PRESTWICH HEYS PREVIEW
Welcome to October and if you thought the madness of five home games in seven in September was ridiculous, hold the beer!
The first of SIX home games in the seven of this month arrives with the first of two visits in eight days from our old friends Prestwich Heys.
MATCH: Ramsbottom United vs Prestwich Heys
VENUE: Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, Ramsbottom, BL0 0BS
COMPETITION: North West Counties Premier Division
DATE: Saturday 4th October 2025
KICK-OFF: 3:00pm
ADMISSION: Adults – £9, Concessions – £5, U12 – £1 (with paying adult).
NOTE: We are a CASH ONLY stadium – there are NO CARD FACILTIES at the ground.
OVERVIEW:
September was a good month for the Rams, despite the slip up in the last game at Irlam – our first Saturday away game of the season remarkably. Five wins and a draw alongside the reverse and 26 goals scored, that is a good haul for seven games across both league and cup competitions.
But October dawns with another seven games to play and the first of two Saturday visits from Prestwich Heys in successive weekends and the Rams will need to be on their very best form against one of the in-form teams.
Ignore the fact that Heys are 16th in the table with three wins from 11 starts and 14 points in the bank and completely ignore the fact that the Rams completed a triple over the north Manchester side last season. Take firm notice that they have unbeaten in their last six games including wins in the FA Vase against Doncaster City and Macron Cup success over Stockport Town and recording wins in three of their last four league games against West Didsbury, South Liverpool and Glossop as well as a 3-3 draw with Charnock Richard.
This is a new look Prestwich Heys team who are climbing the league table after an indifferent start to the campaign, they come to the HWRS to face an Rams side who are unbeaten this season in the league on home soil but a little stung after the defeat at Irlam, which saw them miss the opportunity to regain top spot.
It was a result that manager Steve Wilkes has been dwelling on, with no game in midweek this week, so he will be wanting his charges to bounce straight back and quickly!
FACILITIES
The game at Ramsbottom United will be by payment in CASH at the turnstile (the club does not have a card facility). Prices are as shown above and programmes are £2.
Due to cricket and adjacent building works, parking for spectators should be away from the ground, in either town centre car parks (drivers are advised to check any time limits) or in the various side streets, all of which are no more than 5-10 minutes walk away but please be mindful of local residents and businesses.
Various bus routes come into Ramsbottom town centre (https://bustimes.org/localities/ramsbottom for details) and the East Lancs Railway (https://www.eastlancsrailway.org.uk/events-activities/western-region-weekend/) station is adjacent to the ground.
Tea Bar serving hot and cold drinks, pie and peas, sweets, crisps etc will be open within the ground, as will the Can Bar serving beer, lager and cider.
HISTORY
We offer a very warm welcome to everyone coming over from Prestwich Heys for this game.
The Rams and Heys didn’t meet in the NWCFL until our return to the league back in 2023 and it has been a tale of two very different seasons!
We were old foes from the Manchester League days with two losses in the league – two high scoring losses as well, 5-3 at Sandgate Road and 3-2 at the Riverside – but we would secure the Gilgryst Cup in May 1995 after extra time, taking the spoils 3-2.
It was a long wait before we would meet again and in that first season, we suffered two heavy losses, that 3-0 defeat at Adie Moran Park which still sticks long in the memory and then a 4-2 loss at the HWRS in March 2024 with Harvey Hayhurst and Oscar Lucas scoring for the home side but it was too little, too late.
Last season though, it was different! A pair of goals from the Sephton brothers, Luke on 56 and Scott on 84 (pictured above), ensured all three points were secured at the HWRS in September and it was the same score line earlier this year in March, coming back from an early home strike to take the victory when Tom Hoyle and a 97th minute winner from Luke Barlow sealing the win.
And then there was the League Cup victory, a 5-0 thumping – all five goals coming in a first half barrage to book our place in the quarter-finals.
Let’s see what happens this time around – because anything could given the respective forms of the two teams.
STEVE WILKES SAYS:
“It has been an interesting week without a game since our loss on Saturday. You often have little time to dwell on results with another match usually coming up in just a few days time.
“But we’ve trained really well and the lads have shown a real determination to get back on track and put that loss down to just one of those days. Yes, we have a few regulars missing and we took a while to get into the game but their desire to go on and win the game with all that added time shows the mentality you need to be successful in this league.
“We will need some of that sort of fight, heart and desire for Saturday’s game with a very inform Prestwich side… but maybe without giving them a two goal head start!
