After successfully negotiating a first ever visit to Barnoldswick Town on Saturday night, Avro are back on the road again 72 hours later for a match which may prove pivotal to our chances of a top four finish in the NWCL Premier Division in our first full season at this level.
Alex Frost’s side have twice been denied the opportunity to take on Charnock Richard at their Mossie Park home since the turn of the year, after heavy rain forced both scheduled encounters to be postponed. It will hopefully be a case of third time lucky as we seek to build on a 2-0 success at the Silentnight Stadium, in a game which saw Liam Ellis replace Louis Potts at the top of the goalscoring charts with his 16th and 17th goals of the season.
The opposition
Charnock Richard have had an excellent season and currently sit fourth in the table, a point clear of our boys with three games in hand. They are the highest scoring side in the league, scoring an amazing 93 goals in their 33 games, but they have also conceded more goals than any of the other sides in the top eight. Their recent run of seven unbeaten games was brought to an abrupt halt on Saturday, when they suffered a 3-0 home defeat against Vauxhall Motors.
Charnock Richard’s last six results
|
05/03/22 |
Vauxhall Motors (H) |
L 0-3 |
|
26/02/22 |
AFC Liverpool (A) |
W 3-0 |
|
23/02/22 |
Winsford United (A) |
W 2-1 |
|
12/02/22 |
Longridge Town (A) |
W 5-0 |
|
29/01/22 |
Lower Breck (H) |
D 4-4 |
|
25/01/22 |
Congleton Town (A) |
W 3-2 |
Head to Head
The two sides have met just twice before in the league, with Avro winning both encounters. The first came on a sweltering afternoon in August back in 2019, when goals from Louis Potts, Jake Pollard and Joe Bevan secured a 3-1 victory. The intervention of COVID meant that just over two years had elapsed by the time that Charnock paid a first visit to the Vestacare Stadium. A 3-2 home win was secured thanks to Bailey Sloane, Daniel Byrnes and Oumar Camara, although two goals for the visitors in the last five minutes made for a nervy end to the game from the Avro supporters’ perspective.
One to watch
Carl Grimshaw scored all three goals in those two encounters, but this will come as no surprise to those well-acquainted with the Lancashire non league football scene. When he left Charnock for Northwich Victoria last September, he had scored an incredible 474 goals in 432 games during a twelve year spell at the club. He has added another seven to his tally since returning ‘home’ at the end of December.
Team news
Central defender Lewis Lacey is unavailable, but Sam Rathbone and Kane Wallwork should make timely returns to bolster the defence against their free scoring opponents. Joe Rathbone will have a late fitness test as he bids to overcome the foot injury which has kept him sidelined for over a month.
