NWCSL : The Final Week

Wrexham relegated by 1 point!!!

When you think about 1 point in a 7-month season, in which every club has a maximum of 400 points available over 20 team matches, it’s the tiniest of amounts. One point is just one more game won by somebody throughout the entire season. A 3-1 loss, instead of a 3-0; just one 13-11 game that could have gone the other way; maybe a ‘stroke’ was given instead of a ‘let’ on game ball; or a winning shot at game ball up which agonisingly clipped the tin – this really has come down to the most gut-wrenching of fine margins.

For their last game of the season, Wrexham had an amazing 5-0 win against mid-table Bowdon, but it simply wasn’t quite enough. Owain Taylor and Rhys Evans have led their team so valiantly this season, and last night was no exception as they both claimed 3-0 wins, inspiring their fellow team mates to also record victories, with Josh Davies being pushed all the way by road-runner Matt Lowery, winning a nail-biting 14-12 in the fifth.

Wrexham Brymbo 5-0 Bowdon (20-3)

City of Manchester couldn’t escape their fate either. Avoiding relegation was just about possible, but they faced champions Warrington in their last match, where a comprehensive win was required. Of course this was unlikely, and they succumbed to a 5-0 defeat, as Warrington had out big hitters Rui Soares and Ben Smith. A special mention to mullet-machine, Aaron Allpress, who played in the Liverpool PSA at 6pm, then sped over the Mersey Bridge to help his City Of Manchester teammates by playing at no.1.

It was a wonderful night at Warrington, as the league-winning celebrations began – starting with the league winner’s presentation, followed shortly by Lewis Doughty receiving his Player Of The Season trophy – all while the crowd were supping their free drinks and munching on free food, curtesy of Warrington’s generous sponsor. The evening culminated with a delightful 3-course meal for players, officials, friends and families.

Warrington 5-0 City of Manchester (20-0)

Cheetham Hill, led by their reliable threesome of Jordan Hardwick, Josh Taylor and Stephen Hearst, finished with a flurry by beating Alderley Edge 5-0, with Muhammad Khan almost registering a win for The Alderley Alpacas, but just losing out 3-2 to Josh.

Cheetham Hill 5-0 Alderley Edge (20-6)

Fourth placed Liverpool delighted their home crowd with a resounding 4-1 win over 3rd placed Grove Park. Cory Harding is deep into A-Level revision mode, but still ended the season on a high with a wonderful 3-2 victory over Luke McFarland – a result made even more impressive as Cory too was on court a few hours earlier against Lwamba Chileshe in the Liverpool PSA.

Liverpool 4-1 Grove Park (17-6)

The Northern 1st Team leapfrogged Wigan in the table, by beating them 4-1. Northern head coach, Jules Silvera has improved massively as the season has progressed, and he scored his best win of a successful campaign against Paul McDonald.

However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for The Wigan Wildebeests. Last night saw the return of coach Julian Tomlinson, who has been absent since Christmas due to an injury. He won on his return, running around the court with a massive grin on his face, overjoyed to be back.

Wigan 1-4 The Northern (5-17)

Now attention can turn the End Of Season Courtcraft Division One Play-Offs. The top 8 teams are invited to play in a knock-out cup competition, culminating at The Manchester Open PSA on 26th May.

The top 4 seeded teams are Warrington, Cheetham Hill, Grove Park and Liverpool. The unseeded teams are Bowdon, The Northern 1, Wigan and Alderley Edge.

The Quarter Final matches will be played on Tuesday 16th April.

That’s all for now and thank you for tuning in!