South Shields aim to turn Mariners Park into a fortress to help bolster promotion hopes

The Mariners have lost their last four games on home soil in all competitions but remain four points clear at the top of the BetVictor Northern Premier Division.

They ended a seven-match winless run in all competitions with a deserved 3-1 victory at Grantham Town last Saturday and will be looking to build on that result tomorrow.

Buxton are battling against relegation and go into the game sitting 17th in the table.

They were one of the division's surprise packages last season and earned a play-off place before losing after extra-time at Mariners Park in the semi-final.

Shields won 2-1 in the reverse fixture with a late Lee Mason goal earlier this season and joint manager Graham Fenton is expecting another difficult afternoon.

He said: "I'm sure this game will provide us with another extremely tough test, as every game against Buxton has proved to be over recent years.

"They are a well-organised side with an extremely potent number nine in Diego De Girolamo and we will have to be very mindful of his movement and goal threat, along with Buxton's other forward players.

"They have been scoring fairly frequently of late but we're sure that we will cause them lots of problems themselves, especially off the back of scoring three goals last week."

Shields have had to deal with a number of injuries over recent weeks and will remain without Ross Coombe and Luke Daly tomorrow.

They are hopeful the likes of Blair Adams, Arron Thompson, Dillon Morse and Darius Osei will return soon, although it remains to be seen whether tomorrow's match comes too quickly for them.

Jordan Hunter is expected to be available.

Fenton was impressed with the effort shown at Grantham.

He added: "We felt the lads did exceptionally well and kept the positivity high throughout the game.”

Kick-off at Mariners Park is at 3pm and admission - which can be paid at the turnstiles - is £10 for adults, £8 for students and over-65s, and £3 for under-16s.