2019-2020 Season Review
Well, this is not how things were supposed to have ended.
The devastating impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent cancellation of the NWCFL season has meant that this article is being written rather prematurely.
The FA have declared the NWCFL season as null-and-void but we’re not going to toss aside all of the hard work and memories that the players, coaching staff et al have put into the previous eight months.
Let’s start with a statistical look….
2019-2020 Season Review: In Numbers
Final League Position and Points
Ah, now then. How do you determine a final league position when the season was brought to a halt?
‘Points per Game’ has been a recognised way of sorting out relegation and promotion issues across non-league for a while now so it seems the logical way of mathematically forecasting a final table.
When the season ended we were in 8th place with 44 points from 30 games which gave us a PPG of 1.47. We had eight matches remaining, so multiply that by the 1.47 and then adding the 44 points gives us 55.7 points (to one decimal place).
If you do this for all clubs in the division then you get this final table….
So that’s what we will declare: a final finishing place of 8th with 56 points (let’s round it up) from the 38 games. A massive 16 points better than last season and an equally massive improvement of eight places.
Home League Record
7 wins, 2 draws, 7 defeats - too many defeats at Park Road for our liking.
Away League Record
6 wins, 3 draws, 5 defeats
Goals Scored (in all competitions)
73 - 31 at home and 42 away. We had clocked up 78 in total last season so I think we would have been well on the way to beating that.
Goals Conceded (in all competitions)
66 - 30 at home, 36 away. We had conceded 92 in total last season; I don’t think we’d have got anywhere near that so a major improvement when all is said and done.
Goals Scored Half-by-Half (in all competitions)
Fairly even. 36 in the first half, 37 in the second half. Nothing to see here.
Top Scorer
The one and only Pat Davin.
Biggest Win
6-1 vs St Martins (away) - NWCFL Division One South
Heaviest Defeat
0-7 vs Wythenshawe Town (home) - NWCFL Division One South
Most Consecutive Wins
7 - from the Boxing Day 3-1 home win vs Cheadle Heath Nomads to the 2-1 home win over Stockport Town at the end of January, a run that earned us the ‘Club of the Month’ Award.
Most Consecutive Games Unbeaten
8 - that same run with the 2-2 draw at Maine Road attached on to the end of it
Most Consecutive Games Without a Win
7 - those first seven matches of the season that only brought a solitary point
League Doubles
Just the one at the time the season was stopped - Abbey Hulton United
Percentage of League Points Gained by Venue
52% at home, 48% away
League Points Gained as a Percentage of Total Points Possible
49%, going off the total gained from 30 games. Far better than last season’s 38%
So that’s it in terms of facts and figures. I think overall, despite the season’s curtailed nature, you can see an improvement over last season, a trend that will hopefully continue into the 2020-21 term.
2019-20 didn’t get off to the best of starts as the poor form at the end of the previous campaign carried over.
Just the solitary point from the opening seven matches was rounded off with the season’s nadir on the August Bank Holiday Monday: a 0-7 home shellacking at the hands of Wythenshawe Town.
Wythenshawe Town (h) - Brian Matthews and Ben Brooks sum up the mood. Thankfully it wouldn’t get any worse after that.
That meant a run of only 1 win in 22 matches and Will Griffiths was relieved of his managerial duties.
Goalkeeping coach Steve Piggott took charge on a temporary basis for the next four games and brought about an instant upturn in fortunes. Two FA Vase ties - versus Staveley and East Hull - were safely negotiated as was a First Division Cup tie at Cleator Moor and a tricky away league match at Wythenshawe Amateurs.
Danny Meadowcroft and Liam Brownhill were brought in as the new managerial pair in time for the away match at Vauxhall Motors where we were unlucky to come away with a 2-4 defeat.
They got their first win when Abbey Hulton United were seen off 4-1 at Park Road with further progress being made in the First Division Cup with a 5-2 win at Alsager Town.
There was a major blip in the form in the FA Vase at Selby Town as the hosts ran out 5-1 winners but overall the progress was steady, culminating in the post-Christmas run that looked like we were making a late tilt for the promotion places.
After Cheadle Heath Nomads were defeated 3-1 on Boxing Day we went on a run of 7 consecutive victories and deservedly earned the NWCFL Club of the Month Award for January 2020.
Following the late, late win over Stockport Town, though, the form had started to fall away a little bit.
Our first defeat in what seemed ages came at a disappointing afternoon at Wythenshawe Town. That was then followed by an exit from the First Division Cup and an unlucky 0-1 home defeat by champions-elect Vauxhall Motors.
Our last action of the season came at Park Road where missed chances cost us in a 1-1 draw at home to New Mills.
Our Boxing Day crowd vs Cheadle Heath Nomads - we’re looking forward to seeing you all again at Park Road in the future
Looking forward to next season, whenever that may be, we have the nucleus of a squad that can hopefully sustain a push for promotion. After last season’s finish of 16th, our place in 8th is not to be sniffed at and shows the progress that we have made since the start of September.
But I suppose that, in the grand scheme of things, football doesn’t really matter that much at the moment. Everybody here at Cheadle Town FC hopes that you and your families are staying safe and we hope to be seeing you all again at Park Road when our lives return to business as usual. Which it will.
Onwards.
