The opening month of the season couldn’t have gone much better for Brad Cooke as he started his first competitive campaign as manager – but he’ll be hoping to roll over that good start into September, with the biggest tests of his squad yet to come.
It all begins with a visit from Stalybridge Celtic on September 3rd, as the two sides look to settle their FA Cup tie on a replay. Having drawn at Bower Fold, Celtic come to Chorlton looking to avenge what was certainly a shock result – something even picked out by the Football Association themselves in their write-up of the round. However, having secured one shock, Cooke will be looking to get the first truly landmark win of his regime, and to send out a message to the rest of the league, by beating a team 3 divisions above ourselves.
Due to competition rules, the club are unable to allow season ticket holders free entry to the game – and therefore, usual entry prices of £5/£3/U12s free apply to all. There will also be no alcohol allowed pitchside during the course of the game, again in line with competition guidelines.
If West do progress, they will face either Padiham or Marine at home in the next round – a game that would be due to take place at Brookburn Road on Saturday 7th September. You can find out more here.
Our other foray in a cup competition comes with a journey to Runcorn Town in the FA Vase on Saturday 14th.
Runcorn Town are one of the outside favourites for promotion in the NWCFL Premier Division, Town have always been a tough opponent for West, but a win would allow for us to equal our greatest ever performance in the competition. Progression to this stage came via a walkover, as our previously scheduled opponents Egerton were withdrawn from the Vase having failed ground grading checks.
Back in the NWCFL Division One South, we hold our 4th consecutive home game on a Tuesday with the visit of Abbey Hulton United on 10th September. Currently 7th in the table, 4 points behind West, this will be another serious test for a West side that could realistically end that fixture top of the league. If Cooke’s side manage to emerge from that and the next home fixture – Saturday 21st, against 4th placed Stone Old Alleynians – with 6 points, then Chorltonites will legitimately be able to allow them let themselves to dream just a little. Of course, even with two wins there would be a long road ahead, but positive against two ambitious promotion rivals would be a sure sign that things were on the right track as we enter Autumn. That game against Stone will be our first Saturday home fixture of the campaign, around 50 days after a ball was first kicked in anger – so Brookburn will likely be buzzing for that fixture.
We have two away league fixture currently scheduled for September, which will be an away journey to New Mills for what is casually known as the Dutch Uncles derby. Being one of the closest sides to the band’s hometown of Marple, New Mills have had a torrid start to the season and will hope to have turned this around by the time West play them. At the time of writing, they sit 19th out of 20, on 0 points and a goal difference of minus 17 – although recent flooding issues in the Whaley Bridge area has meant they’ve had a strained start to the campaign to say the least.
We round out the month with an away journey to Cammell Laird – our last trip to Kirklands came in 2016, when Ben Woods bagged a hat-trick as part of a 7-2 West win. Other scorers that day included Ash Woods and Ben Steer, with Rick Gleave and Jonny Poizer rounding out the scoring. This came in a miserable season for Laird, who have rebuilt since relegation in that campaign – at the time of writing, they sit 9th in the table with 10 points after 6 games: they’ll surely be a lot of people’s bet for promotion come the business end of the season. A positive result here could be vital once spring 2020 rolls around.
Progress in cup competitions means the above is subject to change: any updates will be announce on our website and social media feeds in due course.
