Friday Football: Red Rebels And Magpies Up For The Battle

The Friday night action gives the two clubs a chance to climb the table and put pressure on their rivals who play tomorrow.

The Red Rebels, resurgent under player-boss Tom Greaves, have struggled on the road in recent weeks but Broadhurst Park has been a fortress for them.

Greaves’ men have won eight of their last nine National League North fixtures at home and another victory on Friday night would see them climb up to 11th and just four points off the play-offs.

FC United may opt to move away from their usual 3-5-2 system with Greaves hoping to spring a few surprises in the coming weeks.

He told FCUM Radio: “We’re at home and recently we’ve been decent at home playing 3-5-2 but teams have been figuring us out so we need something else up our sleeves.

“We had a very, very light session on Thursday looking at different shapes and formations. The points are valuable now and we need to bounce back and get those points.”

For Chorley, it’s a great chance to get their promotion push back on track. Since winning 3-0 at leaders Salford City shortly before Christmas, they’ve picked up just one victory in eight games.

That run has seen last season’s beaten play-off finalists drop to tenth but a win on Friday would see them go level on points with seventh-placed Bradford Park Avenue.

Boss Matt Jansen told the Chorley website: “We’ve had plenty of time to prepare and the lads have got to stay positive.

“We’ve had a couple of tough sessions and they’ve bonded. We’re a good team and we're a united team.

“We’ll push on and we’re not out of this by any means. I want 30 points from the next 14 games and we’re more than capable of doing that.”

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