The NLP’s Non-League Picks for the Weekend

Alex Narey, editor

It sounds bizarre, but I can’t take my eyes off Chesterfield at the moment. Martin Allen was a dead man walking a few weeks back but his side have shown a real resilience and it’s very refreshing to see players fighting for the cause, and for their manager.
Every time I look at their score during a game, they seem to be behind, only to claw it back to snatch a battling point late on. Very late on, in some cases, with their last two results (1-1 at Sutton and 1-1 at home to Wrexham) courtesy of injury-time goals.
They face a tough trip tomorrow to Harrogate but the reports suggest they have been playing well. Simon Weaver’s Town side have been wobbling a little of late after getting off to a great start, so it promises to be an intriguing tussle between two sides who were two divisions apart last season.
 

Jon Couch, news editor

If it’s goals you want then look no further than AFC Fylde v Leyton Orient as the main provider this weekend.
In Fylde’s Danny Rowe and the O’s Macauley Bonne, these two boast two of the hottest strikers in Non-League football right now and this clash of National League promotion hopefuls, fifth versus third, should be a net-buster!
The Coasters, though, also boast the league’s meanest defence, conceding just seven goals from their 18 games thus far, so Justin Edinburgh’s Orient side will need to be at their most ruthless to break them down.
Another intriguing clash at the top sees second-place Wrexham host Gateshead, in seventh, but don’t expect so much of a goal-fest here.
While the Dragons are hardly renouned for sticking the ball in the back of the net, the Heed are stubborn in defence right now, conceding just four games in their last 10 encounters.
There should be precious little between them, but a win for either would deliver a massive statement of intent to their promotion rivals.
 

Matt Badcock, senior writer

They say never go back but when it comes to Ian Culverhouse and King’s Lynn Town perhaps it should be never leave in the first place!
Ahead of last season’s play-off run-in, the 54-year-old announced he was set to leave regardless of whether they won promotion.
As it happened, the Linnets missed out in the play-off final to Slough Town and the two parties went their separate ways.
Culverhouse took over at Grantham Town but resigned last month and has now completed what appeared to be an unlikely comeback.
Lynn fans will hope it can kick-start a season that has faltered so far and sees them enter the weekend in 15^th place in the Southern League Central table.
If Culverhouse can quickly recreate the magic then they will surely start looking up before long.
That starts this weekend with a tough clash at Alvechurch, who have made a good start to life at Step 3 under boss Ian Long. Will it be a reunion to remember?