Emotional return to Stocksbridge Park Steels for Tadcaster Albion forward

Stocksbridge Park Steels welcome fifth-placed Tadcaster Albion to Bracken Moor this weekend which sees the return of ex-Steels striker Joe Lumsden.
Stocksbridge on-loan goalkeeper Adam Kelsey to remain at Bracken Moor until end of season. Pic by Gillian HandisidesStocksbridge on-loan goalkeeper Adam Kelsey to remain at Bracken Moor until end of season. Pic by Gillian Handisides
Stocksbridge on-loan goalkeeper Adam Kelsey to remain at Bracken Moor until end of season. Pic by Gillian Handisides

It will be an emotional return for the popular forward who was the club’s stop scorer for two seasons and Player of the Year before moving to Tadcaster last summer

It was no secret Lumsden was happy at Bracken Moor but received a financial offer that Steels could not match and one the player couldn’t turn down.

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Stocksbridge will know all about the threat that Lumsden carries, who is the East Division current second highest top scorer having already hit 17 goals for his new club this season.

With tongue firmly in cheek, Steels Boss Chris Hilton said, “Hopefully Joe might go down with a touch of flu. Seriously though, Joe’s a quality player and a proven goal scorer and was a pleasure to manage when he was at the club.

“We know it's going to be a tough game, they are going well and are up they are near the top on merit.   We’ll have played four out of the top five teams in successive games over the past few weeks which has been tough call, but those games are out of the way now.

“If we apply ourselves right, show the same work rate and commitment as we did against Brighouse then we’ll give ourselves a good chance of getting the right result.”

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It will be Steels first game in a fortnight and Hilton is hoping the extra recovery time will have helped clear some of the injuries up.

“Ben Rhodes and Danny Frost have trained so could be ready to make the squad on Saturday, but we’ll leave that decision until the last minute,” said Hilton. “Kler (Hey) is is back doing light training but is not ready to return yet. Unfortunately, we’ve lost goalkeeper Ed Hall and George Grayson for the rest of the season.”

Meanwhile, Hilton confirmed that goalkeeper Adam Kelsey’s loan from Scunthorpe United has been extended until the end of the season.

Tadcaster have a better away track record than at home having won nine and drawn one of 14 league games and arrive looking for a third win on the spin. The two teams fought out a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture at the end of September when Scott Ruthven’s equaliser earned Steels a point.

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In-form Sheffield FC travel to relegation-threatened Wisbech Town looking for a seventh win in eight games. Club eased to a 5-1 win after falling behind to an early goal in the reverse fixture at Dronfield just last month and will be confident of completing a league double over a Wisbech team that have lost the last four on the spin and sit just two points outside the drop zone.

However, Club boss Gavin Smith said: “It will be another hard game as they are down there fighting to stay in the league..

“We’ll get the lads prepared as we do for every game and we’ll be expecting the same commitment and effort as in the previous weeks and hopefully come back with the three points.”

Smith was delighted with the manner of win over Loughborough in the last outing, “It was a great result, the lads put in a professional performance. We scored four goals and in fairness it could had been more.”

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Frickley Athletic take on bottom of the table Gresley FC at Westfield Lane that should see Martin McIntosh’s side improve on a home record that’s seen just four wins from 14 league outings  

Fixtures.   

Premier Division: Matlock Town v North Ferriby Utd, South Shields v Buxton.    

East Division: Frickley Athletic v Gresley FC, Stocksbridge PS v Tadcaster Albion, Wisbech Town v, Sheffield FC.