Malcolm Crosby brings his Gateshead side to Boreham Wood on Saturday for the first time ever (kick-off 3pm).

This will be the first return fixture of the campaign. The sides met up in the north east in August when Jamie Lucas gave Wood the lead, only for the Heed's leading scorer, Ryan Bowman, to head home two second half goals to claim the victory.

With 18 games played already this campaign Wood will be looking for just their fifth win of the season to stay out of the drop zone.

The visitors are in their worst run of form to date, picking up just two points from their five October fixtures.

To compound that fact, their FA Cup involvement lasted just 90 minutes as they were dumped out by National League North side Worcester City at the International Stadium last weekend.

That would have disappointed manager Crosby given that during his two years in charge of Sunderland he steered the Black Cats all the way to a Wembley final in 1992. The then Division Two side were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool.

The Heed took the League by storm earlier this season, winning five of their seven August ties before another three victories in six during September preceded a disappointing October showing.

They currently sit 11th in the National League standings, yet are just two points outside the play-offs in what is turning out to be a very open competition, devoid of any runaway championship contenders.

In fact Woking, who have occupied a top five berth already this season, now find themselves in 14th spot yet just five points shy of the top five.

At the other end of the table Wood find themselves in a mini league of their own, one that Luke Garrard remains confident that they can hold their own in.

The Wood boss said: “Gateshead come here on a disappointing run of results. We have the week to prepare after holding off Hornchurch at the end of last Saturday's cup tie, so we will be completely focused on the task of climbing up the table.”