After being brought back down to earth at the hands of Hinckley last week, Preston Grasshoppers will be hoping to turn in a performance that matches the one against Otley, their last home game, when they entertain Tynedale this coming Saturday.
A spirited comeback during the final quarter of the game at Leicester Road last Saturday produced a valuable losing bonus point, but Garth and the squad will know it should have been much more, especially during the first quarter when excellent attacking opportunities were wasted.
Our visitors this week sit in a similar mid-table position as our opponents from last week Hinckley, and as such have had a relatively good season so far. Looking at their form away from Corbridge we can see they have been successful on five occasions this season, these being their last five away games and haven’t lost on the road since October! One glance at this, plus the fact that playing on a 3G surface won’t be anything new for most of their players shows us that Saturday’s task is going to be a big one.
Tynedale first gained promotion to Level 4 in what was then National 3 North during the same season Hoppers were demoted from National 2 back in 2002. The first League fixture between the two clubs was played on the 18th of January 2003 when Hoppers gained their last, and only League victory at the Tynedale Park 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.
All told there have been twenty five meetings between the two clubs plus a pre-season game at Lightfoot Green before the 2012/13 season, with a further five fixtures being cancelled including the proposed initial game. Currently Tynedale hold the upper hand with fifteen wins to Hoppers ten. Amongst these there are nine league wins to our opponents and just four to Hoppers with the spoils of the pre-season game going to Hoppers.
Words by Mike Forshaw, photo by kind permission of Mike Craig.
