In the Premier Division Central, leaders Tamworth will look to extend their advantage at the top of the table to eight points when they welcome mid-table St Ives Town to the CR Mot Centre Community Stadium this evening.
Andy Peaks` Lambs won 3-1 at Greenwich Avenue against Basford United on Saturday and then returned to the dressing room to discover that most of the chasing pack had dropped vital points.
However, one of them wasn’t Leiston, whose excellent season under Darren Eadie and Chris Wigger continued at the weekend with a 1-0 success at home against Tamworth’s opponents St Ives.
The Suffolk outfit have another tough test on Tuesday as they have ninth-placed Ilkeston Town visiting Victory Road.
The Robins` own top-five hopes took a blow at the weekend when they were beaten 2-1 at the Microlise New Manor Ground by fifth-placed Coalville Town and head to Leiston six points adrift of the Ravens.
There’s another big game at Garden Walk where Royston Town, in tenth, take on second-placed Nuneaton Borough.
Jimmy Ginnelly’s Boro side dropped two home points on Saturday when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Stourbridge, whilst Royston, who are a point behind Ilkeston, edged out Needham Market 1-0 at home.
The Marketmen are involved in an early `six-pointer` at Bloomfields as they welcome an Alvechurch side who are currently fourth-from-bottom, four points behind Kevin Horlock’s men, who are 17th.
The Suffolk outfit have suffered back-to-back 1-0 losses and need to find their cup form to avoid being sucked into a relegation scrap.
The same could be said for Ian Long’s Alvechurch side, who ended a run of six games without a win by beating second-from-bottom Hednesford Town 1-0 at the Race Stadium.
There are three matches in the Premier Division South this evening and two more on Wednesday night.
Neither of the top two are in midweek league action, so third-placed Chesham United will look to narrow the gap on Weston-super-Mare and Truro City when they travel to struggling Hartley Wintney.
The Row went down 3-0 to bottom side North Leigh on Saturday and have lost four in succession, conceding 16 goals.
Chesham will want to bounce back quickly from their weekend drubbing at neighbours Beaconsfield Town, who won 5-2 at Holloways Park as they trail Truro by five points and Weston by six.
Beaconsfield make the long trip down to Devon to play Plymouth Parkway, who ended their poor run of form which dropped them down the table to third-from-bottom spot with an emphatic 4-0 win against Poole Town at Bolitho Park.
Gosport Borough, who beat Hayes & Yeading United 3-2 at Privett Park at the weekend, travel to the Raymond McEnhill Stadium to play a Salisbury side who have been inconsistent since the arrival of Brian Dutton a manager.
And they will no doubt be smarting after their 5-0 drubbing by in-form Merthyr Town at the Met Coaches Stadium on Saturday – the Whites` third successive defeat which has dropped them down to 12th in the table.
Wednesday evening sees the sides sitting 16th and 17th in the table – Yate Town and Hendon - meet at the South West Interiors Stadium.
This is another crucial game for both teams as they are only separated by a point on 25 and 24 respectively, with fourth-from-bottom Harrow Borough on 23 points.
Yate were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Tiverton Town on Saturday, while Lee Allinson’s Greens enjoyed an important 3-0 win at Silver Jubilee Park against Harrow to leap-frog them in the table.
Wednesday’s other game sees Hanwell Town, who are 14th, make the trek to Devon to play Tiverton Town, who are 13th, at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium.
The teams are separated by just a single point, with the Geordies having lost 2-0 at Metropolitan Police at the weekend.
In Division One Central, fifth-placed Cirencester Town welcome bottom-markers Barton Rovers to the Corinium Stadium.
Rovers currently possess only 11 points from 22 games and are going to need snookers soon to avoid dropping into Step 5 football for the first time since 1978/79, when they finally achieved promotion from the South Midlands League after winning the title eight times in nine seasons!
They picked up a good away point at play-off chasing Didcot Town on January 14th and then lost 1-0 at Sharpenhoe Road to Biggleswade Town on Saturday.
John Brough’s Centurians made it five successive wins at the weekend when they beat another struggling side, Aylesbury United, 1-0 at The Meadow.
Wednesday’s game sees second-from-bottom FC Romania welcome tenth-placed Welwyn Garden City to Theobalds Lane.
It’s a hard one to predict as the hosts, with their former highly successful manager Ionut Vintila back at the helm, and a virtually brand-new squad signed this week.
The Citizens suffered back-to-back defeats after losing 1-0 at The Eyrie to second-placed Biggleswade FC on Saturday.
The Division One South sees a couple of games this evening and one on Wednesday.
Leaders Sholing could extend their advantage at the top of the table to 11 points when they have Cinderford Town travelling to The Imperial Homes Stadium.
The Boatmen were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at second-from-bottom Lymington Town at the weekend, while the Foresters shared a 2-2 draw at Bishops Cleeve on the Friday evening.
Paulton Rovers could move into the top five at Exmouth Town’s expense if they win at Kayte Lane against Bishops Cleeve.
Rovers are just a point behind Exmouth with this and two other games in hand and enjoyed a good 3-2 win against the team immediately below them now, Evesham United, on Saturday.
Wednesday’s game sees Tavistock AFC, who are currently eighth in the table, welcome Bristol Manor Farm to Langsford Park.
Manor Farm, who performed so well last season, ended a run of three successive defeats at the weekend when they beat Willand Rovers 2-1 at The Creek.
Tavistock are four points adrift of the top five spots and went down to a 2-0 defeat at fourth-placed Wimborne Town on Saturday.
This evening also sees two much delayed Isuzu FA Trophy Fourth Round ties take place.
Premier Division Central club Coalville Town travel to the Plant Hire Community Stadium to take on Vanarama National League North side Banbury United.
Adam Stevens` Ravens make the trip to last season’s league champions in buoyant mood, having won five games on the spin, including Saturday’s 2-1 success at Ilkeston Town.
Their last defeat came on December 6th when second-placed Nuneaton Borough beat them 2-0 at home – and then the next game saw Coalville cause a massive upset by beating National League `giants` Chesterfield 3-1 at the Technique Stadium.
Andy Whing’s Puritans have adjusted to Step 2 level well and come into the game sitting ninth in the table, but only a point behind the play-off places.
However, since beating Isthmian League Premier Division side Bognor Regis Town in the last round of the Trophy, Banbury have been rather inconsistent, drawing at Brackley Town in the local derby on Boxing Day, losing to the same opponents at home on New Year’s Day, suffering a 5-0 hammering at leaders AFC Fylde and then winning 3-2 at Edgar Street against Hereford at the weekend.
The other delayed tie sees Premier Division South club Harrow Borough look to cause another upset when they welcome National League side FC Halifax Town to Earlsmead.
The tie hasn’t come at a particularly good time for Steve Baker’s Boro side, who since beating league rivals Swindon Supermarine in the last round, have drawn one and lost three of their four games – the latest being a 3-0 loss at fellow strugglers Hendon, leaving them fourth-from-bottom in the table.
Harrow will take heart though from the Shaymen’s recent form, which has been similar.
Since edging out Yorkshire neighbours Guiseley AFC in round three, Halifax have drawn against Altrincham and endured successive 1-0 defeats to Torquay United, Scunthorpe United and, on Saturday, to Notts County.
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