Liam Atkinson receives his Player of the Month Award
Thu 15th January 2026 | League Awards | By Martin Fallon
Liam Atkinson of Longridge Town was recently presented with his Premier Division Player of the Month award for November 2025. Assistant League Secretary Debbie Jessop took a trip to Longridge recently, and she is pictured presenting Liam with his award prior to the game.
This is the second time that Liam has won this award with other coming back in October 2024, that also being the last time that a Longridge player had won it.
Liam joined Longridge Town at the start of last season having been playing Sunday football previously. He was spotted by Manager Lee Ashcroft when Longridge hosted a Blackburn Sunday League Cup Semi Final, with Liam standing out. Ashcroft took the gamble and it paid off with Liam going on to score 24 goals in the 39 games that he played.
This season saw Liam score 15 goals by the end of September, buta bad injury kept him out of the team until the start of November when he was ready to begin his comeback. Player welfare is such an important aspect of football at every level these day, and Liam has struggled when unable to play with Longridge managing his comeback carefully, conscious of the heavy surfaces that naturally occur at this time of the year and the busy fixture schedule that comes with the FA putting 24 clubs in our Premier Division.
Liam has managed to train sporadically, but has saved his energy to good effect and he has certainly let his performances do the talking.
November saw other players at other clubs play more games and score more goals than Liam, and indeed this was possibly one of the closest months to decide with several players at around four clubs being strong contenders for this award. However in the four games that Liam played, he picked up Man of the Match in three of those games, more than any other player in the division. And of the ten goals that Longridge Town scored, Liam was directly involved in seven of them with four goals and three assists.
The opening game of the month was his first game since September away at Atherton LR. Liam had a couple of good opportunities to open the scoring but saw his efforts saved, with the home side finishing the first half strongly to open up a two goal lead. That soon became three, but Liam kept pressuring and pulled one back with three minutes to go as he raced clear and slotted past the keeper. Then in stoppage time, he crossed for Ben Trafford to head home their second of the game, although minutes later the whistle went with LR winning 3-2. Liam picked up Man of the Match for his performance here.
Next up was Euxton Villa at home, with Euxton taking an early lead. Enter Liam. On 40 minutes he found himself in the box before setting up Jack Anderton to level. On the hour, he glanced in a header from an Anderton corner to make it 2-1, before Euxton quickly levelled again. On 68 minutes, Liam showed his predatory instincts as he sidefooted home his second and Longridge's third after Ryan McLean's effort was saved. Again Euxton levelled, but just when it looked like a draw was on the cards, a McLean cross was headed in by Liam for his hat-trick as he gave Longridge a 4-3 win. This saw him win another Man of the Match.
The third game was away at Barnoldwick Town with Storm Claudia hammering the North West. Liam started this game as he ended the last, as he got clear after just three minutes to force a fine save with Luke Smith sweeping in the loose ball. Longridge went on to add a second with Barlick pulling one back before the weather got too much with the game abandoned.
The final game for Liam was at Stockport Town in a 2-1 for his side that put them 10th in the league table. Whilst not direcly involved in either goal, his tireless running and ability to hold up the ball and set up teammates for chances brought him a third Man of the Match of the month.
Liam played four games in total, scoring four goals and getting two assists as well as picking up Man of the Match in all three completed Longridge games he played in.
Congratulations on a fine month Liam!
Liam Atkinson receives his Player of the Month Award
Thu 15th January 2026 | League Awards
By Martin Fallon
Liam Atkinson of Longridge Town was recently presented with his Premier Division Player of the Month award for November 2025. Assistant League Secretary Debbie Jessop took a trip to Longridge recently, and she is pictured presenting Liam with his award prior to the game.
This is the second time that Liam has won this award with other coming back in October 2024, that also being the last time that a Longridge player had won it.
Liam joined Longridge Town at the start of last season having been playing Sunday football previously. He was spotted by Manager Lee Ashcroft when Longridge hosted a Blackburn Sunday League Cup Semi Final, with Liam standing out. Ashcroft took the gamble and it paid off with Liam going on to score 24 goals in the 39 games that he played.
This season saw Liam score 15 goals by the end of September, buta bad injury kept him out of the team until the start of November when he was ready to begin his comeback. Player welfare is such an important aspect of football at every level these day, and Liam has struggled when unable to play with Longridge managing his comeback carefully, conscious of the heavy surfaces that naturally occur at this time of the year and the busy fixture schedule that comes with the FA putting 24 clubs in our Premier Division.
Liam has managed to train sporadically, but has saved his energy to good effect and he has certainly let his performances do the talking.
November saw other players at other clubs play more games and score more goals than Liam, and indeed this was possibly one of the closest months to decide with several players at around four clubs being strong contenders for this award. However in the four games that Liam played, he picked up Man of the Match in three of those games, more than any other player in the division. And of the ten goals that Longridge Town scored, Liam was directly involved in seven of them with four goals and three assists.
The opening game of the month was his first game since September away at Atherton LR. Liam had a couple of good opportunities to open the scoring but saw his efforts saved, with the home side finishing the first half strongly to open up a two goal lead. That soon became three, but Liam kept pressuring and pulled one back with three minutes to go as he raced clear and slotted past the keeper. Then in stoppage time, he crossed for Ben Trafford to head home their second of the game, although minutes later the whistle went with LR winning 3-2. Liam picked up Man of the Match for his performance here.
Next up was Euxton Villa at home, with Euxton taking an early lead. Enter Liam. On 40 minutes he found himself in the box before setting up Jack Anderton to level. On the hour, he glanced in a header from an Anderton corner to make it 2-1, before Euxton quickly levelled again. On 68 minutes, Liam showed his predatory instincts as he sidefooted home his second and Longridge's third after Ryan McLean's effort was saved. Again Euxton levelled, but just when it looked like a draw was on the cards, a McLean cross was headed in by Liam for his hat-trick as he gave Longridge a 4-3 win. This saw him win another Man of the Match.
The third game was away at Barnoldwick Town with Storm Claudia hammering the North West. Liam started this game as he ended the last, as he got clear after just three minutes to force a fine save with Luke Smith sweeping in the loose ball. Longridge went on to add a second with Barlick pulling one back before the weather got too much with the game abandoned.
The final game for Liam was at Stockport Town in a 2-1 for his side that put them 10th in the league table. Whilst not direcly involved in either goal, his tireless running and ability to hold up the ball and set up teammates for chances brought him a third Man of the Match of the month.
Liam played four games in total, scoring four goals and getting two assists as well as picking up Man of the Match in all three completed Longridge games he played in.
Congratulations on a fine month Liam!
