Kirkham and Wesham 1-0 Bootle

With promotion virtually assured and now the Division Two Trophy under their belts, the treble is on for Kirkham and Wesham. A very well-placed header on 72 minutes from Allen gave the Fylde-siders the right to do the bouncy-up-and-down-in-front-of-a-hoarding thing (see above).

Lacking in a great number of clear-cut chances, this 90 minutes of football still made for an enthralling contest between two more-than-half-decent teams. Bootle's gameplan seemed to be to get the ball played up as early-as-possible to their front men - including the tireless Andy Fowler - and poke and probe from there. Against a team other than K&H they would have won this match at a canter, but the Wembley-bound lot are resistant, resilient, relentless and well-organised to the point of annoyance.

It's also worth pointing out that this match was also played in very good spirit - I don't recall seeing one solitary yellow-card being produced (I may be wrong there) - and was certainly a credit to NWCFL Div 2 football. Another thing was Shawe View, home of Trafford FC - one of the better grounds we've been to on our travels and certainly worthy of Unibond League 1 football next season.

All is not lost for Bootle. They have a second (and final) chance of bagging some silverware in the Vodkat League Cup Final against Maine Road next Wednesday. We'll be there for that one and all....

Kirkham & Wesham 8-0 Cheadle Town

Sweet Jesus. Well, I did say we'd either nick a result or get mullered, didn't I?

Cheadle held their own for 24 minutes, whereafter the floodgates obviously opened. And to think that I was cursing the fact that I couldn't attend this one; small mercies and all that....

Match report and pictures will be on here when Polardin and Paul Lynch cough up.

Wednesday's Opponents: Kirkham & Wesham

Back in the middle of August when the 2007-2008 season was only two weeks old, we played a bunch of newcomers to the NWCFL scene. 

This was a club with bold ambitions: a planned rise through the football pyramid, a name change on the cards, a new stadium, an all-white kit "to look like Real Madrid". Cocky buggers. How we laughed when they walked away from Park Road with only a point under their arms after Cheadle fought them all the way in a 3-3 draw.

But who's laughing now? Kirkham & Wesham - or AFC Fylde if you want to go by their new name from next season - have had a season that almost borders on the fictitious. The tilt at promotion from Div 2 you would expect given their resources and ambition; the opportunity to win the Division Two Trophy at the end of the month is a welcome bonus but only that little bit more surprising, perhaps; the opportunity to win the FA Vase at Wembley on May 11th? Truly remarkable stuff. 

Although they appear to be in the box seat for the promotion bit, they'd still argue that there's a lot of work to be done. Despite their 1-2 loss at Chadderton on Monday night they are still only two points behind Oldham Town in 2nd place and still have the "cushion" of four games-in-hand. The only thing that could stop them now is a brush with party-poopers....

...like us. Our away record has been shocking this season - just the one win at Daisy Hill...and even that was fortunate. But you know us - you never know what you're going to get. Our unpredictability is what makes us so frustrating yet so charming at the same time. We'll either nick a result here or get absolutely tommed.

I'm not at this one, so it's down to Polardin and/or Paul Lynch for pics and words of wisdom, which you may not see on here until Thursday morning.

In my absence, come on Cheadle!

Cheadle Town 3-3 Kirkham and Wesham

Cheadle Town had to make do with sharing the points again in this six-goal thriller at Park Road.

After an unremarkable start the game got its first goal after 9 minutes. A lofted shot was sailed over Mellor's head which cracked off the top of the crossbar. The referee decreed that the Cheadle 'keeper had touched it despite Mellor's protests. Sod's Law then kicked in as Kirkham bundled in a goal from the resulting corner kick.

Up until then Cheadle were second to everything and a defeat looked on the cards even at that stage of the match. The Kirkham goal lit a fire under Cheadle's backsides as we suddenly woke up with a few good passages of play and a bit of pressure on the Kirkham defence.

On 23 minutes Cheadle put together a lovely move that fell to Arron Riley who perhaps should have pulled the trigger a little earlier. On 35 minutes Cheadle's pressure paid off with the equaliser. The ball was punted forward and Matty Smith collected Arron Riley's flick-on and slotted home. Half-time, 1-1.

A second half that didn't see many chances fall to either side suddenly burst into insane life on the hour mark. A cross from the right was met by Matty Smith on the left who slid the ball across the face of the net; Barry Cotterill had the easy task of tapping in to give Cheadle a deserved lead. But just as they did on Wednesday evening, Cheadle surrendered their lead within a couple of minutes. A cross from the Kirkham left was met with a header that Mellor could do nothing about.

A minute later and Cheadle were awarded a penalty; MacDonald coolly side-footing home to hand the advantage back to Cheadle.

The madness calmed down after that but the only trouble was that Cheadle, now in the lead, couldn't keep possession. I said to Polardin that "this game had another goal in it yet", and so it proved with just nine minutes remaining when Kirkham successfully converted a penalty.

Kirkham found themselves in a game today, dropping their first league points and conceding their first league goals of the season. To all the other teams out there, you may walk away from Park Road with a result, but by Christ we'll make you work hard for it....

Big blog hellos to Scott Clarke's mum who we know is a regular reader...and who proved to be a wealth of knowledge on all things Cheadle this afternoon and to that Liverpudlian chap who has recently moved to the Cheadle area and brought his son to watch his local football team. Good on you!

Pictures from the day can be seen by clicking here

TEAM: Mellor, Clarke (P Riley), Hussain, Cotterill, A Roberts, Brocklehurst, A Riley, MacDonald, Smith, Myers, Carpenter (Lindon). Subs: B Roberts, Flanagan, P Riley, Lindon

Saturday's Opponents: Kirkham and Wesham

If you've been on a train from Manchester to Blackpool North in your lifetime then the phrase "Kirkham and Wesham" will be familiar to you as one of the stops between Preston and Blackpool North itself. Those who choose to follow their NWCFL teams via the railways instead of the roads now have an excuse to get off at K&H.

Coming into existence in the early 1900s, Kirkham and Wesham spent - until now - all of their lives in the West Lancashire League. The turn of the new millennium brought K&H their most golden of periods. From the 1999-2000 season they have been champions of the West Lancashire League six times; if your maths ain't that good, that's six times out of seven seasons!

They were granted membership of the NWCFL for this season and have made an equally imperious start to their new life. They walloped Darwen 5-0 on the first day of the season and have beaten Holker Old Boys 2-0 - both at their new Kellamergh Stadium ground - thus lending further weight to the claims from "those in the know" that say that K&H will "walk this division" this season.

We'll see about that particular claim as it's early days yet. However, it looks like another awkward fixture for the Cheadle. Tomorrow sees the return of Heathy and Andy Lindon to the squad, so we'll be at full strength...and the return of my partner-in-crime Polardin.

Come on Cheadle!