BOWC - Comments

Should be easy getting the first trophy in the bag! Tough to dethrone Shamrock though!

According to Dan, dual nationality players are allowed and even if England/Scottish/Welsh/Irish/N.Irish is their second nationality you are allowed to use them as long as they are not playing international football for another country!

Can't be serious, another few days and you're already off in Czech Republic at the top of the 2. Liga. What a huge progress you've made! Shame about the England job though! I've been trying to get it the whole of my British Steel career but I've never been able to even be considered!

Dan: Certainly hope so, Dan. Hopefully I get out of these lower leagues fast!







The month of September see us play 8 league games to try to cement our place at the top of the table.



The trip to Brackley was a painful one as we held control of the whole match but just couldn't find the second goal to kill the match after Pendlebury's opener in the 25th minute. The later goal by Brackley condemned us to a 1-1 draw and marks our great run of draws this month.

Our homeground proved to be a fortress as we knocked down Southport with a 4-0 victory with loanee Campbell opening the scoring and Danny Rose our 50K signing knocking in 2 of his own before Martin Jones struck in the 78th minute to finish the rout.

Dag and Red came from behind to win 2-1 as we slumped to our second defeat of the season. Even though we scored the first goal through Campbell in the first 10minutes of the game, they quickly equalised and caused the match to be nervy. early in the second half they scored again to put us back and dent our title chances as that proved to be the last goal of the game.

3 draws followed with a 1-1 draw at Cambridge United with Danny Rose really proving his worth up front as a worthy rotation for Mick Stanford. However, the rest of the draws were disappointing as as much firepower as we had, we still could not find the net for 180 minutes.

Our first goal in 3 matches finally came from a set piece. Tommy Phelan rose above the rest in a well taken Singleton corner to score the one and only goal of the match at Wincham Park against Boreham Wood.

Colchester had a horrid time against us at our homeground as they came out 0-3 losers in a match where they were heavily favoured, just showing how they have been mismanaged from the League 1 powerhouse in the past. Andy Liversedge kicked off the scoring with a strike from a narrow angle while Stanford knocked his first goal in 8 games 2 minutes later. Stanford then added to his tally after the break in the 69th minute to round off the scoring and leave Colchester hapless.




Too many draws when there could've been wins caused us to slip behind in the table, now in second place behind Salisbury, although with an additional 5 goal difference to their 12. Hopefully this was a one-off month and we are able to start hitting the top again. Tied on 28 points are 2 other teams but we are still in second place thanks to our superior goal difference!

Anderlecht should win you everything in Belgium! Hurry and catch up to Dan!!

Hahah sounds familiar.. So close yet so far

Won on away goals in the cup again! The other clubs are slowly inching their way back!!

Haha cheers man me too, but I still find it easier to make reference using British pounds

Great work at this Eleven Wise. How long exactly is each season?

The start of the season always brings about new challenges and new surprises. Definitely I was surprised to see us getting 5 wins in 6 games.



We travelled to Dover blind with nothing to expect. Agudosi was injured and ended up justifying my 16k spent on Walker. We could've expected worse as we put 4 past them. No response from Dover when Mick Stanford finished clinically from the edge of the penalty area where the scored stayed 1-0 until the 73rd minute when Alex Watt scored a debut goal before assisting Stanford in his 75th minute strike and then another debut goal came from 50K signing Rose as we cruised past a lacklustre Dover.

High on confidence from our league opener, we took on Boston United in a fixture that we have played before at Wincham Park. With the great same atmosphere with many different players it was an interesting fixture, but it only seemed right when Liversedge scored in the 4th minute and in the 52nd minute via a trip on Stanford. With these 2 clean sheets, we were the only team yet to concede a goal in the first 2 matches.

An away trip to Havant and Waterlooville put us back into perspective as they refused to allow us the points gap we were afforded last season. A thriller in all aspects, they managed to put 2 past Scott Walker. We managed to pull one back via Stanford but they pulled away to 3-1. The team were resilient and refused to back down as we pull 2 back to make it level through another Stanford goal and a first goal by Trevor Fletcher who was operating on the left wing, but unfortunately a win was beyond us as they knocked in a late 90 minute goal which sank us to the first defeat of the season.

The visit to Yeovil was headed for a 0-0 draw as it looked in the 80th minute. But typical of this Witton team, they gave me another surprise as we scored 2 in 2 minutes with Pendlebury coming off the bench to hit in a 85th minute goal and Mick Stanford capitalised on the poor defending to put the fixture beyond Yeovil.

The home game against Kidderminster was an extremely close one as we went in at half time 1-1 courtesy of Mick Stanford's poaching. However, we took it to the win as loanee Campbell showed his worth on the left flank by scoring a great goal to make it 2 on the bounce.

Eastleigh seemed like another repeat of Yeovil as we headed into the last 15 minutes with no goals scored yet. However we managed to score 2 exact same goals through 2 corners in the 77th and the 82nd minute as Stanford got on the end of the first one and new signing Phelan who has been a revelation since joining headed in the second one to allow us to claim the win and make it 3 wins in a row.



Despite the blip at H&W, we end August at the top of the Blue Square Premier's league table on 15 points out of a possible 18. The only team that has hit double digit goal difference, we showed ourselves not to be trifled with at the moment! Hopefully this form will keep us in the BSP, and maybe win it!

Bigbillzy: Neither would I! Then we can all hop onto the Witton Albion bandwagon now

Dan: Definitely a great surprise! Hopefully I won't have to endure another nerve-wracking season up in the Blue Square Premier this season though!





Transfer round-up





I guess I couldn't say the transfer window went too too successfully. Wilson goes out on a free as we failed to get him to sign a new contract as his demands were over the top. Askham leaves too on a free transfer due to his inconsistency at the heart of the defense in our BSN winning season. He would be good as a bit part player but he refused our contract and let remaining time in his contract run down. The rest of those who left on a free were merely useless players that did not have any part to play in the club anymore.

There were a number of clubs who came in for our young players on loan. Most notably Colwyn Bay came and took up Jay Morrison, Austin Lynch and new signing McGuinness on loan in a triple swoop. We could afford this as they offered to pay all of their wages and we managed to bring 2 new strikers in through 50k signing Danny Rose and ex-Crewe player Trevor Fletcher. New Welsh striker Bobby Davies also straight away goes to AFC Telford on a season-long loan to establish himself in England.

We brought in 3 players on loan for the rest of the season through Tichard Moore, Tommy Campbell and Alex Watt, all three will be important for our BSP and FA Trophy push this season as Moore and Watt can both play as central midfield or DM in my new 4-1-2-2-1 system as we look to play around Singleton/Pendlebury and Mick Stanford. Tommy Phelan comes in to fill in the vacancy that Alex Askham has left in the central defense for 5K and will be rushed straight into the side as he is already established as an exceptional young player for this level. Scott Walker is brought in for us to have another decent goalkeeper in case of emergency as any injury to Agudosi would leave us quite vulnerable in that position.


Friendlies



We take on 4 teams in the 4-week preseason in Millwall, Prestatyn, Bradford PA and Connah's Quay.

A disappointing performance with flashes of brilliance in the form of new signings came against Millwall as we came away with nothing at Wincham Park.

Trevor Fletcher got off to a great second game as he started the game and put in 2 goals to the delight of Witton fans causing misery to former club Prestatyn. who did not know how to answer back despite retaining Kristian Howells from my time in their reins. 4 goals all came from the midfield against Bradford PA with Singleton netting 2, Moore and Yahcin also getting on the scoresheet to stamp our authority on Bradford PA.

Another trip to Wales saw Mick Stanford score the opening goal against Connah's Quay, and it was all downhill from there as we controlled the match through the midfield for Ian Lambert and left wingers Jones to score.

With 3 wins and only 1 defeat, we are prepped and ready to rumble in the new division with new challenges!

I was off for a few days and you already bounced onto a huge club! Making big progress here!

The last game of the season saw us play Barwell in a fixture that would not make a difference to the table as we are way above the second place and they were way below second last. Suffice to say we finished them off clinically to end off their abysmal run in the BSB North through goals from our players of the season Stanford and Wilson.



We end off 2024/25 on 94 points which is a huge turnaround from last season 24 points above second place, in the top 5 in all time points scored, and scoring the most goals of 100 in a season since the start of 2012. Best of all, most of the core of the team are on long term contracts and will stay through till the next season at least. Finances are looking good, should be able to bring in a few decent players to buff up the team and next season should be a successful season in the BSB Premier!.

Great start, you'd just have to get around that TNS barrier, which is pretty tough in its own right.

There were a whole lot of good Welsh regens around when I was playing in Wales, but what was definitive was just buying a not-TNS-Welsh-All-stars team from the rest of the clubs .

But the Welsh league remains one of my least favourite of my save so far

FALCAO????!????!?!!!

Just because of his name I swear you're gonna win the league

Still doing decently for the size of the club! For sure a decent place and a win next time around!

Last year in the same challenge you just hopped off to another club to win the league easily! Might want to see a small team win it this time!

Dan: A reverse indeed and glad to have won the title with not much changes and just faith in the players!







A bunch of redundant fixtures follow in April as we have already clinch the title and are running down the rest of the season.



A 2-0 win over Ilkeston was more than deserved as we dominated most of the match and put Ilkeston on the back foot for most of the match, allowing midfield ace Singleton and right winger Liversedge to score.

A well matched game against Alfreton saw both teams throw caution into the wind as each team had many chances to score and the 2-2 result was probably the best result we could have summoned on the day.

A 0-1 loss to FC United was probably undeserved, but a defensive lapse and the lack of creative options on the day proved to be detrimental and we came away with no points, not that it mattered much to us.

Wilson decided he had enough of a break and avenged our first league defeat by condemning Chester to a 2-0 defeat with 2 individual efforts to continue tearing through the league.

Again, another 0-1 loss this time to Guiseley was undeserved, but the lack of motivation around the team was probably a factor and caused Guiseley to capitalise on our lack of concentration.



Nothing much to update except that we are on 91 points. In the past 12 years, only 5 teams have attained more than 90 points in the league, and we are proud to be one of the 5 teams. If we win the last game of the season in May, we will be among the top 3 point scorers in the league in the Modern Day (since 2012).



My team's exceeding expectations and the win of the BSB North probably triggered the board to give me a lucrative new contract of about 600 a week. They wanted a contract till 2027 though I pushed hard and convinced them to give me till 2028 to build up the squad to compete in the BSB Premier and hopefully in the Football League.

New season's going well! Big win over the heavyweights to start the season on the right foot!

I just noticed.. Singapore dollars??

Great emphatic win! Austin is a revelation!

I can just tell by the first 3 games, you're gonna win this league.

11th place is good considering your predicted position! Could push for promotion this season!

Dan: Anything is possible in FM, but safe to say that we haven't botched it! Yeah, they've not thrived as they are not under your leadership, but are doing decently well, been in the BSB North since forever!








The month of March see us play 4 league games with the possibility of us clinching the title early if results go our way..



This was a month, more so than most, where the 2 men that have dominated the scoresheet didn't miss a beat as they kicked off a goal per man in a 3-0 victory over Hinckley. We gave them no chance to fight back as we were 2-0 up by half time. Possession was key to our defense as we kept a clean sheet and managed to produce a goal through Mick Stanford!

Solihill Moors took us by surprise as they capitalised on defensive errors to score 2 goals early in half time. The determination of Wilson was seen as he hit the post a few times later on in the first half but his breakthrough only came in the second where his 2 goals allowed us to come away with a point and maintain our unbeaten streak.

Hattrick Mick and brace Wilson at Bradford for us to come away 5-0. Enough said.

Harrogate managed to equalise after a Mick Stanford opener but Wilson took back the lead with a lob over the goalkeeper. It was havoc from then on as Pendlebury made it 3-1 for us to go all the way up to 4-1 till they scored another from a set piece. The match ended 5-2 with a late strike from Mick Stanford to keep the competition between the 2 strikers going.



Our unbeaten month launched us into a 21 point lead. With only 6 games left, it was mathematically impossible for second placed Alfreton to beat us and hence, we're champions of the Blue Square Bet North!

A relatively short month see us play only 2 league games against Tamworth and Nuneaton for the Blue Square North.



Tamworth grabbed a deserved win against us as they scored 2 late goals to deny us any points. Truthfully, we weren't playing as well as before the Plymouth defeat and I think that defeat really dented the confidence we had in winning every game.

Mick Stanford made it 2 goals in 2 games as he netted early in the game against Nuneaton. We defended really well, maintaining great possession of the ball and Wilson managed to earn a penalty which Jay Morrison slotted calmly into the back of the net.



Another surprising leap forward as we gain 3 more points in the lead of Chester on 74 points. 19 points in between 1st and 2nd with 10 games left, the league is essentially over unless we manage to screw it up extremely badly.

Breezing through this challenge! Bulgaria? No problem~~

Dan: Definitely unexpectedly far ahead in the league! I expect us to be dropping some points soon.









Some great news to kick off the 2025 New Year as after a few months of pleading, the board finally decided to improve on the youth facilities at the club. Since the youth facilities now are rented, I can only think that they have decided to purchase/build a new facility for the youths for the future! 350000 is a pretty hefty sum, but it will be financed indirectly by the sale of Mitten at the start of the season!




A trip back to Hyde started another thriller as we came from behind twice to win 3-2. Our strikers were not on song in this match and our set pieces proved to best the opposition with goals coming from second choice left back Bowden, centreback Askham, and a freekick by Pendlebury.

We scraped through the York fixture by the skin of our teeth through a Wilson goal, which seems to be the story of our season! They had a number of chances, but Agudosi's goalkeeping was superb and kept a clean sheet on this day.

Mick Stanford refused to back down from the challenge as he took his turn to score a hattrick against Cambridge C. 2 before half time and one right after with a cherry (left winger Martin Jones' strike) on top. Consolation goal by Cambridge didnt make a difference as we maintained our Wincham fortress.

We travelled to Home Park to take on Plymouth with great confidence in our giant killing abilities. However, the home advantage and the gulf in class was just too much for the small team based in Northwich. 2 goals down at half time, Stanford put one in to give us the chance of a return fixture, however the hope was short-lived as they scored another 3 to dent our hopes and our confidence.

Slightly less than a year since we've had this kind of thrashing, must say the boys were not used to it and we went on a bad run. Again, 2-0 down at half-time was salvaged by a Wilson strike but they were safe from losing points in this game as Boston put in a great performance to ultimately down us 3-1.

AFC Fylde is a match that we almost definitely should be winning. Despite that, we managed to end up on the wrong side of defeat to a team in the lower half of the table and a Fraser Knowles goal to make it 1-1 was ultimately fruitless as they scored in stoppage time to seal our defeat.

We came back to winning ways with a solid win against Hednesford. They defended valiantly against our potent strikeforce but even the best defense could not cope against an on form pair in Wilson and Stanford as they netted one apiece to claim the victory for Witton.



Surprisingly, despite the bad run of form that could have cost us, we ended up extending the lead even further by 2 points to be on top of second placed Chester by 16 points. At 77 goals, we are almost doubling any other team's goal tally, and it just shows how our strikeforce is pulling us through. With 12 games to play, the league is definitely ours to lose, but its looking less and less likely that we will be able to screw this up even if we wanted to!

Who cares about second place, we want the title and we want it now!


Except for Shedender of course

Dan: I was thinking the same thing! Was hoping to go the whole season without being beaten, but wishful thinking on my part!







The month of December actually started with the Bristol match, which I covered in the last post. A busy month with 7 more fixtures in the league, the competition is starting to heat up.



Our first league defeat came against Chester as we, for the first time, struggled to get a foothold in the game for large parts of the match. Without key defenders and our strikers out of form, they easily overturned their deficit, which came through an easy goal from Dominic Singleton, via 2 goals on either side of the break, allowing them to climb up the table.

We bounced back immediately against Barwell as an early goal from Mick Stanford set the pace for the match. A hattrick soon followed with 2 goals in 15 minutes and another 5 minutes from the reopening of the match to shoot Wilson far ahead as top scorer of the league. A consolation goal late in the game did nothing to change the result, which was 3 points for the home team.

After being dominated and dominating in the last 2 matches, we came to a game where our opposition were evenly matched. An early goal from Alfreton had us chasing the game, however we managed to pull one back through Pendlebury. Pendlebury's goal was followed shortly after with a goal just before half time, allowing me to attack my players to work harder in the next half. Singleton refused to back down after a challenge and managed to score the equalising goal to make it 2-2. Although both sides had their chances, that proved to be the last goal of the match.

Droylsden was less eventful though the score was the same. 2 lucky goals came from mishandling of the ball by our otherwise brilliant goalkeeper Agudosi. Although we dominated possession, chances were hard to come by and we managed to score and equalise just after the half time mark with on form Singleton and Mick Stanford on target as we take another point.

December can be called the month of Wilson's hattricks as he netted his second hattrick this month in a match against Guiseley. Even though they pulled it back to 2-1 in the middle of the second half, Wilson's 90th minute goal showed why we were on the top of the league table!

A 0-0 draw came against the ones who inflicted our first defeat of the season, Accrington, on the boxing day fixture. Both sides had their chances but failed to make the other team pay and the score ended up a bore draw.

Gainsborough proved the best match of the season as Wilson scores his 3rd hattrick this month to round off his excellent performances. Jay Morrison, player of the match any other day, was outshone even after his 2 goals within a minute of each other. An all-round performance by all the players involved, this was a match I was most happy to see through, a big win at the expense of Gainsborough to cause them to slide down to the bottom of the playoff spots in 5th.



Witton still sit comfortably on top with 59 points and a 14 point cushion despite the comparatively shaky month. The league table seems to be forming up quite nicely but it would be a tight finish for the playoff spots as 3 points separate 3rd and 7th position. However, our position seems to be unassailable for the time being!

Dan: The form we are on, we might just cross a hundred points this season! But its not even the middle of the season yet so many things could change!

Zan2k9: Yeah it is a great season considering last season's almost failure! Still, we might slip down the table if we're not careful!







Three league games in a month in between what is a heavy November for our FA Cup and Trophy run.



We were fortunate enough to gain a match against non league side Wealdstone and safe to say we dominated them from start to finish. Gary Wilson netted another hattrick in this game to give us the undoubted advantage while Andy Liversedge knocked in a penalty when Wilson wwas brought down in the penalty area. This puts us into the 2nd round against Bristol Rovers.

A visit to Harrogate saw us come out 3-0 winners in a match where we were playing fine football. Mick Stanford took his turn to score as he and Wilson seem to be competing for the golden boot this season. He struck again in the 43rd minute, while Wilson ended the competition with another strike to win the game.

The FA Trophy run ended as soon as it started. With Accrington on fire and knocking 2 past us in the first 10 minutes, the first half was a pain to watch as we sunk into one of our worst starts to a game. Half time came and they were given a shelling and that still didn't work as Accrington managed to put another past us after the break without a response from us, ending our cup run and inflicting our first defeat of the season. The team just had no motivation to play and was just disappointing all round.

We quickly got back onto our feet as Ilkeston visited Wincham Park only to be defeated by the league leaders. Even a consolation goal could not stop Witton as Mick Stanford scored twice again, bringing his tally to 4 in 3 matches and Wilson scoring in the middle of Stanford's 2 strikes.

Moving onwards, FC United of Manchester did not prove a threat as well as we came out 4-0 winners in a match where we dominated as much as the first match of the month. 4 goals within the first 32 minutes of the game killed it and FC United had no chance to get back into the game. It could easily have been 7 or 8-0 if not for great saves and the crossbar which denied Wilson most of the time.

The most exciting match of the season came when we hosted Bristol Rovers at Wincham Park as we looked to continue our fine cup run. After an early Bristol strike, Mick Stanford rose to knock a header into the back of the net, levelling the match. Bristol responded immediately but 10 minutes later he was at it again as he scored his second header in the match to bring it to 2-2. The second half was a half where both sides traded blows but neither could break down the other's defense until Mick Stanford brushed off the last defender to score his third and final goal of the match, bringing smiles to Witton fans as we head to the 3rd round of the FA Cup with Stanford's name on their lips.



Our league form has been terrific as we sit on top of the table with 47 points, 13 points above second place and at least a game in hand. We now have a big buffer for teams that may be able to catch up and the title doesn't look like it's going anywhere else, but it is still relatively early so we shall see.

Our cup run has been quite amazing, and we face Plymouth (now in the Championship) in the 3rd round of the FA Cup and we will see whether our giant killing run can be upheld!

What a breeze! Off to Bulgaria already!

The league is yours for the taking!!