Title rivals face showdown as Louth Town head for Crowle Colts

And the White Wolves will be still be stinging after having two men sent off and then losing in the dying minutes of extra time in their 2-1 County Junior Cup quarter-final at Moulton Harrow on Saturday.

In a tight table, Lincoln Moorlands Railway's 5-1 win over Nunsthorpe Tavern on Saturday put them back top, but Louth are only three points behind with three games in hand and Crowle are third, six points behind Louth with two games in hand on the White Wolves.

Louth boss Carl Martin said: “It is a huge match for us as I am led to believe there is only us and Crowle that have applied for promotion from this league next season.

“They are right up there and if they win their games in hand they will be on the same points as us.

“It is probably our biggest game of the season to be honest.

“Lincoln picked up another three points on Saturday and went top, but it's down to us and what we do now. It is in our hands.

“Hopefully we will get a reaction from the boys from last weekend's cup exit.

“I watched Crowle away last Saturday when we were postponed and they were the only game on in the league.

“They are a strong side who play good football and are third for a reason. They are picking up some good results.

“We know anyone can beat anyone in his league. It will be a tough game there. But the form we are in and the firepower we have, if we turn up on the day and play as we can, we can beat anybody in this league.

“We will have two suspended and two or three missing who have picked up injuries – it's that time of the season. But it gives other lads a chance and we have a lot of depth in quality in our squad and it won't make much difference to our strength with the lads coming in.”

At Peterborough League side Moulton, visiting Louth made a great start on Saturday.

Jordan Smith regained the ball in midfield and set away Bailey Wright to give them a ninth minute lead.

But Moulton levelled at the near post on 65 minutes to force extra-time.

With time running out near the end, Alex Carter was sent off for a second bookable offence and when Niall Johnson argued the decision with the referee, he was also dismissed before Moulton snatched it with a scrappy last minute winner.

Martin said: “To lose in the last two minutes of extra time and go down to nine men, it was a bitter pill to swallow for us. They did us with a late sucker punch.

“But the game should be been dead and buried in the first half when we had enough chances to win two games.”