Thackley make one of their longest trips of the season on Saturday, when they travel to the Scunthorpe area to play Winterton Rangers. The Rangers are back in the NCEL after just one season in the Northern Premier League, winning promotion in 2023. They were founder members of the NCEL in 1982, but have been in and out of the league a couple of times and won promotion and have been relegated on numerous occasions. They have not had the best start to the season, having won two of their six league games, they currently sit seventeenth in the table. However, those two wins have been at their West Street Ground (which I think is one of the best in the NCEL), their latest against Pickering Town last weekend. They won their opening FA Cup game against Shepshed Dynamo before going out to Bottesford Town, but are still in the FA Vase after progressing at the expense of Brigg Town, going through on penalties. They play Beverley Town in the next round. Joe Simpson is currently their top goal scorer with three so far this season.

During their time in and out of the Premier Division, Thackley and Winterton have met many times. In their most recent two season spell (2021/22 and 2022/23), Rangers won all four league meetings between the two. From a Thackley point of view, West Street has never been a particularly happy hunting ground, according to my records, they have won just three of the fifteen league games played there. The most notable of which was the last game of the 1993/94 season. Stocksbridge Park Steels and Thackley were one two in the table, on the same number of points, going into their final game. Thackley needed to win at Winterton to have any chance of taking the title. They won 1-0, but so did Stocksbridge, at Eccleshill United, to finish top of the table and win promotion on goal difference. That was Thackley’s highest position and most successful season in their forty two years in the NCEL.

Thackley come into the game on the back of a dominant mid week victory at Goole, winning three nil in a one sided game. That win lifted them up the table to seventh position and will have boosted their confidence after three rather disappointing results, in which their performances merited a better outcome. They are now out of both national cup competitions so the league is their priority. A good result in this game could lift them into the top five and one of the play off places.

Any away support would be appreciated.