The Greens will pitch up at the Town Ground on the back of an impressive week despite a narrow 2-1 defeat to promotion chasing Anstey Nomads last Saturday at The Longwater Stadium. Fine victories over Wisbech Town (1-3) and Boston Town (2-1) preceded the Nomads arrival in Lincolnshire, and the Leicestershire outfit proved too hot to handle during an opening 20-minute spell in which they ultimately took the game away from their hosts. Having peppered Liam Flitton’s goal during the opening quarter of an hour, the Nomads took a deserved lead when Michael Reeve found Corey Armeni free in the box and he guided a fine effort into the top corner well beyond the reach of Liam Flitton. The away side doubled their advantage just four minutes later when Reeve himself turned goal-scorer finding the net from a tight angle via the foot and then post of Liam Flitton. To the Greens credit though they rallied well and got themselves back into the contest on the stroke of half-time when Joe Braithwaite powered home a corner from the edge of the box. Despite a much improved second period the Greens struggled to break down a well-organised Nomads side, with the Greens most presentable opportunity falling to Akeel Francis whose header was brilliantly saved by Conrad Logan.

Player/Manager Tom Ward is set to be without a host of important names ahead of Saturday’s contest at Heanor – most notably Joe Smith who pulled up in the warm up last Saturday with a calf problem. Rodrigo Goncalves was substituted during the second half and he is also in a race against time to be fit, as is Ward himself who continues to suffer hamstring problems. The Greens are also set to be without top-scorer Ryan Rushen in Derbyshire, while Joe Butler serves the last of his four match suspension on Saturday. There is good news for Ward though with influential Mitch Griffiths set to return following his three-game suspension for his sending off against Leicester Nirvana. There was also a return to the squad for Lincoln City loanee Kristers Zaluzinskis who will hope to maintain his place in the matchday squad, while new signing Archie Moyses will be pushing for a start following an impressive cameo debut last Saturday afternoon.

Opponents Heanor Town meanwhile are currently on a three game winning streak in United Counties League Premier Division North and were beating a good Kimberley Miners Welfare side 1-0 at the same time the Greens were falling to defeat against Anstey last weekend. That result followed an impressive 3-1 victory over Sherwood Colliery a fortnight before, and then a comfortable 3-0 victory over AFC Mansfield at the Forest Town Arena a week before that. It was the perfect response to a deflating three game losing streak through November and December which included the reverse of this fixture when Sam Wright’s hat-trick secured the Greens a 3-2 win at The Longwater Stadium back on November 26th. Since then Heanor suffered, like many, a host of weather related postponements and played just twice throughout December losing consecutive home league games to Boston Town (2-4) and Belper United (4-5) to slip down the table from a promising pre-December position. Three rounds of the Derbyshire Senior Cup were safely navigated before a 4-1 defeat at Northern Premier League Premier Division outfit Belper Town on January 10th, while FA Cup and FA Vase runs were extinguished at the first hurdles by Studley FC and Deeping Rangers.

The Lions remain the only side to have defeated Anstey Nomads so far this season with their 4-2 win at the Town Ground back on the opening day of the season, remaining the only points the Nomads have dropped outside of the two drawn meetings with Loughborough Students. That high scoring opening day has set the tone for a Heanor side who have more than shown they are not goal-shy with some notable results recorded across the opening half of the campaign. There have been 7-1 and 6-0 triumphs over local rivals Selston FC as well as an 8-0 Derbyshire Senior Cup victory over Sandiacre Town back in November. Those goals have been well shared out amongst a strong squad too with three players recording double figures already this campaign. Kieran Debrouwer recorded his 10th goal in all competitions so far with the winner against Kimberley last weekend, while dangerman Lewis Rourke has 14 strikes in all competitions to his name also. They are led by Jamie Sleigh who’s 21 goals so far this season makes him one of the deadliest strikers in the division, but the Greens will also be wary of threats from midfield, particularly that of Bart Korzeniewski who scored a brace in this fixtures return at The Longwater Stadium in November.

The two sides had never met until Heanor’s lateral movement into the United Counties League last season, and the two sides traded away victories with Heanor strolling to a comfortable 4-1 victory at The Longwater Stadium on November 13th last season with Ryan Clarke the Greens scorer on that occasion. That was before the Greens nearly returned an identical score-line at the Town Ground just over a month later winning 3-1 with goals from Danny Durkin, Kyle Watkins and Jacob Fenton. As previously mentioned, the Greens were 3-2 victors in this seasons’ reverse fixture in Lincolnshire with Sam Wright notching an all-important hat-trick in the Greens final home contest before Christmas.

As always we’ll have live match updates on Twitter and once again these are sponsored by the wonderful team at Sleafordian Coaches. For those attending, entrance to the Town Ground (DE75 7EN) is priced at £6 for adults and £3 for concessions.

Words: Oliver Atkin