WORCESTER City’s first opponents in the Midland Football League Premier Division are Heanor Town, writes John Dolan.

This will be Worcester’s first league game since dropping down three divisions so Heanor will be unfamiliar opposition for the Blue and Whites.

Heanor, known as the Lions, lost their opening game of the season at home to lower-ranked Aylestone Park, a 1-0 defeat last Friday in the FA Cup extra preliminary round.

They tend to reside in the top half of the table, having done so every season since 2013, and have finished sixth consecutively for the last three seasons.

Worcester are going to be aiming for that top-six region and would like to be even higher come May.

Against top-six opposition last season Heanor only won four of their 10 games so City can take confidence from this as they host the Derbyshire side.

Heanor have previously been crowned East Midlands Counties League champions in 2012.

Their player of the season last year Shaun Roulston captained the side in their defeat last weekend and the defender may be one to watch on Saturday at Bromsgrove's Victoria Ground (3pm).

Heanor boasted the fifth highest average attendance in the league last season, averaging 128 fans at games.

In comparison Worcester averaged 636 fans in attendance during 2016-17 so the Heanor players may have to adjust to playing in front of slightly higher crowds than they are used to.

This is understandable as Worcester’s population of around 100,000 dwarves the 20,000 living in Heanor which makes it smaller than Evesham.

City, who ground-share with Bromsgrove Sporting, certainly are a big fish in a small pond and they’ll need to prove that on the pitch this season.