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Jim Gannon returned in January 2016. At the end of that season we finished in 9th place. Twelve months later there was an improvement to 8th, and but for a failure to beat Gloucester on the last day, (it was a 1-1 draw in front of nearly 5,800 – a record at that point for the Conference North and South), we would have been in the play-offs, as Darlington were excluded from them. The 2017/18 campaign ended in a rush, as 8 wins and 2 draws in 11 games saw us make the play-offs. We were matched against Chorley in the Elimination Round, four days after finishing the league season with a draw against Darlington, as the crowd record for a game at that level was broken again. This time it was 6,163, the biggest crowd at EP since the Tamworth game in 2012.

The crowd was bettered when Chorley arrived. Published as 6,230 there were more than a few eyebrows raised when Ken Boxshall announced it. There were clearly far more than for the Darlington game, if only because the travelling support was greater but also the home sections were filled far more. No ,matter what it was the expectation of the game which provided a great atmosphere. We had drawn at Chorley two weeks previously, so knew it would be a hard game, but the feeling was that this could well be the year. Sufficiently so for many County fans to have already invested in a ticket for the semi-final. With plenty of experience of going to Wetherby Road, Harrogate over the previous 5 years, it was hardly a secret that the allocation for away fans would be limited, and would, without any doubt lead to lengthy queues to ensure a ticket. Bizarrely, the Harrogate website had tickets on open sale, and many County fans availed themselves of the opportunity. It was money wasted.

Watching Chorley in our games against them it as clear that the centrepiece of their game was the centre back pairing of Teague and Leather. Commanding in the air, they were sold at the back. County’s success during the season had been founded on the goal scoring of Jason Oswell. A typical six yard box player, but contributing little in terms of chasing back, his 28 goals had been created from reactions in the box, fastening onto crosses, and pin point accurate passing through the midfield.

We singularly failed to play to our strengths. I have, over all the games I have watched Jim Gannon managed, developed a real admiration for the preparation and tactical plans he uses. This game was the only one where I have been utterly bemused at the tactics. We resorted to ‘hoofball’ playing straight into the hands of Teague and Leather. Frankly we were hopeless and when Jason Walker put the Magpies into the lead on the 66th minute there was hardly a person in the ground that felt we had a chance of pulling it back. And so it proved. We exited the play-offs … a huge let down.

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Memories of trips to Victory Park

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Tues	18/11/14	a	Victory Park	Vanarama Conference North (Tier 6)	L	0	3	1,663
Sat	21/03/15	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama Conference North (Tier 6)	L	0	2	3,401
Tues	15/09/15	a	Victory Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	L	1	0	1,530
Sat	07/11/15	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama Conference North (Tier 6)	L	1	3	3,408
Sat	22/10/16	a	Victory Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	W	1	0	2,464
Sat	04/03/17	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	D	0	0	4,073
Sat	18/11/17	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	D	1	1	3,674
Tues	17/04/18	a	Victory Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	D	1	1	1,983
Wed	02/05/18	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6 Play-Off Elimination Round)	L	0	1	6,230
Tue	30/10/18	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	W	3	0	2,653
Sat	24/11/18	h	Edgeley Park	FA Trophy (Qualifying Round 3)	W	3	0	1,245
Sat	20/04/19	a	Victory Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	L	0	2	3,597
Sat	07/12/19	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League (Tier 5)	W	4	2	4,510