Lancaster City begin FA Trophy campaign against Morpeth

Lancaster City’s search for a good cup run begins this weekend at fellow Northern Premier League Premier Division side Morpeth Town.

They will take on the team from Northumberland in the third qualifying round of the Isuzu FA Trophy in the hope of reaching the first round proper.

The club have welcomed a new signing to the Giant Axe in the form of goalkeeper Sam Waller, who arrives on a month-long youth loan from EFL Championship side Burnley.

He will provide competition to Tom Donaghy, on loan from Fleetwood Town, while Curtis Anderson is out injured after suffering concussion a couple of weeks ago against Matlock Town.

On the pitch, Lancaster head into this game following a rare midweek off from competitive action – their match against Marske United on Tuesday evening was postponed due to floodlighting issues at the North Yorkshire side’s Mount Pleasant stadium.

The Dollies’ last game was a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Belper Town in which they had several chances to put the game to bed, before the visitors snatched a late equaliser.

Their FA Trophy campaign in the 2021/22 season was rather pleasing – they reached the third round proper for the first time since 2004.They were coincidentally knocked out of the competition by Morpeth Town on penalties last December.

Mark Fell will undoubtedly be hoping that his side can have as good as run as they did last season, if not better.

As for Morpeth Town, whose last result in the Northern Premier League Premier Division was a draw during the week to Bamber Bridge at Craik Park, they managed to get to the fifth round of the competition last year, beating Boston United in the fourth round, but losing 3-2 to York City in the fifth.

Former on-loan Dollies man Sam Fishburn has scored in his last two games for Morpeth so the away side will have to be careful of their ex-player on Saturday afternoon.

The last encounter between these two teams took place on September 27, ending in a 6-3 victory for Morpeth, but it was a scoreline that didn’t reflect the balance of the game.

Morpeth Town v Lancaster City in the Isuzu FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round kicks off at Craik Park on Saturday at 3pm