Northern League football is back – Match Preview – Tow Law Town vs Whickham FC 

Tow Law welcome Whickham to Ironworks Road for their first match back in the Ebac Northern League Division One on Saturday afternoon.

The teams will be looking to pick up from where they left off last season having both had successful campaigns. 

Whickham come into the match having played six pre-season friendlies. The Lang Jacks recorded three wins, two losses and one draw.

While the hosts finished their pre-season unbeaten following goalless draws against Premier Division club North Shields and Newton Aycliffe.

Tow Law also recorded victories at home over Pickering Town before rounding off their pre-season with a 2-1 home win against Consett reserves.

There will be plenty of new faces on show for both clubs following a flurry of arrivals over the summer. 

Tow Law have completed the signings of highly rated striker Andrei Ardelean from Newton Aycliffe and midfielder David Parker from Whitley Bay.

One to watch for Whickham will be forward Thomas McAloon who was the home team’s top goalscorer last season.

The visitors go into the match without new signing Shay Richardson who is serving a one-match ban after picking up a red card at the end of last season. 

However, the Lang Jacks will be looking to hand away debuts to Nathan Harker, Mitchell Ramsay, Joey Smith and Stephen Hall who all joined the club during the summer. 

Ahead of the first game of the season, I spoke with Whickham manager Tony Fawcett who is expecting a challenging contest come Saturday afternoon. 

He said: “They have had an unbeaten pre-season and they’re going to be a decent outfit. 

“They signed some good players. They’ve signed David Parker who was at Whitley Bay last year and is highly thought of. 

“They’ve also signed Andrei Ardelean from Newton Aycliffe who has also played for Blyth Spartans, and they’ve got Nick Marley who I rate and is a handful.

“They are going to be good going forward, and they’ve got a decent backline as well. 

“They have Ryan McKinnon who is an ex-Consett captain, and Barry Smith who is highly experienced and has won the lot with South Shields. 

“If we think these guys are going to be a rollover, we are massively mistaken, I think they’ll surprise a few teams in our league this year.

“We are expecting an extremely tough competitive game, it’s a hard place to go most of the time.”

The match will kick off at 3 pm, tickets are £6 for adults and £4 for concessions.