WE MUST PICK OUR HEADS UP

FOR the majority of the season just gone, 1874 Northwich were top of the table.

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They had won more matches than anyone else in the North West Counties League’s Premier Division, outscored them too and shut out an opponent the most times.

In short, it was on course to be a campaign that, led by Paul Bowyer and Wayne Goodison, promised to achieve the club’s goal of a historic promotion.

That was, however, until a 10-day sequence in mid-March changed everything when the coronavirus pandemic prematurely and unexpectedly prevented them from reaching their goal.

“The speed at which things changed made the blow hurt more,” Goodison told The NLP. “That, and the fact nothing was in our control.”

With nine games to play the club, established in 2012 in protest to the running of now-rivals Northwich Victoria, were eight points clear of second-placed Rylands and, perhaps more pertinently in a year when three teams were slated to go up, a dozen clear of Charnock Richard in fourth.