Non-league football

[Matt]

Absolutely- whatever squad is there come August will be better than the horrorshow group that started this season. 

[Paullow]

Might look to go to Hebburn vs Rushall next Saturday. A win and they will almost certainly win the league, baring a huge Hednesford win. 

 

Dunston secured a playoff spot in the league below and if they win at home next Saturday it will be a home semi final.

 

Love this stage of the season.

[Paullow]

Consett were absolutely honking today, Ossett move ahead of Blyth T and Bishops and survival is in their hands, but a tough final match for Ossett, so still all to play for at the bottom next week.

[Paullow]

@Paully I know there's been some work done, but if Hebburn do win the league next Saturday, will they definitely be playing National North football next season?

[Paullow]

Already relegated Braintree equalised against Rochdale in injury time, but Rochdale score a 90+9 winner with the last kick of the game to take it to the final day, where they are at home to York. Rochdale need to win, York can draw.

 

I hope York do it, but Rochdale always seem to get late late goals, to be fair to them. York would have won the title without that last gasp strike.

 

 

 

Edited April 18 by Paullow

[Paully]

13 hours ago, Paullow said:

@Paully I know there's been some work done, but if Hebburn do win the league next Saturday, will they definitely be playing National North football next season?

Yes mate - see you for a pint on Saturday!

[John P]

On 18/04/2026 at 19:46, Paullow said:

Already relegated Braintree equalised against Rochdale in injury time, but Rochdale score a 90+9 winner with the last kick of the game to take it to the final day, where they are at home to York. Rochdale need to win, York can draw.

 

I hope York do it, but Rochdale always seem to get late late goals, to be fair to them. York would have won the title without that last gasp strike.

 

 

 

 

Took my 2 lads to the York game yesterday. Massive buzz and great atmosphere around the ground when news of the Braintree goal came through, only for that to be shattered with the last kick of the game winner for Rochdale. Was a shame, as my kids were really excited at the prospect of seeing York lift the trophy at full time, but had a great time overall. Will definitely be taking them to some more York games, decent little ground and atmosphere and decently priced Brew York beers in the concourse too!

[Wallsendmag]

3 minutes ago, John P said:

Took my 2 lads to the York game yesterday. Massive buzz and great atmosphere around the ground when news of the Braintree goal came through, only for that to be shattered with the last kick of the game winner for Rochdale. Was a shame, as my kids were really excited at the prospect of seeing York lift the trophy at full time, but had a great time overall. Will definitely be taking them to some more York games, decent little ground and atmosphere and decently priced Brew York beers in the concourse too!

 

It's funny but every time I go to a Non League game I come away realising how much more I enjoy myself than if I'd went to a Premier League match. 

 

The game we went to yesterday saw Berwick Rangers run out 4-2 winners. After going to Gretna last weekend and seeing them win 7-2 that's 15 goals we've seen in the last 2 games.

 

We didn't even pay to get in yesterday. With it being the last game of the season because we sponsor one of the players away kits we were allowed in for free and had a table reserved for us with a full afternoon tea, sarnies, pastries, cakes, 2 bottles of Estrella, tea, coffee and 2 programmes. Wish I'd known we would be getting that before we got there otherwise I wouldn't have bought a load of stuff in Greggs before getting on the train 

[John P]

6 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

It's funny but every time I go to a Non League game I come away realising how much more I enjoy myself than if I'd went to a Premier League match. 

 

The game we went to yesterday saw Berwick Rangers run out 4-2 winners. After going to Gretna last weekend and seeing them win 7-2 that's 15 goals we've seen in the last 2 games.

 

We didn't even pay to get in yesterday. With it being the last game of the season because we sponsor one of the players away kits we were allowed in for free and had a table reserved for us with a full afternoon tea, sarnies, pastries, cakes, 2 bottles of Estrella, tea, coffee and 2 programmes. Wish I'd known we would be getting that before we got there otherwise I wouldn't have bought a load of stuff in Greggs before getting on the train 

Yeah there's a lot to be said for it. Tickets were cheap and not a complete ballache to get, the beer was good and not stupidly priced, the atmosphere was decent (8,500 there yesterday) and York play some good stuff. Seeing my 7 year old marvel at the noise 8,000 York fans could make did make me desperate to get him to St James' for a big game though, he'd fucking love it

[Hovagod]

@Paullow What do South Shields need to do now? Have they fucked it?

[Paullow]

1 minute ago, Hovagod said:

@Paullow What do South Shields need to do now? Have they fucked it?

 

They have to win, and ideally hope Fylde lose. If Fylde draw then South Shields would need to win by 3 clear goals.

 

It does feel pretty much done, but then again, there have been so many twists and turns in the run in, so one final twist wouldn't be impossible. Fylde have lost their last 3 away games and their opponents kind of do need to win to try and get into the playoffs, whereas Shields match, while tougher on paper, is away to the 3rd placed side who can't finish higher or lower and will have a home playoff final on their mind, so may be resting players for that, but it does feel like 80/20 in Fylde's favour.

[Hovagod]

Shields have got over a thousand tickets, not sure how they’re selling, but should be an impressive turnout 

[John P]

28 minutes ago, John P said:

Yeah there's a lot to be said for it. Tickets were cheap and not a complete ballache to get, the beer was good and not stupidly priced, the atmosphere was decent (8,500 there yesterday) and York play some good stuff. Seeing my 7 year old marvel at the noise 8,000 York fans could make did make me desperate to get him to St James' for a big game though, he'd fucking love it

Having said this, the promotion system in the National League is a bit of a joke. York have 107 points, they've scored 113 goals with a goal difference of +73 and they might not go up 

[Elma]

On 18/04/2026 at 18:39, Paullow said:

@Paully I know there's been some work done, but if Hebburn do win the league next Saturday, will they definitely be playing National North football next season?

 

I'm a Hebburn lad (my brother used to play for them in the 80s) and would love to be there. Unfortunately I'm stuck in London next weekend - will probably be up the week after.

 

Good luck to Hebburn though - will be following score updates. 🤞 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

3 hours ago, Wallsendmag said:

It's funny but every time I go to a Non League game I come away realising how much more I enjoy myself than if I'd went to a Premier League match. 

 

Honestly if Gateshead had a better stadium it would be really hard to resist going. People know I used to love my Bromley trips when I lived down south. Non-league is brilliant. 

[Paullow]

2 hours ago, Hovagod said:

Shields have got over a thousand tickets, not sure how they’re selling, but should be an impressive turnout 

I guess if you (generally) hadn't booked your ticket you'd be less tempted now with it no longer being in their hands, but aye, hopefully they take a good crowd down and would be great if it worked out well for them.

[Paullow]

59 minutes ago, Elma said:

 

I'm a Hebburn lad (my brother used to play for them in the 80s) and would love to be there. Unfortunately I'm stuck in London next weekend - will probably be up the week after.

 

Good luck to Hebburn though - will be following score updates. 🤞 

 

Yeah, it would be great if you had a hometown non league team you could be proud of, especially when they're going through a good moment. I've always wished Hexham had a team competing well in the Northern League, or even higher - it's no smaller than Morpeth, with a bigger catchment area, but while they've had a few years in step 3 (albeit almost certainly to come to an end this season), Hexham have never had a team above Northern Alliance level in my lifetime.

 

I've always liked to see the vast majority of local non league sides do well, so it is good in that sense that you can go to a lot of grounds in the region, especially at this stage of the season when there is a lot of big matches, and not many bigger than Hebburn this Saturday, and take in these great occasions, but it would be nicer if you had more of a connection to the place / team.

 

I echo Wallsend and others though, I do find myself enjoying non league more and more now.

[OpenC]

Speaking of Morpeth, looks like they need (1) a win, and (2) Whitby to lose, and (3) a six goal swing over Whitby, and (4) Prescot Cables not to win in the last game - or they're back to NPL East.  Lot of folk around here predicting they'll be back in the Northern League not too long afterwards.

Alnwick finished 8th in NL2, 70 points.  Reasonable knock again for a team playing in the Alliance a couple of seasons ago (and retaining some of those players) but should probably have been better with a boatload of points dropped to dismal Tow Low, Esh Winning and Synthonia teams.

 

 

Edited April 20 by OpenC

[Big Geordie]

Morpeth ran out of cash?  Old mate of mine's nephew has been playing for them. Former NUFC reserve midfielder, James Huntley. 

[Wallsendmag]

Is Ken Beattie not still chairman at Morpeth? He's got a few quid. Think he's a millionaire.

[leffe186]

17 hours ago, John P said:

Yeah there's a lot to be said for it. Tickets were cheap and not a complete ballache to get, the beer was good and not stupidly priced, the atmosphere was decent (8,500 there yesterday) and York play some good stuff. Seeing my 7 year old marvel at the noise 8,000 York fans could make did make me desperate to get him to St James' for a big game though, he'd fucking love it

So proud of our football pyramid and the fact that York are getting 8000+ fans…and have the third highest average attendance.

[Stifler]

14 hours ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Honestly if Gateshead had a better stadium it would be really hard to resist going. People know I used to love my Bromley trips when I lived down south. Non-league is brilliant. 

North Shields got over 1,000 fans the other week. Ok it was a local derby against Whitley Bay, but still.

That stadium is a massive deterrence, NUFC women have seen a massive drop in attendance since their move there. It’s a fucking shocking stadium for football.

[Wallsendmag]

It's just an awful place to watch football. The bairn has played for their academy for the last 3 years and we get free season tickets because of it and in all those 3 years we've probably been about 10 times and they've had a good side for a lot of that time as well, winning the trophy and finishing in a Play Off place.

 

It's just a shitty, soulless venue all round. Nowt really around it other that that Schooner pub and it's just impossible to create any sort of atmosphere being so far from the pitch. Away fans are always very critical of the place.

 

If they had their own ground, a proper football ground, they'd be getting similar crowds to South Shields, if not a bit more given they play higher up the pyramid. Expecting people to pay £22 to sit in that place is just too big an ask for most. It's a shame because it's genuinely a cracking little football club.

[Wallsendmag]

14 minutes ago, leffe186 said:

So proud of our football pyramid and the fact that York are getting 8000+ fans…and have the third highest average attendance.

 

Apparently Bury had over 7,000 there at the weekend and they play in the 8th tier!

[AyeDubbleYoo]

2 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

It's just an awful place to watch football. The bairn has played for their academy for the last 3 years and we get free season tickets because of it and in all those 3 years we've probably been about 10 times and they've had a good side for a lot of that time as well, winning the trophy and finishing in a Play Off place.

 

It's just a shitty, soulless venue all round. Nowt really around it other that that Schooner pub and it's just impossible to create any sort of atmosphere being so far from the pitch. Away fans are always very critical of the place.

 

If they had their own ground, a proper football ground, they'd be getting similar crowds to South Shields, if not a bit more given they play higher up the pyramid. Expecting people to pay £22 to sit in that place is just too big an ask for most. It's a shame because it's genuinely a cracking little football club.

They would be thriving if they had a nice little stadium TBH. You’d see plenty of people who are priced out of Newcastle or just can’t be bothered with the PL bullshit.