Burscough (A)
NWCFL Premier Division
Matchday 25

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• Tuesday 10th December 2024 
• 7:45pm kickoff
• The Community Ground, Bobby Langton Way, Burscough, L40 0SW
• Burscough are accepting donations for their own food bank - West fans can support this by taking any donations to their clubhouse
• Dogs welcome
• Pay on the gate, cash or card:
  • £7 adults
  • £5 concessions
  • £3 under 16s
• For directions, travel and facilities info, click here and select 'Matchday' 

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Preview

Following a weekend off at the hands of Storm Darragh, West travel to Burscough on Tuesday night for their first game in 10 days.

West make the journey to the Community Ground following two successive wins over Wythenshawe Town and Stockport Town. After a mixed run of form in the league, West sit five points outside the playoff places, albeit with two games in hand over FC Isle of Man in 5th. The Ravens are not in action this midweek, and neither are any of the other teams immediately above West given that this match has been rearranged to account for West's FA Vase run. 

It might be a good time for West to play the Linnets, who currently sit in 19th. Despite a reasonable start to the season, Burscough have lost nine of their last eleven matches. They did record a home win against Irlam just over a fortnight ago, but aside from that and a draw with South Liverpool, Burscough have not picked up a point since beating Colne at the start of October. They have only accumulated seven points against the teams who currently sit in the top half of the division, although regrettably three of those did come at Brookburn Road when the Green Army were deserved 2-1 winners.

This is the third time that West and Burscough have met this season, albeit the first two of those encounters came on consecutive Saturday afternoons in early August. West won the first of those in the FA Cup thanks to a last-gasp Lewis Billlingsley winner to give West a 3-2 victory. The Linnets got their revenge the following weekend however, as they recovered from an early Kris Holt opener to win 2-1 and take three league points back to Burscough. The reports from those two matches are HERE and HERE. 

This is the first of four away matches in a row that West will play on artificial surfaces - with trips to Lower Breck, South Liverpool and Chadderton still to come before the new year. West have only won two matches on this type of surface in 14 attempts since promotion in 2022, albeit both of those were at Burscough which should provide some solace to those making the trip on Tuesday.

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Form Guide

Burscough
Position: 19th
Form position: 21st
Last six overall: LWLLLL
Home position: 21st
Last six home: LWLLLW

West
Position: 7th
Form position: 11th
Last six overall: WWLLLW
Away position: 11th
Last six away: WLLWWD

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Burscough At A Glance

Home colours: Green / white / green
Change colours: All purple
Pitch surface: Artificial
2023/24 position: 20th, NWCFL Premier
2024/25 average attendance: 179
Travelling distance: 38 miles
West away season round trip: 1,056 miles

The first Burscough Association Football Club was formed in 1880 although their existence was short-lived and the club folded in 1900. Five years later Burscough Rangers were established and continued to operate as the town’s football club until the start of the Second World War.

In 1946, Burscough FC were founded, and they have continued to operate across the non-league pyramid ever since. They are founding members of the NWCFL and hold the honour of being the league’s first ever champions in 1981.

Burscough’s most successful spell arguably came at the turn of the current millennium, and their greatest day came in 2003 when they beat Tamworth to lift the FA Trophy at Villa Park. Two years later they had a similarly impressive cup campaign, reaching the Second Round of the FA Cup. This run included a win against League One Gillingham before bowing out 4-1 to Burton Albion, falling 90 minutes short of a third-round tie at home to Manchester United.

Any disappointment was short-lived though when they won a treble the following season, which winning the Northern Premier League title on goal difference, to go within two divisions of the Football League. Such successes have not been sustained in the intervening 15 years and they were relegated into to the NWCFL Premier Division in 2017/18.

Famous former Linnets players include Lee Trundle, Craig Noone and former Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe.

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Head to Head

Overall
P11 W7 D0 L4 F28 A24

At Burscough
P4 W3 D0 L1 F13 A8

West have a strong record on their travels to Buscough, having won three of their four trips to Burscough and having scored 13 goals across those visits - 11 of which came in 5-4 and 6-1 wins for West. The most recent win at Burscough came last season when West won 2-0 at the Community Ground thanks to second-half goals from Lewis Billingsley and Billy Matthews.

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Browse through our wonderful match galleries, from club photographers:
Nathan Ashmall, Chris Michell, Jack Todd and Christina Bowett.