Saturday could have been the Boro V Borough derby, but Radcliffe dropped the “Borough” suffix officially in 2018.

Two cup wins have hopefully improved confidence in taking on Radcliffe this Saturday. Radcliffe arrive in 5th place with a record of four wins and three defeats form their away league games. They were on a run of 6 consecutive victories until Lancaster put that run to an end this week in in a Lancashire cup game. Let us hope they do not see this Saturday as a game to begin another run.

As far as I am aware this will be the first competitive match between the 2 teams. Radcliffe were formed in 1949 and began their rise up the pyramid when joining the Cheshire League in 1974 and then moving into the North West Counties league, with promotion to the Northern Premier League Division 1 North from 1987. They have dabbled before at step 3 Northern Premier league level before. They were promoted to the NPL for season, 1997/98 but were relegated after one season. Promotion back in 2003 via playoffs saw them have a run of 4 seasons at step 3 finishing 20th, 8th, and 18th before relegation back to division 1 after finishing 21st in 206/07. Radcliffe remained in Division 1 up to last season when they finished second behind Atherton Collieries but secured promotion via the play offs beating Leek 2-1.

I think the reasons that we have never met before is that on joining the Cheshire and North West Counties Leagues, we were an established NPL side. Their dalliance in the NPL saw us in the Southern League Midland, Southern League, Conference North and Conference. I am not aware of any FA Cup or Trophy encounters.

Radcliffe’s current position on their return to step 3 shows that they will be a stern task for us as we lie at the foot of the table awaiting our first home win. Could Saturday be the day? Please try to get out of Christmas shopping and get down to Marston Road this Saturday. With the tarmacking of the car park under way there could be the possibility of restricted parking, so please be aware to utilise street parking on Astonfields Industrial Estate.

Games played on 7th December this century

2002 Dover H 3-1 Southern League
2004 Redditch A 0-1 Conference North
2011 Witton Albion A 1-3 Northern Premier League Cup
2013 A F C Fylde H 2-2 Northern Premier League