This weekend sees a mouth-watering Isle derby with both clubs intent on getting back to winning ways following disappointing defeats.
Westwoodside Rangers found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-2 result in the Johnstone Insurance Nursing Cup Round Two as Epworth Town Reserves were beaten on spot-kicks in the same competition.
Saturday sees the pair line up in their second meeting of the season following Westwoodside’s 6-3 cup win back in September.
This time there’s league points at stake in the TSW Printers Scunthorpe & District Division Three.
Rangers have been dealt a blow this week after learning that goalkeeper Joe Siddons would be out for the season with a knee injury.
However, Westwoodside boss Kev Blow has reacted swiftly by bringing in highly-rated former Scunthorpe youth shot-stopper Thomas Shaw for the weekend.
“Thomas Shaw is a well-respected ‘keeper around the Isle. He will be in the team this Saturday. I’m waiting on a couple of injured players, mainly Kyle Blow because he’s our ball player,” said Blow.
“Michael Fenlon is also not available this week and possibly our captain although I’m confident we can still put in a strong performance against Epworth.
“We also have a couple of players back such as Harry Scott and Tom Fletcher so with a bit of luck we can rectify last week’s result.”
Meanwhile, player-coach Tom Appleby was pleased with how Epworth Town Reserves played despite cup defeat to Briggensians on penalties.
“We were a bit slow again to get in to our stride but second half we were fantastic,” said Appleby ahead of their trip to Westwoodside’s Akeferry Road.
“We created lots of chances and their goalkeeper kept them in it on many occasions.
“Unfortunately we missed a penalty in the second half as, again, their goalkeeper saved well.
“We didn’t deserve to lose the game but it’s a lottery when it’s down to penalties.
“Overall, it was a good response from the previous week.”