THE 1874 COLUMN - By Matt Waters

1874 Northwich ended the decade in superb form, with a nine-point lead at the top of the North West Counties League on the back of beating Rylands 2-1 at the weekend.

After the game, co-manager Wayne Goodison reviewed 1874’s 2019. When asked about his favourite memory of 2019, it’s no surprise that winning the Macron Cup was the moment of the year for Wayne.

He said: “It was a special day for me, the players but most importantly the fans.

“It was a testament to how hard the players worked during the last few months of the season because we’d gone from being beaten by Squires Gate 4-1 earlier in the season to beating league champions City of Liverpool in the same season, which shows the progression the lads made.”

Wayne believes this season’s success so far has come down to two factors, continuity and availability.

He added: “The difference from this year is that we had to get pre-season right and we realised we didn’t the year before, but full credit should be given to the lads because they looked after themselves over the summer and came back extremely fit this time around.

“It also shows this year we have a large and competitive squad with a lot of depth. Most of the players we have now have been with us for three years, some have been for two years with a couple of new signings so it helps us keep a settled squad together and the way we are playing this year and at the end of last season again proves we were right to persevere with this squad and not make drastic changes to the squad.”

However, despite our successes during 2019, Wayne revealed that this year has been a learning curve for him.

He explained: “I think we’ve learnt a lot about individuals and how to deal with certain things which ultimately benefits the players and one of those things is independence.

“I mentioned it earlier but the way the lads came back into pre-season was excellent and we had to do things differently, so the way they came back made it even better.

“We’ve learnt that some of the players are versatile and can play in foreign positions to them but they’ll always give 100 percent within that and I think that’s been the biggest thing we’ve learnt.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the remaining season, Wayne said it’s all about ‘taking it one game at a time.’

He said: “We’re still in several competitions. The Macron Cup is important to us and would like to replicate last season’s success as it was a great day for everyone.

“We have the Mid Cheshire Cup and the Cheshire Cup still to play in and the league is what it is at the moment. We’re in a good position at the moment, but it’s all about taking it one step at a time.”