Tomorrow's Opponents: Oldham Town

I'm hazarding an intelligent guess that this game will suffer from a frozen pitch as there's snow forecast for Oldham tomorrow, but just in case....

Oldham Town were formed as a works team in 1964 by local contractor George Dew, with the team name referencing this fact: Oldham Dew FC. In the 1982-83 season they became founder members of the NWCFL and changed their name to Oldham Town in 1985.

They have spent their entire NWCFL existence in Division Two, but that hides the true story of two denied promotions at the hands of the dreaded Ground Grading Committee; in 1994-95 they missed out on winning the Div 2 championship on the final day and actually managed to win it in 1997-98. They have been finishing in the bottom half of the table every season since.

That apart, they face our Cheadle in a rich vein of form. They reached the semi-finals of the Div 2 Trophy last weekend and give Div 1's Trafford a good 4-0 leathering in the League Challenge Cup the week before. Add to this a 2-0 home league victory over Runcorn and a 3-1 win away to Div 1's Glossop North End in the Manchester Cup and it's not hard to see why Oldham Town's manager picked up the NWCFL Div 2 'Manager Of the Month' award.

If the match goes ahead, Cheadle must hope that the 'Manager Of The Month' award "curse" strikes. Come on Cheadle!