Saturday 21 August 2021 - Kick-off 3.00pm v Vauxhall Motors The North West Counties Football League Premier Division Official Matchday Programme ASHTON ATHLETIC ASHTON ATHLETIC HELP KEEP THE FANS AT THE GAME, FOLLOW THE RULES TO ENSURE WE CAN ALL ENJOY FOOTBALL www.nwcfl.com HOW YOU CAN HELP: WASH HANDS REGULARLY STAY HOME IF YOU HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS SOCIALLY DISTANCE & MASK ON REQUEST 1m+ NWCFL Newsroom - Milestones Kevin Lawton (League Statistician) This week’s milestones to report Atherton LR played their 1350th league game, Chadderton their 700th AWAY game and Squires Gate drew their 250th game. A bit of a coincidence, both Alsager Town and Ashton Athletic conceded their 1300th goals this week, while New Mills hit their 850th goal, scored by Benito Lowe away to West Didsbury and Chorlton, which also happened to be the home side’s 600th goal conceded. In the Winsford Utd v Vauxhall Motors game, the home side scored their 1600th goal, Joe Duckworth netting their third of the game, which also happened to be the visitor’s 500th goal conceded. Charnock Richard’s 9-1 demolition of Ashton Athletic was also their 50th home win. Goal Heroes Premier Division Carl Grimshaw hit three for Charnock Richard between the 74th and 85th minutes in the Ashton Athletic game. Jordan Darr’s two in the same game and Tom Clare’s (Macclesfield) single goal at home to Irlam, moved them both to five and top of the chart. There have been 106 league goals at an average of 3.53 per game. Division 1 North Callum Birdsall hit four in Cleator Moor Celtic’s 10-0 win at home to St Helens and Ryan Hall scored three in the same game. Ten goals in the highest in the NWCFL so far this season. Ashley Flynn’s two goals for Golcar in their win at Steeton moved him to the top of the chart six. with These have help contribute to the 160 scored so far at an average of 4.4 per game. Division 1 South Ben Halfacre hit four goals for Abbey Hey in their 8-0 victory at home to Brocton, while Bobbie McDonnell of Sandbach scored once to take him to six, one clear of the pack. There have been 146 league goals at an average of 3.74 per game MATCH DAY 15:00 Avro v Runcorn Linnets 15:00 Barnoldswick Town v Ramsbottom United 15:00 Eccleshill United v Charnock Richard 15:00 Irlam v Skelmersdale United 15:00 Lower Breck v Mossley 15:00 Prescot Cables v Campion 15:00 Prestwich Heys v Warrington Rylands 1906 15:00 Squires Gate v Macclesfield 15:00 Wythenshawe Town v 1874 Northwich 15:00 Ashton Town v Holker Old Boys 15:00 Bacup Borough v AFC Blackpool 15:00 Cleator Moor Celtic v Bury AFC 15:00 Ilkley Town v AFC Darwen 15:00 Pilkington v Chadderton 15:00 South Liverpool v Nelson 15:00 Steeton v St Helens Town 14:00 Cheadle Heath Nomads v FC Isle of Man 15:00 Abbey Hulton United v Abbey Hey 15:00 Barnton v New Mills 15:00 Cheadle Town v Wythenshawe Amateurs 15:00 Eccleshall v Cammell Laird 1907 15:00 Ellesmere Rangers v Brocton 15:00 Maine Road v Sandbach United 15:00 Rocester v Stockport Town 15:00 Stafford Town v West Didsbury & Chorlton The Emirates F.A Cup Preliminary Round First Division South First Division North 15:00 Ashton Athletic v Vauxhall Motors 15:00 Burscough v Padiham 15:00 Litherland REMYCA v Congleton Town 15:00 Winsford United v Runcorn Town 15:00 Longridge Town v Northwich Victoria Premier Division Welcome to Brocstedes Park Year Formed: 1968 Life President: Jimmy Witherington Club President: Bill Bohannon Club Chairman: Jimmy Whyte Club Secretary: Jimmy Whyte Club Treasurer: Brad Reid First Team Managers : Jay Foulds & Dougie Pitts Assistant Manager: David Tickle Physio: Amy Benson Development Squad Manager: Paul Piert Under 18’s Manager: Carl Vieri Programme Editor: Bernie Johnson Ground: Brocstedes Park Address: Brocstedes Road, Wigan, Lancashire, WN4 0NR Telephone: 01942 716360 Website: www.ashtonathletic.co.uk Twitter: @AshtonAthletic Facebook: www.facebook.com/AshtonAthletic The Entity: Unincorperated Members Club Midweek Home Games: Tuesday Registered Outfield Colours: Yellow Shirts, Blue Shorts & Socks Registered Goalkeeping Colours: Green Shirt, Shorts & Socks Alternative Colours: Blue shirts, Blue Shorts & Socks Highest Attendance: 610(v Chorley 30/09/17) County Affiliation: Lancashire FA Honours: Atherton Charity Cup: Winners: 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09 NWCFL Challenge Cup: Winners: 2013/14 Wigan Cup: Winners: 2014/15 Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy: Winners 2016/17 Dougie Pitts Jay Foulds Daz Mullen A warm welcome to all of our friends from Vauxhall Motors. I hope you enjoy your afternoon at Brocstedes. After a disappointing week involving two defeats, we are keen to put matters right as we take on our visitors this afternoon. Last Saturday we went down to a heavy defeat away at Charnock Richard. Once again we didn’t get off to the best of starts and found ourselves two goals down within the first 10 minutes. From that moment on the home side just gained further and further in confidence. All credit to them. They had made an unbeaten start to the season and with the boost of such an early lead, they went from strength to strength and played some incredible football. Credit to our lads they kept working hard and Millen Brown scored his first goal for us. On Tuesday night, away at Winsford United we needed a reaction. We got a much more resilient performance and had plenty of possesion, particularly early on. As always the first goal is important and sadly the home side got it. Two goals quite late on, sealed it for our hosts. We need a good performance this afternoon as we look for our first win of the new season and to pull away from the foot of the table. The future’s bright, the future’s yellow. Dougie and Jay Monday 30 August 2021 Kick-off 3.00pm v Lower Breck The North West Counties League Premier Division Premier Division P GD Pts 1 Barnoldswick Town 4 6 10 2 Wythenshawe Town 5 5 10 3 Macclesfield 4 4 10 4 Charnock Richard 4 12 9 5 Congleton Town 3 6 9 6 Lower Breck 3 3 9 7 Avro 4 5 7 8 Northwich Victoria 5 2 7 9 Winsford United 4 1 7 10 Skelmersdale United 3 3 6 11 AFC Liverpool 3 1 6 12 Longridge Town 4 -1 6 13 Burscough 4 -1 4 14 Runcorn Town 4 -2 4 15 Squires Gate 4 -1 3 16 Vauxhall Motors 3 -5 3 17 Irlam 4 -6 3 18 Padiham 3 -4 1 19 Litherland REMYCA 4 -4 0 20 Prestwich Heys 4 -10 0 21 Ashton Athletic 4 -14 0 NEXT UP To book an award winning mental fitness session at your club, email Elaine.Prendergast@stateofmindsport.org www.stateofmindsport.org STATE OF MIND SPORT IS PROUD TO BE THE official CHARITY PARTNER OF THE NORTH WEST COUNTIES FOOTBALL LEAGUE. State of Mind Sport is a charity that harnesses the power of sport to promote positive mental fitness, to improve performance among our sportsmen and women, fans and wider communities, AND to ultimately prevent suıcide. State of Mind Sport raise awareness of the issues surrounding mental fitness and deliver education on the subject to all levels of sport, business, education and community groups. A Brief History... Ashton Athletic Football Club was founded in 1968 and playing in the Wigan Sunday League – winning every Division in consecutive seasons and many cup competitions before switching to the Warrington League on Saturdays where similar success was sustained. The Club developed Brocstedes Park and was admitted to the Lancashire Combination, before becoming a founder member of the North West Counties League when the Combination merged with the Cheshire league in 1982. Unfortunately, financial constraints prevented the required ground improvements to be completed, and the Club was relegated into the Manchester league Division One in 1986. The drop of two leagues resulted in the majority of the playing staff moving to other club’s and for numerous years the club endeavored to re-build. Players came and went, lacking the Club loyalty that had brought success to the Club in the 1970’s and early 80’s until the Committee embraced an ambitious youth development policy in 1999. The Club is now at the end of a ten-year development plan to enhance its recreational facilities and expand the Club, in particular its junior section. Eight years ago, the Club had two teams, 50 members, one mediocre pitch with dilapidated clubhouse and changing rooms. Since then the Club members have worked tirelessly to progress the Club within its means, and with some help from external grant sources. Assistance from the Football foundation, Awards for All programme, and Wigan Council enabled a series of improvements to be completed. The main pitch was re-drained, a second pitch acquired/improved, new changing rooms and Clubhouse built, disabled access provided and other improvements made to the grounds. More recently the ground has been brought up to the necessary Ground Grading for re-entry into the NWCFL, in time for the start of the 2006/7 season and further inprovements have provided additional seating. The 2008/09 season also saw further progression of the Club, having been promoted to the Premier Division of the Vodkat North West Counties League. We were again able take to the national stage, having been accepted in the FA Cup competition after last season’s debut in the FA Vase which proved very lucrative for the Club, progressing through 3 stages and beating 2 teams from higher leagues in the process. The previous season also saw cup success for the Club retaining the Atherton Charity Cup at the end of the season. Following an impressive 6th place finish in the 2008/09 season, the Yellows struggled in the league for the next 4 seasons, finishing in the bottom three of the league in three of the next four seasons. 21st (09/10), 22nd (10/11), 14th (11/12) and 20th (12/13). Jimmy McBride, who took over the reins midway through the 12/13, left the club when the season ended and the club took the unusual step in bringing in a trio of managers, Jay Foulds, Ben Kay and Dougie Pitts. Jay and Ben were brought in from Wigan Robin Park and Dougie came in following a break from the game. The trio needed to completely rebuild the squad for the 2013/14 season and made an excellent start to their managerial careers creating club history with a 6th place finish and beating Maine Road 1-0 to win the League Challenge Cup at Curzon Ashton. More club history was made in the 2014/15 season with a highest ever 5th place finish in the league, conceding only 38 goals and losing only 7 league games that season and the Yellows were successful in the Wigan Cup, beating Newburgh Harrock United 5-1 in the final at Brocstedes Park. The 2015/16 season saw the retirement of Jay Foulds and he was replaced in the Ashton Athletic goal by Martin Pearson. Unfortunately, there were no cup heroics in that season but there was a solid 7th place finish in the league. The 2016/17 saw another top 10 finish with the club ending the season in 9th place, but the club made history in the cups reaching the 2nd qualifying round for the first time ever, losing 5-0 against Halifax Town and winning the Lancashire Cup for the first time, coming from a goal down to win 2-1 against Radcliffe Borough. Lee Vaughan scoring the winner in the final minute of the game. With the impact the management trio have made at the club in the 4 seasons that they have been in charge of the first team, the success was noticed from clubs at a higher level and following the 2016/17 season, Ben Kay left his role as joint manager to take up the role as assistant manager to Simon Howarth at Clitheroe FC, where he will link up again former Yellows captain, Ian Rowlands. A new vision for the Club is under discussion to further develop the Club and these will include plans for improvements to the access road, new junior changing rooms, additional playing fields for the junior section and a proposed girls/ladies section. The main ground is also scheduled for enhancement works with additional covered spectator areas. The Club is a voluntary organisation run by a Committee of 14 alongside approximately 25 coaches and managers. Any money raised by the Club has been ploughed back into improving the facilities and developing the youth section. The Club now has a total membership of more than 400. We have 9 junior teams consisting of approximately 160 children who take advantage of the improvement of our now excellent facilities, whilst hundreds of children and adults from opposition teams also benefit from the continually improving facilities. The Club is keen to maintain the pace of development of the club and future plans will enable increased activity at the Club, additional Junior teams and a much safer and secure environment in particular for spectators and Children. The Club was awarded the FA Charter Standard in 2013. F O O T B A L L L E A G U E T H E N O R T H W E S T C O U N T I E S nwcfl.c m For the latest League & Club News & Info, Fixtures, Results, Cup Info, Stats & Archives Follow us on social media Search ‘North West Counties League’ on Twitter and Facebook Official Website of The North West Counties Football League oFFICIAL GoALKEEPING PARTNER oF THE NoRTH WEST CouNTIES FooTBALL LEAGuE. prouD SpoNSor oF THE GoALKEEpEr oF THE MoNTH AND GoALKEEpEr oF THE YEAr AWArDS www.reusch.com www.facebook.com/ReuschUK www.twitter.com/ReuschUK For more information, visit Our Opponents Today Vauxhall Motors F.C. was founded in 1963, shortly after the opening of the new Vauxhall Car Plant in Ellesmere Port. Early in its history, they played in the Ellesmere Port League and the Wirral Combination, but soon grew too strong for those leagues. By 1970, the club had achieved several promotions and played on the company-owned Hooton Park. By 1987 however, it had opened its own ground, Rivacre Park, where the club plays today. The opening of the new ground was especially important as then England manager Bobby Robson brought a number of former international stars for the opening game. On the pitch, the club also started finding some success, winning its first West Cheshire League championship in the 1985–86. Soon after, they reached their first Cheshire Amateur Cup Final and triumphed in the Wirral Senior Cup. These accomplishments did not go unnoticed, as the club successfully applied to join the North West Counties League for 1987–88. They easily won the league’s Second Division in their second season, and finished fourth in the First Division in 1989–90 before winning the NWCL Cup the following season beating Darwen 2-0. Soon after the club took the decision to move back down to the West Cheshire League, where the club finished in third place in the two following seasons. However, in 1994–95, the club won both divisions of the league – only the third time any club had achieved that in the 125-year history of the league and accepted back into the North West Counties League. Just as before, they easily won the Second Division, but did not have the best of seasons in Division One, although they did reach the semi-final of the Cheshire Senior Cup. They continued to play in Division One, and reached the final of the NWCL Cup, losing to Kidsgrove Athletic. The 1998–99 season was the team’s best to that point, reaching the fifth round of the FA Vase, earning its best ever league position in third place, and won the NWCL Cup against Prescot Cables. However, the next season was even better, with the team reaching the FA Vase semi- finals and winning the NWCL title, thus earning a spot in Division One of the Northern Premier League. The reserves also enjoyed a successful season, winning The Pyke Cup for the first time in the club’s history. The club enjoyed considerable success in the Northern Premier League as well, earning promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division in their first season, and finishing in second place in that division. The team continued to play well, with its high point coming when they defeated Queens Park Rangers in their first appearance in the FA Cup first round, before losing in the next round in a televised match against Macclesfield Town in November 2002. The season after, the club hired manager Owen Brown and they earned promotion to newly formed Conference North in 2004. The club finished 21st in the 2007–08 season, and were due to be relegated but after Nuneaton’s liquidation and the Conference’s decision to expel Boston United, the club were reprieved. In the 2009–10, the club finished 20th. However, due to the earlier resignation of Farsley Celtic and the subsequent demotion of Northwich Victoria due to financial troubles, the club was again given a reprieve. In the 2010–11 season, they reached the First Round of the F A Cup, but were unable to repeat the success of eight years previously, drawing 0–0 away to Hartlepool United before losing the home replay 1-0. In May 2011 it was announced that, due to a promotion at work, Carl Macauley was stepping down from his role as manager and that his assistant Anthony Wright would be taking over the reins with former Notts County, Peterborough United, and Vauxhall striker Gary Martindale as his number two. However results didn’t go as hoped despite assembling one of the strongest squads the club had seen, resulting in Carl Macauley making a shock return to the Rivacre Park hotseat in November 2011 with Anthony Wright reverting to Assistant Manager and Gary Martindale to Coach. In March 2014 the club announced its intention to withdraw from the Conference North due to “ever-increasing costs” leaving the club with no alternative but to return to the West Cheshire League to stabilise and rebuild the club once again. A week after the announcement long- serving manager Carl Macauley left to become Assistant Manager to Steve Burr at Chester F.C. Vauxhall Motors Only four of the founder members of Conference North remained in the league for its first ten seasons: Gainsborough Trinity, Harrogate Town, Stalybridge Celtic and Vauxhall Motors. Vauxhall’s league positions in those season’s were 15th, 18th, 15th, 21st, 11th, 20th, 17th, 18th, 12th and 18th. On 26 April 2014 Motors played their last game in Conference North for the foreseeable future. In May 2014 former Vauxhall favourite Alan Schumacker was appointed as first team manager. The former Motors defender was a member of Alvin McDonald’s all conquering North West Counties League championship side and had been reserve team manager since the summer of 2010. He appointed Kevin Baker as his assistant and Steve Foulkes as coach for the coming season. At the end of that season, the club had triumphed in the Wirral Senior Cup for the third time in five seasons, having won their first Cheshire Amateur Cup the previous season. At the end of the 2015-16 season Alan Schumacker was replaced by former Motors’ assistant manager Anthony Wright and former Mersey Royal Youth team manager Joe Wright as his assistant. However in October Anthony Wright had to step down due to family commitments and a month later Joe Wright left the club. In November 2016 the former Burscough captain, ex A.F.C. Liverpool assistant manager and Prescot Cables Reserve team manager Karl Bell was appointed the club’s new manager, assisted by Dean Evans. Karl had to rebuild a team in mid-season and as a result, they finished a disappointing 8th. Last season however, they remained unbeaten in the league until just before Christmas but sadly fell away towards the end of the season, as they finished second in the league and also runners-up in both the Cheshire Amateur Cup and Pyke Cup. Those disappointments saw Karl relieved of his duties after the penultimate game of the season. Taking over the reins at the Syncreon Arena as the club re-joins the NWCFL is former Conwy United and Cammell Laird boss Mick McGraa. Mick, a former Motors player, took over at Cammell Lairds in October 2016 with no players and no victories. Despite a decent run towards the end of that season, he was unable to prevent the club from relegation but last season he almost guided Lairds to promotion, losing out in the final play-off away at Whitchurch Alport in mid-May. BACK TO LIVE BACK TO LIVE FOOTBALL! FOOTBALL! THE RETURN TO BROCSTEDES Season Tickets from only £90 Adults £45 Concessions Date Opponents H/A KO Score Goalscorers Sat 31/07/21 Wythenshawe Town H 15:00 0-1 Tue 03/08/21 Burscough A 19:45 1-3 Houghton Sat 07/08/21 Squires Gate (The Emirates F.A Cup EP) H 15:00 0-2 Sat 14/08/21 Charnock Richard A 15:00 1-9 Brown Tue 17/08/21 Winsford United A 19:45 0-3 Sat 21/08/21 Vauxhall Motors H 15:00 Sat 28/08/21 Congleton Town A 15:00 Mon 30/08/21 Lower Breck H 15:00 Sat 04/09/21 Macclesfield H 15:00 Tue 07/09/21 Runcorn Town H 19:45 Sat 11/09/21 Abbey Hey (The Buildbase FA Vase 1Q) A 15:00 Tue 14/09/21 AFC Liverpool A 19:45 Sat 18/09/21 Prestwich Heys H 15:00 Sat 25/09/21 Squires Gate A 15:00 Wed 29/09/21 Litherland REMYCA A 19:45 Sat 02/10/21 Skelmersdale United A 15:00 Tue 05/10/21 Longridge Town H 19:45 Sat 09/10/21 Avro H 15:00 Sat 16/10/21 Padiham A 15:00 Sat 30/10/21 Irlam H 15:00 Sat 06/11/21 Northwich Victoria A 15:00 Sat 13/11/21 Barnoldswick Town A 15:00 Currently fixtures are only available to 13 November 2021. Fixture lists are being re-arranged in the light of COVID-19 restrictions. Fixtures and Results Appearances Cards Cards MOM Player Start Sub Start Sub Red Yellow Charles Akande 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 Ben Ascroft (GK) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Christopher Bandell 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Millen Brown 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 Ben Cartwright 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tom Douglas 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Jason Foulds (GK) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Declan Gallagher 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brian Hatton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Samuel Houghton 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 Bram Johnstone 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 Oredi Kibombo 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dale Korie-Butler 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 Charlie Middlemore 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 Joseph Nicholson 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 Joshua Nicholson 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 James OHara 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 Martin Pearson (GK) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Marcus Perry 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 Fenton Reeves 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Matthew Reid 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Andrew Thomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nathan Whalley 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 Joe White 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Harvey Whyte * 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 Dimeji Willan (GK) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Calum Wilson 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 Dean Winnard 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Sean Yeldrem 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gregor Zabret 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Player Appearences Ashton Athletic Managers: Jay Foulds & Dougie Pitts Vauxhall Motors Manager: Mick McGraa Ben Ascroft Matthew Reid Bram Johnstone Ben Cartwright Declan Gallagher Joseph Nicholson Joshua Nicholson Samuel Houghton Dale Korie-Butler Christopher Bandell Millen Brown Marcus Perry Andrew Thomas Calum Wilson James O’Hara Charles Akande MATCH OFFICIALS REFEREE TBC ASSISTANT TBC ASSISTANT TBC NEXT UP AT BROCSTEDES PARK Monday 30 August 2021 Kick-off 3.00pm Lower Breck Michael Dixon Kyle Scarisbrick Greg Drummond Anthony Gardner Thomas Mitchell Joseph Heath Joe Brandon Haydn Cooper Kyle Smyth Joseph Levey Michael Burkey Ethan Gouldbourne Kieran Garner- Knapper Simon Thelwell Ben Holmes Jack Kelly