Shearsby eyes a shock on his Southam return

The match sees Saints manager Luke Fogarty pitted against Barry Shearsby, who he replaced in the Banbury Road hotseat during the summer.

Shearsby, who led Saints to two third-placed finishes and Birmingham County FA Midweek Floodlit Cup success, says tomorrow is “a big game from a personal point of view, going back to my old club.”

The Stockton boss was encouraged by a hard-fought draw at Triumph last Saturday when goals from Ian McVarish and Tom Cooper turned around a 2-0 half-time deficit.

“They are one of the top Coventry Alliance sides with a nucleus of ex-Midland Combination players, so that was a good result for us,” said Shearsby.

He added: “All the lads are up for tomorrow’s encounter and they are all keen to play. Although we will be missing some players, we have a good bunch who will be looking to cause an upset.”

Saints are in good form, having returned to winning ways last Saturday with a comfortable 3-0 success over Pelsall Villa.

The visitors started brightly and James Stott was called into action in the fifth minute, denying Mark Wooldridge.

The Saints keeper brought off two more smart saves near the end, brilliantly beating out Jason Wright’s header from a corner in the 85th and then stopping another header, this time from Michael Griffiths, 60 seconds later.

In between, Stott had little to do, being well protected by a resolute Southam back four of Jack Taylor, Leigh Phillips, Quentin Townsend and captain John Blunsom.

Visiting captain Andrew Bentley had gone close in the 13th minute, when his shot was deflected over the bar by Graham Reeves and, with five minutes of the first half remaining, he put a free-kick just wide after a foul on Wooldridge by James Hardie.

But, over the course of the game, Saints had much the better of the play and they took a deserved lead in the 32nd minute when a good move involving Phillips, Richard Robinson and Andy Millan ended with Tunde Ajibade getting his first goal for the club.

They doubled their advantage in the 58th minute after Hughes failed to gather Taylor’s inswinging corner from the left and Tim Pole bundled the ball into the net at the far post for his first of the campaign.

Taylor was also involved in the third, sending in a corner from the right for Millan to head home.

Villa should have pulled one back in the 79th minute when Stott was deceived by the bounce of the ball, but substitute Daniel Hall missed an open goal.

“It was nice to get back to winning ways after losing our last two,” said Fogarty. “I thought that we dominated the match and it was good to keep a clean sheet.

“We were strong in defence and Andy Millan and Tunde Ajibade caused a lot of problems for them up front.”

On Tuesday, Saints travel to mid-table Bartley Green in the league (7.45pm).