FC Isle of Man (A)
NWCFL Premier Division
Matchday 46
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Preview
West's final league game of the season sees the club cross the Irish Sea to face FC Isle of Man.
Last weekend's win over Longridge Town mathematically confirmed West's place in the playoffs, but this final round of fixtures will determine the club's semi-final opponents.
Given that this weekend's match takes place after the rest of the last round of NWCFL Premier Division fixtures has concluded, West may know their playoff opponents by the time they kick off in Douglas.
What we know already is that 2nd will host 5th and 3rd will host 4th in the playoff semi-finals, at 3pm on Saturday 26th April.
The permutations are as follows:
1st - Bury, who are 3 points and 5 goals better off than Lower Breck, will win the title if they avoid defeat at home to Burscough or if Lower Breck fail to beat Cheadle Town.
In the event of both of those things happening, only a swing of 6 goals or more would send the title to Lower Breck.
2nd - whichever of Bury and Lower Breck doesn't win the title will then certainly finish as runners-up, with guaranteed home advantage for the playoffs.
3rd - Confirmed as Ramsbottom United, who cannot move up or down on the final day.
4th - Padiham will travel to Ramsbottom in the playoffs if they avoid defeat at Stockport Town. However, should they lose and West win at IOM, West will leapfrog the Storks.
5th - West will remain in 5th if they fail to beat FC Isle of Man or Padiham take anything from Stockport Sports Village.
tl/dr
West finish 5th = we're away to Lower Breck or Bury in the playoffs.
West finish 4th = we head to Ramsbottom United instead
West therefore need to win at the Bowl and hope for a result elsewhere to finish 4th and - looking further ahead - a chance of hosting a playoff final.
A neutral might look at this as a good time to face the Ravens, who have played 9 of their last 10 matches at home yet failed to win any of them - in fact picking up only two wins in the calendar year.
After what has been a busy week for the club's press office, FC Isle of Man released a statement on Wednesday to confirm that, following a "full and frank" review of their 2024/25 season, the Ravens publicly backed manager, Paul Jones, announcing they won't be making managerial changes ahead of next season.
This Saturday's fixture will also see the final appearances in Ravens colours for captain Seán Doyle, Jack McVey and Ronan McDonnell, who have all announced their departures after making a combined 350 appearances for the club.
Jordan Lazenbury is one goal away from becoming the third player in West's history to reach 30 goals in a step 5 season, while Billy Matthews has featured in every league game for West this season so far - in fact, it's over 13 months since West's hat-trick hero from the recent win at AFC Liverpool missed a NWCFL Premier Division fixture.
A win for West would also mean completing the regular season with four consecutive wins for the first time since 2017/18, while our current total of 97 leaves us three short of a century of league goals for the season.
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Form Guide
FC Isle of Man
Position: 15th
Form position: 21st
Home position: 17th
Last six overall: DDDLLL
Last six home: DDDLLL
West
Position: 5th
Form position: 6th
Away position: 8th
Last six overall: WWWLDW
Last six away: WLWLWD
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Travel Information
For those flying into Douglas, there are buses from Ronaldsway Airport into central Douglas, leaving directly outside the airport every 15 minutes. Visitors should take the 1, 1H, 2, 2A, 22 or 11A services heading north from the airport, heading towards Douglas Promenade in the centre of town and take around 20-30 minutes to arrive.
The Bowl is a 20 minute walk from Douglas town centre and the main ferry port. In previous seasons West supporters have congregated at the Rovers Return pub on Church Street before the match but, for those looking to meet somewhere closer to the stadium, FC Isle of Man encourage travelling supporters to use the Pinewood pub, which is a short walk from the Bowl.
Alcohol is not sold or permitted inside the stadium.
The match kicks off at 6pm but the Isle of Man FA Cup Final kicks off in the same venue at 2pm. We understand that supporters wishing to watch that match would have to leave the stadium and re-enter ahead of the West match at 6pm.
For those who are not travelling, the Union 1908 supporters’ group are screening the match live at The Beagle in Chorlton. Entry to watch the match is free.
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FC Isle of Man At A Glance
Home colours: Red & black
Change colours: Light blue & navy
Pitch surface: Artifical
2023/24 position: 9th, NWCFL Premier
2024/25 average attendance: 765
Travelling distance: 118 miles
West away season round trip: 2,052 miles
FC Isle of Man were founded in 2020 after the IoMFA spent several years formulating plans to enter a team into the English footballing pyramid. The English FA eventually granted IoMFA’s application to join the league at the start of the 2020/2021 season, but those plans were halted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The following summer, FC Isle of Man started their English footballing adventure by kicking off their 2021/22 NWCFL Division One South season at Maine Road. They won promotion to the Premier Division in their inaugural Counties season, beating New Mills in the playoff final, to join West at the top table of the Counties-level football in the North-West. They retained their place in the Premier Division following a strong finish to the 2022/23 season, and then finished 9th at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
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Head to Head
Overall:
P7 W4 D1 L2 F14 A10
At the Bowl:
P3 W0 D1 L2 F5 A7
Despite holding a 100% record when the sides have met in M21, West are yet to taste victory over their Manx counterparts on the Island.
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Browse through our wonderful match galleries, from club photographers:
Nathan Ashmall, Chris Michell, Jack Todd and Christina Bowett.
