Magpies looking to right a wrong from last season against King's Lynn

The Magpies well remember the controversial circumstances which saw them lose 1-0 at home to the Linnets last season.

With the scoreline locked at 0-0 in the 88th minute, Billy Whitehouse’s well-struck shot crashed against the underside of the bar and bounced beyond the line into the sidenetting of the goal – as photographic evidence later showed conclusively.

The Chorley players turned away in celebration but referee Dale Baines unaccountably failed to award the goal.

To add insult to injury, the visitors then went up the other end, with the Magpies still protesting, and hit the winner.

The result was to have a damaging effect on Chorley’s promotion hopes and they eventually finished outside of the play-offs.

King’s Lynn, meanwhile, went on to finish second behind AFC Fylde but lost out in the play-offs.

The Magpies are still searching for their first win of the season after three draws and one defeat – which came last weekend against Warrington Town.

Preece is keen to see marked improvement from the 1-0 loss to the Wire and believes there is no better game than the visit of King’s Lynn.

He told ChorleyFC TV: "We need a better performance, especially the first half (against Warrington).

"We will need to be – we have got King Lynn and we know what happened last time.

"If the lads need motivating for this game then they shouldn’t be here because that was hard to take. We have got an early chance to put that to bed and there were few things said on the pitch that day which I won’t forget and I hope the players won’t."

Elsewhere in the National League North, rock-bottom Southport will look for their first point of the season when they travel to Brackley Town.

In the division above, AFC Fylde travel to Hartlepool.

Meanwhile, Lancaster City boss Mark Fell described his team’s 3-0 success over Macclesfield on Tuesday as the finest of his time in charge.

Simon Grand, Jacob Holland-Wilkinson and Jake Connelly scored the goals the Dolly Blues upset the highly-fancied oufit who had won their opening three games in the NPL Premier Division.

Fell said: “Tactically the players have delivered the best performance in my time here at the club. This is a statement to the rest of the league.”

This weekend the Dolly Blues will look for a further three points when they host Guiseley at Giant Axe.

Meanwhile, Bamber Bridge will look to bounce back from their 3-1 defeat at Marske United in midweek when they head to Radcliffe. Clitheroe head to Nantwich Town in the NPL West Division.

FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round: Cammell Laird 1907 v Burscough, Carlisle City v Garstang, Euxton Villa v Handsworth, Kendal Town v Route One Rovers, Staveley MW v Charnock Richard. NWC Premier Division: Longridge Town v FC Isle of Man.