As the Grove prepares to take on playoff hopefuls Ilkeston Town in a fixture where the home side will hope for a second consecutive victory at the AutoNet insurance stadium, we take a look at this week’s opponents and provide you with five facts that you may not know about the side based in Derbyshire.

- Ilkeston Town was formed on 21st July 2017 after Alan Hardy bought it for an undisclosed fee from its liquidators Smith Cooper after Ilkeston FC unfortunately folded due to the club being £14,438 in debt.

- Mark Clifford who was appointed as manager in July but stepped down from the role this week decided to takeover as owner of the club on 16th October 2019 after he successfully completed a deal with Alan Hardy to buy the club.

- Since being founded The Robins have earned back to back promotions after finishing in second place in the Midland Football League in the 2017/18 season, then last season they did one better when they clinched the Midlands Football League Premier Division title on goal difference.

- After playing 16 games in the BetVictor Northern Premier South East division so far this season they are positioned in sixth position on 26 points; the same amount as fifth-placed Derbyshire rivals Belper Town but the latter have played six games less than Ilkeston.

- The club appointed a new manager in the week after Clifford stepped down as head coach in order to become head of football for Ilkeston. As his replacement, Martin Carruthers has been brought in and Saturday’s game will be his first one as manager of the club.