Five Things We Learned 2026/27: Week 9
Thu 1st October 2026 | Five Things | By Jay Cooper
We’re back for another week, and another series of matches from the NWCFL. Let's run through the best and worst of what the last week has had to offer.
1. Macron Cup the main focus
This past weekend saw no league games of any kind take place, which is astonishingly rare in the NWCFL. Instead, teams from all three divisions competed against one another in the First Round proper of the league’s premier cup competition, the Macron Cup.
Highlights included Alsager Town, Telford Town, Wednesfield Community and Wolverhampton Casuals all winning after nail-biting penalty shootouts; a battle of the First Division South newcomers Crewe and Brereton Social that finished 6-0 to the former on home soil; and the late kick-off between FC Isle of Man, of the Premier Division, and Widnes Town, from the South, finishing the same way as Crewe/Brereton.
2. Trafford dreaming of Wembley
We’re going back slightly longer than a week to discuss this next point, but Trafford, of the Premier Division, absolutely merit some praise for the result they managed a week ago on Saturday in the Emirates FA Cup. Only they and South Liverpool were left in the competition at the time of this 2nd Qualifying Round – pressure? What pressure?
Going up against Heaton Stannington, of the Northern Premier League, and doing so away from home in Newcastle upon Tyne, no less, Tom Baker’s team strode into the third qualifying round with a 2-1 win thanks to goals by Kyle Worsley and Brad Byrne. Due to South’s exit at the hands of Warrington Town, Trafford are the last NWCFL side in the competition. They will face Atherton Collieries this coming Saturday, knowing just two more wins will see them in the First Round proper.
3. Repeat of last season’s North in the Prem?
To look at the top of the NWCFL Premier Division table right now is to experience déjà vu for anyone who kept themselves up to date with the progress of the promotion race in the First Division North last season. Nelson, who were eventual champions, are currently second, and Droylsden, the runners-up who won the play-offs, are sitting pretty at the top.
Credit where it’s due, the Bloods look like would-be champions right now. They’ve lost just once in the league this season – the only team to hold such a distinction – and have also only dropped points on one other occasion so far in 2026/27. Nelson are a mere point behind, having won seven of their nine league games thus far. These two sides were the ones who broke away from a very crowded title chase in the North last season – might they both do it again?
4. Home is where the points are for the top two in the North
Woe betides any team that must travel to either the DT Hughes Community Stadium, or the OWS Engineering Stadium anytime soon – no pressure, Colne or Garstang. Maghull, currently top of the tree in the First Division North, and Cammell Laird 1907, breathing down their necks in second, have both played six home league games this season, and haver earned maximum points in each and every one of them.
The only other team in the entire NWCFL who can say the same about their home record at this stage is AFC Bridgnorth, in the First Division South. It was a badge of honour for them that they had also made an entirely unbeaten start to life in the First Division South this season, until…
5. AFC Bridgnorth finally beaten
Granted, this entry also comes from a result that happened almost two weeks ago now, but I was on holiday, and it’s absolutely still worth mentioning here. AFC Bridgnorth settled into their debut campaign in the NWCFL at record speed in the South, going unbeaten in their first seven league games. Game number eight came on the 19th of September.
Facing off against fellow new boys Brereton Social at their opponents’ Red Lion Ground, Bridgnorth were finally undone in the NWCFL for the first time in a 1-0 defeat to the side currently sitting 14th in the table. Incredibly, this was Brereton’s first home win of the season – what a time to get it!
Five Things We Learned 2026/27: Week 9
Thu 1st October 2026 | Five Things
By Jay Cooper
We’re back for another week, and another series of matches from the NWCFL. Let's run through the best and worst of what the last week has had to offer.
1. Macron Cup the main focus
This past weekend saw no league games of any kind take place, which is astonishingly rare in the NWCFL. Instead, teams from all three divisions competed against one another in the First Round proper of the league’s premier cup competition, the Macron Cup.
Highlights included Alsager Town, Telford Town, Wednesfield Community and Wolverhampton Casuals all winning after nail-biting penalty shootouts; a battle of the First Division South newcomers Crewe and Brereton Social that finished 6-0 to the former on home soil; and the late kick-off between FC Isle of Man, of the Premier Division, and Widnes Town, from the South, finishing the same way as Crewe/Brereton.
2. Trafford dreaming of Wembley
We’re going back slightly longer than a week to discuss this next point, but Trafford, of the Premier Division, absolutely merit some praise for the result they managed a week ago on Saturday in the Emirates FA Cup. Only they and South Liverpool were left in the competition at the time of this 2nd Qualifying Round – pressure? What pressure?
Going up against Heaton Stannington, of the Northern Premier League, and doing so away from home in Newcastle upon Tyne, no less, Tom Baker’s team strode into the third qualifying round with a 2-1 win thanks to goals by Kyle Worsley and Brad Byrne. Due to South’s exit at the hands of Warrington Town, Trafford are the last NWCFL side in the competition. They will face Atherton Collieries this coming Saturday, knowing just two more wins will see them in the First Round proper.
3. Repeat of last season’s North in the Prem?
To look at the top of the NWCFL Premier Division table right now is to experience déjà vu for anyone who kept themselves up to date with the progress of the promotion race in the First Division North last season. Nelson, who were eventual champions, are currently second, and Droylsden, the runners-up who won the play-offs, are sitting pretty at the top.
Credit where it’s due, the Bloods look like would-be champions right now. They’ve lost just once in the league this season – the only team to hold such a distinction – and have also only dropped points on one other occasion so far in 2026/27. Nelson are a mere point behind, having won seven of their nine league games thus far. These two sides were the ones who broke away from a very crowded title chase in the North last season – might they both do it again?
4. Home is where the points are for the top two in the North
Woe betides any team that must travel to either the DT Hughes Community Stadium, or the OWS Engineering Stadium anytime soon – no pressure, Colne or Garstang. Maghull, currently top of the tree in the First Division North, and Cammell Laird 1907, breathing down their necks in second, have both played six home league games this season, and haver earned maximum points in each and every one of them.
The only other team in the entire NWCFL who can say the same about their home record at this stage is AFC Bridgnorth, in the First Division South. It was a badge of honour for them that they had also made an entirely unbeaten start to life in the First Division South this season, until…
5. AFC Bridgnorth finally beaten
Granted, this entry also comes from a result that happened almost two weeks ago now, but I was on holiday, and it’s absolutely still worth mentioning here. AFC Bridgnorth settled into their debut campaign in the NWCFL at record speed in the South, going unbeaten in their first seven league games. Game number eight came on the 19th of September.
Facing off against fellow new boys Brereton Social at their opponents’ Red Lion Ground, Bridgnorth were finally undone in the NWCFL for the first time in a 1-0 defeat to the side currently sitting 14th in the table. Incredibly, this was Brereton’s first home win of the season – what a time to get it!
