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At the start of the month, shorn of a left-handed midfield player by Ian Wells’ untimely and lengthy suspension, Northwood recalled Neil Lovell to the Moat Ground fold – months after the players had quit in disappointment at not getting a place.

And with a possible suspension looming for skipper Dean Page, Northwood announced at the weekend that he had repeated the stunt by bringing back another exile, Steve Astley, from Beazer Midlands outfit Ashtree Highfield.

Both Lovell and Astley are quality players and ideal men to bring in when the title chips are down – as they very much are at the moment.

But why should such good operators be prepared to drop everything and return to a side that Northwood had deemed they were not good enough to be part of earlier in the season?

Lovell explained this in a nutshell after resuming his Moat Ground career by playing a vital part in the momentous Derbyshire Senior Cup win over Matlock, one of his former clubs.

“Quite simply, Gresley is the best club I’ve played for,” said the 30-year-old British Gas catering supervisor whose exile had taken him into the HFS Loans League Division One with Sutton Town.

“I couldn’t quite see eye to eye with Frank at the start of the season. I thought I was good enough to be in the side but he didn’t. But he’s the gaffer and I had to accept that. But when he phoned me a few days before the Matlock game and offered me the chance to come back I was only too pleased to accept.

“There’s a great atmosphere at the Moat Ground and confidence is high that we can lift the title this time around.”

Rovers face a vital point in their chase for the Banks’s League’s most elusive prize when they travel to Paget Rangers on Tuesday.

Paget are the only title-chasing side to have beaten Gresley this season and Northwood admitted recently: “It’s important that we turn them over at their place.”