It doesn’t get much bigger than this for both teams as a huge three points are at stake when Whickham travel down to take on Thornaby on Saturday afternoon.
The Lang Jacks are currently bottom of the Northern League Division One table, with 11 points from 17 games, while the Blues are two places above them (18th) and have 14 points from 14 matches.
Whickham haven’t won a league game since mid-August, a 2-1 win away at Sunderland RCA. Thornaby have won two of their last three league matches, both of which were at home.
The two sides have already faced each other twice so far this season. The Lang Jacks we’re comfortable winners in the league game in August, but Thornaby come from behind to win 2-1 in the FA Cup, just 10 days later.
Thornaby vs Whickham
Date: Saturday, December 7, 2019
Kick-Off: 3:00pm
Ground: Teesdale Park, Acklam Road, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 7JU
Competition: Northern League Division One
Admission: £6 Adults, £4 Concessions
Live Updates: @WhickhamFC
The Opposition
Thornaby currently sit 18th in the Division One table, in their first season back. They’ve played 14 league games, with a record of four wins, two draws and eight defeats.
The Blues put together an unbeaten run of four games, which included three victories, recently, but that was abruptly ended after a 4-0 defeat to Seaham during the week.
seven home league games (3-1-3)
Thornaby lost against Whickham in the league fixture at The Glebe, back in August, but won in the FA Cup just over a week later. Both teams know just how big this game is.
Form Guide
Thornaby: D W W W L
Last Match: Lost 4-0 vs Seaham Red Star (A)
Whickham: W L L L L
Last Match: Lost 2-0 vs Newcastle Benfield (H)
Pre-Match Interview
Manager Matty Pattison said: “We need to turn the corner. I said to the boys in the dressing room afterwards (on Wednesday) that there’s only so many times we can say that we gave maximum effort and desire.
“Sometimes that isn’t enough. We need to learn from mistakes and we need to do that quickly and cut them out completely. Sometimes (Newcastle Benfield) got in a little to easily.
“The stuff that we spoke about, we just need to cut that out of our game. If we do that, we give ourselves a better platform to go and win a game.”