North West Counties League First Division North
Coming into this fixture, Ilkley Town have picked up seven points from their last six games which leaves them currently in 16th place on 24 points.
But Ilkley are unbeaten in the last three games and are looking to extend it to four to put distance between themselves and the relegation zone.
Whereas high-flying Bury are 2nd in the league with 51 points, and are still unbeaten in the league. The Lancastrian team have picked up 15 points from the last six games and are hoping to maintain their title push.
In the reverse fixture at the MPM stadium, the teams played out a six-goal thriller on the opening game of the season where Bury eventually beat the Bah’tatters 2-4.
Goals from Adam McWilliam, Ayomide Ibrahim, Aidan Chippendale, Aidan Chippendale gave the visitors the three points despite goals from Ilkley’s James Hudson and James Hughes.
Players Ilkley need to watch out for ahead of the game against Bury are Tom Greaves who is their current top goal scorer with 13, and also Lewis Gilboy and Benjamin Wharton who are on 11 and 10 goals respectively.
Bury will be hoping for another big crowd on the 8th January when they play Ilkley at Stainton Park as their highest attendance this season so far is 1572 and their average is 1199 after 13 games which is the highest in the league.
Looking ahead to the game, The Bah’tatters currently have nine players out injured including Matt Whitehead, Joe Garside, Tom Fleming and Joshua Bowers. Elliott Scott will also be unavailable due to covid.
However, the good news is that James Nightingale has returned from suspension so will be available for selection.
Josh Parker and Luke Barker are also available to play again after returning from isolation which means out of the 30-man squad, 21 will be available to play against Bury AFC.