By Andrew McDonnell (@AndrewSJourno)
We are now entering September’s fixtures, and our first away trip of the month is against Seaham Red Star, who we faced three times last season.
Club: Seaham Red Star
Nickname: The Star
Founded: 1973 (as Seaham Colliery Welfare Red Star)
Ground: Seaham Town Park, Stockton Road, Seaham, Co.Durham, SR7 0HY
Craik Park to Boldon: 30 miles
Last Season: 14th
Twitter: @FCseahamredstar
Morpeth begin the month of September with a trip to Seaham Town Park, a place where they won twice last season.
The two sides were drawn together in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, the first day of the 2016-17 season, and the Highwaymen won 3-1.
Goals from Paul Robinson, Luke Carr and Michael Chilton got Nick Gray and Dave Malone’s side up-and-running in the competition last season.
Morpeth won all three of the meetings last season; 5-2 at home and 3-1 away in the league, and they’ve only ever suffered two defeats away to Seaham since 1996.
Mark Davison netted a hat-trick in the home victory, while captain Keith Graydon bagged two in the trip to Seaham in the league.
The Star have lost highly-rated goalkeeper Shaun Newbrook and midfielder David Palmer to Jarrow Roofing.
However, they did act swiftly bringing in ‘keeper Jordan Harkness, Aaron Croft, Lee Chapman, Mark Bertram and Liam McBride returned to Seaham from Sunderland RCA.
Morpeth and Seaham have gone head-to-head 28 times in all competitions since ’96; with the Highwaymen winning 14 times, drawing eight games and losing six.