600 NPL games for Curzon

Milestone to be reached on Saturday

Saturday 14th January sees Curzon Ashton FC play their 600th Northern Premier League game when Warrington Town will be the visitors to The Tameside Stadium.

The game comes 24 and a half years after Curzon first joined the NPL as founder members of the First Division when a trip to Penrith on 26th August 1987 resulted in a 2-3 defeat, with Curzon legend Alan Sykes scoring both the Curzon goals.

They lost their next game, 2-4 at home to local rivals Stalybridge Celtic and eventually put three points on the board with a 1-0 home win against Radcliffe Borough. It was a disastrous first season as the Blues finished next to bottom with just eight wins and 28 points from 36 games. They were saved from relegation due to the division expanding from 19 to 22 teams the following season and during their first ten years stay in the league they became a solid mid-table side that proved difficult to beat.

Their best season during that first spell was a fourth place finish in 1995-1996, but the following season saw them finish third from bottom and relegation as board room upheaval off the pitch was reflected by results on it.

The journey back to the NPL was long and at times painful but it was a ten year period which saw the club grow and finally see their plans for a new stadium come to fruition.

After leaving the NPL Curzon played a season in the Northern Counties (East) League before moving back to the west of the Pennines to compete in the North West Counties Second Division. Being promoted as runner-up in their second season, Curzon, under the management of Gary Lowe then took seven seasons to build a squad capable of winning promotion back into the NPL, which they did at the end of the 2006-2007 after finishing as runner up to FC United.

Their return, in the newly formed NPL Division One North began with a 2-0 home win and Curzon created a club record of 13 unbeaten games from the start of the season. A great season saw Curzon finish in fourth place but they were beaten in the play-offs by Skelmersdale United.

The following season saw another play-off defeat, this time in the final at Newcastle Blue Star who then unfortunately folded during the close season.

Two more play-offs followed, meaning that Curzon have finished in the top five in each of their first four seasons back in the NPL first division, with a highest ever finish of third place in 2009-10.

Last season Curzon gained their most points in a NPL season totalling 85 although it was only enough to secure fourth place.

This season, expectations were lower after Gary Lowe left and the squad was broken up, but a magnificent start and a new club record of 17 league games without defeat from the start of the season has given the club optimism that promotion to the NPL Premier Division can become a reality for the first time.

Curzon’s full NPL record is P599 W242 D150 L207 F992 A899.
In the unlikely event of Curzon scoring 8 goals against Warrington they will also achieve 1000 NPL goals.

In addition Curzon have also played 223 cup games whilst members of the NPL, and Saturday will also see them play their 1800th league game, taking into account all leagues they have played in. Their next five goals will see 4400 goals scored in all competitions.

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