THACKLEY have not been short of goals this season and one of their many talented forwards could take centre stage tonight at Liversedge.

Jack Normanton, who has come in from Brighouse Town, has had a topsy-turvy season. He began like a house on fire, then hit a rocky patch and found himself out of the team, while young Asa Mitchell continued banging in the goals.

But Normanton has responded well to adversity, and has been the leading light up front over the last few weeks, with three goals in seven games.

His manager Pat McGuire is delighted to see him bounce back, saying: "Jack came in last season and tore the league to pieces. He was even called back to Brighouse for their promotion push.

"We got him back for the start of this year. That was our number one focus in summer as we felt we could build from there.

"He started off great (this season) but tailed off, and I'm sure he wasn't doing this consciously but he took his foot off the gas.

"He struggled for form and found himself out of the team. But we had a few good chats, to try and get him back towards showing no respect towards opposition defences and to not overplay, and now he's scoring again."

McGuire, whose side are aiming to bounce back from a 2-0 derby defeat at home to Eccleshill, added: "Teams were playing deeper because of Jack's pace but now we have players that can play in between midfield and attack, like Albert Ibrahimi and Ben Grech-Brooksbank and it gives us another dimension.

"We can go high, or play in front of the opposition, whatever works on that occasion. It means we have an answer for whatever the opposition have and it's frightening when we get it right."

Tonight's opponents Sedge are getting it right more often than not this season themselves, despite struggling badly last term, and they annihilated Handsworth 10-1 on Saturday to go joint top of the table.

McGuire is not surprised by their turnaround, saying: "They've got the resources and they've recruited well. They've brought in players who have experience of this league and above and who are used to winning.

"Sedge are a real handful and anyone who takes points off them this season will have done well."

Asked what Thackley really have to watch out for tonight, McGuire said; "We have to learn to deal with their front men of Joe Walton, Oliver Fearon and Emile Sinclair.

"Their forward line is very good so we've got to learn to combat that while playing with our own style.

"But I've always said to the lads that no one can hurt us when we have the ball. But the pitches are a bit like cow fields at the moment, so we can't always play the nice stuff that we like.

"We'll maybe have to be more direct while the weather is like this."