Spalding Town and Grimsby Town does not rank highly in the list of traditional local rivalries on the Lincolnshire cricket scene.
Infact, Saturday’s trip to Augusta Street (noon) is the longest Rob Ambrose and his out-of-form side will make all season in the Lincs ECB Premier League.
But, from Spalding’s camp at least, there’s no love lost ahead of round eight of the county campaign.
It all stems back to last season, with Town left deeply unhappy by Grimsby’s on-field behaviour in the corresponding fixture as they battled to seal survival.
Although a few of their players have now moved on, Spalding skipper Ambrose is as fired up as he’s ever been for the clash.
He said: “To put it mildly, they’re not the nicest team. There’s certainly a lot of bad blood there from our side.
“A few of the things that went on just weren’t acceptable and I’ve not forgotten about it.
“As far as I’m concerned, we’re going there to get 20 points. I’ll remind the lads of last year and we’ll be gunning for them.
“We’ve not been in the best of form lately, but I’m confident that Saturday will see us get back on track.”
Spalding all-rounder Charlie Kearns has echoed his captain’s view, admitting that he can’t ever remember playing in a more hostile game.
But the 6ft 6in fast bowler is focusing on seeing his side snap their month-long winless streak.
“It wasn’t really cricket,” admitted Kearns, who often performs well against Grimsby. “You usually leave it all on the field, but that wasn’t the case last year.
“I understand that a lot of their more hostile players have left, so hopefully things will be different this time.
“It’s a long way to go not to get a result, so hopefully we’ll find our form again.”
Spalding go into the game without Chris Dring and Nuwan Jayasena, but Ben Smith is expected to step-up from the second team and Luke Whitworth could return.
They are 23 points ahead of Grimsby, who have lost four of their seven games.
