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Friday, 3rd September 2010

Longridge Town are league champions

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Published Date: 05 May 2009
LONGRIDGE Town have been crowned champions of the Preston and District Premier Division with three games still left to play.
And they could yet have another incredible achievement to celebrate if they can avoid defeat in those remaining matches - by completing the league season without losing a single game.
A point in a 1-1 draw with Leyland Red Rose in midweek was enough to ease Town over the finish line to the title as their only challengers, Preston Wanderers, could only manage a draw in their must-win game on Tuesday.
The Premier Division title doesn't carry with it any automatic promotion, but Longridge Town are still on course to make the step up to the West Lancashire League next season after applying to join the county's amateur football elite.
With their new ground and improved facilities at Inglewhite Road, Longridge Town now meet the strict ground grading criteria for entry to the West Lancs League and club officials are confident their application will be rubber-stamped at the league's AGM next week.
And although they didn't need to win the league in order to move up to the West Lancashire League, Longridge Town chairman Brian Parkinson says it's still nice to have a 'promotion' to show for their efforts.
"It's a fantastic achievement to win the league and if, as we hope, our application to join the West Lancs League is agreed it will be the icing on the cake'' said Mr Parkinson. "As far as we know neither Longridge United or Longridge Town ever won this league title - there are some ex-players and fans who are in their 80s and 90s who have been coming down and saying they've never known the club to have won this, and we're talking about 100 years of football here - that's how historic this is for Longridge.''
Mr Parkinson was quick to praise the fledgling management team of Stuart Darley and his assistants Darren Gornall and Shaun Dewhurst, who have delivered league success in their first season at the helm.
"It really is a magnificent effort - we had high hopes but this has surpassed everything.
"We already had a strong side but he has brought in the three or four better players that we needed, while keeping a strong core of local Longridge lads, and that has done it for us'' said Mr Parkinson, who added that this easily eclipsed their other most recent on-field success when Longridge lifted the Guild Hall Cup in 2004.
Darley, a former YTS trainee at Burnley who played semi-pro at clubs including Lancaster City and Bamber Bridge, has so far steered Longridge to 23 victories and four draws this season and has yet to taste league defeat with Town.
Now the test is to see whether they can maintain that undefeated record until the end of the season. "If that happens, maybe we will change our name to the Longridge Invicibles!'' joked Mr Parkinson.
The only slight disappointment was that the championship trophy presented on Saturday following the latest victory against Town Green was not handed over at Inglewhite Road. The new pitch is out of use for the rest of the season while extensive 'gravel banding' drainage work is carried out to get it in tip-top condition for the start of the new season, so the trophy was instead presented at the club's former home on the Rec in Longridge.
* More pictures and Saturday's match report in this week's Longridge Newes, out on May 6

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  • Last Updated: 05 May 2009 11:54 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Longridge
 
 

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