Town’s teams in winter programme
SEPTEMBER saw the North West Counties Winter League get under way.
Bollington, Prestbury and Macclesfield are between them fielding 13 men’s teams in various regional divisions for the 2017/18 campaign that runs until early April.
The two highestranked individual sides from the area are the First Teams of Bollington and Prestbury, in Division Two East.
Bolly Firsts, who escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth last term, sit relatively comfortably in sixth place - with emphatic victories against Hyde 2 (5-0) and Warrington 3 (4-1) sandwiched in between an opening-night 3-2 defeat to their counterparts from Prestbury at Bollin Grove and a 5-0 reverse at Crewe Vagrants 2.
Prestbury’s Firsts, who finished in a promising fifth position for 2016/17, have followed up their triumph over Bollington with a trio of losses – at home to last season’s runners-up and current leaders, Bowdon 2 (0-5), and, narrowly (2-3 in each case), against relegated pair Brooklands 1 and Hyde 1 – to lie tenth.
The Third Division South-East also features a Bollington and a Prestbury side - following the promotion from Division Four South of the former club’s Second Team. The Bolly Seconds have endured a tough baptism at this higher level, and are yet to enjoy the taste of victory.
While Bollington occupy the second relegation place, Prestbury’s ‘Seconds’ are three positions ahead in eighth.
A local-derby triumph against Bolly was preceded by a 5-0 defeat at the hands of a strong visiting Alsager 1 side, and immediately followed by a second successive 3-2 win - at home to Grove Park 4 - before they came unstuck at leaders David Lloyd Cheadle 1 (0-5).
In Division Four South, all three local clubs are represented through last season’s eighth-placed side, Prestbury 3, Macclesfield 1, who suffered relegation from the Third Division in 2016/17, and promoted sides Bollington 3 and Prestbury 4.
This quartet has collectively rather struggled in the early stages - with each team currently finding itself in the bottom half of the table. Prestbury’s ‘Thirds’ and ‘Fourths’ are seventh and tenth, following their opening matches.
The Third Team edged out Bollington 3 in a 3-2 curtain-raiser, before going down by the same result in Derbyshire against Buxton 1, at home to former Prestbury tenants, Radbroke Hall 1, and away at Crewe Vagrants 5.
And, in the course of three home fixtures, Prestbury 4 overcame Grove Park 5 with a 4-1 win - only to lose likewise beforehand to Macclesfield 1 and subsequently to Alderley Edge 5 - before, most recently, succumbing 5-0 at still-unbeaten Buxton 1.
Macclesfield 1, in eighth, suffered, in the wake of victory over Prestbury’s Fourths, a pair of 5-0 defeats against leaders Crewe Vagrants 4 and thirdplaced Alsager 2, but the town’s Leisure Centre team has since returned to winning ways with a 5-0 thumping of Bollington 3, who, like their club’s Second Team, are taking time to adjust to life after promotion.
The Bolly Thirds have also yet to win.
The remaining five local teams - again covering the full spread of our clubs - are plying their trade in the Fifth Division South.
Leading the pack are Prestbury’s Fifths who lie second after compensating for a 3-2 defeat at home to relegated Alderley Edge 6 with fuller points-hauls in victories against Club AZ 2 (4-1), Prestbury 7 (5-0) and Macclesfield 2 (4-1).
Bollington 4 – a new team, with a strong emphasis on youth – started impressively by beating Club AZ 2 by the odd match in five and Prestbury 7 without conceding, although subsequent 3-2 and 4-1 reverses, at home to Macclesfield 2 and at Grove Park 8 respectively, have temporarily checked their progress and leave them in fifth place.
A little further down are Prestbury 6 (7th) and Macclesfield 2 (9th) - both of whom have so far won and lost in equal measure. Prestbury 7, lying in the basement position, have yet to enjoy winning ways, although their narrow 3-2 reverse at Grove Park 7 more than hinted at the promise to come from this area’s second new side.