Part
3 of our National League North seasonal preview takes in the classically
northern counties of Suffolk, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire...
Needham Market
OK, this sounds more like
somewhere a nursery rhyme character would go to get magic beans than a football
club, but the Marketmen beat the likes of Telford and Leamington to automatic
promotion from the Southern League last time, so they’re no mugs and I should
probably nip the patronising bantz in the bud right there before it comes back
to bite me on the bum in the form of a 1-0 win for the newcomers at Edgar
Street on 3 September.
The Suffolk-based club are
this season’s Bishops Stortford in terms of being a southeastern outfit being
screwed over by the skewed geographical structuring at step 2, and the lack of
a National League Central. That role didn’t go particularly well for the
Hertfordshire club, and the newcomers may find it equally tough.
Their ‘derby’ games are
Peterborough Sports and Kings Lynn, 86 and 58 miles away respectively. South
Shields is a 600-mile round trip. That said, SS isn’t exactly handy for
Hereford either.
Oxford
City
City’s
reward for getting promoted to the National League two seasons ago was to get
completely outclassed in that division, get thoroughly relegated, and then get
put in the National League North rather than the National League South, which
is the division they went up from, and geographically speaking is the division
they should really be going back to. I bet they wish they’d never bothered
getting promoted in the first place.
If
they’re able to adapt to the rigours of the NLN to any extent and aren’t still
wandering around the pitch like shellshocked zombies at Christmas following a
few ‘welcome to hell’ tackles in matches up to that point they’ll be doing
well.
Peterborough
Sports
Sports’ Lincoln Road ground is now fully compliant with whatever NLN ground regulations The
Citadel at Farsley is somehow seemingly exempt from, following some very
last-minute building work before the start of last season. No such panic this
time around as they embark on their third season in the NLN as one of the
division’s smaller outfits, and in their two seasons to date they’ve done
admirably to never really be mired in relegation trouble. They’ll presumably
pick up points at unexpected places again this time, and their record at Edgar
Street is irritating: two 1-0 wins, with the first of those being possibly the
worst game of football I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some utter stinkers, as of
course we all have.
Radcliffe
Greater
Manchester is presumably bursting with excitement at the prospect of the Curzon
Ashton v Radcliffe derby this season following the latter’s promotion to the
NLN, with not too many other footballing distractions to be had in that neck of
the woods.
Anthony
Johnson and Bernard Morley manage the side, and it’ll be a pleasure to enjoy
their nice, sunny dispositions when they return to Edgar Street this season.
Jordan
Hulme and Anthony Dudley up front looks to be a potentially useful partnership.
Both
Gazza and Frank Worthington played for the club in the autumn of their careers
as model professional footballers.
Rushall
Olympic
Another
of the smaller teams, Rushall will have a new manager this season in Adam
Stevens, with ex-Hereford United coach Richard Sneekes assisting. Last season
they left it until the last game of the season to secure their NLN status, and
again they look likely to be more bottom six than play-off candidates. That
said, the club is excellently run with a focus on bringing youngsters through,
and has the vibe of being one big happy family. For that reason it would be
nice if they stay up again. Hereford left-back and captain Lewis Hudson came to
Edgar Street from the Pics last season, and will hopefully be up for ripping
into his ex-big happy family like an estranged and drunk uncle at Christmas.
Scarborough
Athletic
Like
Buxton and Peterborough, this will be the Seadogs third season in the NLN, and
like those two they’ve taken to it like a seadog to water.
They
looked hugely accomplished at Edgar Street last season under the lights, particularly
in midfield, when unluckily losing 3-1. Actually, thinking about it, they were
indeed good in midfield but missed a hatful of chances up front. Luca Colville,
Alex Purver and Lewis Maloney are all talented footballers in the middle of the
park, but they’ll be hoping that 6’ 4” striker Richie Bennett, newly arrived from
Scunthorpe, is the solution to that shyness in front of goal.
They seemed to be a bit cheaty when newly arrived at the heady level of the NLN, but were far more
inclined to let their football do the talking last time. What a refreshing
change.
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