By Andrew McDonnell (@AndrewSJourno)

Pre-Season Friendly

Venue: Craik Park, Morpeth Common, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 2YX

Date: Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Kick-Off: 7:45pm

After an impressive display against a Sunderland XI on Friday night, Morpeth Town will be looking to do the same against Spennymoor Town.

The last time the two sides met at Craik Park was back in 2013, when the Moors won 4-1 in the Northern League Division One.

Fast forward four years, and Jason Ainsley has taken his team into the National League North for the first time in their history.

It is set to be another great evening at Craik Park, and the club will be looking for its supporters to turn out in their numbers once again.

Team News

For the first time in pre-season, Morpeth have a full squad to choose from, with forward Mark Davison in the squad for the first time this summer.

Luke Carr, Sean Taylor and Michael Chilton all return to the squad for the game against Spennymoor on Tuesday night.

The Manager’s Views

Co-Manager Nick Gray said: “I said that I’m not too concerned about results during pre-season. It’s all about getting fitness levels up, performances and getting players knowing each other again. Pre-season is going to plan at the minute for the squad.

Spennymoor are an excellent club, an excellent team, they have a great management and board, and they do things the right way.

It will be a good test for our boys tonight, but that’s exactly what we are wanting. We want to be challenged during pre-season and we want to see how we do against good opposition.”

The Opposition

Not too long ago, Spennymoor were playing in Division One of the Northern League, and now they are about to embark on their first season in the National League North – two league below Sky Bet League Two.

Ainsley has transformed his team over the last four years, and they are a club that many Northern League sides will aspire to be like.

After a 1-0 win against Stourbridge in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier Play-Off Final, the Moors will be playing against the likes of York City, Darlington and FC United of Manchester.

They’ve already played three pre-season games so far, scoring 17 goals in the process, and their last outing was on Saturday afternoon, a 9-0 win over Pickering Town.

Admission Charges

Admission for the game is the same as what it was on Friday night; Adults £5, Concessions £3 and Kids £1.