A midweek slip by title-chasing Guisborough Town has given fresh hope to league leaders Shildon AFC after their title rivals were held to a 1-1 draw by Thornaby in midweek.
On immediate viewing of the league table, Shildon lead by four points but with Guisborough holding two games in hand, it very much looks like a final day title decider could be on the cards when the two meet at Dean Street.
Should Guisborough win those extra games, they would lead the division by two points going into that last day’s crucial head to head.
Yet all is not as it seems. In a dramatic new twist to the race for automatic promotion, it looks increasing likely that the fate of bottom club, West Allotment Celtic, could have the greatest bearing of all on who are declared this year’s Northern League Division One champions.
To get the weekend results out of the way first, Shildon recorded a narrow 0-1 away win at Newcastle Benfield while a tale of two penalties – one missed by visitors Newcastle Blue Star on the hour and another converted by Guisborough with ten minutes remaining meant that both title rivals once again traded blow for blow, at least until the Priorymen’s midweek wobble.
Meantime, West Allotment, languishing at the bottom of the table, are on the brink of resigning from the league having been unable to fulfill their latest fixture at the weekend against Whickham – the second recent fixture they have had to postpone.
While talks continue with the league and, at the time of going to print, no official announcement has yet been made, all of the club’s remaining nine fixtures are now listed on the league website as postponed.
This matters in the title race because league rules dictate that any club resigning from the league will have its entire season’s fixtures expunged.
Both Shildon and Guisborough have played West Allotment twice, with Shildon winning both their fixtures.
However, in one of their early season games, West Allotment took the scalp of Guisborough, winning 1-0 in August.
Now, ironically, that loss, as well as a subsequent win, could be expunged from the record, meaning Shildon will lose six points from their two wins while Guisborough will lose just three points from their one win.
The effect of this will be that Guisborough close to within one point of Shildon with two games in hand and could therefore have the title sewn up before that final day fixture between the clubs.
In a statement to the Crier, Shildon AFC said: “We await official confirmation from the Northern League, but we expect that all of West Allotment Celtic’s results will be expunged.
“This affects our league title hopes and puts Guisborough Town very much in the driving seat to win the league.
“Naturally, we are disappointed and frustrated that at such a late stage in the season, matters outside of our control are likely to have such an effect, especially given all of the efforts from everyone involved with the club this season, not least of which are the players, who have been brilliant.
“That said, we respect the league rules and our resolve hasn’t weakened. We are focused on winning every game up until the end of the season.
“If that happens, we will achieve our ambitions of getting promoted. There is still a lot of football to be played.”
The Northern League was contacted for comment but were yet to reply as the Crier went to press.
Meanwhile, as Guisborough were dropping league points in Thornaby, Shildon continued to make progress in the Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup, sweeping Easington Colliery aside in the Third Round with a 4-0 win at Dean Street.
Yet another quick opener, from Luke Spalding in the 4th minute, set the tone, with further goals from Andrei Ardelean (45+1), Ben Reay (65) and Joe Posthill (77).
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
