Match preview by Leon Higgins

Two weeks after a hard fought 2-1 victory at the Neuven Stadium in the sunshine, Curzon once again take on Radcliffe this time under the lights in this rearranged clash from November.

Back in November, Curzon were winning 2-1 and leading the National League North table when the game was abandoned at half time due to rain and the weather negatively impacting the pitch, with the ball losing its ability to bounce off the pitch surface.

Fast forward four months and The Nash currently sit 5th in the league on 64 points despite Saturday’s disappointing defeat to Marine, and a point ahead of Hereford who sit just outside the play off places.

With only 5 fixtures taking place this midweek, all eyes will be on Aggborough as 4th place Kidderminster host top of the table Scunthorpe. With some surprise results on Saturday which saw King’s Lynn lose 3-0 at home to Spennymoor, Hereford lose 1-0 at Scarborough and Brackley lose 1-0 at home to the high flying play off chasing Buxton, Craig Mahon’s side know this is a opportunity to create a cushion to the teams around them.

Radcliffe have different priorities with safety the aim for Boro. Saturday’s huge 1-0 victory at relegation threatened Warrington Town has provider Radcliffe with a bit of a gap to Oxford City who currently occupy the final relegation place.

With Oxford travelling to South Shields and Needham Market on the road to Spennymoor and only goal difference separating the sides, with Tuesday potentially providing crucial results in the race for safety. Since the defeat to Curzon, Boro have also lost 2-1 to Darlington before Saturday’s victory.

Head to Head

There have been 60 meetings between the two sides with The Nash claiming 28 victories. The last time the sides met at the Tameside Stadium was back in 2015 in the Manchester Premier Cup which Radcliffe won 1-3.

Curzon Ashton

• Stefan Mols made his 99th appearance against Marine and could be set to bring up a century against Radcliffe.
• Jimmy Spencer has scored 8 goals at the Tameside Stadium this season which is only bettered by Ex Leamington striker Callum Stewart (12), South Shields Paul Blackett (11), Chester’s Tom Peers (11), Callum Roberts of Scunthorpe (10) and Radcliffe’s Jordan Hulme (9) for most goals at a home ground.
• Stefan Mols and Jimmy Spencer have 23 goals together which is the 7th best attacking duo in the league.
• Curzon have won 19 times from winning positions with only Brackley (22), Scunthorpe (21), Chester (20) and Kidderminster (20) claiming more victories.
• The Nash have conceded 13 2nd half goals this season which is the lowest in the league while Radcliffe have conceded 30 which is only worsened by Rushall Olympic and Farsley Celtic (37) and Needham Market (32).

Radcliffe

• Jordan Hulme is the Boro’s top goalscorer this season with 10 goals and only 1 of those coming away from home.
• Both Hulme (16) and Josh Hancock (15) who returns from a 2 game suspension sit in the top 2 for disciplinary points.
• Danny Greenfield made National League team of the week.
• The Boro have had the 2 highest average age starting lineups in the league this season with a average of 30 years and 8 months in a 0-0 draw away at Scunthorpe and 30 years and 7 months in a home win against Leamington
• Radcliffe have conceded the most amount of goals in 1st half stoppage time with (6). They have also conceded 4 goals in 2nd half stoppage time which is only worsened by Rushall Olympic (9) and Chorley and Marine (7).
• 28 of the goals scored by the Boro this season have come from a right foot with only Buxton and South Shields (32) and Alfreton (29) scoring more. 6 have come from the left foot which is only worsened by Farsley Celtic (5).