Thackley vs Hall Road Rangers

Saturday November 25

Toolstation NCEL Premier Division

Mitton Group Stadium

By Ollie Harsley

An away trip to West Yorkshire is on the cards for Hall Road Rangers this weekend as they visit Thackley this Saturday afternoon in the NCEL Premier Division. Rangers come into this game on the back of two successive defeats in the league and will be glad to finally be back on their travels after five straight home games at Haworth Park.

Thackley sit in 12th place in the NCEL Premier Division table and are level on points with Hall Road with the former having played two more games in the league. They had a less than convincing start to their season but it has been a gradual improvement as the season has gone on. Thackley’s last league game ended in a thumping 6-0 win away at Parkgate last Saturday, their manager Chris Reape will want his players to keep up this level of performance against Hall Road this weekend. One player who has been a catalyst for this improvement in form is Joseph Hughes who has scored 12 league goals for the club so far this season and will be looking to add to his tally on Saturday. Another threat Thackley possess is Mike Garrod who has contributed some of his own goalscoring talents for the West Yorkshire side and he will need to be monitored closely by the Hall Road defence.

Rangers will want to get a positive result this Saturday to get their season back on track after successive defeats against Liversedge and most notably against Athersley Recreation last Saturday. The defence will almost certainly have to be tightened up after conceding a fair few goals recently and this will be reinforced by Bill Gill and Andy Watts as they prepare their team. Hall Road will also look to address the issue of scoring more goals and taking their chances when they come, Bill Gill has picked up on this in recent weeks and it will be something that he stresses to his players.

Saturday’s game will be the first of two successive away games for Hall Road as they travel to Rainworth Miners Welfare next Tuesday night. These two games provide the ideal opportunity to pick up some valuable points before some more home games to come in December. Bill Gill will want his side to consolidate their position in the top half of the NCEL Premier Division by the time Christmas comes, if they can manage to do this then it will provide the perfect springboard for the second half of the season.