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SUMMARY

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Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Ave Att:
26	14	7	5	3,139

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This issue is for the Boxing Day game against Alfreton, which saw a 1-0 win. Kallum Mantack scored that day, but early in the second half he suffered a horrendous leg-break. he returned at the start of the 2018/19 season but moved on shortly afterwards. I have seen him play a number of times since then for Stalybridge, where he is a firm favourite of the Celtic faithful.

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A STOP START BEGINNING TO THE YEAR FOR ME

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After a health impacted 2017 I was looking forward to getting my attendance back up to pre-illness levels in 2018. But until the post-treatment impact became obvious I had never really thought about the importance of the immune system. Mine had been completely wiped out, (part of the treatment), and it’s a slow process to build things back up again. I had to make constant hospital visits, for all sort of innoculations. It was like being back to childhood, as the jabs for MMR; chicken pox etc etc were administered. What it essentially meant was that I had to take things game by game. If I didn’t feel up to things I simply didn’t go. Previously, I’d have shrugged things off, and got on with it – no longer I’m afraid.

The first game of the New Year, at Alfreton, was one of those, so having missed it I was looking forward to the visit of Salford a few days later. The team bought to secure promotion was riding high, and a good crowd and atmosphere was expected.

At 1.30 I put my coat on and went to head off to SK3. As I got to the door Julie shouted me. She was in real pain around the chest, and the afternoon’s entertainment was cancelled at short notice. Just over three hours later I saw on my phone that Salford had got a late, late equaliser. It must have been gutting for those there – wins over the ‘nouveau riche’ were always to be savoured. But I had better things to think about. By that time we were in Tameside General Hospital as the paramedics had deemed things serious enough to warrant admission. Fortunately, after numerous tests, and some medication, she was discharged.

Other than a Cheshire Cup game against Barnton I didn’t see us in action until late January. I may have picked something up during those hours in the hospital waiting room but I was laid low for the thick end of three weeks. In that time there were 2 League defeats, but progress in the Trophy, as Kidderminster were despatched. Returning to EP after a break of 4 years was Rhys Turner. Still only 22 his spells at Oldham and Morecambe had been blighted by injury. He played 15 times in the remainder of the season, scoring 4 times. Sadly, injury finally claimed him in 2019 when he had to retire. The immense promise he showed when first at EP never had the chance to be fulfilled.

Jamie Stott, (left), had also come in, on loan from Oldham. It was the first of 3 loan spells, and he was to become a firm favourite. He played in 16 games in this spell, and his partnership with Michael Clarke, (mainly), Steve O’Halloran and Chris Smalley made the defence was far more secure

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I was glad to get to an away game in February – the short trip to FCUM. It was March before I made a trip of any consequence and that was to Gainsborough. That proved to be the first of 7 wins in 8 games which pushed us well into contention for the play-offs. The title was well out of reach as Salford were running away with it. On a night of high emotion at Chorley, a magnificent header from Scott Duxbury gave us a draw which secured the play-off place that had been only just missed 12 months previously.

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PLAY-OFF HEARTACHE …. ONCE MORE!!

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Coincidentally the Magpies were the opposition in the elimination round. And as with Dartford, in 2013, and Gloucester 12 months previously the whole thing was a let down. A huge crowd, announced at 6,230 but which looked far more than that. The previous Saturday we had set a new record for a league game at Tier 6, when 6,163 watched us draw with Darlington.

At the play-off game there were many more than that, and some cynics suggested that there were getting on for 7,500 in reality. No matter how many, because apart from the Chorley following there was little to get excited about and much, much more to be sorely disappointed with

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It was the 9th time we had played them since 2014, and the previous 8 had seen only one win, (that courtesy of a typical Danny Lloyd goal in October 2016). They had the better of us 4 times, and the two league games in the 2017/18 season had ended in 1-1 draws. The night was so disappointing. We had played football all season, passing through the midfield, using wide men to get early crosses into the box from which Oswell, in particular and Warburton, had benefitted. Not so on the evening of 2nd May.

The strength of the Chorley team was built from the back with a commanding centre back partnership of Andy Teague and Scott Leather. County’s front men that season had much to commend them but no-one would have ever claimed that they had any real quality in an aerial battle. But for some reason the pattern of the team was changed and we persisted with throwing up long balls. These were just meat and drink to Teague and Leather. Why revert from what had worked so well all season? Jason Walker put Chorley ahead about 20 minutes from time, and quite frankly we never looked like hitting back. Play-off heartache again, for the 5th time in 6 attempts.

It left me with a ticket for the play-off semi final which we had known before the Chorley game was going to be at Wetherby Road, Harrogate. The prospect of queuing for hours, if we had qualified, with a meagre allocation, held no attraction whatseoever. I had been surprised to find that the Harrogate on-line ticket system was open to all. One ticket procured. I did toy around with going over there for the game, but couldn’t be bothered in the end. The printed e-ticket has lain in my draw ever since. I’ve often wondered just how many people actually watched that game. The published attendance was 2,307 – I knew of many more County fans who’d also purchased on-line tickets but didn’t go!!

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PREPARING WELL … AS IT TURNED OUT

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Off the field things had been really well stabilised over the previous 3 or 4 years by the Board, which had been comprised of Richard Park and Jon Keighren, after the departures of McKnight and Taylor in 2014. They had been joined by Gary Burton; Malcolm Cooke and Steve Bellis in 2016, and George Hudson was in the background as an advisor. The Kennedy connection had been severed as the Council bought the ground in 2015, and rented it back to the Club. But it was little secret that they were looking for a new owner, or at the very least significant investment. There had been all sorts of talk about Chinese investors but they had come to naught. Tales of consortia in the background were rife, but little seemed to be happening.

So we stood as a Club which urgently required investment. The commercial operation had been built up, but the resources simply weren’t there to compete with the bankrolled clubs. Promotion for Fylde and Salford was adequate testimony to that, and Harrogate weren’t without a sugar daddy either. It meant that Gannon was still in a position where his undoubted football management skills were hampered by being unable to operate in the same kind of market. And if promotion was to be gained there were plenty more in the Conference National where money seemed to be no object.

We kept an interested eye on movement in and out during the summer. There were departures of course. Jason Oswell and Jimmy Ball headed for League football, at Morecambe and Stevenage respectively. Harry Winter and Steve O’Halloran made the short trip to FCUM; and Michael Clarke and Harry Brazel dropped down a level.

Coming in were strikers Frank Mulhern, who had scored a really good goal against us for Bradford PA at the Horsfall Stadium towards the back end of the season, and Nyal Bell from Gateshead. At the back Ashley Palmer, (Guiseley), and Jordan Keane, (Boston), both had significant experience. Sam Walker, who had spent much of the last few months of 2017/18 on loan at Curzon was back, and maybe his selection as a sub for the Chorley play-off game was an indication that he was going to play a bigger part this time round. Also arriving were Connor Dimiaio, (a midfielder released by Chesterfield), and Kallum Mantack, who had shown up well in a loan spell a few months earlier before having his leg broken in a disgraceful challenge by Cieron Keane, (coincidentally brother of Jordan!).

The acquisitions certainly looked to have strengthened the team and hopes were high that the 2018/19 season would see the Gannon pattern, of always improving on the previous season’s position, repeated. That could only mean promotion!!

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Back (l to r): Scott Duxbury; Ashley Palmer; Ian Ormson; Ben Hinchliffe; Dane Smith; Chris Smalley; Kallum Mantack

Middle (l to r):Luke Smith, (physio); Sam Walker; Jordan Downing; Sam Minihan; Jake Kirby; Adam Etches; Frank Mulhern; Adam Thomas; Dan Cowan; Richard Landon, (kit man)

Front (l to r): Karlos Leneghan, (goalkeeping coach); Connor Dimiaio; Darren Stephenson; Matty Warburton; Jim Gannon, (manager); Paul Turnbull; Jordan Keane; Nyal Bell; Nick Donnelly, (fitness coach)

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A SLOW START … FA CUP SUCCESS … THEN ON A ROLL

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An opening day trouncing of an incredibly poor FCUM side was then followed by just two wins in the next nine games. It was hardly what had been envisaged. The season turned largely for me in an FA Cup game at South Shields. The hosts, with significant financial backing, had made little secret of their long term ambitions, and it looked as though an upset was on the cards when they took the lead. Sam Walker equalised, and it looked as though the game could go either way, Fortunately a late, late strike from Nyal Bell took us through. We had shown a lot of resilience.

The nineteen games until the end of the year brought just two defeats, and one of those was in the 2nd Round of the FA Cup at Barnet. To get to that stage was an achievement, (and included a great win at League team Yeovil), and it marked the first time that we had been in the 2nd round since that dreadful night at the Moss Rose in late 2009 when Torquay humbled us, the ‘home’ team.

We lost on a wild Tuesday night at Blyth. The next league defeat would be four and a half months, and 16 games later, 13 of which were won. It encompassed another two loan spells for Jamie Stott, broken up by a brief return to Oldham. He undoubtedly was a key part of things. Elliott Osborne had also come back, this time permanently after a brief spell st Southport, for whom he had turned out against us in the early weeks of the season.

This kind of form certainly boded well for 2019. The league title race looked to be between Chorley and ourselves. It was essential that the top spot should be ours – no-one wanted to go through the play-off lottery again. Little did we know how dramatic the last day would be!!

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Back to 2017 Forward to 2019 Home Games Summary Away Games 2018

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THE HOME GAMES I SAW THIS YEAR

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Home Game
Tue	09/01/18 (Highlights)	Cheshire Senior Cup	Round 1	Barnton	W	4	2	268	1,053
Sat	27/01/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	York City	W	2	0	4,407	1,054
Tue	06/02/18 (Highlights)	FA Trophy	Round 3 (Replay)	Maidenhead United	W	3	2	1,131	1,055
Tue	20/02/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Nuneaton Town	L	0	1	2,629	1,056
Sat	24/02/18 (Highlights)	FA Trophy	Quarter Final	Brackley Town	D	1	1	2,213	1,057
Sat	10/03/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Brackley Town	L	0	1	3,060	1,058
Tue	20/03/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Boston United	W	1	0	2,244	1,059
Sat	24/03/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Leamington	W	4	0	3,673	1,060
Tue	03/04/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Tamworth	W	3	2	2,854	1,061
Sat	14/04/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	AFC Telford United	W	1	0	3,546	1,062
Sat	28/04/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Darlington	D	1	1	6,163	1,063
Wed	02/05/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6 Play-Off Elimination Round	Chorley	L	0	1	6,230	1,064
Sat	04/08/18 (HIghlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	FC United of Manchester	W	5	1	4,689	1,065
Tue	14/08/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Guiseley	D	1	1	2,923	1,066
Sat	25/08/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Alfreton Town	L	0	1	2,868	1,067
Sat	01/09/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Leamington	W	3	1	2,680	1,068
Sat	08/09/18 (HIghlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Boston United	L	0	2	3,050	1,069
Sat	06/10/18 (Highlights)	FA Cup	Qualifying Round 3	Corby Town	W	3	0	1,935	1,070
Sat	13/10/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Hereford	D	1	1	3,646	1,071
Sat	20/10/18 (HIghlights)	FA Cup	Qualifying Round 4	Altrincham	W	2	0	2,981	1,072
Sat	27/10/18 (HIghlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Nuneaton Borough	D	2	2	2,802	1,073
Tue	30/10/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Chorley	W	3	0	2,653	1,074
Sat	17/11/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Brackley Town	D	1	1	3,449	1,075
Sat	24/11/18 (Highlights)	FA Trophy	Qualifying Round 3	Chorley	W	3	0	1,245	1,076
Sat	08/12/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Chester	D	1	1	3,714	1,077
Wed	26/12/18 (Highlights)	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	Altrincham	W	2	0	4,549	1,078

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