Shepshed Dynamo travel to The Moat Ground Monday 26th December (Boxing Day) to rekindle an old rivalry as they take on Gresley Rovers in the Pitching in Northern Premier League Midland Division kick off 3pm.

Shepshed will be disappointed last weeks home fixture against Sporting Khalsa was called off but will be looking to continue their current momentum by making it five straight victories and six games unbeaten. A victory and a Harborough Town defeat against Boldmere St Michaels would see Dynamo move up to ninth.

Gresley Rovers themselves haven't played since the 3rd of December. Gresley were promoted to Step Four after finishing runners up in the United Counties Premier Division North last season. Gresley are managed by Carl Abbott more likely known to those from the Leicestershire side of the border for his time at Hinckley and chaired by a Gresley legend Gary Norton who played and managed them through some of their better times. They currently sit eighteenth in the table having played 19, won 4 , drew 4, and lost 11 on sixteen points, scoring 17 and conceding 34. Their current top scorer is Kane Lee on four goals, They have lost four (Corby Town 3-0 away, Daventry Town 3-2 away, Spalding United 2-0 away and their most recent game Hinckley Leicester Road 4-0 away) and drew with Loughborough Dynamo away 0-0.

Thanks to my own archives and the fantastic player and club archive on the Gresley Rovers website I have worked out this will be approximately the 52nd meeting between the two clubs in different names over the years. Gresley themselves are now in their second spell as Rovers after liquidation in 2009 they reformed as Gresley FC and reinstated the Rovers mantle back in 2020. Gresley have won 33 of these, Shepshed 12 and 6 draws. Festive games were always anticipated between the two clubs especially in the 90's and early 2000's but to be fair a majority did get cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. This will be the eighth festive encounter between the two sides and the crowds have ranged between 300 and 500 on those occasions. The fierce rivalry was between the 90's and 2000's and their are too many good and bad memories to mention on behalf of both teams. The first ever meeting between any Shepshed or Gresley side dates back to 26/11/1898 in the Coalville Charity Cup at Shepshed with Gresley winning 8-0. The first competitive game as Dynamo was in the FA Cup 01/10/1998 with Gresley winning 2-1 at The Dovecote. The last time we met in league action was in 2008/2009 in the Unibond League Division 1 South, Shepshed doing a rare double over Rovers 2-0 Boxing Day at The Dovecote in front of 463, Iain Screaton and one of Dynamo's leading goal scorers Shane Benjamin scoring that day and then currently playing for Loughborough Dynamo Rob Norris gave us the points at The Moat Ground in front of 256. The last competitive game played was 19/11/2013 again in the Coalville Charity Cup Rovers also scoring eight that night at the Dovecote winning 8-2 and the last encounter between the two teams was a friendly 11/7/2017 at The Dovecote Stadium which Shepshed won 3-2.

When the rivalry was a more common occurrence Shepshed and Gresley players would swap allegiances more regularly. But going into the Boxing Day fixture only five players are returning to The Moat Ground to play against their former club. Manager Damian Beckford - Quailley was in charge of Gresley during June 2016 and April 2018. Whilst he was their three of our current squad were with him. Matt Melbourne made 84 appearances scoring 24 goals in a red shirt, Reece Morris 85 games and 14 goals and Jordan Wakeling made 30 appearances. Massiah McDonald also played four games between July and August 2021.

Admission to The Moat Ground is £8 for Adults, £5 for over 60's, £2 ubder 16's (£1 if accompanied by a paying Adult) and £2 matchday programme.

A healthy crowd is expected at The Moat Ground as Gresley's lowest home attendance to date is 264.

Finally I would like to wish The Chairman, Directors, Volunteers, Management, Players and supporters of Shepshed Dynamo a Merry Christmas and if you can't make it to The Moat Ground on Boxing Day live updates will be on the clubs official twitter page and the BWA on Tour Facebook page and all the latest scores from around the festive league games will be on Football Webpages and the leagues official website.