Five Things We Learned 2023/24 - Gameweek 18
Wed 29th November 2023 | | By Jay Cooper
1. Oh my lord, matches!
Like, loads of them! As in only 4 matches from a scheduled 26 that were meant to take place on Saturday were postponed! It's a not-quite-Christmas-yet miracle! Let's dive into the action we saw take place on the 25th of November, shall we? From the Premier Division, props to the likes of Colne and Prestwich Heys, who grabbed 4 and 5 goals in their respective weekend victories. A special shout-out as well to Heys' Greg Daniels, who bagged 4 of his teams’ goals from their win against Litherland REMYCA, before netting a further 2 last night against Cheadle Town.
In the First Division North, all of Atherton LR, South Liverpool and even bottom side AFC Blackpool scored 4 goals each on their way to impressive victories, with extra praise being heaped on Atherton who leapfrogged Euxton Villa into 2nd place with their win. From the South, it was another great weekend for runaway leaders Brocton, who beat Cheadle Heath Nomads 4-0, and struggling Eccleshall fought tooth and nail for a vital 3-2 victory over play-off chasing Market Drayton Town away from home.
2. Tuesday night turnout
We had similar luck in midweek this week with regards to the recently merciless weather - only one match from a scheduled 12 across all competitions involving teams from the NWCFL was postponed yesterday, that being New Mills VS Abbey Hey in the First Division South. The majority of these matches that did happen were rearranged fixtures from the local County Cups, and Tuesday night saw victory for Colne over Wythenshawe in Lancashire, but unfortunate defeats for the likes of Ashton Town, Ashville and Barnoldswick Town in Liverpool, Cheshire and West Riding respectively.
In addition, we saw the postponed Macron Cup 2nd Round match finally take place last night, with First Division North Holker Old Boys playing host to Premier Division Charnock Richard. Goals from Ashley Young (not THAT one) and Jacob Ridings would be enough to see the higher-ranked side progress into Round 3 where they will again be on their travels to Gigg Lane for a face-off with Bury FC.
3. A real fight for top spot
So the old saying goes - it's easy to make it to the top, but it's hard to stay there. To paraphrase, you have to fight for your place when you make it to where everyone else wants to be, and current Premier Division table toppers Wythenshawe seem to be very keen on that mentality from a statistics point of view. From 27 games played in all competitions this season, the Ammies have amassed a total of 58 yellow cards, and 6 sending offs.
If you take more thana cursory glance at the disciplinary tables we have available on the website, however, you will notice that Wythenshawe are top, but don't actually have the most cards to their name as a team in the Prem this season. That distinction goes to Longridge Town, who've picked up just as many reds and 5 more yellows as a collective than Wythenshawe. However, given that Town have also played as many as 3 more games than the Ammies in all competitions this season, Wythenshawe's average of cards per 90 is slightly higher than Longridge's for the season as we finish November. It's all a part of the game.
4. South Liverpool and Droylsden are both on fire
When looking at which teams are on great runs of form in the NWCFL, one might assume that the best place to look would be towards the top of each division, and whilst that logic is sound and does yield some results, especially in the Prem, it's not totally bulletproof. Take, for instance, First Division North side South Liverpool. I made a brief mention of the fact that they won 4-1 at the weekend against Nelson, but, when looking closer, you'll see that this victory was Martin Ryman's side's 6th victory in a row in all competitions - a better run of form than any of their contemporaries in their division.
The same can also be said of First Division South side Droylsden - who would've thought you'd have to scroll down to 13th in the table to find the team with the best run of recent form? Indeed, the team from The Butchers Arms are also on a 6-game winning streak, which is the best any side from the South has to offer, and that run also consists of two separate 5-1 wins against Nelson and Abbey Hey. Quite the purple patch for Dave Pace and his players.
5. A wide and vital audience
If you're not following the NWCFL on X (FKA Twitter (and do give us a follow if you aren't already)), you may well have missed the fact that, earlier this week, the official league twitter account reached a whopping 31,000 followers, which is quite the milestone for a league system in Steps 5 and 6 of the non-league pyramid. It's times where these milestones are hit that we are reminded just how important the fans are at this level - without fan support, the clubs that we follow and read and write about every week couldn't do what they do.
To that end, also on X earlier this week, we made public the home attendance records for all the clubs across our 3 divisions from the 2023/24 season so far, from all competitions. Notably, in the Premier Division, every single one of the 24 teams in the league has seen 1,000 or more people through the turnstiles already this season, and it isn't even December yet. Again, the league and the clubs involved can't thank the supporters enough.
Five Things We Learned 2023/24 - Gameweek 18
Wed 29th November 2023 |
By Jay Cooper
1. Oh my lord, matches!
Like, loads of them! As in only 4 matches from a scheduled 26 that were meant to take place on Saturday were postponed! It's a not-quite-Christmas-yet miracle! Let's dive into the action we saw take place on the 25th of November, shall we? From the Premier Division, props to the likes of Colne and Prestwich Heys, who grabbed 4 and 5 goals in their respective weekend victories. A special shout-out as well to Heys' Greg Daniels, who bagged 4 of his teams’ goals from their win against Litherland REMYCA, before netting a further 2 last night against Cheadle Town.
In the First Division North, all of Atherton LR, South Liverpool and even bottom side AFC Blackpool scored 4 goals each on their way to impressive victories, with extra praise being heaped on Atherton who leapfrogged Euxton Villa into 2nd place with their win. From the South, it was another great weekend for runaway leaders Brocton, who beat Cheadle Heath Nomads 4-0, and struggling Eccleshall fought tooth and nail for a vital 3-2 victory over play-off chasing Market Drayton Town away from home.
2. Tuesday night turnout
We had similar luck in midweek this week with regards to the recently merciless weather - only one match from a scheduled 12 across all competitions involving teams from the NWCFL was postponed yesterday, that being New Mills VS Abbey Hey in the First Division South. The majority of these matches that did happen were rearranged fixtures from the local County Cups, and Tuesday night saw victory for Colne over Wythenshawe in Lancashire, but unfortunate defeats for the likes of Ashton Town, Ashville and Barnoldswick Town in Liverpool, Cheshire and West Riding respectively.
In addition, we saw the postponed Macron Cup 2nd Round match finally take place last night, with First Division North Holker Old Boys playing host to Premier Division Charnock Richard. Goals from Ashley Young (not THAT one) and Jacob Ridings would be enough to see the higher-ranked side progress into Round 3 where they will again be on their travels to Gigg Lane for a face-off with Bury FC.
3. A real fight for top spot
So the old saying goes - it's easy to make it to the top, but it's hard to stay there. To paraphrase, you have to fight for your place when you make it to where everyone else wants to be, and current Premier Division table toppers Wythenshawe seem to be very keen on that mentality from a statistics point of view. From 27 games played in all competitions this season, the Ammies have amassed a total of 58 yellow cards, and 6 sending offs.
If you take more thana cursory glance at the disciplinary tables we have available on the website, however, you will notice that Wythenshawe are top, but don't actually have the most cards to their name as a team in the Prem this season. That distinction goes to Longridge Town, who've picked up just as many reds and 5 more yellows as a collective than Wythenshawe. However, given that Town have also played as many as 3 more games than the Ammies in all competitions this season, Wythenshawe's average of cards per 90 is slightly higher than Longridge's for the season as we finish November. It's all a part of the game.
4. South Liverpool and Droylsden are both on fire
When looking at which teams are on great runs of form in the NWCFL, one might assume that the best place to look would be towards the top of each division, and whilst that logic is sound and does yield some results, especially in the Prem, it's not totally bulletproof. Take, for instance, First Division North side South Liverpool. I made a brief mention of the fact that they won 4-1 at the weekend against Nelson, but, when looking closer, you'll see that this victory was Martin Ryman's side's 6th victory in a row in all competitions - a better run of form than any of their contemporaries in their division.
The same can also be said of First Division South side Droylsden - who would've thought you'd have to scroll down to 13th in the table to find the team with the best run of recent form? Indeed, the team from The Butchers Arms are also on a 6-game winning streak, which is the best any side from the South has to offer, and that run also consists of two separate 5-1 wins against Nelson and Abbey Hey. Quite the purple patch for Dave Pace and his players.
5. A wide and vital audience
If you're not following the NWCFL on X (FKA Twitter (and do give us a follow if you aren't already)), you may well have missed the fact that, earlier this week, the official league twitter account reached a whopping 31,000 followers, which is quite the milestone for a league system in Steps 5 and 6 of the non-league pyramid. It's times where these milestones are hit that we are reminded just how important the fans are at this level - without fan support, the clubs that we follow and read and write about every week couldn't do what they do.
To that end, also on X earlier this week, we made public the home attendance records for all the clubs across our 3 divisions from the 2023/24 season so far, from all competitions. Notably, in the Premier Division, every single one of the 24 teams in the league has seen 1,000 or more people through the turnstiles already this season, and it isn't even December yet. Again, the league and the clubs involved can't thank the supporters enough.
