In form Dunston in town

Reds’ unbeaten home tag will be seriously tested when Dunston travel to Borough Park for the eagerly awaiting Boxing Day clash (3pm).

Chris Swailes’ side have suddenly found the form we all expected of them and the Festive period could see them making inroads in the top half of the North West Division. They took points off Marine last week (0-0) and, after their first ever league encounter against Workington, face promotion hopefuls Pontefract Collieries and Marske United next week.

Their league programme has been disrupted by good cup runs and they have only completed a dozen matches to date. But impressive away wins against Droylsden (4-1), Mossley (2-0) and an emphatic 5-1 League Cup victory at Scarborough in between suggests a nail biting afternoon for Danny Grainger’s squad.

Gari Rowntree (426 appearances and 9 goals) will be involved for the final time in the top v. 16th encounter as he contemplates his retirement from the game.

Liam Brockbank also returns to the squad after missing the Pickering game whilst Dav Symington is likely to miss out again.

Dunston have only been to west Cumbria once and that was a successful friendly visit over fifteen years ago. Indeed, all six previous meetings have been pre-season encounters with Dunston winning three, Reds recording two successes with one drawn.

This will be the first competitive fixture between the sides.