PADIHAM PREVIEW
Four will come, only one will succeed. It’s the NWCFL play-offs as the Rams, for the very first time, will host a match in the end of season shoot-out and our visitors are old foes in Padiham, who finished fourth for an all East Lancashire clash.
MATCH: Ramsbottom United vs Padiham
VENUE: Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, Ramsbottom, BL0 0BS
COMPETITION: North West Counties Premier Division Play-off Semi-Final
DATE: Saturday 26th April 2025
KICK-OFF: 3:00pm
ADMISSION: Adults – £9, Concessions – £5, U12 – £1 (with paying adult).
NOTE: We are a CASH ONLY stadium – there are NO CARD FACILTIES at the ground.
PARKING:
Please note that due to the works on the old Mondi mill site off Bridge Street there’ll be no parking on Acre Bottom Lane on the approach to the cricket and football clubs.
Also, THERE IS NO CAR PARKING AT THE GROUND (please use Town centre car parks – check times – or use side roads).
OVERVIEW:
In 2014, it was away trips to Darlington and Bamber Bridge, In 2019 it was a short trip to Radcliffe. For the first time in our play-off history, it wil be home comforts for the Rams as the gateway to the Northern Premier League remains open for four teams – Lower Breck, Padiham, West Didsbury and Chorlton and ourselves.
At this stage of the season, your mind always wanders back to some nine months, to late July 2024 when we travelled over to Pilkington for game number one. It is always the much used cliche that every team comes into the season with enthusiasm, with desire, with hope that, come April 26th, they will be one of the top five, one already up and the other four in with a shout.
So it has come to pass that after a barren few seasons, Steve Wilkes and his team have led the Rams to within 180 minutes from a return to pastures old.
It has been a magnificent season. All the supporters wanted was for their team to show what they were capable of. After relegation and then the 18th place finish last term, hopes in pre-season can be a little more hope-rather-than-expectation. But only three defeats in the first half of the season to New Year gave the supporters a real buzz and, whilst the title did slip away in a Bury and Lower Breck barrage, here we are in the play-offs despite totalling 97 points, the club’s league record and would have been enough for the title in many a season.
Standing in the way in the semi-final are Padiham, who finished fourth, ten points behind the Rams and a point clear of West Didsbury who closed in fifth place. It is a clash the whets the appetite, a meeting between the Rams, the best defensive team in the 46-match regular season conceding just 42 goals against a Padiham outfit that only lost three of their 23 matches on the road.
We have often mentioned in previews about Padiham’s remarkable record on the banks of the River Irwell which includes a 2-0 victory as part of the Rams’ February/March blip and you can point towards their superb record of only three defeats on their travels all season but neither side come into this match in terrific form – Padiham with just one point from the last available nine, including a 4-0 reverse at Bury and a 2-2 draw at Stockport which sandwiched a 2-1 loss at home to South Liverpool. The point from the 2-2 draw was enough to see them cling on to fourth spot.
For the Rams, after a run of six straight victories, a loss against Chadderton and a 1-1 draw – for the fourth time in a row – against Barnoldswick Town and, well, who knows what is going to happen here.
It is straight to penalties if the game finishes level after 90 minutes, so none of the Bamber Bridge extra-time drama from a decade ago. If Lower Breck win their semi-final, they will host the Final next weekend. If they lose, the winner of Rammy or the Storks will for a place alongside Bury in the Northern Premier League.
Buckle up, here we go! The Rammy rollercoaster takes on Hyperia-style twists and turns (thanks to my nephew, Nathan, for the rollercoaster reference!).
FACILITIES
The game at Ramsbottom United will be by payment in CASH at the turnstile (the club does not have a card facility). Prices are as shown above and programmes are £2.
Parking for spectators will be away from the ground, in either town centre car parks (drivers are advised to check any time limits) or in the various side streets, all of which are no more than 5-10 minutes walk away.
Various bus routes come into Ramsbottom town centre (https://bustimes.org/localities/ramsbottom for details) and the East Lancs Railway (https://www.eastlancsrailway.org.uk/events-activities/western-region-weekend/) station is adjacent to the ground.
Tea Bar serving hot and cold drinks, pie and peas, sweets, crisps etc will be open within the ground, as will the Can Bar serving beer, lager and cider.
With an expected four-figure crowd, spectators are advised to arrive AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE to avoid queues forming close to kick-off.
HISTORY
This will be the 16th meeting between the clubs since the first in the NWCFL League Cup in 2006 – overall, Padiham lead 9-6 in the head-to-heads and are also ahead 30-28.
Of course, has been mentioned on many occasions, Padiham’s record at the HWRS is remarkable, having not lost in the league since 2009, taking all of the previous five. It was 2-1 in 2010, 3-2 in 2011, 2-1 in 2013 in the NPL, 3-0 in 2024 and 2-0 back in March.
The Rams did claim a superb 4-1 success at The Arbories in September though and there have been goals aplenty in the recent past too.
What will be added to this much vaunted rivalry?
STEVE WILKES SAYS:
“So the first aim at the start of the season was to try and get into the play offs, which has been achieved but we now want to finish the job.
“We know that Padiham will be a tough game. They beat us here 2-0 at the beginning of March and we also know that whoever wins today will have an equally tough game in the final.
“People say form goes out the window in play offs and both ourselves and Padiham aren’t in the best of form but the fans have been fantastic this season and we’ll need them now more than ever.”
