Irlam (A)
NWCFL Premier Division
Matchday 21
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The ground has its own car park, with capacity for 70 vehicles. The RG3 Digital Stadium has a licensed clubhouse with hot food also served. There's covered seating for 150 and two covered terraced stands.
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Preview
Following a week in which the club has already travelled over 400 miles to face Squires Gate and Ryton & Crawcrook Albion, West now make the short journey into Salford to play Irlam.
West managed impressive wins in both of the above away trips, but on paper at least Irlam does look to be the toughest pitstop on West's run of four consecutive away games - the last of which is at second-bottom Colne on Saturday. Irlam drew with Lower Breck on Saturday and lost to Padiham the weekend before, but prior to this they had won 9 league games in 11 and booked themselves a place in the quarter-finals of the Manchester Premier Cup, following victories over Wythenshawe and Glossop North End.
Irlam had a difficult start to the season and only took one point from their first seven league games, but have been in title-winning form since then, picking up 32 from 14. They currently sit 11th, only five points behind West in 6th. One positive for West going into the game is that Irlam seem to be more vulnerable at home, with more than 60% of their points coming away from Silver Street. They've won only one of their last four home league games, losing to Padiham and Cheadle Town in that period.
Irlam's main goal threat will undoubtedly come from Declan Daniels, otherwise known as "Irlam Haaland", who has 17 goals already this season - though by his own standards he may be somewhat disappointed with this tally. Daniels rejoined Irlam from Bury in the summer, after leaving for Gigg Lane in December last season having already managed 33 goals in the first half of last season. He does still arrive into Tuesday's match with 13 goals in his last 15 starts.
This is one of only NWCFL Premier Division matches taking place this midweek. Elsewhere, Bury in 2nd host 13th placed Charnock Richard and Glossop North End's trip to FC St Helens sees 16th play 8th. A win on Tuesday wouldn't move West into the playoff places but would see a gap starting to form between the top 6 and the chasing pack.
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Irlam At A Glance
Home colours: All blue
Change colours: Red / black / red
Pitch surface: Grass
2023/24 position: 13th, NWCFL Premier
2023/24 average attendance: 198
Travelling distance: 9 miles
West away season round trip: 886 miles
Irlam FC was originally established in October 1969 as Mitchell Shackleton Football Club by workers at the Mitchell, Shackleton and Company engineering firm in Patricroft, joining the Manchester Premier Divison in 1972. The club won this title in 2002/03, two years after being renamed Irlam Mitchell Shackleton.
This was also their first season at the Silver Street ground, which had been vacated following the demise of the unrelated Irlam Town club seven years earlier. After winning the Manchester Challenge Cup in 2005/06, the club dropped Mitchell Shackleton from its name, adopting its current moniker.
Despite finishing eighth in the Manchester Premier League in 2007/08, Irlam were promoted to Division One of the NWCFL. The club added further silverware in 2009/10, defeating Wythenshawe Town 3-2 in the final of the Manchester Charter Standard Cup. They were NWCFL Division One runners-up in 2015/16, earning promotion to the Premier Division where they have remained since.
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Form Guide
Irlam
Position: 11th
Form position: 7th
Last six overall: DLWWLW
Home position: 16th
Last six home: DLWWLW
West
Position: 6th
Form position: 8th
Last six overall: WWLDWL
Away position: 9th
Last six away: WWDLWD
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Head to Head
Overall
P13 W3 D4 L6 F21 A22
At The RG3 Digital Stadium
P6 W2 D2 L2 F12 A9
Irlam have the upper hand in this fixture but the meetings at Silver Street have produced a mixed bag of results, with two wins apiece.
West's 6-0 win here in September 2016 somewhat props up our overall record, with the last victory a 3-2 success under the stewardship of Dave Powell in April 2019. Stephen Hall's winner secured the victory that day, after West had let a two-goal lead slip. That was the first of a trio of wins that re-ignited West's ultimately futile survival cause at the tail end of the 2018/19 season.
In fact, that's the only West win in the last ten meetings with Irlam taking maximum points six times in the same period.
The last of those Irlam wins came at Brookburn Road at the beginning of September. The only goal of the game came for the visitors, courtesy of a Declan Daniels penalty, prolonging West's winless run in the league to five games as we sat 20th in the fledgling table. If you want to remind yourself of that match for any reason, our match report can be found HERE.
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Browse through our wonderful match galleries, from club photographers:
Nathan Ashmall, Chris Michell, Jack Todd and Christina Bowett.
