OLD adversaries Bob Lyon and Jimmy Reid will pit their wits against each other again at Goole tomorrow afternoon.
Lyon will take his Northern Counties East League premier division title hopefuls Selby Town to a Goole team now jointly managed by ex-Pickering Town boss Reid and former Harrogate Railway chief Paul Marshall.
The Robins are second in the table, four points behind leaders Brigg with two games in hand.
FA Vase winners Brigg have a testing home game with fifth-placed Eccleshill tomorrow but Lyon is also expecting a difficult encounter against mid-table Goole.
He said: "It will be a good old-fashioned derby. We love going to Goole and there's the added spice of Jimmy Reid and Paul Marshall being in charge."
Left-back Andy Hart will be suspended for the match and striker Andy Cygan is still sidelined with a knee problem.
Midfielder Mark Willoughby has been added to Goole's squad but striker Reece Pindar has left for Winterton Rangers.
Reid said: "It is a local derby and I think Bob Lyon and Selby have done very well this season. I know a lot of their players and there should be a good crowd."
Pickering Town will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten home record in the NCEL premier division when they play host to improving Liversedge.
Selby are the only other top-flight club not to have lost a game on their own patch this season and manager Steve Brown is out to make it eight without defeat at the Recreation Ground this weekend.
He said: "We are unbeaten in the league at home and that's important. We want to keep that going for as long as we can.
"Liversedge are on a decent run and beat Goole 3-1. They have also got one of the top scorers in the league in James Nestor, who regularly gets goals at this level.
"We need to be a bit better than we have been playing but I'm not too concerned. The players have worked hard to put us in a good position and that must continue if we are going to stay there."
Fourth-placed Pickering are ten points behind leaders Brigg Town but still have four games in hand.
The Pikes are expected to be unchanged for the visit of Liversedge but Brown has hinted that he may be ready to add new signings to his squad this month.
Harrogate Town boss John Reed is set to field an unchanged side from the team that lost 4-2 at Barrow in the FA Trophy on Tuesday night for tomorrow's trip to mid-table Marine.
Assistant manager Neil Aspin is expected to recover from a knock to take his place in Harrogate's defence for the Unibond League premier division clash.
Third-placed Town are hoping to stay in contention with leaders Droylsden, who are currently seven points clear of Reed's team.
The Harrogate boss said: "Droylsden are signing players with one eye on the Conference and they have definitely got fantastic fight in them. They came back from 4-2 at home to Radcliffe to win 5-4 and have also beaten Vauxhall 4-2 after trailing 2-0 and drew 4-4 with us after we led 3-1.
"We beat Marine 4-1 earlier in the season but since then they have had a good run. They have got two very good striker and a useful winger who could prove a handful.
"Hopefully we will bounce back from the bad defeat at Barrow because we actually played well there."
Defender Matt McNaughton is approaching full fitness after back problems but will not be risked against Marine.
Tadcaster Albion will be out for revenge when they visit seventh-placed South Normanton Athletic in division one.
Normanton won 4-0 at Ings Lane last month and included former Tottenham, Newcastle and England midfielder Chris Waddle in their side but Albion boss Wayne Day believes it was a freak result.
He said: "They hit us cold in that game and were 3-0 down after 11 minutes but, after that it was one-way traffic for most of the match. We absolutely peppered them and, although it might sound stupid, I believe if we had got a goal we would have won it.
"So there's nothing to suggest we won't beat them this time."
Tadcaster will continue to be without injured strikers Jim Taylor, Mickey Amos and Anu Miah, as well as midfielder Gareth Williams but Day believes his players can take encouragement from the narrow 2-1 County Cup defeat against top-flight Glasshoughton Welfare in midweek.
He said: "I know they are struggling in the Premier but, on paper, they are still in the top division and we pushed them right to the limit."
John Impey scored Tad's goal in that game and Billy Hicks also hit a post.
Updated: 12:05 Friday, December 05, 2003
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