Moore sets Hebburn Town play-off aim ahead of Morpeth test

Daniel Moore has called on Hebburn Town to force their way back into the Northern Premier League Premier Division play-offs with a home win against Morpeth Town.

The North East rivals will meet for the second time this season at Hebburn Sports Ground on Saturday after they battled to a goalless draw at Craik Park in September. Both sides have shown promising signs during the opening four months of the season with a new-look Morpeth sat inside the top ten despite taking just one point from their last three games. That solitary point came with a remarkable fightback in last weekend’s 3-3 draw with Matlock Town as Craig Lynch’s men came from three down to secure a share of the spoils.

For Hebburn, the focus on Saturday will be on bouncing back from last weekend’s defeat at Ilkeston Town and claiming a first win in three games that could see them move back into the play-off places in non-league’s third tier. Moore is adamant his side can take advantage of the close-knit nature of the league and ensure they are in a positive frame of mind as a hectic December gets underway.

He told The Gazette: “I think we are both in similar form, winning one, losing one and you could probably say the same about everyone in that league. On any given day, any team can beat anyone and Morpeth will take the positives from coming back from three down last week and they’ll see that as feeling like a win.

“For us, we are ahead of where we thought we would be and we went from fourth to eighth on Saturday but a win could take us back into the play-offs. Two wins in a week can get us back up there, there’s no doubt about that. We will just do what we can to make sure we get back in there and that starts with trying to get a win on Saturday.”

Moore could hand recalls to the likes of on-loan South Shields youngster Dan Savage and former Morpeth man Joe Walton after they came off the bench in last weekend’s defeat at Ilkeston.