Stocksbridge Park Steels Vs Grimsby Borough: Match Preview

Stocksbridge Park Steels Vs Grimsby Borough: Match Preview

The Wilderness Boys are on the road once more on Wednesday evening as we visit South Yorkshire to face Stocksbridge Park Steels, looking to bounce back from a disappointing result last time out and claim a second victory of the season.

Manager Tom Claisse will be keen to see a real improvement following Friday’s humbling at league leaders Bradford Park Avenue, and a return to the positivity that had been building in the week prior; hardworking displays that had yielded four points from two matches, keeping two clean sheets in the process, along with a comfortable Lincs Cup success over Gainsborough Trinity.

Borough will be seeking a strong response to that 7-1 defeat at the Horsfall Community Stadium against a Park Steels side who have had a tricky start to the 2026/27 campaign themselves.

The Wilderness Boys have an experienced core that will have been hurt by that heavy defeat, however, and they’ll be all the more determined to put in a solid display and, hopefully, pick up three points on their travels for the second time this season to move up the step four standings.

It’s almost certain that strikers Edwin Essel, and Charlie Burden-Whittleton will miss out once again, as will Anane Wireko and Mason Couch, with all four at various stages of recovery from their respective, long-term injuries.

That means Claisse will likely have a similar squad at his disposal as has been utilised in recent games. Winger Luke Ayris’ performance off the bench was a rare positive in Bradford, the new man picking up the Man of the Match award, and he will be pushing for a starting place, potentially offering Borough more attacking threat and pace in attacking quarters.

While the Wilderness Boys have struggled to retain possession at times in their previous two league games, meaning Josh Clarke could come into the side to add some composure and craft on the ball as Claisse’s men look to control proceedings in what is another tough away day.

Bailey Wright and George Burton impressed in the recent match against Gainsborough, and could come into contention, while Jack Barlow, Tristan Drummond, and Charlie Clements will all be eyeing a place in the starting XI.

Stocksbridge Park Steels have found things tricky on their return to the Northern Premier League Division One East following their relegation from step three last season.

Many of their matches thus far, however, have been closely contested affairs, with the South Yorkshire outfit falling on the wrong side of fine margins that could easily have gone either way.

Manager Jordan Lemon’s men began the campaign with a 2-0 defeat at Heaton Stannington, before picking up their first point in a 2-2 draw with Ashington at their Bracken Moor ground.

A narrow (2-1) home defeat against Bradford Park Avenue followed, before the Steels saw off Cheadle Town by a solitary goal to progress to the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Lemon’s side were then beaten (2-0) at home against Lincoln United, before Runcorn Linnets knocked them out of the FA Trophy at the end of August.

There’s been definite signs of Stocksbridge finding their feet in recent weeks, though, with a creditable goalless draw at Silsden preceding a valiant FA Cup performance at NPL Premier Division high-flyers Redcar Athletic that saw them go toe-to-toe with their higher tier opponents, losing 1-0 on the day.

Last time out, Steels twice led at North Ferriby through goals from Josiah Dyer and Alex O’Connor, but were forced to settle for a point as their hosts fought back on both occasions in what was an entertaining clash at the Dransfield Stadium.

Lemon and his assistant, Joe Tomlinson, made plenty of changes to their squad over the off-season ahead of their return to step four. That included bringing in forwards Rio Clegg and Harry Spooner from Clay Cross Town and Sheffield FC respectively.

Left-back Will Sutton and midfield man Oliver Metcalfe also joined over the summer, as did former Cleethorpes Town defender Tom Shepherd, with Jack Dolman and Charlie Oglesby both returning to Bracken Moor following their respective stints at Rossington Main and Matlock Town.

More recently, winger Rico Kilbourn has arrived on a dual registration with Golcar United, and the new additions are now beginning to really gel with the previously retained members of the squad to make Stocksbridge a very competitive outfit that are looking to climb the early league standings.

Borough will be hoping to keep up their positive head-to-head record over the Steels, having won three and drawn one of their previous five fixtures. The hosts did, however, win the last meeting between the pair by two goals to nil in late February 2025.

Both sides go into the clash in need of a morale-boosting victory and three points to elevate themselves up the league table a little. The Wilderness Boys will hope for a similar display to that put in at Lincoln United a couple of weeks ago to help them accomplish that.