NPL Preview - New Years Day

The split weekend of matches in the Pitching In NPL sees the New Year brought in with several key ties across the Three Divisions with fixtures.

In the Premier Division the main eyes will be watching the action at Warrington Rylands as will be welcoming 5th placed Macclesfield with the opportunity to pull within a point of the League Leaders following Radcliffe's postponement on Saturday. Both sides hold the top 2 spots in the form tables and with a tight race in the playoff race below them, the tie sets up for a potential early 6 pointer for the sides

Another key fixture takes place over at Tameside which could sees hosts Hyde United or Ashton United move into the Top 5 with results elsewhere and Basford's victory against Marine on Saturday as the two local rivals face off, both on 38 points amongst the 4 sides all tied up on 38 points.

Whitby Town (Providing the pitch inspection passes early doors)will also be looking intently at the result in Warrington as they start the day in 6th welcoming Ilkeston Town to the North East Coast while Guiseley will be making the short trip to the Horsfall Stadium to meet Bradford Park Avenue two points off the Playoff spots

The days action could see a huge shift in the Playoff picture come 5:30 as any of the sides from Marine down to Guiseley in 9th are seperated by 3 points, meaning a single slip up this weekend could have real consequence come the end of the season.

Worksop Town also will be looking to move back to 2nd place should Macclesfield prevail as they start 3 points behind Rylands but a better goal difference while they travel to a Gainsborough Trinity sat bottom of the form tables.

Atherton Collieries will be looking to emulate the Basford and Stafford results from Saturday as they make their way to the Giant Axe, as a win in Lancaster could see them move within 3 points of safety, whilst a win for either Workington or Bamber Bridge up in Cumbria could see either side join the playoff fight.

A quick glance at the Midland Division sees all three sides in the Title race in action against the three teams around the relegation zone as Harborough Town welcome Rugby Town, Cambridge will be looking to move away from the bottom 4 with a win at Spalding United and Anstey Nomads travel to Gresley Rovers. The Top 3 know following Hinckley LR's win on Saturday could see a th horse join the race should points be dropped.

Over in the West Leek will remain top of the table regardless of the results today, but with Stalybridge and Avro sharing the points earlier in the weekend Kidsgrove will be going into the game knowing a Win will return them back into the Top 5, while local pride along with closing the gap to the top spot is on the line for Prescot Cables and Runcorn Linnets as they face Bootle and Witton Albion respectably.

There is only the one match in play in the East Division following the weather impacted Saturday, but a place in the top half awaits the winners of Brighouse Town v Liversedge.

There are Pitch Inspections in place across all the league, keep updated with the info via the Fixtures page and League "X" account