THREE matches could define Pickering Town’s season – starting tomorrow against Northern Counties East League premier division rivals Thackley.

Manager Jimmy Reid and his men are going for their fourth league win on the spin against a Thackley outfit who are immediately below them in the table and have also recorded 52 points from their 30 games.

They will then play host to Guisborough Town three days later in their bid to reach the North Riding Senior Cup final and follow that crunch cup collision with a league trip to table-topping Scarborough Athletic next weekend.

Reid said: “It promises to be a cracking three matches over those eight days and will hopefully show that we are going the right way.”

He added: “They will be a very tough team to beat.

“They get players from Bradford Park Avenue, Farsley and Guiseley so they always come with a strong side.

“It’s on our home pitch. We will be able to get the ball down and play, and that might give us a bit of an edge.

“The lads are a great bunch and, hopefully, we are now building a platform for next year.”

Simon Sturdy went off at half-time against Hall Road Rangers last weekend but Reid said he had trained, while 16-year-old Simon Calvert, who scored a hat-trick for the under-19s against Pocklington on Wednesday night, will also be in the squad.

Tadcaster Albion manager Paul Marshall has challenged his squad to end this season with some silverware.

The Brewers hammered Winterton Rangers 4-1 on Wednesday in the third round of the NCEL League Cup thanks in part to a brace from Callum Ward and, with his fifth-placed side unlikely to mount a serious challenge for the league title, Marshall is keen to end the season with something to show.

“It was a very good performance,” he said of the win at Winterton. “We passed the ball around so well and I was really impressed.

“We have some good lads who have come together now, and I’ve said to them ‘let’s really try to go for this cup’.

“We have had two pieces of silverware in the past. We can’t do anything in the league, so let’s win a cup. We are capable of beating anyone.”

While the title may be out of reach, Marshall is determined, however, to better Tadcaster’s previous premier division performances.

Since he led them to promotion from division one, the Brewers have finished fourth and eighth with 68 and 67 points.

“I am looking to get into the mid-70s,” Marshall added ahead of his side’s clash with Maltby Main at Ings Lane tomorrow.

“I’ve got some selection headaches. Scott McGrory will be back, as will Chris Youldon and George Bissett and, as we saw at Winterton, we have lots of young lads who are all capable.”

Selby Town’s recent revival ground to a halt when they lost 3-1 at Louth in NCEL division one on Wednesday night.

Michael Jones scored an 82nd-minute consolation for the Robins, who are eight points adrift of Askern Villa with a game in hand ahead of their league trip to Appleby Frodingham tomorrow.