Fresh off the back of a dramatic seven days of FA Cup action, the National League North returns this weekend with a mouth-watering fixture list on the horizon and an even better set of sixth-tier tips.
Having come within 90 minutes of the Football League in 2018/19, AFC Fylde would not have envisaged relegation the season later, yet the Lancashire club look set to earn promotion back to the fifth-tier.
fsecond-placed Brackley Town and the Coasters will be targeting another win when they travel to face Farsley Celtic this weekend.
In the same season Fylde lost the National League playoff final, Farsley were promoted from the Northern Premier League Premier as champions, where they have remained after two COVID-19 affected seasons.
Survival remains the target for Adam Lakeland’s side, who currently sit four points above the drop zone, yet as desperate as they will be to put distance between themselves and the relegation sports, it is unlikely to come against an in-form Fylde outfit.
Fylde are yet to be beaten so far this season, winning seven of their nine matches, whilst boasting the division’s second-most prolific attack with 18 goals to their name.
Nick Haughton has enjoyed a fruitful time in-front of goal, netting seven times already and the Fylde striker will line up as part of a Coasters’ attack 10/27 to net over 0.5+ goals on STSBet – something they have managed twice already this season.
Curzon Ashton will start life without recently-departed Steven Cunningham with a tricky trip away to third-place Spennymoor Town.
The Nash had been enjoying one of their best starts to a season in recent years, yet they departed with fans’ favourite coach Cunningham following a dispute over a proposed switch to an unnamed club.
Former player Craig Mahon has been tasked with the job of steering Curzon through this current sticky spell before they find a replacement for Cunningham and he will be keen to see his ex-teammates put up a fight against the promotion hopefuls.
Spennymoor will be hoping to take advantage of Curzon’s internal problems and squeeze the gap to leaders Fylde ahead of next week’s crunch meeting, by picking up their fifth consecutive win in the league.
Priced at 67/100 to topple their fellow top-half opponents this weekend, Spennymoor should be able to capitalise on a dysfunctional Curzon set-up, yet it will likely be a tight affair also making the 235/100 shout for both teams to score and a Spennymoor on STSBet a sensible bet.
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Gateshead needed a replay to see off Marske United of the Northern Premier League East in midweek, with the North-East based side now able to look forward to an FA Cup First Round tie with National League Altrincham.
However, attention returns to the league for Mike Williamson’s side, who will welcome second-place Brackley confident of cutting the gap between the pair to two points.
Brackley currently sit five points ahead of Gateshead, yet are winless in their previous three meetings with the Tynesiders, making Saturday’s clash a potential banana skin for Kevin Wilkin’s side.
Whilst Brackley may play their football at St James Park – a stadium name familiar to many a football fan in the North-East – it has been on the road where they have enjoyed their most success this season, winning five of their six matches and losing none.
Check out the odds for this fixture and all National League North matches this season at Betfred.
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