Match Preview: Heather St. John’s (H)

Long Eaton United look to record their fourth victory on the bounce when they face high-flyers Heather St. John’s at Grange Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Blues head into this match, which is the second match in a string of three home games back-to-back-to-back, after a controlled 3-0 victory over local-rivals Newark FC.

Mitchell Robinson scored against his former club with a headed goal just before half-time and the Blues skipper Romaine Graham scored twice in the second half to wrap up the win and give Long Eaton a three-point advantage at the top of the table.

Heather St. John’s travel up to Derbyshire and Grange Park looking to bounce back from their recent Buildbase FA Vase exit, as they lost 2-1 to Midland Football League Division One side Atherstone Town at St. John’s Park.

The Saints were 1-0 up at the break thanks to a penalty on the stroke of halftime netted by James Spruce; however, Mitchell Piggon and Brady Middleton rounded off a well-battled comeback for the visitors late in the second half.

Previous Meetings -

The Blues were of course meant to travel over to Leicestershire to face Heather St. John’s last season, when both sides competed in the Midland Football League Premier Division, but the league was declared null and void before that fixture came about.

However, the Saints did travel over to Grange Park last season in the Blues’ fourth league match of the season, and the visitors fell to a heavy 7-2 defeat. Goal scorers on that day saw James Shaw claim a brace for the Blues and Cameron Collins do the same for the Saints, although Jude Brittain, Romaine Graham, Alex Marshall, Keiran Walker and James Taylor all netted for Long Eaton to take the game out of the visitors' grasp.

Prior to that, our previous meeting at Grange Park was in February 2020, when Heather St. John’s managed to overcome Long Eaton with a 5-1 victory. Shaw netted the Blues’ only goal on that day, with Kory Burke, Kyle Burke, Trea Bertie, Fraser Doyle and Malachi Farquharson all scoring for the visitors.

Therefore, the Saints head into this match looking to take all three points off the league leaders – with James Spruce looking to add to his total of 13 goals in 13 games so far this season and with them aiming to not register a third league defeat of their own.

Managers Quotes -

Looking ahead to what will be a testing run of home games now and over the Christmas period, Ian Deakin said: “It is always good to play at home – the crowd is great, you could hear them singing against Newark and it is just nice to see a lot of people in the ground because it gives us a massive boost and will help the lads no matter who they face from now until the end of the season.

“I think sometimes when you go away from home or you have a string of away matches, it can be really tiring for the lads, because they have to battle without that hefty support behind them. But I have faith in these lads no matter who they face.”

With Heather St. John’s making the short trip up to Grange Park next, Ian Deakin added: “We have had a very congested and tough run of games recently, with Heather St. John’s being nothing different, so we will prepare for that match like we always do.

“The lads have had to put a lot of effort in recently, so they will have Tuesday off and then we will go back into training on Thursday and work on a few different things so that we are prepared and ready to go in which will be a tough game against Heather St. John’s on Saturday.”

Team News -

Kameron Campbell was again absent from the squad for the Blues’ 3-0 victory over Newark last week, as the forward was nursing a slight knock, however, Campbell did travel down to watch the match and looked to be slowly but surely recovering from the minor injury.

Joel Valentin made his first appearance off the bench last week, after signing from Binfield FC the week prior, so he will also be looking to secure more appearances for the first team.

Alex Marshall will also be eligible for selection this weekend, after serving his one-match ban against Newark for gathering up too many yellow cards throughout the season.

Ticket Information -

£6 Adults
£4 Concessions
U16s FREE with a paying adult

£2 Matchday Programmes

The match kicks off at 3:00 pm and we advise all supporters to arrive early to avoid any queues or delays.

Card and cash payments are accepted at the bar and at the kitchen - and now both card and cash payments are accepted for entry into Grange Park!

Also, you can see the team line-ups outside the hospitality room or on our official Twitter, where there will also be live updates from the match.