Week 1: Preview

Fri 25th July 2025 | Match Previews | By Jay Cooper

The wait is over! The new season of the North West Counties Football League is here! Let’s run through what fans can expect this coming weekend.

Premier Division:

- The new campaign will kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and, going alphabetically, first up is a Liverpool/Manchester derby as AFC Liverpool host Irlam. This match will be AFC’s first competitive game at their new ground-shared home at the Berry Street Garage Stadium, and they’ll want to make sure that Irlam don’t spoil that party.

- Elsewhere in the greater Liverpool area, Burscough will welcome Abbey Hey for the season curtain raiser. Burscough have only just ceased ground-sharing with Skelmersdale United, and will hope to start the season with a win against an Abbey side they finished just three points ahead of last campaign. Both games between these sides finished 2-1 last season, with one win apiece.

- Chadderton, at the newly named Emplas Commercial North Stadium, will welcome Charnock Richard in their first game of the campaign. These were two more sides who traded wins last season, with the winners scoring three on both occasions.

- Barnoldswick Town did the double over Cheadle Town last season, and will want to make it three on the spin as they travel to the Ground Up Solutions Stadium for the curtain-jerker.

- Newly promoted Euxton Villa will welcome almost-relegated side Prestwich Heys at the Jim Fowler Memorial Stadium. Both teams will want to make a big impression on the Premier Division from minute one, given that neither were really able to last time around.

- Another new arrival to the division are City of Liverpool, who will want to state their intent to claw their way back to Step Four right out of the gate. They are one of two relegated sides who will be on their travels on Saturday, visiting Glossop North End for their first outing of 2025/26.

- Longridge Town will welcome FC St Helens to begin the new season, with the visitors having done Town in by an aggregate scoreline of 7-0 during the 2024/25 campaign. No doubt Lee Ashcroft’s men will want to write those wrongs as quickly as they can in 2025/26.

- Wythenshawe are the second of two relegated sides to have an away game as their first back in the NWCFL, as they square off with last seasons’ play-off runners-up, Padiham. Michael Morrison’s men will be keen to go one better than they managed last time around, and defeating the 2024 league champions on day one would be a great way to start.

- Ramsbottom United were league leaders for a considerable stretch of the early season in 2024/25, and will hope to get off on the right foot again as they host new arrivals Atherton LR. Dave Jones’ men were unstoppable in the First Division North last season – let’s see if they can translate that form to Step Five football.

- South Liverpool will also play a home game for their first outing of the season, but they will want to avoid a third successive 2-1 defeat to Stockport Town as they bid to improve on last season’s 20th placed league finish.

- Last season play-off features West Didsbury and Chorlton are at home for the first game of the campaign, with Pilkington playing the visitors to Brookburn Road. These two sides were at opposite ends of the table in 2024/25; West will be hoping for another play-off campaign at least, and Pilks will want to be much further from the drop zone than they were last time out, so this will be a way for both teams to start as they mean to go on.

- Finally, there’s the late kick off, with FC Isle of Man having a home game to bring them into the new campaign. Litherland REMYCA will be making the journey over to Douglas, having beaten the Ravens 3-2 the last time they squared off at The Bowl.

First Division North:

- Colne will make their First Division North bow at home this weekend, with Ashton Town visiting the Haffners Eats Stadium for the opening day. They will be hoping to bounce straight back to the Premier Division, and Town will want to improve on last season’s seventh placed finish and break into the play-off spots this time around.

- Daisy Hill, with their new sponsorship fronted by YouTube sensation AngryGinge, will welcome Ashton Athletic in their first game of the new season. Daisy Hill managed an impressive 5-1 victory away to Athletic last time around; a result that the visitors will be keen to avoid a repeat.

- Darwen FC will welcome Thornton Cleveleys on Saturday. Last season, Cleveleys won at Darwen’s Multevo Group Anchor Ground, and Darwen won at Cleveleys’ Gamble Road, so it will be interesting to see if this away victory pattern continues.

- Droylsden just about missed on promotion last season, and will look to reignite their fight for a place in the Premier Division when they host AFC Blackpool at the weekend. The Bloods beat AFC twice last season in the league, and will hope to make it a three-peat to start the season as positively as possible.

- Another two sides who will hope to go one better than last seasons’ failed play-off campaigns are Holker Old Boys and Nelson, who will face one another on Saturday at the former’s Handmark Engineering Stadium. Holker did the double over Nelson last season, and will put themselves in good stead by continuing that trend.

- Like Colne, Squires Gate will hope for a rebound back into the Premier Division, and will begin their campaign at Step Six with an away trip to Maghull. The hosts established themselves as a mid-table side in their first season in the First Division North in 2024/25, but they have an NWCFL stalwart to face off with in their first game back.

- Garstang were spared relegation by a reprieve last season, and will hope to improve on a second-bottom finish with their opening fixture away at Maine Road. The visitors did the double over their Saturday opponents in 2024/25, and may feel as though they have a great chance to pick up maximum points on day one with this game.

- Another new arrival to the First Division North are Fulwood Amatuers, who will make their first ever NWCFL appearance on Saturday when they travel to Steeton. The Chevrons finished one spot outside of the drop zone in 2024/25, and both teams will want to make sure that they aren’t in a similar position to that one by getting three points in their first match of the league season.

First Division South:

- Cheadle Heath Nomads avoided a lateral move to the First Division North, and will begin their First Division South campaign for 2024/25 with an away trip to Allscott Heath, who they avoided defeat to in the league last time out. Heath took their time getting comfortable in the league last season, and will hope to start strong this time around.

- Wolverhampton Casuals will make their first NWCFL appearance this Saturday when they go on the road to visit a team who had to do exactly the same thing just over two years ago, in Ashville. Wolves Casuals are one of three new sides in the division to have an away game for their first match of the season.

- The second of those three teams will be Haughmond, who have also never made an NWCFL appearance before this coming weekend. Barnton, who made a surprise appearance in the Macron Cup semi-final last season, will be their hosts in their league bow.

- Foley Meir, like every other side in the South relegation zone last season, were given a reprieve from relegation in 2024/25, and will compete in the NWCFL for the second year running for the first time in their history. Newly promoted Telford Town complete the hat-trick of teams from Step Seven who will be away from home on day one of Step Six.

- In what was a mid-table clash more than maybe any other in last season, Alsager Town will be on the road to face off with New Mills at their Church Lane ground. Town avoided defeat to Mills in the league last season, and will hope to replicate that success this time around.

- Market Drayton Town went from bottom and reprieved in 2023/24 to ninth and comfortably mid-table in the league in 2024/25. If they get off on the right foot away from home against Runcorn Town in their season curtain-raiser, then they may well go on to make one more step towards the promotion places.

- Shawbury United were new to the league last season, and have remained in the NWCFL via a reprieve for this coming campaign, and they’ll hope to adjust better to their surroundings when they host Cammell Laird 1907 on the opening day. They lost twice and failed to score against Laird last time out, so they’ll hope to redeem that on Saturday.

- Last season’s perennial runners-up Stafford Town made an appearance in the play-off final in 2024/25 and were beaten by Abbey Hulton United. If you ask them, they’ll want to avoid that risk this season and just claim top spot, and they can get well on their way to doing that against Eccleshall this weekend, who they did the double over in the previous campaign.

- Wolverhampton Sporting Community were the league’s lowest-placed side last season, but, like Shawbury and Foley Meir, were reprieved, and will kick off the new campaign at Pride Park, where they will welcome Stockport Georgians. It took Wolves Sporting longer than anyone to record their first win in the South in 2024/25, they’ll want to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.