Knaresborough Town hoping to attract bumper crowd to festive clash with Tadcaster Albion

The Manse Lane outfit responded to consecutive NCEL Premier Division defeats in emphatic style at the weekend as they recorded a 6-2 success away from home.

A derby showdown with the Brewers always draws a significant amount of interest, but Boro are optimistic that this year’s festive showdown will see them break their record attendance figure of 507.

They are hopeful of incentivising local supporters of other clubs to turn out by offering half-price admission to anyone with a 2025/26 Harrogate Town, York City or Leeds United season ticket.

Under-16s can also enter the Myrings Stadium for free on Saturday afternoon, but boss Parkes says there are plenty of other worthy reasons for football fans and members of the community to attend.

“With no Leeds, Harrogate or York City game, we have decided to offer 50 percent off to season-ticket holders at those clubs, but I think that this is the perfect festive fixture for any local,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

“There is a real family-feel at our club. No matter what age you are, everyone who comes through the door can expect an extremely warm welcome.

“It can be a real family occasion, but also an opportunity for the community to come back together during the holiday season on what is forecast to be a decent, dry day.

“For the neutral, I think you can expect to see a good game of football between the two highest-placed local sides beneath the National League because both teams possess some exciting and mobile attacking players.

“For us, it would be great to have some additional support behind us to give us that extra boost as we try to make it back-to-back victories after that excellent result against Bottesford last time out.”

As for the game itself, Parkes is confident that his team can indeed come out on top despite sixth-placed Tadcaster currently sitting five positions and 10 points ahead of them in the table.

“We know that beating Taddy will be no easy task, but this maybe isn’t the worst time to be playing them because of the run of form that they are on,” the Boro boss added.

"But, regardless of that, we believe in ourselves and know that we have every chance of coming away with a result if we are somewhere near our best.

"They have been conceding a few goals of late, and we have certainly shipped more than I am happy with, so unfortunately I am expecting plenty of goalmouth action, however at least that is good news for the neutral.”

Knaresborough’s previous biggest home crowd of 507 turned out to witness a 4-1 FA Cup defeat to Workington in September 2018.

Tadcaster travel to Manse Lane for a 3pm kick-off winless in seven NCEL Premier Division matches, a run which stretches all the way back to November 1.

Last time out, Ryan Qualter and his troops were held to a 1-1 home draw by Frickley Athletic.