Tuesday 14 November 2017, NWCFL Premier Division
West v Barnton
Brookburn Road, M21 8FE
£5 adults, £3 concessions, free for under-12s accompanied by an adult
West are at home for the third time in eight days on Tuesday, as relegation-haunted Barnton visit Brookburn Road.
The home side have slipped to 11th in the Premier Division after the weekend’s results, but will be looking to complete a double over a Barnton side who are still looking for their first league win of the season.
Steve Settle may be able to call upon striker Ash Woods, back at West after his dual-registration signing from Atherton Collieries.
At a glance
| West | v | Barnton |
| 11th | Position | 23rd |
| WLLLL | Form (all competitions) | WLLLL |
| 14 | Played | 18 |
| 7 | Won | 0 |
| 1 | Drawn | 5 |
| 6 | Lost | 13 |
| 22 | Points | 5 |
| 33 | Goals for | 29 |
| 37 | Goals against | 65 |
| Tom Bailey (18) | Top scorer (all competitions) | Christopher Smith (20) |
| West v Barnton (NWCFL era): P3, W3, D0, L0, F11, A3 |
The Villagers
Barnton’s season so far would appear to be easy to analyse – 18 games, no wins, five points, 65 goals conceded and marooned at the bottom of the Premier Division. But the Villagers have led at some point in over half of those games – 11 in total, including West’s visit to Townfield in September, when Barnton were two goals to the good at half time but collapsed in the final 20 minutes to lose 4-2. They performed a similar trick at Winsford United in the Macron Cup last month, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory after leading 3-1 with six minutes to play.
This unfortunate habit may stem from fatigue, mental tiredness or just plain old bad luck – probably a combination of all three – but it does suggest that it is only a matter of time before the Villagers hold on and register their first three points of the season. If and when that happens, Christopher Smith is likely to be a key figure – amazingly, Smith is the second-highest scorer in the Premier Division this season despite his side’s woes, scoring 16 of their 29 league goals. He added four more in the Villagers’ 7-4 Mid-Cheshire Senior Cup defeat of Northwich Victoria last month.
Last time – Barnton 2-4 West, Wednesday 20 September 2017
West recovered from a woeful first half to snatch victory at Townfield. Christopher Smith’s double put the home side in control at the interval, and the Villagers had chances for a third before Saul Henderson, Scott Mason, Harold Hagon and Tom Bailey all scored in the final 22 minutes to ensure the points travelled north.
Read the match report and see the goals from September’s meeting.
