad to have around as well for his experience, his guile, his communication with the lads, his mindset, his mentality – he is very good when he is on song. Joe Robbo is an absolutely great player; he has had a couple of weeks out with an injury. We lose Dan Stoney this week with injury, and Oliver Wilkinson is working. Jacob Aspinall is at a family wedding. It is a luxury of having this big squad and we are not feeling too hampered by it."
Kick off at the Ray Parker Stadium on Saturday is 3pm.
The management team are generously sponsored by Stepping Out at the Ruskin Hotel, Blackpool.
This preview was supplied by Thornton Cleveleys FC. Follow the club on X at @thorntonfc.