MATCH PREVIEW: Reds host Dolly Blues
- Paul Armstrong
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Lancaster City will come ‘first-footing’ to Borough Park on Thursday (3pm) with both teams seeking a change in fortune.
Reds and City have lost in their three most recent outings, so something has to give in what is our derby match this season.
City lost their derby clash last week when they suffered a 3-1 home reverse to Bamber Bridge and, prior to that, had gone down narrowly at FC United of Manchester and Warrington Rylands.
Reds, meanwhile, also lost (by the same score) to ‘Brig with narrow losses against Stockton Town and Cleethorpes Town inflicted upon us.
Having got ‘back into contention’ at the foot of the Premier Division with nine points in November, our losing run in December has put our survival hopes in jeopardy. And City will look at this game as the ideal opportunity to get their play-off bid back on track.
They do hold the bragging rights in this fixture and, in thirty-five previous NPL encounters, City have won on thirteen occasions, Reds have managed eleven victories with the other eleven resulting in draws.
Their most recent success was back on August Bank Holiday Monday when Luke Mansell and Dom Lawson scored the goals which gave the Dolly Blues a comfortable, deserved 2-0 victory.
Jimmy Marshall’s side are currently 6th in the division with 35 points, whilst we have 15 points from the same number of games and continue to look-up at the twenty teams above us!
Our record on New Year’s Day hasn’t been good and a home win over Clitheroe four years ago has been Reds’ only ‘three-pointer’ in our last seven attempts on this day.
There was one clash v. City on New Year’s Day at Borough Park back in 1990 with Lancaster emerging 2-1 winners on that occasion. The attendance was listed as 144 but we, as a club, will be hoping for a crowd six or seven times better than that this time.
Brad Carroll, who is one of many players to have played for both clubs, is hoping to make his second home debut for Reds but, like several others, will have his fitness assessed before kick-off.
