Barnsley's two top non-league sides face each other tomorrow with Athersley Rec aiming to reduce a ten-point gap between them and Penistone Church.
Penistone are third after a 4-0 win at Liversedge while Rec are 14th following their 1-1 draw at Staveley thanks to an 88th-minute Kieran Scargill penalty. It will be Church’s first home game since their 13-month, 22-match unbeaten record in league fixtures at the Memorial Ground came to an end with a 3-0 loss against Eccleshill United.
Last season, Rec won 1-0 in Athersley but then conceded three in the first 19 minutes at Penistone and lost 4-0.Church manager Ian Richards said: “We look forward to the derby. Athersley have improved their form recently. It’s always a competitive game, league position goes out of the window, and it’s all about that one-off 90 minutes.
“First it’s whichever team has the heart and the desire to win the battle and then it will come down to the quality. We want to treat it like any other game and get three points and keep the momentum going forward and also start our next home unbeaten run.
“So we’ll make sure we’re at it 100 per cent and look to get that advantage in the local area but more important for us are the three points and to keep progressing forward.”
Athersley are managed by former Barnsley defender Luke Potter while their general manager is Pete Goodlad.Goodlad said: “Penistone is a big game. Last season they wiped the floor with us there and we were terrible. We don’t have a good record there.
“We’re hitting some good form now so we should give them a much better game. Penistone will probably be competing for promotion this season and we are fighting at the other end of the table at the moment. But we will go there looking for a win. They won’t take us lightly and it should be a good, hard game in front of a decent crowd.”
