By Brian Bennett

If you mention the town of Brighouse, a vast majority of people would immediately think of the World famous Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band. Their famous rendition of ‘The Floral Dance’ which dates back to 1977, was a huge hit in the UK record charts – but on Saturday, it’s Ashington who will be hoping to hit all the right notes and play a happy tune.

After clinching promotion in the Inter step play off final against Glossop North End at the end of April, the Colliers are champing at the bit as they make a return to the Northern Premier League when they take on Brighouse Town at Woodhorn Lane on Saturday at (3pm kick-off).

Ashington manager Ian Skinner – delighted with his outfit after a 4-0 triumph against North Shields last weekend in the Emirates FA Cup – said this week: “We’re all looking forward to it. People keep asking me and it’s over 50 years since the club were last in the Northern Premier League so it’ll be nice to start the campaign at home (against Brighouse Town.) We’ll put the FA Cup to one side and we’ll obviously gather as much information as we can on Brighouse. We’ll train twice this week as we prepare for the game knowing that we want to get off to a positive start in our league programme.”