Former Bradford City assistant manager Bobby Davison will be in charge of Eccleshill United for the first time on Saturday when the Eagles travel to Appleby Frodingham.

It was a major coup for the Plumpton Park outfit when they named the ex-Leeds United striker as their new head coach.

That was late yesterday evening after a final round of negotiations, so Davison will be in the dugout but will not have selected the team for Saturday’s game.

This task falls to director of football Mark Ellis, who has been in temporary charge of team affairs since Ian Banks left the hot seat.

It should be a gentle introduction to the Baris Northern Counties East League Division One for Davison.

Appleby are second from bottom with a goal difference of minus 42, while the Eagles are 16th with an average of just one point per game but improving rapidly with a very young squad of players.

Neighbours Albion Sports are in a much better position in the table and are challenging for promotion but they face a difficult game on the road this weekend.

Kulwinder Sandhu’s side are second but they travel to Pontefract Collieries, who have promotion ambitions of their own in eighth place.

Albion would not reach the summit even with a win as they trail leaders Athersley Recreation by six points but they do have a game in hand.

Silsden will be looking to bounce back from a defeat last weekend which left them in the lower reaches of the North West Counties League Premier Division.

Following a frustrating period of enforced inactivity due to three consecutive postponements, the Cobbydalers went down 3-1 to ten men at Stockport Sports.

Saturday sees them hosting high-flying Bootle and they will most likely be without Andy Lee.

The attacking midfielder had his hand trodden on during the first half of the defeat at Stockport and was driven back to Airedale hospital for treatment.

Bootle will be tough opponents. They are fourth in the table but have played fewer matches than any other club in the division and have six games in hand on leaders Maine Road, who are six points clear.