Harrogate Town look to extend their four-game unbeaten run on Saturday when they return to action in League Two, hosting Scunthorpe United at The EnviroVent Stadium.
On the other hand, the visitors shall be trying to put a stop to their poor run of form, having failed to win a match in their last six attempts across all competitions.
Match preview
© Reuters
Harrogate Town were in action on Tuesday night in the EFL Trophy and they dominated the game against Newcastle's Under-21s team, winning 2-0 with goals from Lloyd Kelly and Danilo Orsi-Dadomo.
It continued the strong form that the club have been in as of late, with this now being four matches in a row without a defeat for Simon Weaver's men.
The Sulphurites have drawn twice in that period against Crawley Town and Stevenage, but in their most recent league outing they picked up three points.
Goals from Jack Diamond and Luke Armstrong proved to be too much for Oldham Atheltic to deal with as they won the game 2-1, which was needed after four performances without a win.
However, Harrogate have been impressive so far this campaign, having only lost one league fixture, and they are certainly in the hunt for promotion as it stands.
Sitting in second place, the club have put themselves in a strong position heading into a busy period of the season, and they will be keen to continue putting the pressure on Forest Green who are four points ahead of them.
The same cannot be said for Scunthorpe, who are currently having a torrid time in League Two, with just one victory to their name in the opening 10 matches.
After narrowly avoiding the drop last season by just three points, the club do not want to be in a similar situation again at the end of this campaign.
However, Neil Cox's team have not won a game since the end of August when they defeated Tranmere Rovers 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Myles Hippolyte.
Since that point, there has been just one draw, with the other five matches ending in defeat, as Scunthorpe only managed a single goal during those losses.
Ryan Loft was the man who scored that in their most recent performance on Tuesday night when Rotherham United ran away with a 4-1 win in the EFL Trophy, adding more misery to the situation.
The Iron have not let their close competitors gain too much distance on them in the league table, though, which is down to the four draws they have managed, proving that they are fighting for every single point available.
Scunthorpe may also take confidence from the fact that they won both of their matches against Harrogate last season, despite their struggles, and a victory on Saturday could see them climb out of the relegation zone.
- W
- D
- L
- D
- D
- W
- D
- L
- D
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- L
- D
- L
- L
- L
- L
- D
- L
- L
- L
Team News
Harrogate will continue to be without experienced defender Rory McArdle as he is unavailable due to a groin injury that he suffered against Stevenage.
Changes will be made from the team that played midweek as Weaver took the opportunity to rest several players and give opportunities to some youth.
Loft started a game for the first time in over a month against Rotherham and he rewarded his boss with a goal, which could have been enough to keep his place in the Scunthorpe team for this weekend.
Both Harry Davis and Harry Bunn made their returns from injury in the most recent league outing for the Iron, and they will both be options once again on Saturday.
Harrogate Town possible starting lineup:
Oxley; Fallowfield, Smith, Hall, Burrell; Diamond, Pattison, Falkingham, Thomson; Muldoon, Armstrong
Scunthorpe United possible starting lineup:
Watson; Davis, Onariase, Taft; O'Malley, Beestin, Hackney, Perry, Millen; Loft, Scrimshaw
We say: Harrogate Town 2-0 Scunthorpe United
Harrogate Town have been dominant so far this season and playing against bottom of the league is a fixture they will not want to slip up in.
With Scunthorpe struggling for goals as of late and finding victories hard to come by, this should be a routine win for the hosts.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Harrogate Town win with a probability of 58.37%. A draw had a probability of 23.6% and a win for Scunthorpe United had a probability of 18.02%.
The most likely scoreline for a Harrogate Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.3%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.46%) and 2-1 (9.61%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.15%), while for a Scunthorpe United win it was 0-1 (6.47%). The actual scoreline of 6-1 was predicted with a 0.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Harrogate Town would win this match.
