Northern League previews: Ryhope CW coach sets target as Seaham Red Star look to continue progression

Gary Pearson’s men head into tomorrow’s trip to Ashington on the back of an impressive win at league leaders Dunston UTS.

The game at Woodhorn Lane will be followed by home games against Stockton Town, North Shields and Seaham Red Star, as well as a visit to Newcastle Benfield.

Confidence is understandably high for Ryhope and McCabe admitted he sees “no reason” why they can’t end their season with an unbeaten run.

He told the club’s website: “We go into it with a lot of confidence.

“But if you go to somewhere like Dunston and win, then you go to Ashington, no disrespect to Ashington, and lose, the result at Dunston doesn’t mean a lot.

“We have set them a challenge, we want to go unbeaten until the end of the season.

“Hopefully we can, but we will see how we fare on Saturday.

“We have five games left and we set them a challenge ahead of the Dunston game asking them to win all six.

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t.

“On our day, we can beat anyone in this league.

“Five games left, let’s hope we can win all five.”

Seaham Red Star manager Mark Collingwood wants his side to use their trip to West Auckland Town as an indicator of how far them have come in recent weeks.

Last weekend’s 2-0 home win against North Shields was Red Star’s fourth win in their last five games and Collingwood believes that his side have to show that they are on the up.

“We are going down there with very little pressure and we are going down there to try our best and see how far we have come,” he said.

“Can we do it week-in, week-out?

“We had a setback last Tuesday against a very good Hebburn Town side who, in years gone by, have been in a very similar position to ourselves.

“They are on the up and that’s where we want to be.

“This time next year we want to be competing and challenging for honours.

“West Auckland are a great side, with great players, it’s a good test, but it’s just another game to us.”

Sunderland RCA are boosted by the return of Kyle Davis and Ash Croft ahead of their home game against promotion-chasing Consett.

Manager Martin Swales revealed that striker Mark Davison will face a fitness test after picking up a knock in last weekend’s defeat at Hebburn Town.

League leaders Dunston UTS will hope to bounce back from their midweek home defeat against Ryhope CW with a win at North Shields and third-placed Bishop Auckland entertain Stockton Town.

Hebburn Town have been handed a major boost ahead of their visit to Newton Aycliffe as key defender Dan Groves returns to their squad following a hernia operation.

New manager Nathan Haslam takes charge of Whitley Bay for the first time when they visit Shildon after he was appointed on Tuesday.

Guisborough Town have several injury issues ahead of a big game at Whickham.

Defender Nathan Guru and striker Carl Lawson have been ruled out of the game and manager Gary Forster will hand late fitness tests to Matthew Crust and Charlie Marshall.

Bottom of the table Penrith are targeting a third consecutive win when they host Newcastle Benfield.

Meanwhile in Division Two, Durham City assistant manager Stephen Durrant admitted that he is learning to deal with a new problem ahead of his side’s home game against Washington.

The Citizens have a fully-fit and available squad for the first time since Bill Harper was named as the club’s new manager in November.

That means that some tough decisions lie in wait ahead of a big game against the Mechanics.

Durrant told the Echo: “It was unfortunate that the Esh Winning game was postponed in midweek.

“We finally have significant squad availability, plus we have new signings in key areas to improve the capability of the team.

“That said, we can transfer all of that into a big game against Washington on Saturday.

“We hope to benefit from having a full squad for the first time since we joined Durham City.”

New signings Niall McGoldrick and Josh Home-Jackson could feature for Easington Colliery when they travel to Chester-le-Street Town.

Liam Cooke could return to the squad after he missed out in last weekend’s defeat against Northallerton Town.

Colliers joint-manager Craig Hughes said: “We didn’t play badly on Saturday against Northallerton and I felt as though we deserved a point.

“We’ve got a tough few games coming up, but if we can perform, we’re definitely capable of getting some points.”

New league leaders Thornaby are targeting a 10th consecutive league win when they travel to Tow Law Town, who could name striker Matty Moffat in their squad after he joined the club last week.

Billingham Town will look to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat at Thornaby with a home win against Crook Town.

Injuries mean that Kieran McWaters and Karl Hewitt will both miss Northallerton Town’s home game against Willington.

Former Seaham Red Star defender Darryll Donnelly could feature for Jarrow FC when they host Brandon United at Perth Green.

Jarrow go into the game on the back of three consecutive defeats.

In-form Redcar Athletic could make it seven league wins in a row when they entertain Esh Winning.

Defensive duo Joshua Cooper and Lee Farrington will both face late fitness tests ahead of the game.

Birtley Town will hope to put their midweek defeat at Crook Town behind them when they host Bedlington Terriers and top-four challengers Heaton Stannington make the short trip to Druid Park to face West Allotment Celtic.

Alex Screawn, Ryan Smith and George Bonner are all in line to return to the Ryton and Crawcrook Albion squad for their visit to Billingham Synthonia.