WOMBWELL Town and Dearne and District are separated by five miles on the map and three points in the NCEL Division One promotion race as they prepare for a vital derby tomorrow from 3pm.

Goldthorpe club Dearne, in their first season at this level, are second and three points clear of third-placed Town who have two games in hand.

Both sides are more than ten points behind runaway leaders Horbury Town who are in the only automatic promotion place with the next four going into the play-offs.

Town host the game and will look to complete the double.

Dearne boss Zeph Thomas said: “It’s a massive game.

“I wasn’t manager then but they beat us at our place earlier in the season.

“It’s a derby so there will be a bit of needle.

“It should be a good, entertaining game in front of a big crowd.

“We’re close in the table.

“If they win their game in hand they can go above us.

“It’s really important that we get a positive result.”

Wombwell manager Karl Rose said: “Dearne have been fantastic this year. They are a community club like us.

“It’s great to see them taking the league by storm. It was a great occasion at their ground earlier this season.

“Most people will know each other in the crowd and in the two squads.

“Zeph played for me at Frickley so I know him really well. It will be good to speak to him.

“But, come 3pm, it goes out of the window. We will both give everything we’ve got to get the three points.

“They will want to put daylight between us and, if we can beat them, it puts us second.

“We have to make sure we play like we did against Selby in our last league game.

“Hopefully we get quite a few fans down.

“It being a derby adds some spice but, at the end of the match, we will all shake hands and have a beer.”

Town lost 4-0 at home to higher league Hallam in the FA Vase on Saturday in front of 203 spectators.

Rose said: “It was a great occasion.

“We got a good crowd and it was played in a good spirit.

“The weather spoiled it a little bit.

“We were fantastic against the wind in the first half and got in 1-0 down so we felt in the game.

“We had a shot which hit the bar and the line, we thought it might have gone over but it wasn’t given.

“Then they went down the other end and got a second.

“4-0 looks bad. But it wasn’t one-way dominance.

“But Hallam were ruthless and we have to learn from that because we want to get to their level.

“Our lads never stopped running and we can be proud of the cup run.”

Dearne’s game at home to Wakefield AFC in the league on Saturday was called off due to floodlight failure on 63 minutes with the visitors 2-0 up.

Dearne’s Luke Skelton was sent off then Wakefield scored either side of half-time.

Thomas said: “Unfortunately the floodlights went out and the referee called the game off.

“We all waited about 15 or 20 minutes. There was no power in our normal building so our players went to another building to get showers.

“Then everything came back on.

“But the referee had already called it off and said the game couldn’t go ahead.

“I know Wakefield are upset. It will go to the league and we’ll see what they say.”

Dearne are thrilled to be competing for promotion in their first season at this level, after coming up from the Central Midlands League.

Thomas said: “We’ve had a great start but it’s just a start.

“This is the crunchtime of the season over Christmas and we need to pick up points.

“We will just try to finish as high as we can.

“Hopefully we can get in the play-offs which would be amazing at our first season at this level.

“I don’t think anyone is going to catch Horbury.

“I can’t see them losing that many games to let anyone catch them.”