Runcorn Town win the 2026 Edward Case Cup
Fri 1st May 2026 | The Edward Case Cup | By Jay Cooper
It’s three of the best for Runcorn Town, who added the Edward Case Cup to their 2025/26 trophy hall on Thursday night with a 3-2 victory against First Division North side Darwen FC.
At Euxton Villa’s Jim Fowler Memorial Stadium, with 414 fans in attendance, both teams were aiming to finish their respective seasons with a bang; with Runcorn in particular aiming for a third trophy of the season, to go along with their First Division South league title, and their First Division Champions Cup, which they won by defeating First Division North Champions Nelson 3-1 last Saturday.
After a fairly dull first half with few points of discussion aside from a goal disallowed for Darwen in the dying stages for offside, the game exploded into life in the second half.
Bruno de Almedia Severino broke the deadlock for the Salmoners six minutes after the restart with a fine low finish from the edge of the Runcorn penalty area, but it didn’t take long for Darren Moore and Liam Page’s side to start racing through the gears.
They replied not three minutes later through Edward Burthem, before Connor Spiers latched onto a rebound after a mazy run and strike at goal by Kieran Alley forced a parried save by Darwen ‘keeper Lewis Hood. Within five minutes of going a goal down, Town were 2-1 up.
They did their best to hold off the subsequent Darwen onslaught, but they were caught completely off guard with 15 minutes to play by a seemingly harmless cross-come-shot by Joshua Abbott. It was a delivery that came down with snow on it but still dropped directly into the top corner to tie the game.
Not to be held down, Runcorn again went on the offensive in search of a winner, and they would find it just three minutes after Darwen’s equaliser. A counterattack allowed Spiers to get one-on-one with Hood, and he smartly laid the ball off for substitute Matty Vickers to roll into an empty net from just inside the box.
Despite continued Darwen pressure, Runcorn held on for the rest of the game, including through seven minutes of extra time, to see out the 3-2 win and engrave their name on the trophy.
Following the game, Town joint managers Moore and Page said of the match itself, “it wasn’t our best performance, to be honest. There were a lot of tired legs and some lads carrying a few knocks. Full credit to Darwen, who caused us lots of problems today, but our lads got over the line again – they’ve got that winning mentality, at the minute, but we really had to dig deep towards the end.”
Speaking on their season as a whole – after which they can now call themselves treble winners – they said, “it’s been unbelievable. We started the season with the aim of making the play-offs, and that would’ve been amazing for the club considering where we were last season, but after a great run in the league, we felt like we could’ve turned anybody over.
“We’ve beaten teams in the Cheshire and Liverpool Cups that are two or three leagues above us – we’re a match for anybody on our day. I think the season as a whole has been about gaining momentum in the early stages and just never giving it up. It’s been fantastic.”
Their opposite number, Ken Langford, in temporary charge of Darwen FC, said of the game, “it was exciting for both sets of fans. We’re obviously disappointed. We’ve brought a good crowd tonight - we always do. In the first ten minutes, both teams could’ve scored, and it was scrappy, but once things settled down, I thought we were by far the better team in the first half.”
“I think Runcorn were definitely given a talking to at half time, because they were really trying to get tighter to us after that. To concede from the long throw and allow them to get in behind comes from a bit of sloppy defending from us, but fair play to Runcorn – they took their chances.”
Speaking on his side’s unique second goal, Ken said, “everyone around the ground is going to think it was a cross, but if you watch him in training, Abbo (Joshua Abbott) does that on a weekly basis – we find ourselves saying ‘wow’ every week in training when he manages to pull off something like that.”
In terms of the way the Salmoners’ season as a whole has transpired, Ken, who has been in the dugout for the final 12 matches of the campaign, said, “it’s been a funny one. We’ve done very well against the top half of the league, but we’ve given away some daft points in some games we should be winning.
“But the lads are together, the coaching team have done a great job on the training pitch, and if they keep playing the way that we want them to, I’m sure they’ll come together stronger than ever next year.”
With only the play-off finals and the Macron Cup Final to go in the NWCFL for 2025/26, we’re nearly there.
After Thursday night, it must be said: Congratulations to everyone involved at Runcorn Town!
Runcorn Town win the 2026 Edward Case Cup
Fri 1st May 2026 | The Edward Case Cup
By Jay Cooper
It’s three of the best for Runcorn Town, who added the Edward Case Cup to their 2025/26 trophy hall on Thursday night with a 3-2 victory against First Division North side Darwen FC.
At Euxton Villa’s Jim Fowler Memorial Stadium, with 414 fans in attendance, both teams were aiming to finish their respective seasons with a bang; with Runcorn in particular aiming for a third trophy of the season, to go along with their First Division South league title, and their First Division Champions Cup, which they won by defeating First Division North Champions Nelson 3-1 last Saturday.
After a fairly dull first half with few points of discussion aside from a goal disallowed for Darwen in the dying stages for offside, the game exploded into life in the second half.
Bruno de Almedia Severino broke the deadlock for the Salmoners six minutes after the restart with a fine low finish from the edge of the Runcorn penalty area, but it didn’t take long for Darren Moore and Liam Page’s side to start racing through the gears.
They replied not three minutes later through Edward Burthem, before Connor Spiers latched onto a rebound after a mazy run and strike at goal by Kieran Alley forced a parried save by Darwen ‘keeper Lewis Hood. Within five minutes of going a goal down, Town were 2-1 up.
They did their best to hold off the subsequent Darwen onslaught, but they were caught completely off guard with 15 minutes to play by a seemingly harmless cross-come-shot by Joshua Abbott. It was a delivery that came down with snow on it but still dropped directly into the top corner to tie the game.
Not to be held down, Runcorn again went on the offensive in search of a winner, and they would find it just three minutes after Darwen’s equaliser. A counterattack allowed Spiers to get one-on-one with Hood, and he smartly laid the ball off for substitute Matty Vickers to roll into an empty net from just inside the box.
Despite continued Darwen pressure, Runcorn held on for the rest of the game, including through seven minutes of extra time, to see out the 3-2 win and engrave their name on the trophy.
Following the game, Town joint managers Moore and Page said of the match itself, “it wasn’t our best performance, to be honest. There were a lot of tired legs and some lads carrying a few knocks. Full credit to Darwen, who caused us lots of problems today, but our lads got over the line again – they’ve got that winning mentality, at the minute, but we really had to dig deep towards the end.”
Speaking on their season as a whole – after which they can now call themselves treble winners – they said, “it’s been unbelievable. We started the season with the aim of making the play-offs, and that would’ve been amazing for the club considering where we were last season, but after a great run in the league, we felt like we could’ve turned anybody over.
“We’ve beaten teams in the Cheshire and Liverpool Cups that are two or three leagues above us – we’re a match for anybody on our day. I think the season as a whole has been about gaining momentum in the early stages and just never giving it up. It’s been fantastic.”
Their opposite number, Ken Langford, in temporary charge of Darwen FC, said of the game, “it was exciting for both sets of fans. We’re obviously disappointed. We’ve brought a good crowd tonight - we always do. In the first ten minutes, both teams could’ve scored, and it was scrappy, but once things settled down, I thought we were by far the better team in the first half.”
“I think Runcorn were definitely given a talking to at half time, because they were really trying to get tighter to us after that. To concede from the long throw and allow them to get in behind comes from a bit of sloppy defending from us, but fair play to Runcorn – they took their chances.”
Speaking on his side’s unique second goal, Ken said, “everyone around the ground is going to think it was a cross, but if you watch him in training, Abbo (Joshua Abbott) does that on a weekly basis – we find ourselves saying ‘wow’ every week in training when he manages to pull off something like that.”
In terms of the way the Salmoners’ season as a whole has transpired, Ken, who has been in the dugout for the final 12 matches of the campaign, said, “it’s been a funny one. We’ve done very well against the top half of the league, but we’ve given away some daft points in some games we should be winning.
“But the lads are together, the coaching team have done a great job on the training pitch, and if they keep playing the way that we want them to, I’m sure they’ll come together stronger than ever next year.”
With only the play-off finals and the Macron Cup Final to go in the NWCFL for 2025/26, we’re nearly there.
After Thursday night, it must be said: Congratulations to everyone involved at Runcorn Town!
