So, a quick selective catch-up on teams I reported on earlier this season, from lower leagues working upwards to League Two, with those in leagues above to follow another day.
In the Evo Stik Division One North, my local team Mossley, who unfortunately ranged from dire to awful to watch for most of the season, rallied with some decent results late on in the season to climb to 14th out of 22. Meanwhile Woodley Sports have been kicked out to a lower league due to their ground not reaching required standards.
Meanwhile a team I'm a big fan of in that division is Lancaster City, who this season I saw experience good and bad moments in the FA cup qualifying, as they brilliantly won 1-0 at FC United of Manchester, before losing 3-0 at home to Halifax Town, a game that unfortunately will be remembered for it's crowd trouble as a brawl caused the game to be halted for nearly 20 minutes. They went in and out of the play off positions all season, but narrowly missed out by one place / two points at the end of it all. Champions were AFC Fylde, and Witton Albion followed them up after beating Curzon Ashton in the play off final.
In the division above, Chester FC were champions, and the play off final between Bradford Park Avenue and FC United of Manchester is tomorrow. Chorley, who I saw draw 2-2 with Whitby Town, were beating in the play off semi final by FC United. Incidentally Whitby put together a strong run to climb out of the relegation places, as did Buxton, who I saw before this run struggling 0-0 against Chasedown, who eventually finished in the relegation zone.
Next the Blue Square North, in which I regularly see Hyde or Stalybridge when the opportunity arises, and I blogged on their epic boxing day and new years day local derbies against each other. At that point Hyde were top and Stalybridge not too far behind, but Hyde had the upper hand in these games, giving them the momentum to eventually carry on to the end of the season on top of the league, earning them promotion to the Conference. Meanwhile Stalybridge stuttered, wasted their games in hand, and eventually finished one place outside the play offs. Currently battling in the play offs is FC Halifax Town, who I saw battle against Charlton Athletic in the FA cup before eventually succumbing to a harsh 4-0 defeat.
On the subject of Hyde going to the Conference, there's another team I saw who're doing the same, but unfortunately for Macclesfield Town, who amazingly just earlier this season outplayed and nearly beat Bolton in the FA cup 3rd round, eventually drawing 2-2, in this case it's relegation from League Two. At the time I saw them they were safely mid table, and the FA cup progress made it seem like it had so far been a successful season for them. An astonishingly poor run since then has seen them plummet down the table, and with a final game still to go they're already down without a fight.
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