Invincibles and pile-ups: non-league football stories you may have missed – The Guardian

We look at a club playing 195 miles from home, the rebirth of two former Premier League players and a title race for the ages
There are less than two weeks to go in National League South’s regular season, with many players having one eye on their summer holidays. Truro City, however, are in the midst of nine games in 17 days, thanks to the weather. This week they have matches on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Their home games are taking place 195 miles from Truro at Gloucester City’s ground because Truro’s shared pitch at Plymouth Parkway (a mere 54 miles from Truro) cannot accommodate them after heavy recent rainfall. This prompted an earlier move to Taunton’s Wordsworth Drive but constant deluges caused problems there, too, and their rivals still have six games to play themselves. It also rains up north, leaving the North West Counties Premier Division side Colne with 10 games in 19 days. Three of their home games will be hosted by other clubs, but the good news is they face Padiham in the Lancashire Cup semi-final on Wednesday and if they win that they earn another match.
As always in the non-league pyramid there has been no shortage of clubs facing financial difficulty. Marske United withdrew from the Northern Premier League in January because spiralling costs made it impossible to finish their season despite attempts to raise funds. Nuneaton Borough also failed to complete the campaign, withdrawing from the Southern League Premier Division Central at the turn of the year. The good news is they are aiming to return to the pyramid next season as Nuneaton Town. National League South side Torquay risked heading into oblivion and entered administration, receiving a 10-point penalty for doing so, but they have a number of takeover options and hope to be saved. The Gulls are five points above the relegation zone with three games remaining. There was better news at Scunthorpe where David Hilton’s tumultuous reign ended, amid a winding-up petition, threat of eviction at Glanford Park and players considering strike action. Local lifelong fan Michelle Harness bought the club, who sit second in the National League North and broke the attendance record at that level when 7,511 watched them draw 2-2 with Chester in March.
The Premier League is not the only place hosting a three-way race for the title. There is a battle at the top of the North West Counties Premier Division between Wythenshawe FC, their close rivals Wythenshawe Town and Bury. Two and a half miles and four points separate the two Wythenshawe clubs in first and second; Town are top with 92 points, FC and Bury are four points behind, each with a game in hand. Town have an ace up their sleeve in the form of the former Premier League forward George Boyd, who joined the club midway through the season, just over two years after announcing his retirement from the professional game. In 2015 Boyd scored a winner in the top flight against Manchester City; nine years later the 38-year-old will be aiming to lead his side to the title with Chadderton and Skelmersdale United standing in his way.
Speaking of former Premier League players who have dropped down, Warrington Town can boast the former Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom among their squad. Wisdom’s life changed when he was the victim of a stabbing in 2020, battling to return to fitness. He joined the National League North team in late September after a couple of years out of the game. After leaving Derby in 2021, Wisdom trialled up and down the country, even trying to earn a contract in Poland, but struggled to get back to the level demanded. Eventually his friend Bohan Dixon convinced him to join training at Cantilever Park, 20 miles from Anfield, last year and he’s been a regular ever since. A mid-table finish in the sixth tier may not be much to write home about but it means a lot to Wisdom.
The anoraks among you may remember Droylsden from their one season in the fifth tier in 2007-08 (some still talk of beating Oxford United 3-1 in front of the TV cameras). In 2020 they had to withdraw from the Northern Premier League citing financial reasons. After three seasons without fielding a team, the Bloods announced their return, starting afresh with the Butcher’s Arms flinging open its gates once more. The chairman and manager Dave Pace was, naturally, at the start of the reinvention. He built the stand and clubhouse at the small ground a couple of miles from the Etihad. Money needed to be raised and local boy Howard Donald of Take That, whose brother is on the board, donated a prize to help fund the rebirth. They required a new squad and 138 players arrived for trials last summer. The recruitment has worked, leaving them well placed to secure a playoff spot in the North West Counties First Division (South).
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Farnham Town began the Combined Counties Premier Division South season with 25 wins in a row until a draw with second-placed Knaphill. There was no drop-off in form after, as they secured the title and a place in the Isthmian League. With seven games to go they are unbeaten and have dropped only four points, scoring 107 goals and conceding 18. The Surrey side’s success has led to attendances quadrupling in recent years and promotion will help the club that aims to offer the best non-league match-day experience in the country and has planning permission to build a new 210-capacity stand.
Without the glitz and glamour that Wrexham brought to the National League, Chesterfield’s march to the title has somewhat gone under the radar. They secured the solitary automatic promotion spot on 23 March and sit a mere 16 points clear of second place, requiring five points from their final three matches to reach a century. Barnet and Bromley are second and third, although Gateshead could finish as high as runners-up, with Altrincham, in their second season as a professional club, Solihull Moors, and Halifax currently joining them in the playoff spots. At the other end, part-time Oxford City are relegated, with five clubs in realistic danger of filling the other three demotion spots. Dorking, Phil Brown’s Kidderminster and Boreham Wood are in the most danger but Wealdstone and York are looking over their shoulders with worry.

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