Season in Stats - Premier Division

Chester FC lost just one of their final 25 games of the 2011/12 season to clinch the Premier Division title, a run typical of the consistency exhibited by Neil Young’s team.

A total of just four defeats over the whole season – three of which came against play-off sides Hendesford Town and Bradford Park Avenue – was matched with 31 wins as Chester stormed to a total of 100 points, beating last year’s runaway winners FC Halifax Town by two.

A huge part of Chester’s success was the fact that sides simply could not stop them scoring goals. The Exacta Stadium outfit found the net 102 times in league games in 2011/12, with Hednesford the only team to prevent Chester from scoring. Since that 1-0 loss in late August, they scored in 39 successive games, including big wins over North Ferriby United and Stocksbridge Park Steels, and an incredible ten games where the margin of victory was four goals or more.

Add in a solid home record – only dropping eleven points at the Exacta all season – and you can see why they finished so highly. At the opposite end of the spectrum, bottom club Burscough won just once in front of their own fans all year.

Unsurprisingly given their final standing, Chester also set the league standard for games unbeaten – 16 and counting at the last day of the season – while at the other end of the table relegated Chasetown’s 13 game winless streak – part of a run of just one win in the last 19 league games – played a huge part in their demise.

There were also some contrasting records for Premier Division sides away from home. Marine went on a great late season run of 12 successive away games unbeaten as part of an overall road record that matched the league winners, avoiding defeat 18 times out of 21. Matlock Town meanwhile had a miserable time away from Causeway Lane, failing to register a win in any of their last 17 road games – part of an overall league low of two wins away from home.

In contrast to last year’s race for the Golden Boot – where Ross Hannah blitzed the competition with 35 league goals – the 2011/12 season saw a much closer competition. Steve Foster was the only man to surpass the 20-goal mark (compared to a total of eight in 2010/11), securing the honour with his 21st goal of the season against Bradford Park Avenue on the final day. Added to his 31-goal haul in 2010/11, it is clear to see why Foster picked up the Premier Division’s Player of the Year award in March.

A grand total of 262,865 fans watched the 462 Premier Division regular season games in 2011/12, with Chester’s title clinching draw with Northwich Victoria drawing a crowd of 5,009 – a record for the league since in introduction of the two-tier Football Conference.

The “Season in Stats” articles for the First Division can be found here; D1N | D1S