Hednesford Town are back on the road on Saturday 24 th August when they travel up to Cheshire to play Runcorn Linnets in the Northern Premier League West Division. Both teams suffered their first defeat of the season on Tuesday night, Hednesford going down to a 1-2 home league defeat to Kidsgrove Athletic despite Rob Stevenson giving The Pitmen an early sixth minute lead while The Linnets bowed out of the FA Cup in a preliminary round replay at Wythenshawe Town. Taylor Bowen opened the scoring for the visitors before goals from George Boyd (2) and Lee Wilshaw earned the home side a trip to Whitchurch Alport in the first qualifying round.

Runcorn have played just two league games this season and have drawn them both, 0-0 at home to Wythenshawe and 2-2 at Widnes when Ryan Brooke and Adam Moseley scored. This leaves them in 17th place in the league table while Hednesford slipped to fifth on Tuesday but have played a game more. The corresponding fixture last season saw a 3-0 home win for The Linnets in what was then manager Paul Moore’s first game while the game at Keys Park earlier in the campaign ended 1-1 with erstwhile player-manager Danny Glover scoring for Hednesford.

Jake Jervis serves the second game of his suspension and will be joined on the sidelines by the injured Josh Endall. Simeon Maye is nearing full fitness and will hope to feature at some stage. Manager Steve King had this to say about Tuesday’s game: “We had almost 90% possession and missed chance after chance, we need to be better in front of goal, but it was poor defending for the goals we conceded”.

Runcorn Linnets play at APEC Taxis Stadium, Stockholme Lane, Murdishaw, Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 6GJ. The ground has a capacity of 1600 and Runcorn have played there since 2010, with a hybrid grass pitch being installed at the start of the 2020/21 season.

Admission will be £10 adults, £7 concessions (over 65 and 19-22) and £2 18 and under. Tickets are available online or pay at the gate as the match is not all ticket. Kick off is 3pm.