Rich Snaith and Sam Outing get a second chance to cast an eye over their prospective hopefuls when an Eastenders Academy squad lines up against Withernsea at Hull Road tomorrow (6.15pm).

Having had just the one game so far – albeit one that both managers said “told them a lot” about the mettle of the youngsters at their disposal – the ‘EzPats’ face a team on a similarly steep learning curve themselves.

The resurrected Seasiders are back in open-age football having failed to field a senior side for last season’s aborted league campaign. They re-enter the East Riding County League in Division 5 and with a squad showing a mix of some familiar faces of old and some of the products of the club’s sizeable youth set-up.

They have played just the one game so far, coming out the wrong side of a 1-2 scoreline against Athletico Hull.

For the locals, although as always with pre-season games results remain secondary to performances and fitness building, Snaith and Outing will not wish for a repeat of the hapless first half showing against Costello ten days ago.

Instead, they will hope to see the same sort of spirit as was on show during the second half of that game, along with an eradicating of some of the basic errors that were prevalent throughout.

Squad-wise, there are several changes from the team that made its collective debut at Patrington. Injury and fitness doubts have ruled out Dan McKinley, Sam Smith and Jake Sowerby, whilst Charlie Clark will travel with the First Team squad to play Middleton Rovers tomorrow.

With Outing also out (opting instead for a watching brief on this one), the replacements come in the form of relatively experienced trio Brad Bowden, Brett Fisk and James Hastings. Meanwhile, the inclusion of Billy Frith and Kai-Taylor Littlewood takes the total number of teenagers in the 16-man squad to ten. Indeed only three players in the squad are above the age of 23!

Elsewhere, Tom Richardson is another addition, having missed out on a run for the Reserves against AAK at the weekend.

All-in-all, it means that by the end of tomorrow’s game, the Reserves and Academy management will have had a good look at all but a few of their likely candidates for inclusion in the opening round of league games on Saturday week.

With just one more friendly apiece for the County League squads to come on Saturday, time is running out to stake a claim for inclusion. Thankfully, the signs from attendance at training (another 20 were present tonight) and the keenness to be involved in every game suggests that the players are fully aware that nothing is guaranteed. 

The referee at Hull Road is Dave Aitcheson-Smith.

Easington: Dan Clarke (GK), Brad Bowden, Liam Constantine, Callum Dean (capt), Brett Fisk, Billy Frith, Connor Gallagher, James Hastings, Zach Hunt, Kai-Taylor Littlewood, Dan Lorimer, Kieran Miller, Tom Richardson, Aidan Snaith, Sam Wardill

* The Eastenders will line-up tomorrow wearing the club's new ‘Hull 4 Heroes’ away strip, designed to replicate the East Riding County League Division 3 title-winning strip worn in 1990/91. Indeed the date of tomorrow’s fixture marks exactly 30 years since the locals began that bittersweet league campaign with defeat at Ward Gilberdyke 2nds. They went down 3-2 that day with one of their goals being scored by Melvin Douglas – the first of the 40 he would bag prior to his tragic death the following March. If any of the crop on show at Withernsea can go on to enjoy half as much success as Mickey Bo Wilson's 'Class of 1990/91' did, it will provide the most fitting legacy possible.