South Shields face long trip as Julio Arca's side aim to get back to winning ways against Bishop’s Stortford

The bitterly cold conditions are expected to impact the football schedule this weekend but at the time of going to print, this match was still due to go ahead as planned. Shields are without a win in their last two league matches, since a thumping 5-2 win at Spennymoor Town left them joint-top of the league. 

Their 0-0 draw at home to Curzon Ashton and 1-0 defeat at 1st Cloud Arena against Chester means they go into Saturday’s match sitting third, five points behind leaders Tamworth. Shields manager Julio Arca believes the rest his team have been able to enjoy this week will stand them in good stead ahead of their trip to Hertfordshire. 

He said: “The good thing is we’ve had a full week to prepare for this game, with no Tuesday match. We only had 16 players available last Saturday so the squad has been stretched, and we’ve had a lot of games to play in a short period of time. 

“Some of the players who have had a lot of game-time recently have had some opportunity to recover and get to this game fresh.” 

Bishop’s Stortford are bottom of the standings, and Arca wants his team to replicate some of their recent away performances in the league. He added: “It’s a new team for us to play, and we have to go there and get a result. 

“I believe our last three or four performances away in the league have been good, although the results haven’t always reflected that. We’ve been playing some good football and we’re going to try to do that again and get a result.” 

Shields are set to be without striker Aaron Martin, who is recovering from a quad injury, and Joao Gomes, who is awaiting surgery on a knee problem. Kick-off at The RDA Stadium is at 1pm and admission prices are £15 for adults, £10 for concessions, £8 for students and free for under-12s who are accompanied by an adult.