Darlaston Town tomorrow will be begin their home season when they welcome fellow Northern Premier League (NPL) Midlands Division Black Country rivals Lye Town to the Paycare Stadium for an Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round tie.

On the opening day of the season Darlaston beat Rugby Borough 4-0 in the Extra Preliminary Round to set up tomorrow’s game, whereas Lye Town, because of their seventh placed finish last season in the Northern Premier League Midlands Division were exempt from the opening round of this season’s competition.

Last season was Lye’s first at Step 4 for many years, they gained promotion from the Midlands Football League Premier Division through a play off game at the end of the 2022/23 season, where they beat Step 4 side beating St. Neots Town 6-1 to earn promotion.

After a successful first season in the NPL Midlands Division, where they lead the table before Christmas Lye finished seventh after a great season. But unfortunately, their manager Grant Joshua and his management team resigned before the end of last season to take the Coleshill Town job.

Lye Town moved very quickly and appointed Craig Nichols as first team manager with Richard Ball as his assistant and Paul O’Brian as first team coach. Nichols in recent years has been Joint Manager at Halesowen Town before moving to Bromsgrove Sporting as Head Coach. He left Bromsgrove to become First Team Manager at Coleshill early in 2024 before leaving the club after six weeks.

As happens at many clubs in the non-league game when a manager leaves a club so do the majority of players, Lye was no exception, but because Lye moved so quickly to appoint Craig Nicholls and his management team, they were able to assemble a squad prior to pre-season starting. Lye secured the services of goalkeeper Matt Hill, defender Andy Parsons from Sporting Khalsa, along with Ewan Edwards, Elliot Ball, Jamie Ashmore and Kieran Francis just to name a few. They managed to retain the services of Kane Smith and Sam Hall.

Lye’s pre-season campaign was built around playing Step 3 and Step 5 opposition starting against Redditch United, Stratford Town and big local rivals Stourbridge, followed by games against Tividale and Brocton.

First game of the new season produced a 3-1 loss at Redditch on the 3g pitch followed by a second loss away at Stratford Town 2-0 . The first home game of re-season against Stourbridge produced their first win 2-1 against their local rivals. The fixture against Tividale was cancelled leaving their final game of the pre-season campaign which saw Lye win 4-2 at newly promoted Brocton.

Lye started their NPL Midlands Division season last Saturday with a long trip to AFC Rushden & Diamonds, a goal for their hosts mid-way through the second half saw Lye return home empty handed.
The first home league game of the season on Tuesday evening produced a second loss, at the hand of Black Country rivals Sporting Khalsa. Khalsa scored from the spot after two minutes, and the second followed 2-0 minutes later from a free kick, to give Sporting Khalsa an unbeaten start to the season.

Over the years games between Darlaston and Lye Town have always been relatively close and hard fought affairs and tomorrow is expected to be no different, especially with a place in Monday’s draw for the next round of the FA Cup the prize.

Darlaston meanwhile, have had a good week after last Saturday’s loss at Rugby Town, A good win over Wombourne Allstars on Wednesday as well as the return of last season’s top scorer Aaron Bishop and the possibility of another couple of signings before tomorrow’s game Dean Gill and his management team will have a squad with greater depth to select from.

FA Cup days at the Paycare Stadium are always exciting affairs and tomorrow promises no different.

Admission –
Adults £9.00, Concessions £7.00, Children under 14 FREE
Season Tickets Do Not Apply To This Fixture.

Gates and Bar open at 1.00 p.m.
Programme and Team Sheet will be available, and the bar will be serving its usual pre-match hot and cold food.

Kick Off – 3.00 p.m.

Free parking on site

We hope to see a great turn out tomorrow at the Paycare Stadium.