Diss Town and Harleston Town ready to battle it out in the Norfolk Senior Cup third round

Diss Town have been largely profligate in front of goal in recent weeks, but manager Jason Cook is hoping that their fortunes change in time for tomorrow’s Norfolk Senior Cup third round tie at neighbouring Harleston Town (1.30pm).

Aside from finding the back of the net on five occasions at Wisbech St Mary on October 20, goals have been few and far between for Cook’s men.

Indeed, in the five matches either side of that outing in Cambridgeshire, the Tangerines have breached the opposition’s net just twice.

Cook is in the market for a new striker, but whether one is recruited to lead the attack against their rivals remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, he is trusting that if his team continues to create the same amount of chances as they have in recent weeks, things will eventually change.

“We have dominated games for long spells recently but we cannot finish the job off,” said Cook, who saw Diss defeated by Harleston 1-0 at Brewers Green Lane in the First Division North five weeks ago.

“We have taken the lead and created chances to make the game safe, but we do not take them and then get punished.

“We need a striker to give us that boost, but the big plus is we are creating the chances.

“There are no plans to change our approach against Harleston. We will not set up defensively and will look to attack from the start.

“Recent results have left us scratching our heads because they should have been so different. We just need to take our chances, and hopefully we start doing that on Saturday.”

Kieran Hagan (Great Yarmouth Town), Jake Colclough (Mildenhall) and Lewis Bell (Leiston) have all joined the club and could feature, but the returning Jake Tipple is cup tied.

Meanwhile, Harleston head into the encounter on the back of suffering their first defeat since the opening day of the season.

Swaffham Town were their conquerors first up and it was the Pedlars who got the better of them again at the weekend, bringing an end to a 17-game unbeaten run, 16 of which were victories.

Harleston last lost back-to-back games in October 2015 and manager Adam Gusterson is confident his players will be re-focused enough to ensure that record does not come to an end.

“We never really got into it at Swaffham. They are a good side with some real attacking threats and it was a case of them being better than us on the day,” he said.

“But we can take heart from the fact that the last time they beat us we went on a great run.

“This Saturday is such a big game locally and it is important we do not let one result ruin the momentum we have built.

“Coming off the back of a defeat, it is a great chance to get things going again with another win in a big derby game.

“Our reaction to setbacks is usually good and we recover well, so I see no reason why the weekend will be any different.”

Midfielder Sam Borrer and playmaker Scott Roberts are set to return to the Harleston squad, having missed the defeat at Swaffham.

* Follow @liamapicella on Twitter for live updates of Saturday's derby from 1pm.