Castle duo in frame to start

Newcastle Town signed two new faces in time for today's trip [Saturday] down the M6 to Sutton Coldfield Town, writes Ray Tatton.

Manager John Diskin isn't a hundred per cent happy with performances despite the fact that his Evo-Stik NPL First Division South outfit are now unbeaten in six and moved to freshen his squad up as a result.

Diskin's men were held to a 1-1 draw by Matlock in the league on Tuesday night after conceding a last minute equaliser and he said: "We didn’t deserve anything from the game. We never got our passing game going and gave the ball away to cheaply. We are on a good run but that is the worst we have played for a number of weeks."

Diskin's first signing Chris Morris is no stranger to Coles Lane after joining from Romulus who play their home games at Sutton Coldfield's ground. Diskin had expected to sign the player earlier in the season but was surprised to find he'd moved to Romulus. He arrived after Town put in a seven days notice of approach.

Local boy Matt Lowe has also switched from Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division Nantwich Town and Diskin is grateful to Nantwich boss Jimmy Quinn who waived the seven days notice so Lowe could make his debut at Sutton Coldfield.

A full-back or midfielder, Lowe has a reputation for his long throws. He was released by Macclesfield Town having made 11 appearances in the Football League.

Newcastle's manager will be happy with the club's youth set-up. In midweek the Youth Team, who are the Champions of the Midland Floodlit Youth League, reached the Second Qualifying Round of The FA Youth Cup with a 1-0 away victory at Blue Square Bet North Redditch United.

The win means they've reached the Third Qualifying Round for only the second time in Castle's history, the last time coming back in 2004-05.

Three of the team – Josh Gordon, Jordan Cole and Tom Conlon – have also caught the eye of Peterborough United and all three went for trials last weekend.