Cleethorpes Town (A) – Match Preview

It's a return to league action now, and a first away match of the month too

It’s been a mixed bag of success for us on the road this season, with a thrashing of Warrington Rylands joined by a convincing win against Stockton, a last-gasp winner at Workington, and that Quorn game.

The other aspect of this game is that it’s a first midweek game since our 0-0 draw against Emley, with those evening matches seeing us win 2 and draw 1 (Workington + Lancaster, and Emley)

Outside of Spalding United’s Bartosz Cybulski, Adam Boyes is the top scorer from Step 1 to Step 3, with his hat-trick against Leek doing a great deal to both his and our goal tally.

A win tomorrow would do wonders for us in terms of the league table, with three points sending us above Cleethorpes and Avro, into first place.

Certain league-predicting websites also have bolstered our chances of success this season, with the Steelmen having a 65% chance of finishing in the top 7, and a 14% chance of winning the whole league.

Somewhat comforting too is that there is less than a 25% chance of finishing 10th or below, and less than a 2% chance of us being relegated.

Granted, it is still incredibly early in the campaign, but I mean, it is nice to be at this end of the table already

Other competitions have now been organised (and dealt with in one case) as well, with our FA Cup defeat lowering our number of trophies available.

We have an FA Trophy match set to be played on Saturday, away to Guisborough Town, and there is also a County Cup game against Pickering to be played at some point.

But right now, we focus on the league, and mainly this match against Cleethorpes.

In terms of quality at the front and back, only one side has been better than us. That side is Cleethorpes.

Avro’s monumental goal tally is offset by the fact that they’ve conceded 16 in 9 games, just under double what 13th-placed Ashton United have conceded.

Cleethorpes, however, have scored 24 and conceded 5

The second-best goals-scored tally, and the best goals-conceded total, the Owls are flying at the moment

(get it…flying!)

Anyway.

Our opponents are relatively new to Step 3, having won the NPL East in the 2024-25 season, with the following season at Step 3 seeing them miss out on the play-offs by 4 points.

Even then, they had a better goal difference than the surrounding teams, being the only side to finish outside the playoffs with a positive tally, and even then, they had a +9 GD that trumped 7th-placed Gainsborough Trinity’s +5 total.

Cleethorpes have also had a cup run to be proud of, as back in the 2016-17 season they made it to Wembley in the FA Vase, but lost to a South Shields side who did end up being one win off reaching the National League last season.

Now though, things are looking good for the Owls, with manager Craig Rouse being given a new contract

The side are also level with us in the Non-League Rankings, as we both sit 106th on 1,411 points

So, a win tomorrow wouldn’t see us leap above them in just one table

But that is all you can hope for. Fingers crossed we do get all three points.

If you do make your way to Grimsby for the game, then we truly do appreciate your support, with our next fixture being a lot closer to home, in that away trip to Guisborough Town

We hope to see you somewhere, and as always, up the Steelmen!