Key details

? Tuesday 2 July
⏰ 7.15 pm
? Brookburn Road, Chorlton, M21 8FE
? Pre-Season Friendly
?️ £5 adults / £3 concessions / £1 under-16s

Season Ticket holders get free entry to all home pre-season fixtures – find out more here, or buy yours now here.

Match preview

West start their pre-season campaign with what should be a stern test against NWCFL Division One North side Prestwich Heys.

Marking the first official game of the Brad Cooke era at Brookburn Road, there will still be plenty of work to do on the training ground with the season over a month away. However, this friendly will act as a good bellwether as to where the squad is, and the areas upon which the management team will be looking to work before competitive football begins again in August. For West supporters, this will be a chance to potentially catch sight of a few new faces in signings Kris Holt and Matty Boland, as well as seeing what kind of football the next 10 months may bring as the club target automatic promotion back to the NWCFL Premier Division.

Prestwich Heys know what it is like to push for the league, having finished 4th in the Division One North last season in what was a supremely competitive league. Having 4 players in the Counties Podcast division team of the season, they'll be surely hoping to go even further this time out and push for the league title. The club themselves appeared to be disappointed with their efforts last campaign: given they finished 3rd and won the Division One Cup in 2017/18, it is easy to understand why.

The game will also see joint assistant manager Rob Sadler reacquaint himself with old friends, having previously turned out as the Heys goalkeeper between 2015 and 2016. This will represent the first game between the two sides since a pre-season game in 2014, when West ran out 3-1 winners away thanks to goals from Sam Mitten, Mark Rogers, and Jordan Poole.

The second half of the game will sadly clash with some of the first period of England vs USA in the Women's World Cup Semi Final (8pm kick off). The game will be available to view in the clubhouse, and there should be at least one radio playing commentary from the game pitchside during the course of our second half - and the ground will be open until the full-time whistle of the Semi.