Premier Preview: Gainsborough look to take advantage

Only Trinity and Nantwich out of the top five are in action, with Farsley Celtic otherwise engaged in the FA Trophy and Scarborough and Warrington without a game.

Gainsborough welcome Buxton looking to extend their seven game unbeaten run.

Nantwich, currently three points clear at the top, travel to Hyde United, who inflicted another defeat on Scarborough last time out.

Despite three of the top five being out of action, none of them can be displaced from the play-off places, though South Shields can gain ground if they can beat Stalybridge Celtic at home.

Not far behind them are Matlock Town, who will be looking to bounce back to their recent defeat at South Shields, when they make another trip east, this time to Whitby Town.

Manager Dave Frecklington said: “I’ve never had an easy game at Whitby, we're aware of their threat and they're a dangerous team but like we've said many times before there's no easy game in this league. After our last away game at South Shields, we want to bounce back with a win and go on a run where we can replicate the form we showed up until South Shields.

"We were haemorrhaging goals when we came into the building and apart from South Shields it's been basically one a game recently which is a big improvement. A clean sheet though would be nice, it would enable us to win more games as we create a lot of chances."

At the bottom, Marine are looking to end a winless run of nine games when they host Witton Albion, while Grantham Town take their dismal run of form on the road to Mickleover Sports.

The Gingerbreads have one just once in their last 10, while Sports have only managed two in their last 10, and were thumped 5-0 by Buxton last week.

The other EVO-STIK League Premier Division game of the weekend sees Stafford Rangers host Hednesford Town.

To view all the weekend's games, visit the EVO-STIK League fixtures page.