Ilkley Town AFC will be hoping to show Bacup Borough what they are really capable of at the MPM Stadium this Saturday following on from the 1-0 defeat the last time the two sides met this season, writes Evan Seaman.
Toby Wright’s penalty was the only goal of the game in the Macron Cup first round on the 15th of October 2022, so Sam Dexter’s side will be hoping to avoid a repeat of this result.
However, Ilkley did beat Bacup 1-0 at the beginning of the season when they faced each other in the league at the Brian Boys West View Stadium as Shaban Mehmeti got the winner in the 75th minute so this fixture will undoubtedly be eagerly-anticipated.
But the Baht’atters will be aiming to get back on track after a couple of late equalizers from Darwen FC and Euxton Villa recently denied them some vital wins.
Whereas for Bacup, they will be looking to get their season going as they have only played 16 times due to postponements.
This means they sit 13th in the table despite only losing seven times this campaign so far, so they will be hoping they can put distance between themselves and the relegation zone.
In terms of team news for Ilkley, Nathan Hunt is still suspended so will miss Saturday’s fixture and Nicc Hewitt is also unavailable for matchday selection.
The Baht’atters have got a few injuries to deal with at the minute with James Hudson out with an ankle injury and Blake Wood has got a long-term knee injury. Josh Parker also picked up a groin injury in the Darwen fixture last Saturday so will miss the Bacup game as well.
But Ben Clarkson will return to this weekend’s matchday squad and will hopefully feature on Saturday, while Takuo Jitsukawa is still waiting for his debut.