Albion make the long trek to Teesside tomorrow (Tuesday) evening for our first ever game against Grangetown Boys Club who, like Saturday’s opponents Alnwick, were promoted into the Ebac Northern League by finishing runners-up in a feeder league last season. In Grangetown’s case they finished runners up to Darlington United in the North Riding League to earn the right to compete in the Northern League for the first time.

It’s been a difficult transition so far for the ‘Boysie’ with two draws (against Prudhoe at home on the opening day of the season, & away to Billingham Town) and five defeats in their seven games to date, and they sit one from bottom of the table with just Washington below them. Grangetown have scored just five times this season with Jonathan Squire leading the way with two of those five goals, but last season they were prolific scorers, putting nineteen goals past Great Ayton United alone with 10-1 and 9-1 wins in their two league fixtures as well as hammering Redcar Athletic Reserves 8-0. Hopefully they’ll wait until after Tuesday to click back into scoring mode. Grangetown will be our 64th different Northern League opponents since we joined the league back in 2005/06

If you fancy knocking off a new ground on Tuesday evening, the address of the B & W Lifting Stadium is 19 Grange Farm Rd, Middlesbrough TS6 7HP