Lancaster City host league leaders Radcliffe at the Giant Axe

Lancaster City will look to build on an impressive victory at the weekend when they host top of the pile Radcliffe.

The Dolly Blues beat Macclesfield 2-1 away from home, marking the end of what was an eventful week for the club.

They beat Atherton Collieries 3-2 on New Year’s Day, in what was club captain and then interim manager Andrew Teague’s final game at the Giant Axe.

The 37 year old left on Thursday to join NPL Division One West side Clitheroe FC.

However, City stuck together despite a tough week off the pitch with the departure of Teague, to get a deserved 2-1 victory at the Leasing.com stadium.

It was Simon Grand’s first game in sole interim charge of the team - he will also be caretaker player-manager for Tuesday’s clash. 

Those two back-to-back wins have moved Lancaster up to 11th in the NPL Premier Division, after starting the calendar year in 16th.  

In a statement last week, Lancaster City’s board said that they had recently “been reviewing different options regarding the future of Lancaster City’s management team”, and are “expecting to make a permanent appointment in January”.

Brad Carroll is likely to be out of Tuesday’s clash after suffering a suspected hamstring injury in Saturday’s game. 

Tuesday’s opponents, Radcliffe, are comfortably top of the NPL Premier Division, leading by six points with two games in hand over second-placed Warrington Rylands. 

‘The Boro’ have scored 62 goals in 22 league games this season - the most out of anyone in the division.

Their leading goalscorers are Josh Hancock and Jordan Hulme, both of whom have 13 goals for the season, and scored in Radcliffe’s 3-1 win over Workington AFC. 

The first meeting between these two sides in August at Radcliffe’s Neuven Stadium ended 4-2 to the hosts, but a 10-man City put in a very good performance on that night. 

Just like Lancaster’s opponents at the weekend, Macclesfield, Radcliffe are in the Fourth Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy.

They take on National League high-flyers Barnet at home on Saturday (January 13).

Lancaster City v Radcliffe kicks off at 7.45pm on Tuesday (January 9) at The Giant Axe.