Match preview by Leon Higgins 

Curzon look to continue the charge for promotion and create a cushion in the race for the play offs after claiming 3 victories in a row.

A huge win on Tuesday against fellow promotion side Chorley have seen the Nash go up to 5th in the league table, sitting a point ahead of King’s Lynn in 8th and the last play off place.

With games in hand to be played in the coming weeks over the sides in the top 9, Craig Mahon’s side know that every game is crucial.

Tuesday’s saw some big results in the race for promotion and play offs, with Scunthorpe, Buxton & Chester all winning, King’s Lynn and Brackley played out a 0-0 draw while Kidderminster and Hereford dropped points, with the Harriers drawing at Leamington and Hereford losing to relegation zone side Rushall Olympic.

Saturday has some more huge games with the stand out game seeing 2nd place Brackley host the in form Buxton who themselves have play off aspirations.

Marine have had a remarkable turn of results within the last month going from rock bottom of the league on the 8th February to now sitting 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

The last 6 games have seen The Mariners gain crucial wins against fellow relegation threatened sides Needham Market, Radcliffe and Southport. A win against middle of the table Spennymoor Town, the surprise win against promotion chasing Kidderminster and a draw at Hereford have been a boost to Marine’s survival hopes.

Head to Head

There has been 8 meetings between the two sides, 7 fixtures and 1 abandoned game due to floodlight failure.

Of the seven results, the Nash have won 5, Marine have won one and there has been one draw.

The first fixture was on the 17th Nov 1990 and Curzon Ashton claimed all three points having won the game 3-2.

This only the second visit to the Tameside Stadium for Marine, the fire coming when they visited on the opening day of the season 2014-15 season – the season the Nash won the Play offs in NPL Prem division.

Curzon Ashton

• Captain Jimmy Spencer has scored 5 goals in the last 3 matches. A brace against Chorley saw him named in ‘the Vanarama National League Team of Midweek’.  
• Curzon have 18 wins from leading positions only bettered by Brackley (21) and Chester and Kidderminster (19)
• Curzon have conceded the least amount of 2nd half goals (12) while also having the joint least amount of 1st half goals conceded with Scunthorpe (11)
• 30 of The Nash’s goals have come from midfielders with only Spennymoor (32) having midfielders score more.
• Curzon have scored the joint least amount of goals from forwards alongside Needham Market (10).

Marine

• Finlay Sinclair-Smith is The Mariners top goalscorer this season with 7 goals. 3 of those goals have been off the bench only bettered by Warrington’s Josh Amis (6), Aidan Rutledge of Spennymoor (4) and Hereford’s Andy Williams (4)
• Marine have scored 33 goals this campaign only worsened by Warrington’s and Farsley Celtic’s (30).
• Only Farsley Celtic (13) have less 2nd half goals than The Mariners (14)
• Marine have gained 5 points from losing positions which is the 4th lowest in the league with only Leamington, Radcliffe and Kidderminster having worse records and failing to win.
• Chris Doyle was named in National League team of the week on the weekend