The Greens return home after a mixed couple of weeks on the road where progress to the Quarter Finals of the United Counties League Knockout Cup for the first time ever followed a disappointing and shock 2-1 reversal at the hands of strugglers AFC Mansfield in league action. The Greens were made to work for their victory on Saturday by Rothwell Corinthians of the United Counties League Southern Premier after falling 1-0 down early on in the second half. The Greens roared back though with form man Ryan Rushen hauling Town level, before Mitch Griffiths’ strike in stoppage time found its way past the Rothwell keeper to prevent a fourth penalty shootout of the campaign for the Greens.

Ryan Rushen continued his hot streak with a goal in both the AFC Mansfield and Rothwell encounters in the last fortnight taking his tally to 13 for the season in all competitions. There were a host of changes to the side that started the weekend victory in Northamptonshire with a raft of unavailability’s and injuries still plaguing the Greens. Joe Smith, Jacob Fenton and Rodrigo Goncalves’ continued absence through injury looks set to stretch into Saturday’s fixture, but the Greens do have on-loan pairing Kristers Zaluzinskis (Lincoln City) and Harry Johnson (Grantham Town) to call upon after impressive debuts at the weekend at Rothwell. Player/Manager Tom Ward rested himself on Saturday and will be expected to make a return this weekend.

Opponents Heanor Town meanwhile sit on level points and a place above the Greens going into Saturday afternoon’s contest having competed well during their second season in the United Counties League. A decent start to the season – one that saw the Lions inflict an only defeat of the season so far on Anstey Nomads - stuttered in October as they recorded defeats against Deeping Rangers (5-3), Kimberley Miners Welfare (3-0) and Newark & Sherwood United (2-1) - with the latter pair sandwiching a 1-1 draw with bottom markers Heather St. Johns. Heanor responded though with a 2-1 victory at Skegness Town and then a 3-2 triumph at Leicester Nirvana, before they met unbeaten table-toppers Loughborough Students in midweek, suffering a heavy 5-1 reversal in Leicestershire. The Lions crashed out of all three major cup competitions at the first hurdle this season, with Studley FC (FA Cup), Deeping Rangers (FA Vase) and Radford FC (Knockout Cup) doing the damage - but there has been smooth Derbyshire County Senior Cup progress in recent weeks courtesy of 4-0 and 8-0 victories over Staveley Miners Welfare and Sandiacre Town respectively.

The Lions haven’t been goal shy this season and already have three players well into double figures for the season, with Ethan Wiesztort and Lewis Rourke (12 each) being led by Jamie Sleigh who has notched 14 in all competitions. With Heanor having spent most of their existence in the Midland League and then East Midlands Counties League, the two sides have only met on two occasions with the two sides trading away victories last season. Heanor were 4-1 winners at Eslaforde Park on November 13th last year, Ryan Clarke the Greens goal scorer on that occasion, before the Greens returned the favour defeating the Lions 3-1 at the Town Ground just before Christmas last year – Danny Durkin, Kyle Watkins and Jacob Fenton the scorers for the Greens.

As always we’ll have live match updates on Twitter and once again these are sponsored by the wonderful team at Sleafordian Coaches. Entrance to The Longwater Stadium will be £6 for adults, £3 for concessions with under-16’s free. Remember also to pick up a copy of our matchday programme “Green Army” on the turnstile, copies priced at £1.50. The World Cup may be in full swing, but there’s nothing better than live football so get yourself down to The Longwater Stadium and cheer the boys on to (hopefully) three important points.

Words: Oliver Atkin