With the Greens not due in action again until January 7th (when they visit Sherwood Colliery), tonights’ Lincolnshire derby will represent a final opportunity to watch the Greens this side of the New Year. And they’ll be hoping for an improvement from a frustrating goalless draw with Eastwood Community on Saturday that saw the Greens record a first stalemate of their league season. The Greens dominated much of the possession during a quiet opening period in which Joe Smith’s bullet header and Akeel Francis’ effort from distance that flew just over the bar were the only real efforts of note for either side. Eastwood were far more dangerous themselves during the second half when Liam Flitton was called into action, before a header from the subsequent corner was cleared off the line. The Greens were then reduced to 10-men in the 73rd minute when Joe Butler received his second yellow card for preventing an Eastwood break, but the hosts couldn’t make their man advantage count, in the end, finishing the game with nine men themselves after Jack Messom was sin-binned in the aftermath of debutant Andre Johnson receiving his marching orders.

Player/Manager Tom Ward welcomed back a whole host of faces on Saturday including the suspended Joe Braithwaite, Joe Butler and Akeel Francis. There were also returns to the bench for Jacob Fenton (injury), Sam Wright (unavailability) and Max Ward (illness) after all three sat out the Greens previous contest at Loughborough Students at the beginning of the month. Matt McBride and Harry Johnson will be hoping to continue their productive loan spells from Grantham Town, while Jacob Fenton will hope to earn his first start since the 2-1 defeat at AFC Mansfield on November 12th after recovering from injury to feature at the weekend. There is some bad news for Ward to contend with though as Rodrigo Goncalves needs more rehabilitation from his injury and is set to sit out the next few weeks once again.

Opponents Pinchbeck United meanwhile are enjoying a stronger campaign this time around after benefitting from a relegation reprieve last season as the United Counties League extended its compliment from 18 to 20 teams. The Knights finished second-bottom of the table, propped up only by winless Holbeach United, but as a result of a favourable points-per-game accumulation, were reprieved of a drop back to the United Counties League Division One - a league they won at a canter back in 2017/18. This term the Knights sit comfortably in lower mid-table with five wins from 18 fixtures thus far - including important victories against those sides around them with Selston (5-0), Heather St. Johns (2-1), AFC Mansfield (0-2) and Wisbech Town (2-1). They are also one of only four sides to defeat high-flying Melton Town having beaten them 2-1 in league action, to compliment an FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round replay victory (3-2) at the beginning of the season. It is the Knights FA Vase exploits that have caught the eye this season though, with the club currently embarking on what is comfortably their record run in the competition. Triumphs over Holbeach United (4-1), Deeping Rangers (3-0), Sherwood Colliery (3-4), Dunkirk FC (3-2) and St. Panteleimon (1-0) have seen Lewis Thorogood’s young side progress through to a fourth round match-up with Congleton Town of the North West Counties League. They are one of only four United Counties League sides - alongside Anstey Nomads, Coventry Sphinx and Newport Pagnell Town – that remain in the FA Vase.

The Knights have been somewhat of a force at home so far this campaign with 9 of their 11 wins in all competitions coming at the Sir Halley Stewart Field. They were inactive at the weekend as the continued freezing temperatures forced the postponement of their scheduled home fixture against Belper United on Saturday. The Knights were in action though the weekend before when the vast majority weren’t with full advantage of Quorn FC’s 3G surface being utilised. Ben Johnson’s 83rd minute equaliser was heartbreakingly rendered useless by Anthony Carney’s 94th minute winner. The Knights though have a good spread of youth across their squad that is complimented by a selection of wise heads, and this blend is working well for United this campaign. Avelino Vieira has been a revelation since his arrival from step two Peterborough Sports in the summer, as too has Neil Spafford who has extensive Northern Premier League experience with Spalding United. Spencer Weir-Daley is a man who needs no introduction locally with a highly successful spell down the A16 at Boston United the highlight of a long career that has included international caps for Montserrat. He has six goals to his name so far this campaign with Ben Johnson (6), Harry Peasgood (7), Vieira (8) and Andre Williams (8) separating Weir-Daley from top scorer Elliott Foster who has 11 strikes to his name.

A pair of meetings last season yielded four points for the Greens including a first point of the campaign in the opening midweek of the season, when the spoils were shared 1-1 at the Sir Halley Stewart Field. Jacob Fenton was the Greens hero, drawing them level after Enoch Opayinka had put the hosts ahead in front of 167 spectators in Spalding. The reverse fixture at Eslaforde Park in February saw a much changed Greens side run out 2-1 winners against their local rivals - goals from Danny Durkin and Joe Smith cancelling out Ben Johnson’s reply for the Knights in front of a near identical crowd of 168.

As always we’ll have live match updates throughout the contest on Twitter and these are, once again, sponsored by our close friends and supporters at Sleafordian Coaches. Our good friends at Lincolnshire Non-League Radio will also be present at the Sir Halley Stewart Field this evening to bring you an alternative voice to the proceedings. Darren and Tom will be live on air about five minutes prior to kick-off and we’ll post links to their excellent commentary in the build up to the match. Admission to the Sir Halley Stewart Field is priced at £6 for adults, £3 for concessions with supporters aged between 10 and 16 priced at £2. The Knights matchday programme will also be available just inside the turnstile and these are priced at £2 per copy.

Words: Oliver Atkin