Dunston FC welcome an in-form Marine AFC to The UTS Stadium this coming Saturday. The home side are likely to face a stern test against a side who currently occupy 2nd place in The BetVictor Northern Premier N/West Division.

The two sides shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the season, whilst Dunston emerged victorious in a tightly contested 2-1 away win in The Emirates FA Cup 2nd qualifying round back in September.

 Dunston FC assistant manager Chris Errington commented “We’ve played them twice already this season and both games were very, very competitive. I expect this game to be one of our toughest of the season as they’re flying at the minute”. He added “It’ll be a hard game and we’ll need to be at our best, they play to a system and they’re effective at what they do.”

Marine moved up to second in the League table last weekend with a 3-0 win at home to Ossett United, whilst during the week they overcame Radcliffe in The Integro League Cup, a side currently sat in 5th place in The Northern Premier Division, in an impressive 3-0 victory.

Having recently brought back Danny Shaw from Welsh side Llandudno, Marine Manager Neil Young commented via the clubs website “We have been looking for a while to try and strengthen our defensive options and in general improve the height and physicality of the squad. Danny fits that bill and knows the club so fits that profile”.

Dunston FC will be without the services of Mark Fitzpatrick, the forward will be unavailable through suspension having received a red card during Dunston’s impressive 2-0 win against Kendal Town last Saturday. Dunston sealed victory sealed in the 90th minute with a majestic free kick from Jake Stafford who said “I thought that we battled really well when we needed to. The defence did really well and our keeper pulled off a couple of great saves. It was good to get 20 minutes under my belt coming back from injury and when we got the free kick I just thought I might as well have a go and luckily enough it went in and was great to get all 3 points”.

 In addition to Jake Stafford returning to full fitness, Liam Marrs and Michael Hall both return and will be available for selection on Saturday. “We’ve options with players returning from injuries and we’ll assess the squad in training on Thursday,” said Chris Errington adding “We’ve got quality in depth which is what we wanted at the start of the season and with 5 games coming up in the next 14 days we’re going to face a few selection headaches” .