FOOTBALL fans across north Shropshire and the border can look forward to a weekend of derby action.

On Saturday St Martins make the short trip to local rivals Gobowen Celtic while Morda United host Ellesmere Rangers.

The Saints make the trip desperate for points after last week’s home defeat to relegation rivals Wem Town which left the club in the Salop Leisure Shropshire Premier League relegation dogfight.

A club spokesman said: “We go into Saturday’s derby on the back of a dreadful run and hopeful we can put an end to it and come away with the three points. 

“We travel to Gobowen with only one or two players missing. 

“The lads are desperate to get three points and we know Celtic will be a tough game. They also make sure they show up for this game and we will expect no different this weekend.”

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Gobowen Celtic will go into the game as favourites.

A club spokesman said: "We head into this weekend's derby day in good spirits after a superb win last Saturday at Church Stretton.

"The lads put in probably our best half of football this season to overturn a 2-0 deficit at the break, so we’ll be looking to carry that momentum into the St Martins game.

"Our opponents will be out for revenge after we claimed the points with a comfortable victory at their place, so we know it will be a tough game.

"To record another win, we’ll need to approach the game with the right mentality, as St Martins will be desperate for the points to move them away from the relegation zone."

Meanwhile Morda United will also be looking to bounce back when Ellesmere Rangers visit Weston Pools Park following last week’s defeat to Newport.

Manager Mike O’Reilly said: “We’re looking to bounce back from the defeat against Newport on Saturday. 

“It was high up there as one of our best performances of the season but we lacked the finishing touch to win the game.”

O’Reilly insisted his players would not be underestimating the Swans following their recent revival which has revived their survival bid.

“We know it’s a local derby and Ellesmere have improved a lot recently so it’s going to be a very tricky game,” said O’Reilly. “We should go into confidently on the back of good performances but we really do have to start taking our chances in front of goal.

Morda are without injured forward Karl Bailey for the remainder of the season.

Ellesmere manager Josh Gough said: “It has been a disappointing last couple of results for us. We need to get back to winning ways as soon as possible. It will be a difficult test at the weekend against Morda but one we are hopeful of taking something from."