Tynedale vs. Preston Grasshoppers – Kick Off 2.15pm
Preston Grasshoppers head north for a change next Saturday with a trip to Corbridge and a first League Fixture for some time against Tynedale who suffered relegated for the first time in their history at the end of last season.
The North Easterners’ like Hoppers have struggled to find any consistency so far this season having lost on their last five outings. Tynedale have just one victory under their belts and currently sit one place below their opponents this week thanks to the three points gained last Saturday at Lightfoot Green.
The Corbridge side have had a tough set of fixtures to start their season, playing five of the top six in the current table with their only success coming at Tynedale Park over Huddersfield, who coincidentally are the only side to take third placed Sandal’s colours down so far this season.
Hoppers will hope to carry on from where they left off last week showing their determination with a ‘never say die’ attitude.
The last meeting between the two clubs was a pre-season warm up game at Lightfoot Green in 2012 whilst the last league encounter was back in the 2007-2008 season when this weeks hosts did a convincing double over Hoppers on their way to promotion and League Champions, winning twenty four of their twenty six matches in the process.
Tynedale first gained promotion to Level 4 in what was then National 3 North in the same season Hoppers were demoted from National 2 back in 2002 with the first league fixture between the two clubs taking place at Tynedale Park on the 18th of January 2003 when Hoppers gained their last victory at that particular ground in convincing fashion by twenty six points to eight.
The first meeting between Preston Grasshoppers and Tynedale was at Corbridge on the 9th of February 1980 after a fixture the previous season at Lightfoot Green had been cancelled. The victors that day were the home side by twelve points to three.
Since then there have been twenty two meetings between the two clubs plus the previously mentioned pre-season game with a further five fixtures being cancelled including the proposed initial game. Currently, Tynedale hold the upper hand with thirteen wins to Hoppers nine. Amongst these there are seven league wins to our opponents and just three to Hoppers with the spoils of the pre-season game going to Hoppers.
Photo courtesy of Mike Craig – Sean Taylor crashes over the line last Saturday to set up the dramatic finale.
