Tomorrow afternoon Darlaston Town 1874 players and supporters will be travelling the 5.4 miles to the Cottage Ground the home of near neighbours Wednesfield for one of the most eagerly awaited and contested local derbies in Black Country non-league football. The fixture over the years has traditionally attracted large crowds over the Christmas period and tomorrow is probably is expected to be no exception.

Both club seasons have been very different so far although recent form is quite similar as both teams have three wins, and three loses in the last six games. Tomorrow may well be about which team mmm wants the points more than the other. but as everyone knows form goes out the window when it is a local Derby.

Darlaston going to the fixture currently in third place in the league by virtue of completing six more games more than tomorrow's appointment tomorrow as opponents. Where as Wednesfield currently find themselves in 14th place having played 13 games 5 wins one draw 7 losses that has bought a total of 16 points.

Since the recruitment of John Griffiths and Dan Watkiss from Lane Head in the summer it has taken time for the management team to find and their feet in the Division as recent results would suggest. On opening day their newly assembled squad welcomed AFC Bridgnorth to the Cottage Ground winning 3-1 with goals from Blakemore, Osbourne and substitute Brooks, giving the new look squad and management team a great start.

The following Saturday saw a trip to the Beeches home of Tividale for an F.A. Cup tie, unfortunately Wednesfield were beaten 2-1. A return to the Cottage Ground the following weekend saw two new management teams met. Shaun Geddes and his Black Country Rangers squad took the points with a 2-0 win.

Next up was a trip into Worcestershire by the river at joint leaders and unbeaten Bewdley Town, Bewdley winning with ease with a 4-0 win.

The last game in August was the first round of the F.A. Vase, Division One side Droitwich Spa caused an upset beating Griffiths & Watkiss’s team 2-0.

Back to Premier Division action for September, four games all at home. The month started well a 1-0 win against newly promoted Worcester Raiders a first half goal secured the win. The following weekend saw the visit of Dudley Sports, which ended 0-0 securing their first draw of the Wednesfield’s season. The third week of the month Wednesfield welcomed another new management team to the Cottage, Dudley Town making the short trip from their base at Sporting Khalsa. Matty Lovetts team winning 4-2 after being behind at half-time 2-1. Three unanswered goals secured the win for the visitors.

The last game in the month saw the return of Dean Gill to the Cottage Ground, arguably Wednesfield’s most successful manager in recent years, his Wolverhampton Casuals team winning 2-1. Wednesfield had Callum Wood sent off with a straight red which didn’t help their cause.

October on paper looked a really difficult month for Wednesfield as they were to play against three promotion hopefuls, firstly Shifnal Town at The Accoustafoam Stadium losing out in a tight game 1-0. Littleton came to The Cottage taking the points with a comprehensive 3-0 away win and then mid-month Wednesfield travelled to Pershore returning with their third win of the season two late goals in the last 10 minutes of the game by first Will Osbourne and substitute Zack Campbell-Jackson giving Wednesfield a 2-1 win, making the long journey home more enjoyable.

Wednesfield travelled to A.F.C. Wulfrunians in the J.W. Hunt Cup losing 2-0 to the Midland Football League Step 5 side.

In last seven weeks Wednesfield have only played five games, three of those were in midweek, so Saturday football has been thin on the ground.

They have played two cup games the first a 2-1 win against Chelmsley Town in the Birmingham County FA Midweek Floodlit Challenge Cup, they now face a trip to Cadbury Athletic in the quarter final. In the Premier Division League Cup, a 2-1 loss to AFC Bridgnorth saw Wednesfield bow out of the competition Ellis Blakemore getting the goal.

The club has played three league games, a trip to Dudley Town on the 3g at the Asprey Arena was pointless at Dudley ran out 3-0 winners. This was followed by an outstanding 3-1 win against second placed Bewdley Town at the cottage ground in mid-December goals from Jake Payne, Callum Wood and Ellis Blakemore won the game.

Wednesfield’s last game a midweek trip to Wolves Sporting Community on the 17th of December produced another great win 1-0 new signing Ben Novis from Shifnal Town scored the only goal after 20 minutes.

Clearly tomorrow is going to be an extremely difficult game for Andy Parkes squad. They will be without right back Sam Causton who received a three-match ban for his straight red card last Saturday against Smethwick Rangers. Parkes appears to have a strong squad available to travel across to Wednesfield tomorrow, however several players are still feeling the effects of recent injuries and knocks, so Darlaston’s management team will not have a fully fit squad available.

Manager Parkes said earlier today “Tomorrow is a fixture that the club and its supporters have been looking forward to for some time. Wednesfield’s management have recruited well recently especially with signing of Ben Nevis. We are expecting an extremely tough fixture tomorrow and arguably going to the Cottage Ground as underdogs, especially given the injuries we have along with Sam’s suspension”.

Parkes added “But as always we will make sure that the players are prepared to the best possible way to hopefully put in a good performance and to give us a shout out of bringing the points back to the Paycare Ground but this will be extremely hard possibly one of the hardest fixtures of the season so far”.

Tomorrow's local Derby kicks off at 3 p.m. at the cottage ground Amos Lane Wednesfield WV11 1ND