By Michael Wright

A reduced Boxing Day fixture list still held plenty of interest for West as we wait to resume our league campaign on January 2^nd. Our next two scheduled opponents – Wythenshawe Amateurs and Cammell Laird 1907 – and three teams directly above us in the table – Vauxhall Motors, Wythenshawe Town and Stockport Town – were all in action.

An afternoon of staggered starts began on the Wirral at midday when Vauxhall Motors returned to league action following last week’s FA Vase disappointment. A 2-1 home win against Cammell Laird ensured they keep top spot in Division One South. Cheadle Heath Nomads ended their poor run of form by taking all three points in the SK8 derby with a 2-0 home victory against Cheadle Town. They move into 6^th place on 12 points, just one behind West but having played two games more.

Stockport Town started the day one place above West in 4^th with the same number of points but a superior goal difference. A victory would have seen them replace Sandbach United in 3^rd, but a goalless draw at home to New Mills leaves them just one point above West having played two games more.

A fixture anomaly means that Wythenshawe Amateurs were West’s last fixture before lockdown, and are our next scheduled league opponents. The Ammies warmed up for their trip to Brookburn Road by welcoming Wythenshawe Town to Hollyhedge Park for the final game of the day.

The home side looked shaky for most of the first half, adopting a sit back, soak it up and hit on the break approach. So it was no surprise that the visitors found a way through to put them 1-0 up at half-time. Changing tactics at the interval, the Ammies pushed their holding midfielder further forward and took the game to Town. The pressure told and a quality free kick into the top corner from outside the box evened the score line. From there it could have gone either way until the home side were reduced to ten men for the last 15 minutes. Town then made the most of their numerical advantage, scoring again to take all three points and strengthen their 2^nd place position in the table.

West now know that a good run of results in January could solidify our place in the top four promotion places.