We took another look at North Shields in our latest Match Preview.
The dust has hardly settled on our bitter Isuzu FA Vase exit, and yet, the culprits are back at the B&D Interiors Stadium.
North Shields visit the Redcar seafront in our final home game of the year – and our last before Christmas – our place at the top spot of the Northern League once again on the line.
Oh, and did I forget to mention, the Robins are absolutely on fire?
WHO ARE YA?
North Shields
Formed in 1896 as North Shields Athletic, the Tyneside outfit are one of the oldest clubs in the Northern League.
Once a force to be reckoned with in North East football, Athletic – as they were then known – transcended the pyramid from the South Shields and District League, before the Great War hampered their success.
From such despair came the formation of Preston Colliery FC, a club which would later be renamed to form the North Shields AFC that exists today.
The Robins enjoyed extensive local support in their early years, with over 12’000 watching a derby bout with South Shields in 1936.
Their pinnacle of success came at Wembley in 1969, as goals from Richie Hall and Brian Joicey clinched the FA Amateur Cup over current football league side, Sutton United.
North Shields went on to turn their Amateur Cup triumph into a historic double. Adam Forster netted the winning goal in the FA Vase final, as the Robins overturned an early deficit to sink Glossop North End by the same scoreline.
CURRENT FORM
In our first look at the Robins, inconsistent results hampered their chances to be within a shout of Northern League success.
Eight straight victories – including over Charnock Richard and ourselves in the Isuzu FA Vase, and Boro Rangers in the league – now prove otherwise.
Should North Shields win both of their games in hand on their surrounding compatriots, they would find themselves second.
Redcar’s doom and gloom was given a much needed kick to the curb on Tuesday night, as Oscar Fletcher and Adam Boyes fired home to snatch victory at the First Mortgage Glebe Arena.
However scrappy, beating Whickham reestablished the Steelmen’s place at the summit of the division, with two games still to play on all four teams in chase.
PREVIOUS HISTORY
We look no further than last weekend for the last time North Shields graced the shores of our beloved Redcar, but unfortunately, it wasn’t pretty.
The Robins scored twice in the dying embers of the match to condemn Redcar Athletic to a heartbreaking Isuzu FA Vase exit, one of which they would truly wish to avenge today, at some cost.
There’s not much of a better outlook in the league, either.
A Jack Blackford rocket proved a mere consolation at the Daren Persson Stadium, as North Shields were not only the first to beat Redcar in the Isuzu FA Vase, but the league, too.
TEAM NEWS
Carl Jarrett will be relieved to have picked up no further injuries or suspensions at Whickham on Tuesday evening.
The squad will be missing a lone key figure this afternoon in Kevin Burgess, the captain sidelined until the new year with a reoccurring knee injury.
FINDING THE B&D INTERIORS STADIUM
Joining us on the Redcar seafront? You can find the B&D Interiors Stadium at the end of Green Lane, using the postcode TS10 3RW.
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