Third time's the charm for FC Isle of Man?

Ravens host Barnoldswick Town this weekend after back-to-back home losses

After back-to-back home defeats, FC Isle of Man will be hoping third time's the charm to get back to winning ways when they host Barnoldswick Town at The Bowl tomorrow evening in the NWCFL Premier Division (9 December).

Just one point separates both teams going into the contest with FC Isle of Man ninth in the table and eight points outside the promotion play-off spots.

Ravens' boss Paul Jones admits their recent losses to Cheadle Town and Squires Gate were missed opportunities to get points on the board.

However, he maintains if everything comes together in the right way, his side is a match for anyone in this league:

There's little to separate the sides ahead of the meeting with the Manx side on 33 points after 23 games and 'Barlick' on 32 with the teams occupying ninth and tenth in the division respectively - Barnoldswick Town have played three games less in the league so far.

The clashes between the two last season saw an entertaining 3-3 draw played out under the floodlights at The Bowl on 3 September, 2022 before the Ravens held out for a 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture at the Silentnight Stadium on 3 December last year.

This time around, for the hosts, the consecutive defeats on home turf in the last fortnight has been the first time the Island outfit have lost back-to-back games since early September.

Whilst they maintain one of the stronger defensive records in the division so far, goals have dried up in recent games at the other end for Paul Jones' side as they've only managed to net three strikes in their last four outings.

What's more, Barnoldswick Town have proven a tough nut to crack to this point in the league- they've only lost four times so far - the joint-second fewest defeats out of all 24 teams.

In an attacking sense, the Lancashire-based club have only failed to score once in their last ten in all competitions and netting 32 times in that period.

FC Isle of Man vs Barnoldswick Town takes place at The Bowl this Saturday, 9 December, kicking-off at 6pm.

Manx Radio will be providing full live match commentary on our DAB and AM1368 Channels.

FC Isle of Man team news

There are two changes to the Ravens squad which suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of Squires Gate last weekend.

Phil Kelly and Dean Leece make way as there's returns for both Sean Doyle and Charlie Higgins.

FC Isle of Man squad vs Barnoldswick Town

Ben Wilkinson (GK), Jamie Corlett, Jacob Crook, Sean Doyle, Tiernan Garvey, Danny Gerrard, Charlie Higgins, Frank Jones, Alex Maitland, Dean Pinnington, Eoghain Sherrard, Callum Sherry, Dan Simpson, Kyle Watson, Michael Williams, Ste Whitley