Maine Road vs West
The South Manchester Derby
Manchester FA Premier Cup
Monday 23rd October, 7.45pm
Admission: £5 for adults, £3 concessions

The first South Manchester Derby of the season is sure to be a feisty affair, with both teams highly motivated – even without local bragging rights being taken into account. The Manchester FA Premier Cup offered some of the highlights of last season for West both on and off the pitch. A 2-1 win away at Radcliffe Borough was followed by a memorable night in Glossop saw Settle’s side return home with a 4-2 win against North End, before the cup run was ended by FC United, in a game that will be forever remembered for events off the field. A travelling band of around 200 West fans made noise throughout the evening, even as FC strolled to a 7-1 win.

Over the last few seasons, the South Manchester Derby has become one of the highlights of the fixture list for both sides. 2016/17 saw West break their record attendance for the visit of Maine Road, with 674 seeing a dispiriting 1-1 draw. The return fixture seemed to be following a similarly insipid path, with West 1-0 down before an unfortunate injury saw the game postponed. Once replayed, West romped to a 3-0 win in which the hosts never really got into the game.

This season, West have gone from being prolific to being goal shy over the last two games: successive blanks against Barnoldswick Town and West Auckland Town have left Chorlton at the end of 2-0 and 3-0 defeats. While the Barlick game was largely a stutter, West acquitted themselves well against Auckland – one of the favourites to go on and win the FA Vase – and were perhaps unfortunate to have lost by such a margin. In terms of team news, new signing Chappy Massamba is available for selection, although a knock picked up at his former club AFC Darwen may well keep him out of the side. If ever there was a game to make your debut and immediately become a fan favourite, this would be it.

Maine Road have had a less than an ideal start to the season, having won only 4 and lost 9 from 13 in their league campaign so far – sitting 18th in the table. Their recent form has been similarly worrying, having lost successively to Padiham (1-3, home), Charnock Richard (1-3, home), Stockport Town, (7-1, away) and, on Saturday, Widnes (5-1, away). Perhaps their best win of the season was a 2-1 win away at AFC Liverpool back on the 7th October – although they have not tasted victory since.

The winner of the tie (which will be decided on the night, with no replay) will face Hyde United away in the next round: a great incentive for both sides.

South Manchester Derby – last season’s results

West (Kay) 1 – 1 Maine Road
Tuesday 27 December 2016

The first South Manchester Derby of the season ended in a stalemate but was watched by a club record attendance of 674. Having moved the game back a day to avoid clashing with the Premier League Derby fever was in full affect as West supporters smashed the previous record of 460 set in July for the visit of FC United of Manchester. West Manager Steve Settle was able to name an unchanged side from the team that won away to Hanley Town with the back five remaining unchanged for the third consecutive fixture. Read More

Maine Road 0 – 3 (Shaw, Kay, Henderson) West
Monday 24 April 2017

West recorded their biggest ever South Manchester Derby win as they ran out 3-0 winners away to Maine Road on a blustery night at Brantingham Road.

On a cold evening in Chorlton West supporters were warmed by the returns of Ash Woods and Martyn Andrews into the starting line ups as they returned from Trafford and Glossop North End respectively for the final run in. Read More