1874 Northwich are feeling buoyed for their promotion push.
Successive wins against play-offs rivals and the return of their leading goalscorer are driving positive vibes with four games of the regular season remaining.
Chris Herbert’s men backed up a 1-0 midweek win at Brocton with another single-goal success at home to ‘derby’ rivals Winsford United at the weekend when striker Mike Hayes made his return from injury with an appearance off the bench.
They are currently third in the Midland League Premier Division with a five-point safety buffer inside the top five as they prepare to host 12th-placed Romulus at Townfield on Saturday, kick-off 3pm.
“There’s a togetherness now and we’re getting aa few lads back,” said Herbert.
“Hayesy coming on was a big one for us, just for him to get minutes on the board and get a bit of confidence going again.
“We’ve missed him. He’s still our top scorer (11 in 17 appearances) and hadn’t played for about three months so that tells you it all.
“He’ll always score goals and his goals will be vital to us for promotion.”
Successive clean sheets are another big plus for Herbert, who hailed his backline after the win against Winsford.
“Hoppo (Rob Hopley) and Jonah (Mark Jones) were struggling (with injuries) before the game and we managed to get them through it,” said Herbert.
“Hughesy (Adam Hughes) was the same. So we were walking wounded, and the way they battled it out even when they’re injured is different class.”
He concluded: “We’ve just got to keep pushing on now like we have been.”
In a further boost, 1874 have announced the return of their record top scorer Scott McGowan, who has signed again after recovering from a torn ACL suffered in January 2025.
He is determined to finish things his way and not through injury, and after a giant amount of hard work, he is ready to get back among the squad just in time for the most crucial weeks of the season.
Meanwhile, Northwich Victoria are second in the table, seven points clear of 1874, but are now three points behind Hanley Town, who have a game in hand, following this week’s results.
Vics, who travel to second-from-bottom Studley this Saturday, were beaten 1-0 at another promotion rival AFC Wolverhampton City at the weekend, a result which may cost them the title.
Scott Ravenscroft, Vics’ first-team coach, said: “The be all and end all is that we weren’t good enough on Saturday.
“Discipline wasn’t there, we reacted to everything they they did and we didn’t actually play football. We relied on long throw-ins and I was very disappointed.
“The only things we can do is keep our mindset right. At the moment it’s looking like we’re going to be in the play-offs and we’re more than good enough to go up. It’s just about the mentality.
“For me, attitudes weren’t good enough on Saturday and we were carrying too many players – simple as that.
“The last couple of weeks we haven’t had the numbers of lads getting to training. We need them there to work on stuff.
“So it’s a big regroup on Thursday (tonight) and bounce back with a big three points.”
Winsford responded with a gritty 1-0 win at Stourport Swifts on Wednesday night.
Lethal marksman Ollie Pope ended up being substituted a few minutes after being clattered by the home goalkeeper shortly before half-time.
But the man who replaced him, Matty Birchall, scored the winner in the 81st minute.
Birchall provided a neat finish to a flick from Elliott Coleman.
The victory moved Winsford up to fifth, with two games in hand on the three sides immediately above them and offering Blues the potential of finishing at least third in the table if they win their outstanding matches.
They will be aiming to continue their play-offs push when they host Stone Old Alleynians on Saturday and then visit Abbey Hulton United on Monday.
Witton will be looking to right some wrongs when they go to Darlaston Town in Northern Premier League West on Saturday.
They angered their manager Ben Harrison at the weekend when they conceded twice in injury-time to lose 2-1 at home to Shifnal Town, ending a four-match winning sequence.
“I’ve played nearly 600 games and managed nearly 100, and I’ve never been involved in a game like that,” said Harrison, who came off the bench to play the final few minutes.
“We will have excuses and blame people but that was all on us – the players and management staff.
“For as well as we played in 90 minutes, we didn’t score enough goals for the dominance we had and the play we had.
“And the three goals we conceded were absolutely criminal, in injury time of both halves.
“We can’t change what we’ve done, only learn from it and that’s the mentality we have and we’ve got to have.
He said he wants everyone involved to take accountability of their performances and added: “Let’s not get away from the form we’ve been in and the performances we’ve had recently. We can’t let this mad five minutes, especially at the end of the game, derail us.”
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