Jarrow boss wants to build on Challenge Cup defeat as Boldon CA look to add to squad ahead of Town trip

Jarrow manager Kennie Malia wants his players to take the positives from their Durham Challenge Cup defeat at Dunston UTS into Saturday’s home clash with Sunderland RCA.

Malia’s men came close to forcing a penalty shoot-out against the Northern Premier League East club as James Harper’s equaliser cancelled out a goal from former Newcastle United academy forward Josh Gilchrist.  However, with injury-time looming, goals from Michael Pearson and Scott Robson were enough to help the hosts finally overcome Jarrow and secured their place in the next round.  Despite their disappointment, Malia insisted he had nothing but pride in his players as he immediately set his sights on returning to winning ways in the league on Saturday.

He told The Gazette: “We were very proud of the lads on Tuesday because we managed to take a side who took the game very seriously all of the way to the ninetieth minute with the scores level.  Obviously, we were gutted to lose it so late into added time but the lads can be very positive of their performance and there were loads of positives to take from it.  Now we can’t wait to get back to Perth Green and hopefully put another top performance in. I've never been up against Sunderland RCA in my managerial career so looking forward to adding that one to the list.”

Malia has confirmed Tom Ions and Ryan Hardie will miss the game but Josh Willis and Ryan Keltie are expected to return to contention.

Boldon close to new signing ahead of Cestrians challenge

Joint-manager Dan Crooks has revealed he is hoping to add to his forward ranks ahead of Boldon CA’s visit to Chester-le-Street Town.

The postponement of Tuesday night’s Durham Challenge Cup home tie with Whickham meant Crooks, fellow joint-manager David Palmer and their players had extra time to prepare for a sizeable challenge against a Cestrians side sat just outside of the Division Two play-off spots.  The hosts can actually move within a point of the top five if they can claim a fourth consecutive league win at Moor Park on Saturday afternoon.  However, Crooks has insisted Boldon will visit the Cestrians with the aim of claiming what would be only their third league win of the season and one that could lift them out of the relegation zone if results elsewhere go their way.

He told The Gazette: “We are all looking forward to another hard test against an in-form Chester-le-Street Town side on Saturday. We’re going there in a confident mood and with the desire to take some points from the game to build on last weekend’s win against Darlington Town. Jolas Sutherland misses this week, which is unfortunate after he scored twice in that game - but hopefully getting a forward over the line in time to play this weekend to further strengthen the squad.”

Crooks has confirmed Ryan Lamb and Aaron Williams will both miss out once again after they both missed last weekend’s win against Darlington.