The Robins make their first away journey of the 2020/21 season as they travel south to face Seaham Red Star at the Ferguson Motor Repairs Stadium.
Shields began their league campaign with a home 0-0 draw against Newton Aycliffe, with both goalkeepers pulling of special saves to keep the scores level.
And with the midweek El-Coastico away at Whitley Bay postponed because of a positive Covid-19 test in the Seahorses camp, Saturday’s games against the Star will be the Robins first chance to respond to their opening day draw.
Managed by former Jarrow Roofing manager Mark Collingwood, tomorrow’s hosts will be going into this season with a new look squad, after several key departures.
Players like Chris Bannon, Jordan Fry, Richard Coulson all made the move to Whitley Bay, whilst Sean McRoberts departed for Newcastle Blue Star and Dan Wilson, Anthony Myers and David Robinson all signed for North Shields.
However, in a bid to improve upon their lower mid table finish last season, Collinwood brought in Luke Sullivan from Hebburn Town, Jason Blackburn from Northallerton Town, Andrew Johnson from Bishop Auckland, and Dan Hawkins and Nathan Lawrence from promotion-chasing Consett.
After losing on penalties to Newcastle Benfield in the FA Cup, the Star have so far drawn both of their league games this season, with both games against Whickham and Northallerton Town ending goalless.
Currently, Seaham sit in 10th place in the Ebac Northern League table, while the Robins, after one game, sith four places below in 14th.
The Robins will be without the services of Paul Van-Zandvliet and Kyle Patton, who scored a double in this fixture last season; with both players set for a spell on the sidelines with foot and knee injuries respectively.
Seaham, on the other hand, will be without the services of midfielder Mark Waite, who was shown a red card during the away draw against Northallerton Town.
If the Robins were to claim all three points, they would potentially leap up to fourth in the table, whilst Seaham could move up to second. A draw would see North Shields and Seaham move to 11th and 9th respectively.
Tomorrow’s game will have a capacity limit of 300 but there will be no paper tickets. This game will be first come first serve so it is important that anyone interested in attending this game gets there as early as possible to guarentee entry.
