March would see the beginning of a run for West in which they registered 9 victories and collected 28 points from their last remaining 11 games of the season.
Having gone winless for two months Steve Settle rang the changes as he brought in Aaron Ashley from Bacup Borough and Josh Tinker from cross town rivals Maine Road. In addition the club said goodbye to Rob Black and Ben Woods having also parted ways with Martyn Andrews in January.
The new arrivals had a transforming effect as West made their first trip to Barnton where they lead early on through a Saul Henderson flick off the inside of the post. Despite Anthony Potts being sent off after only 20 minutes West extended their lead through a Nic Evangelinos brace the second of which was a superb curling effort into the top corner.
The result was a landmark one for West as they registered their first clean sheet since November and their first away from home since their 6-0 win at Irlam on September 2nd.
The following Saturday saw West record their first back to back league wins since November when they pushed aside a depleted Squires Gate team 3-1 thanks to a Nic Evangelinos hat-trick the second of which was a superb strike into the bottom left hand corner from the edge of the area.
West made it three wins from three when they edged out Abbey Hey 1-0 thanks to an early Carlos Mendes Gomes strike from inside the penalty area. In a game of few chances, the talking point was the attendance as Mendes Gomes winner was witnessed by a crowd of 350, with West registering one of their highest ever attendances.
Sadly West couldn’t finish the month with a 100% win record as they were pinned back by a determined Barnoldswick Town side to end the month. In the first half West raced into a three goal lead in one of the best first half performances of the season as Joe Shaw, Nia Bayunu and Nic Evangelinos all got on the scoresheet.
However Barlick rallied with three second half goals to earn a hard fought point but West still registered 10 points from 12 in the month of March.
You can buy our 2016/17 Yearbook now. Created, designed and illustrated by Lew Currie, it features recollections, stats and writings on last season. Find out more here: https://wdcfc.co.uk/201617-yearbook-lew-currie-pre-order-launch-night/
