Tom Shaw's side will be looking to avenge the 2-0 defeat in the reverse fixture, played at Greenwich Avenue back in October, an improved performance, in a game that was to spark the Holy Blues fine eight game unbeaten run earlier in the campaign. Basford have lost four of their last five away games, centre back Brad Gascoigne grabbing the winner in their 1-0 victory away at Mickleover on the 27th December. Last time out (seven days ago) they were defeated by Scarborough 3-0 at Flamingo Land Stadium. Can Shaw's young guns heap more away day misery on Mark Clifford's new side?

Clifford recently took charge of the Nottingham based side in the aftermath of the announcement that Owner and Chairman Chris Munroe is looking to step down, a restructuring that saw former manager Steve Chettle move upstairs to take up the role of Director of Football, and the recently returned Clifford assuming the management position. It's certainly what appears to have been a manic couple of weeks down at NG6.

"We must be aware of a strong opposition tomorrow, a side that has had succes over a long period of time and have some excellent players. We will take confidence from the long periods we dominated in the fixture at their place and if we can reach the levels of that performance and add the steel we have been showing in recent weeks, I think we can come away with another positive result."

A couple of familiar faces line up for both sides, against their former clubs, those that have donned the blue of Gainsborough prior to opting for Amber, and those that made the switch the other way. Cieron Keane, club captain Lewis Carr and Assistant Manager Jake Sheridan have all recently been at the avenue, whilst Dom Roma, Matty Thornhill and Terry Hawkridge, plus centre back Stefan Galinski all have links to the town.

New signings Theo Hudson and Cameron Johnson are vying for spots in Tom Shaw's starting line-up. Hudson, latterly with Scarborough Athletic was an unused substitute in Tuesday night's defeat to Nantwich having signed late on the day of the game. Johnson, a centre forward, most recently with Stamford is a strong, aggressive centre forward that is highly rated by the Trinity Head Coach.

"We are pleased to add some attacking options to our group ahead of a challenging fixture with Basford United. We have been starting games fast and managing to get our noses in front, but we have not been ruthless enough in the next period of the game where we haven’t taken opportunities to get away from the opposition. This has hurt us and hopefully with new faces adding quality to our talented front line and adding more detail to our attacking play as we go, we can start to take more of our chances."

At 25 years of age, Cameron declared, "It's good to be back up north and Gainsborough has always been a club I would have liked to play for. It's a good club and not far from home. The opportunity has come and I'm going to take it with both hands, hopefully hit the ground running and, along with the rest of the lads, finish the season strong."

Cameron's former clubs include Boston, Tamworth, Peterborough Sports, Spalding and most recently Stamford. Our other new signing, Theo Hudson, is a 21 year old attacking midfielder who came through the youth ranks at Leeds United. The former Elland Road youngster linked up with Darlington upon his release before joining Scarborough Athletic earlier this season. We welcome Cameron and Theo to the club, and hope you’ll get behind them and the team, roaring the side on to victory tomorrow. Get yourselves along and support the Holy Blues as we look to start the year with a bang! Tickets are priced at £12 for adults, £8 for concessions, and £4 for under 16s.

Programme

Grab a copy of the Holy Blues Review, our fantastic matchday programme. Read the pre-game thoughts of Tom Shaw, there's Dale Storey's View from the press bench, Jovon Makama is the Big Interview, while there is also a look back in history at previous programmes and the next letter in Pip Anderson's Trinity A-Z. Boasting Kate Simmond's favourite photos of 2021 and priced at £2.50 on the turnstiles, it's an essential pre-match read!