On the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat at the hands of Rushden & Diamonds in the FA Trophy on Saturday, Halifax Town travel to Liberty Way, home of Nuneaton Borough for the 5th round of the Setanta Shield on Tuesday night.

The fixture sees the 2nd of 4 games in 8 days for The Shaymen, and just 24 hours later, they will be at home, facing Osset Albion in the WRCC.

A ridiculous fixture pairing I'm sure you'll agree, and not good on the legs for the players, especially on the heavy pitches that we have at this moment in time.

If you're travelling to Nuneaton, expect Chris Wilder to make as many changes as possible in order to give the players as much recovery time for the fixtures ahead as time will allow. Also be ready for a Pancake race at half time!

Over the 2 days, expect both Craig Mawson and Adam Legzdins to feature, and the defensive line up will at some point include Peter Atherton, and maybe even Chris Wilder. All new signings are likely to play some part, and the attacking 4 some of Lewis Killeen, Darryn Stamp, Andy Campbell and Jon Shaw will be strategically selected, with the important BSP game on Saturday away at Rushden and Diamonds in mind.

Nuneaton sit highly in the Blue Square North division, in the play off zone in 5th place. Names that will ring a bell to Town fans will be former player Brain Quailey, and the much travelled Daryl Burgess.

On paper, the game should favour Town, but again with the fixture pile up, the selection will need to be made with Saturday in mind.

Ossett will be the weaker opposition of the week. 2nd place in the Unibond Northern Premier League Division 1, and have no recognised personnel amongst them. 2 former Town players though in Michael Senior and Chris Wdowczyk are on their books, and may feature in the game on Wednesday.

With both games being played back to back, here's hoping for no injuries in time for a very winnable game against Rushden this coming Saturday. Should the players be able to keep their fitness, and the linesman be able to keep up with play, a hopeful 3 wins out of 4 in 8 days might be on the cards.

Enjoy the games.
Steve Clifford