WARRINGTON Town will be hoping to finally take the last step to joining the National League when they host Bamber Bridge in Monday’s Northern Premier League play-off final.
A win would be nothing more than the Yellows deserve for being arguably the most consistent team over the past six seasons, two of which were curtailed due to COVID.
In the other four, they have now reached three play-off finals, including a win over South Shields in 2019 – only to be cruelly denied promotion by the advent of a so-called super play-off for that season only.
Last season it was Scarborough who prevented the Yellows from stepping up to National League North, Mitch Duggan sent off as the hosts won 2-1.
But while last year they went in to the play-offs as underdogs, pulling off a shock and dramatic semi-final win on penalties away at South Shields, Mark Beesley’s side are favourites this year.
A 22-game unbeaten run helped them finish second in the league, above Bamber Bridge, who under Jamie Milligan finished third despite boasting the incredible statistic of a negative goal difference.
A win over Bamber Bridge in March, when the Yellows had to play the entire match with 10 men after Sean Williams’ first minute red card, helped prolong that run and played some part in securing second spot, which guaranteed the Yellows home advantage in the play-offs.
They made the most of that with a thumping 4-1 win over Matlock Town on Tuesday night – the same score they beat Nantwich at the same stage on their way to play-off glory four years ago – in the most dominant of performances.
Matlock manager Martin Carruthers said after the match: “We were well beaten by a far superior side, it was men against boys, they’re the best side I’ve seen at this level for five or six years, their movement, their rotation and the quality of their counter attacking is really outstanding.
“I think and no disrespect to South Shields, that they’re a better side than Shields and I’ll be really shocked if they don’t go on and win the final against Bamber Bridge. We simply couldn’t match them, they’re a side three years in the making and it’s what we want to aspire to.”
Bamber Bridge meanwhile needed penalties to beat the much-fancied Gainsborough Trinity in their semi-final on Tuesday, and they did so despite a red card for experienced centre back Nathan Pond.
Nine years ago, in the division below, Bamber Bridge came to Cantilever Park and caused an upset – winning 1-0 in the play-off semi-finals after a season where Warrington Town and Darlington had pushed eventual champions Curzon Ashton virtually all the way. The season after, a 3-0 win just before Christmas all but paid to any play-off hopes the Yellows might have had in a season where they were largely playing catch up following the historic FA Cup run of that year.
Their star man, Finlay Sinclair-Smith, has scored 20 goals this season and is likely to be in the reckoning for the Northern Premier League player of the year awards.
They have already beaten the Yellows this season too, winning 3-2 at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium at a time when some fans were calling for Beesley’s head following an inconsistent start to the season.
Beesley stuck to his guns, had faith in the dominance that the Yellows were largely showing in games, and eventually it turned to goals. His small squad boasts quality rather than quantity and has contributed to a tight-knit nature and a steely determination to get over the line.
The squad contains many players who featured in the defeat at Scarborough last year, and still a sprinkling of those who were so disappointed by the super play-off defeat to King’s Lynn Town in 2019 following the heroics at South Shields.
One of those is talismanic skipper Josh Amis, arguably in the finest form he’s ever been in, surging to claim the Yellows’ golden boot with eight goals in the last eight games of the season. He scored in both play-off finals against Scarborough and South Shields and needs just one more to bring up a half century of goals for the club.
Bohan Dixon and Duggan are two other survivors from the 2019 play-off final victory, while Dave Raven is now assistant manager. Seven others featured with them 12 months ago, when the Yellows went down 2-1.
Jay Harris was off the field getting treatment when the winning goal went in on that day, and he is a doubt for the final having sat out the semi-final with a thigh problem. Only long-term absentee Mikey Howard is completely out of the equation for Beesley.
Playing at home this season though means expectations are raised. Tickets sold out barely hours after going on sale, and the club’s average crowd of 773 in the league this season, including four over a thousand even before the 1,897 that watched the play-off semi final, suggests that four-figure crowds could become the norm in the level above, something that would help enable improvements to the ground.
A new club record crowd will be set at the final against Bamber Bridge on a day where Warrington Town could take football in the town to somewhere it’s never been before.
Warrington Town blitz their way to a third straight play-off final
