The Miners will welcome Grimsby Borough to the Bannister Prentice Stadium this Saturday. A narrow defeat to Bishop Auckland last weekend brought an end to Town's unbeaten start to 2025, yet Paul Marshall's side will look to rectify their previous performance with a win on home soil to put pressure on the NPL East play-off places.

There has been an abundance of goalmouth action and aggression between the sides in recent encounters: late goals from Matt Antcliff, Charlie Marshall and Sam Cable (along with seven yellow cards and two red cards being shown altogether) sealed a dramatic 3-1 win in the reverse fixture back in October. The meeting prior to that match saw Borough edge a 4-3 victory.

The visitors sit 12th in the NPL East table behind Garforth in 7th with seven points separating the sides. Grimsby fell victim to a revitalized Ossett United team on Tuesday in a shock 3-0 loss, although the scoreline may have been harsh on Borough.

Long-serving manager Daniel Barrett said after the game that he is "more than happy with the players I've got if they apply themselves properly," but that his team "needs to start getting points on the board [to avoid] dropping down the league."

Furthermore, Barrett highlighted the lack of clinical finishing in his squad, adding: "We need to have more goal-scorers in the team. That's no fault to who our chances fall to as such, but you look at the teams in the top half with players scoring 10, 11, 12 goals in the league. Our top scorer [Reece York] is on seven."

Grimsby appear likely to finish the campaign comfortably midtable, nevertheless Barrett will surely want to improve on his side's current run of one win from their last seven matches.

Focusing back on the Miners, the Bishop Auckland defeat last Saturday brought an end to Town's unbeaten start to the year, as chances for at least a point were offered but not taken. This weekend offers an opportunity to bounce back into winning ways, however the last few meetings against the visitors demonstrate that it could truly be another battle.

Garforth still remain without Max Tweddle, Jamie Barkway and Matt Antcliff for the tie in addition to the recent departure of Dexter Ball to Ossett United. Despite that, the chance for others to impress along with potential squad additions in the next few weeks can boost Town's hunt for the play-offs.

Nevertheless, the Miners will have to take one game at a time and hopefully secure a result against Grimsby Borough.

Kick Off is at 3pm