There are some tough tussles for newly promoted sides in an eye-catching weekend of fixtures in National League North.
Marine opened with a draw against recently relegated Oxford City. The newly promoted side’s tough start continues as they travel to Scunthorpe United, who finished runners-up last season. Scunthorpe impressed in a 3-0 win at play-off finalists Brackley Town last week.
Oxford are in a third different division in three seasons. Darlington make the long trip to Court Place Farm. Having lost to Kidderminster Harriers last week, who like Oxford were relegated from the National League last term, they’ll hope to regain the form which saw them pull away from relegation trouble. Phil Brown’s Harriers meanwhile host NPL Premier Division champions Radcliffe, who played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Scarborough Athletic last week.
Needham Market’s first game at this level ended in a 3-0 loss at Curzon Ashton. They face a tough home opener against a confident Southport side, who beat Alfreton Town 3-1. Alfreton host King’s Lynn Town, whose opening day was the reverse – a 3-1 win over Warrington Town.
Four teams are tied at the top after one game. Curzon lead the way by virtue of alphabetical order, they’re away to alliterative South Shields tomorrow. Shields are bottom for the same reason after a 3-0 loss at Hereford, who travel to Chorley.
Spennymoor Town were the other big winners last week, overcoming Chester at the Brewery Field. Next up is a trip to Leamington, whose return to Step 2 after a year in Southern Premier Central ended in defeat at Buxton.
Ben Sault’s last-minute goal decided that contest. Their opponents on Saturday, Farsley Celtic, also left it late. Darren Stephenson settled their win at Rushall Olympic by the odd goal in five. Rushall are away to Scarborough, those two teams saw 11 goals witnessed across their opening games as Dom Tear scored a hat-trick for ‘Boro, but it wasn’t enough for a win.
Chester and Brackley Town meet at the Deva Stadium, each looking to improve on 3-0 losses last week, while Warrington Town and Peterborough Sports are also searching for their first points in their contest in Cheshire.
Saturday’s fixtures (all matches KO 3pm):
Alfreton Town v King’s Lynn Town
Buxton v Farsley Celtic
Chester v Brackley Town
Chorley v Hereford
Kidderminster Harriers v Radcliffe
Leamington v Spennymoor Town
Needham Market v Southport
Oxford City v Darlington
Scarborough Athletic v Rushall Olympic
Scunthorpe United v Marine
South Shields v Curzon Ashton
Warrington Town v Peterborough Sports
Read up on all the games in tomorrow’s NLP!
