West make the short trip to Cheadle in search of extending their perfect start to the year.

Sam Heathcote will be available for selection, with a ban for his red card kicking in 7 days from the incident – meaning he’ll instead be absent for the trip to Stone Old Alleynians at the weekend – but Chris Rowley will still be picking from a squad depleted by injury. The slender bench for the win over Cammell Laird hinted at the problem, and the management team will be desperate to get players such as Ash Woods and Rhain Davis back on the pitch wearing black and white.

There are plenty of familiar faces in the Cheadle Town ranks, who are sure to get a warm welcome from the traveling support. Marcus Burgess and Ben Steer are perhaps those lining up against West who’ll look strangest playing in different colours, while Neil Chappell started the season at Brookburn Road, and Cavel Coo made a number of appearances under Steve Settle in 2018.

Cheadle Town promise to be a litmus test of West’s new-found form. Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kieron Westwood is a member of the club’s board, and the ownership are ambitious in their vision for the club. A poor start to the season – they earned 1 point from their opening 7 games – was put right by a change in management, with joint team Daniel Meadowcroft and Liam Brownhill overseeing a rise to 9th in the table. Currently on a 4 game winning streak, this will be a very different side to the one that a Brad Cooke-managed West defeated 2-1 at Brookburn Road back in August.