THE Glassboys will put their Southern League Premier promotion prospects on the line this Saturday when they host runaway leaders Hemel Hempstead at Amblecote.

Last week’s 5-1 walloping of Arlesey Town has cemented Stourbridge’s place in the play-off positions and now they intend to test their credentials further.

Assistant boss Jon Ford claimed: “Hemel Hempstead are the best side in this division, because the league table says so. But this is a game we’ve been really looking forward to.

“They are expected to bring plenty of travelling support and we hope to have a bumper crowd of our own.”

Hemel are likely to include striker Ben Mackey in their ranks, who spent the latter part of last season with the Glassboys, who have since brought in former Hemel frontman Tom Beswick – so there is plenty of connections between the clubs.

Ford admitted: “We’ve not had a very good record against Hemel in recent times, but there is one similarity – we both score goals.

Ben Billingham was back amongst the goals for the Glassboys at Arlesey with a first half hat-trick.

Leading marksman Sean Geddes grabbed another penalty to his impressive collection this season while Kayeldon Brown bagged the other as the Glassboys rattled home all their goals before half time.

The Glassboys bowed out of the Birmingham Senior Cup this week when losing 2-1 to a West Bromwich Albion Under-21 side.

Ford used the game to give central defender Nathan Bennett a full 90 minutes following his recovery from a virus, while George Washbourne returned to the fray following glandular fever and striker Luke Benbow also featured following his three match ban. Ford claimed: “We never did discover what was wrong with Nathan, it was just one of those things, but it knocked him about quite a bit.”

All three come into the reckoning to face Hemel but Ford added: “Make no mistake, I wanted to beat West Bromwich and I’m really disappointed we got knocked out in front of a crowd well over 500.

“We could have got the likes of Tamworth, Burton Albion, Birmingham City or Nuneaton in the semi-finals, so it’s a blow to miss out on that.”

Billingham was also on the mark against West Brom when netting with a clever flick, but too late to force extra time.

West Brom had taken the lead with a goal from Alex Jones after 13 minutes after capitalising on a mistake by Will Richards.

And it was Jones who struck against with West Brom’s second goal after 76 minutes before Billingham pulled a goal back two minutes from time.

The Glassboys travel to Banbury United next Tuesday.