Morpeth Town play host to Stockton Town in the League Cup Quarter-Finals at Craik Park (7.45pm) in what is sure to be an entertaining encounter. Both sides are free-scoring, with the two teams netting a combined 176 league goals to date, so goals are very much the order of the day.

SNAPSHOT PREVIEW
FORM: Town are solid at the moment and picking up points regularly without being fluent in what they’re doing; four wins in their last nine in league and cup is testament to this. Two clean-sheets in 14 outings is a statistic which may cause consternation among the defence but the attacking side of Morpeth’s game is working well with 102 goals scored in the league with four games still to play in Division One. Sean Taylor in particular is proving a source of danger with a recent hat-trick at Ryhope CW taking him to 20 league goals for the season. Stockton Town are gearing up for their trip to Wembley for the FA Vase final at the end of the campaign. Undoubtedly, it has had an effect on their form, with three wins from their last six league games, including a 2-1 loss at Team Northumbria most recently. Although they score freely enough, defensively they are porous and have leaked 68 goals; only nine teams pose a worse defensive record in Division One.

LAST GAME: Morpeth were held to a 1-1 draw on Monday night when Guisborough Town were the visitors to Craik Park. Stephen Elliott gave The Highwaymen the lead in the 52nd minute, but they couldn’t hold on to that advantage as Steven Roberts netted a late equaliser for the visitors. It could have been so different had Ben Sayer’s shot deflected in off the post, instead of bouncing out, in the dying seconds of the contest.
Stockton Town have had a 12-day break since their last game, which was a league trip to Team Northumbria. However, they would come away empty-handed as they were on the wrong end of a 2-1 defeat.
ONE TO WATCH: Jamie Owens has a shoot-on-sight policy which is delivering goals on an industrial scale. Twenty-three in the league, discounting all of his cup exploits, is a good return for a striker. Morpeth will need to be wary of the powerful forward if they are to progress to the semi-finals of the League Cup.
WHERE TO WATCH: Craik Park, Morpeth.
SAT NAV: NE61 2YX