Match preview by Joshua Birkin

Following Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory over local rivals Eccleshill United, Thackley AFC are quickly back in action when they travel to Golcar United on Friday night for the Preliminary Round of this season’s FA Cup.

This will be the first time that the Dennyboys have featured in this stage of the competition since 2015, when they came out on top at Ashington before being knocked out in the First Qualifying Round. Golcar United needed a replay against Burnley based Padiham Town to reach this point after they were held to a 1-1 draw away from home. They progressed at the Skye Direct Stadium with a 1-0 victory the following Tuesday.

Both sides go into this game in good form, with the hosts holding a 100% league record, the only NCEL Premier Division side to do so. With three wins from three games, all of which have come against sides that finished around last season’s play-off positions. These include a rather impressive 4-1 victory over Penistone Church on the opening day. This was followed by a 4-2 victory at home to Rossington Main. Most recently, in their first league away fixture, they secured a 2-1 victory over Campion, a side that are yet to record a point. In that one, George Doyle continued his impressive start to the season, cancelling out Campion’s first minute opener. Striker Alfie Wilkinson scored the second for the Huddersfield side, after he rounded the keeper on 32 minutes, Golcar managed to see out the rest of the game.

Thackley on the other hand, sit on 7 points from 4 games, which includes 2 wins, a draw and a defeat. That puts the Dennyboys just inside the play-off places in fifth place, just two points behind Golcar in second place, following Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Eccleshill United. It was a tense affair, the game going into the half-time break goalless and both teams having a goal chalked off. However, Thackley did look the better of the two sides in the first half, after coping well with the Eccleshill long ball. It continued in the second half, Tawheed Ahmed finally breaking the deadlock with a classy finish after getting the better of his full-back on 68 minutes. Thackley managed the game well from there on, limiting the visitors to just one long distance effort throughout the match. Left sided defender, Ben Bodle, did suffer a reoccurrence of the injury that kept him out of the opening four games of the seasonand it remains to be seen if he will be able to feature on Friday. However, Joe Mitchell is available for the game, although he received two yellow cards in Tuesday’s game, his ban does not start until next week.

All travelling support would be much appreciated as Thackley hope to progress to the First Qualifying Round for the first time in nine years. Entry to the Skye Direct Stadium is £6 for adults and £4 for concessions.