WHITBY TOWN v SCARBOROUGH ATHLETIC- Wed 20 Jan- 7.45pm- preview

Both Whitby and Scarborough hope that over five weeks of postponements will halt this Wednesday with a Yorkshire Coast derby at the Turnbull Ground, with Town boss Harry Dunn ready to field a strong side against the Blues' borough rivals.

Looking ahead to the rearranged midweek North Riding Cup tie, Dunn, who himself has history as a two-time FA Trophy winner with the former Scarborough FC club, stated: "We want to get through. We're in an unbeaten run at the moment and no-one wants to lose it."

North East Counties Premier League Athletic are currently in fourth spot, eight points behind leaders Bridlington with two games in hand. The recently-formed outfit, promoted last season, currently play two levels below Whitby, in a division that also includes Pickering.

The Seasiders will have to look out for the visitors' runaway leading scorer Craig Hogg, who has so far bagged a remarkable 18 goals from 24 games this season. Athletic, managed by former North Ferriby supremo Brian France, have six players with Whitby connections.

Centre half Danny Farthing spent five seasons at the Turnbull Ground, playing 142 games before re-joining hometown club Goole this past summer, and then onto Scarborough. Striker Ryan Blott had an unremarkable spell on loan with Whitby at the start of the season, scoring twice in 14 appearances. Goalkeeper Arran Reid and defender Dave Hartas played 11 and 15 times for Town respectively in 2007 under Lee Nogan. Midfielder Billy Logan, has been a virtual ever-present for Athletic this season after a short spell in pre-season with the Blues- he is the son of former Whitby manager, and Scarborough player, Dave Logan. Callum Reid is an ex-Fishburn Park player who represented the Blues at youth level.

Whitby quintet Alex Gildea, Tony Hackworth, Ged Dalton, Denny Ingram and Jimmy Beadle all played for the old Scarborough FC team.

Kick-off for this last eight tie at the Turnbull Ground is 7.45pm- if scores are level after 90 minutes, extra-time, and if necessary, penalties will follow.

Whitby host Hucknall Town next Saturday.