Collingwood admits Seaham Red Star fear nobody in the league
Seaham Red Star manager Mark Collingwood believes his side can travel to West Auckland Town with confidence despite their defeat against Northern League Division One leaders Consett.
Red Star put in a strong display against the title favourites as goals from Jamie Clark and Adam Lennox gave them a 2-1 lead with just under quarter of an hour remainingbut a late brace from Scott Heslop gave the Steelmen an undeserved win against Collingwood’s men.
The Red Star boss urged his squad to move on from that loss and to take the positives into another tough test against a West side looking to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat.
He said: “You’ve got to take confidence from the performance, but not the result. We have got some good fixtures coming up, especially at home.
“We’ve been through Covid, we’ve been through bad injuries, but we had our first 11 last week and we should have beaten the side that will probably win the league this season.
“We went for the jugular, we would have been disappointed to get just one, but we got nothing.
“It should give our squad confidence going into a game against West Auckland Town.
“We fear nobody in this league and they will be asked
to play with no fear against West Auckland.”
Carl Taylor has returned to Hebburn Town following the end of his loan spell but Hornets team-mate Mark McLeod will remain with Red Star for another month.
Sunderland RCA belatedly get their 2022 fixtures underway with a home game against Ashington.
Steve Riley’s men will be
hoping to stretch their unbeaten run to a fifth game against a Colliers side that are sat in the top six of the table.
Whitley Bay will kick off the post-Derek Forrest era with a home game against Bishop Auckland and Colin Stromsoy will finally take charge of Newcastle Benfield for the first time when they visit Guisborough Town.
The hosts could hand starts to Jack Blackford and Shabhan Mohammed after they joined the club on loan from Northern Premier League East side Marske United.
Two sides in the bottom three meet at Frenchfield Park as Penrith entertain Northallerton Town and West Allotment Celtic are targeting a fifth straight win when they head to Redcar Athletic.
Whickham could hand a first start to recent signing Callum Elliott as they travel to Crook Town and Callum Munro will return to the Newton Aycliffe squad for their home game with Thornaby.
The Northern League’s hopes for yet another FA Vase triumph rest with Consett
and North Shields this weekend.
Consett - Vase finalists in 2020 - could hand a full debut to recent signing Scott Heslop when they entertain North West Counties League side Wythenshawe Town.
And 2015 Vase winners North Shields are at near full-strength as they prepare to make the long trip to Harborough Town.