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Press Release News…Results…News…Results…Tables… rd ISSUE No. 38 WEEK ENDING 3 May REVIEW OF THE WEEK Having undergone final day disappointment for the second successive season last Saturday WITTON ALBION suffered the double whammy of play-off frustration in consecutive campaigns when they lost on penalties to BUXTON on Tuesday evening. With the play-offs having been in existence for four years it was the third consecutive occasion that the club finishing as Premier Division runners-up had failed to go up. Instead it was third place GATESHEAD who eased their way to promotion beating EASTWOOD TOWN 4-0 in midweek and then BUXTON 2- 0 on Saturday. FC UNITED of MANCHESTER became the first lower tier runners-up to gain promotion via the play- offs when they came from behind to beat SKELMERSDALE UNITED 4-1 with “Skem” playing all the second half with ten men and the last twenty minutes with nine. The First Division South play-off final went to extra-time and penalties with NANTWICH TOWN, who had come from behind to beat GRANTHAM TOWN on Tuesday evening, overcoming SHEFFIELD FC 4-1 from the spot after the sides had finished all square at 2-2. Just over six thousand fans watched the three play-off games. The curtain fell on the season with FLEETWOOD TOWN adding the Peter Swales Memorial Shield to their Premier Division title beating BRADFORD PARK AVENUE 2-1. RESULTS Monday, 28 th April 2008 Wednesday. 30 th April 2008 MANCHESTER PREMIER CUP FINAL FIRST DIVISION NORTH PLAY OFF Semi Final RADCLIFFE BOROUGH 2 Hyde United 1 FC UNITED OF M/CR 3 BAMBER BRIDGE 2 Teague 4og, G.Jones 89. Seddon 90. Att.276 A.Carden 22, Patterson 38, Zarac 51,79. Att.1820 Wright 69. Tuesday, 29 th April 2008 rd Saturday, 3 May 2008 PREMIER DIVISION PLAY-OFF Semi Finals GATESHEAD 4 EASTWOOD TOWN 0 PREMIER DIVISION PLAY OFF FINAL Southern 3,45, Brayson 13, Att.539 GATESHEAD 2 BUXTON 0 Shaw 28og. Gate 49, Brayson 79. Att.1402 WITTON ALBION 1 BUXTON 1 FIRST DIVISION NORTH PLAY OFF FINAL Warlow 90. Ross 45. Att.586 FC UNITED OF M/CR 4 SKELMERSDALE UTD 1 (Buxton won 6-5 on pens) Platt 41pen, Chadwick 51, McConville 10. Att.3258 FIRST DIVISION NORTH PLAY-OFF Semi Final Patterson 63pen, C.Baguley 80. SKELMERSDALE UTD 3 CURZON ASHTON 0 FIRST DIVISION SOUTH PLAY OFF FINAL Donnelly 45,48, Murt 70. Att.245 NANTWICH TOWN 2 SHEFFIELD FC 2 FIRST DIVISION SOUTH PLAY-OFF Semi Finals Blackhurst 32, Walker 71. P.Smith 45, Ward 90. NANTWICH TOWN 2 GRANTHAM TOWN 1 Att.1354 Kinsey 76, Blackhurst 88. Turner 74. Att.624 (AET - Nantwich Town won 4-1 on pens) SHEFFIELD FC 4 STOCKSBRIDGE PS 1 PETER SWALES MEMORIAL SHIELD Powell 15,55, Copnell 27,80. Riley 60pen. Att.430 FLEETWOOD TOWN 2 BRADFORD PK AVE 1 UNIBOND LEAGUE CHAIRMANS CUP FINAL Mercer 17, Milligan 80. Connors 52. Att.388 RETFORD UNITED 2 BRADFORD PK AVE 0 (Premier Div winners) (First Div North winners) Goddard 1, Chappell 16. Att.131 Chief Executive League Secretary/Press Officer Duncan Bayley Phil Bradley 22 Woburn Drive 7 Guest Road Hale, Altrincham NEWSLINE Prestwich Manchester Cheshire WA15 8LZ M25 7DJ 09066 555 800 Telephone:0161 980 7007 Telephone:0161 773 4959 (home) Fax:0161 904 8850 Telephone:0161 798 5198 (office) e-mail:[email protected] Fax:0161 7730930 e-mail:[email protected] 1 UNIBOND “CLUB OF THE MONTH” AWARDS The final UniBond “Club of the Month” awards for April/May have gone to GATESHEAD, FC UNITED of MANCHESTER and NANTWICH TOWN all of whom coincidentally won their respective Division’s play-off finals and were also all taking the award for a second time in the season. Gateshead won the Premier Division prize in some style with seven wins and a draw in their eight games scoring 27 goals and conceding just two. FC United had a real fixture pile up to negotiate in April but still managed to pick up the President’s Cup in addition to winning the play-offs recording eight victories and losing only two of their thirteen fixtures. NANTWICH TOWN lifted the First Division South accolade winning seven of their nine games against some tough opposition including Blue Square National side Altrincham in the Cheshire Senior Cup Final. UNIBOND “FAIRPLAY” AWARDS The UniBond “Fair Play” awards for April have gone to WITTON ALBION, ROSSENDALE UNITED and KIDSGROVE ATHLETIC respectively. Albion’s record of just one caution in four games cemented their place at the top of the Premier Division Fair Play table although surprisingly for an overall season winner it was the first occasion they had lifted a monthly award. The £1,000 winners cheque added to the £3,600 for finishing league runners-up will be some small consolation for them narrowly missing out on promotion for the second successive campaign. GATESHEAD took second place in the Fair Play table and pocketed £650 whilst GUISELEY in third took home £350 thanks to finishing 0.01 of a point ahead of Matlock Town NEWCASTLE BLUE STAR won the £1,000 first prize in the First Division North whilst Rossendale’s April award lifted them to second overall and £650 at the expense of WOODLEY SPORTS who had their hitherto good record blighted by a poor April to finish third overall which cost them £300. Kidsgrove’s third monthly award of the season enabled them to overtake QUORN in the race to the First Division South £1,000 prize with WARRINGTON TOWN picking up the £350 for third spot in the final overall season table. FOUR MORE MANAGERS GO As the dust settled on the UniBond season four more managers parted company with their clubs to take the number of managerial changes in the campaign to 28 or virtually 50% of the League’s membership. First Colwyn Bay announced they had decided to look for another manager for next season after Gary Finley had not led the Welsh club in to the play-offs whilst quickly on their heels were Woodley Sports whose manager Ashley Berry is leaving after only nine weeks at the club. Berry halted the club’s slide towards relegation in his brief tenure and he is thought to be taking a similar job nearer his Yorkshire base. Then Cammell Laird announced they have appointed Ken McKenna as manager for next season to replace Ian Doran who will join the Board after spearheading Lairds rise up the pyramid with four promotions in five years as the club moved from the West Cheshire League to the UniBond League Premier Division in that time. Doran’s Assistant Neil Young stays on as Assistant to McKenna who has managed Welsh side TNS in high profile European competitive games and was also a long serving Altrincham player. Finally Witton Albion’s website is reporting that manager Jim Vance decided to step down hours after his side’s play-off defeat against Buxton with Chairman Mike Worthington saying Vince’s decision to quit has left him at his lowest ebb since he took over as Chairman almost a decade ago. 2 UNIBOND LEAGUE TABLES 2007 -2008 UniBond Premier Division Pos Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts 1 Fleetwood Town 40 14 4 2 43 23 14 3 3 38 16 42 91 2 Witton Albion 40 17 1 2 54 15 10 7 3 30 13 56 89 3 Gateshead 40 14 2 4 43 16 12 5 3 50 26 51 85 4 Eastwood Town 40 13 4 3 40 24 7 5 8 21 21 16 69 5 Buxton 40 10 3 7 36 27 10 5 5 24 23 10 68 6 Guiseley 40 9 6 5 29 21 10 4 6 36 22 22 67 7 Marine 40 11 0 9 37 30 8 4 8 33 35 5 61 8 Hednesford Town 40 9 4 7 36 32 6 4 10 26 33 -3 53 9 Worksop Town 40 6 8 6 31 32 7 4 9 28 30 -3 51 10 Ashton United 40 6 8 6 31 31 5 7 8 32 42 -10 48 11 Kendal Town 40 7 8 5 36 27 5 3 12 25 43 -9 47 12 Whitby Town 40 9 2 9 41 37 4 5 11 27 38 -7 46 13 Prescot Cables [ -1] 40 8 4 8 21 24 5 4 11 27 38 -14 46 14 Frickley Athletic 40 8 6 6 29 22 3 7 10 21 46 -18 46 15 North Ferriby United 40 7 3 10 26 40 6 4 10 27 36 -23 46 16 Matlock Town 40 9 6 5 34 24 3 3 14 21 44 -13 45 17 Ilkeston Town 40 6 6 8 40 39 4 8 8 24 33 -8 44 18 Ossett Town 40 6 4 10 21 28 6 4 10 27 32 -12 44 19 Leek Town 40 5 8 7 27 30 6 3 11 27 38 -14 44 20 Stamford 40 6 6 8 30 38 5 4 11 29 48 -27 43 21 Lincoln United 40 2 4 14 18 39 5 4 11 26 46 -41 29 UniBond First Division North Pos Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts 1 Bradford Park Avenue 42 16 3 2 57 15 9 4 8 34 28 48 82 2 FC United of Manchester 42 14 5 2 58 26 10 4 7 33 23 42 81 3 Skelmersdale United 42 13 5 3 58 21 10 4 7 36 25 48 78 4 Curzon Ashton 42 14 2 5 46 22 9 7 5 32 26 30 78 5 Bamber Bridge 42 10 5 6 33 25 12 3 6 37 29 16 74 6 Ossett Albion 42 11 6 4 40 28 9 4 8 37 37 12 70 7 Wakefield FC 42 10 3 8 30 26 9 4 8 28 23 9 64 8 Newcastle Blue Star 42 10 9 2 40 24 7 3 11 31 34 13 63 9 Rossendale United 42 9 5 7 32 30 7 6 8 34 44 -8 59 10 Garforth Town 42 9 2 10 32 34 7 6 8 28 29 -3 56 11 Lancaster City 42 9 4 8 27 30 6 5 10 27 40 -16 54 12 Harrogate Railway Ath 42 8 6 7 29 31 5 6 10 22 27 -7 51 13 Clitheroe 42 7 5 9 33 35 6 6 9 30 42 -14 50 14 Chorley 42 5 8 8 28 28 5 4 12 28 52 -24 42 15 Mossley 42 7 5 9 31 43 5 1 15 29 57 -40 16 Radcliffe Borough 42 3 3 15 21 39 6 8 7 32 36 -22 38 17 Woodley Sports [-1] 42 4 7 10 19 30 3 6 12 19 35 -27 33 18 Bridlington Town 42 4 3 14 23 49 4 5 12 19 50 -57 32 UniBond First Division South Pos Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts 1 Retford United * 42 17 1 3 49 15 14 5 2 44 20 58 99 2 Cammell Laird * 42 17 3 1 51 18 10 2 9 31 36 28 86 3 Nantwich Town 42 15 2 4 50 17 10 2 9 40 28 45 79 4 Sheffield FC 42 14 5 2 41 17 8 5 8 41 36 29 76 5 Stocksbridge Pk Steels 42 15 4 2 40 19 6 5 10 32 42 11 72 6 Grantham Town 42 14 0 7 40 25 8 4 9 34 33 16 70 7 Colwyn Bay 42 12 3 6 54 31 7 5 9 32 34 21 65 8 Belper Town 42 9 6 6 39 34 8 7 6 34 30 9 64 9 Goole AFC 42 12 4 5 48 27 6 6 9 29 42 8 64 10 Carlton Town 42 8 6 7 43 40 8 5 8 43 42 4 59 11 Gresley Rovers 42 11 3 7 33 32 7 2 12 20 37 -16 59 12 Quorn 42 10 3 8 43 38 5 5 11 26 38 -7 53 13 Warrington Town 42 6 7 8 27 36 7 1 13 24 42 -27 47 14 Alsager Town + 42 6 5 10 29 38 6 2 13 29 50 -30 43 15 Shepshed Dynamo 42 7 4 10 27 32 3 4 14 17 43 -31 38 16 Brigg Town 42 2 8 11 28 48 6 4 11 28 38 -30 36 17 Kidsgrove Athletic 42 5 7 9 38 36 2 3 16 23 54 -29 31 18 Spalding United + 42 0 3 18 16 54 3 7 11 30 51 -59 19 * Cammell Laird promoted in place of Retford United due to ground irreg ularities.