BARNOLDSWICK TOWN PREVIEW
Six league wins in a row, eight in all competitions and the Rams hit the summit of the table. But next up, we put our unbeaten home league record on the line once more to face Barnoldswick Town under the HWRS lights.
MATCH: Ramsbottom United vs Barnoldswick Town
VENUE: Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, Ramsbottom, BL0 0BS
COMPETITION: North West Counties League Premier Division
DATE: Tuesday 4th November 2025
KICK-OFF: 7:45pm
ADMISSION: Adults – £9, Concessions (over 67) – £5, U12 – £1 (with paying adult).
NOTE: We are a CASH ONLY stadium – there are NO CARD FACILTIES at the ground.
OVERVIEW:
The Rams are top of the table, having leapfrogged over Padiham who slipped to defeat at challenging Irlam on Saturday. Top of the league, top of the form table, bottom of the disciplinary table and a player second in the goalscoring chart in Jacob Holland-Wilkinson. It feels a very good time to be a Ramsbottom United supporter.
However, we cannot rest on our laurels and after two outstanding 3-0 wins over Prestwich Heys this week, it is back to it and a tough fixture against Barnoldswick Town, who had won four games in a row prior to their Saturday reverse against Burscough and that included an away win at Irlam as well.
So this is a game that cannot be taken lightly at all despite the Rams’ outstanding recent form or the fact that we eased past our Tuesday night visitors three weeks ago at the Silentnight Stadium 3-1 with goals from Luke Sephton, Oscar Radcliffe and Jacob Holland-Wilkinson.
‘Barlick’ are down in 16th place as it stands with six wins and three draws from their 16 starts but have slowly climbed the table following their wins over AFC Liverpool, Irlam and Pilkington plus a West Riding Cup win over Liversedge since their loss to the Rams so they are definitely a side on the up and with dangerous players like Connor McAuley and Gareth Hill in top goal scoring form.
As for the Rams, it is back to home comforts where they haven’t lost a league game since losing two on the spin against FC St Helens and Padiham in late February and early March – it’s always great to be back at the HWRS where the pies are warm, the Bovril wholesome and the tea comes in a mug!
How about a super birthday present for your previewer on Tuesday night please!
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 down the valley from Barnoldswick Town for this game.
It was August 2010 that we first played against our Yorkshire opponents and since then have met on 11 occasions, with the Rams winning five and Barlick just the two with four 1-1 draws – our 3-1 victory a few weeks ago broke the quadruple run of score draws that were played out in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 campaigns.
Joel Pilkington’s 41st minute strike was all that separated the sides but one of the two Barnoldswick wins came in mid November when Aaron Hollindrake’s 88th minute goal took all three points.
However, of the 11 previous games, only four of them have been played at the HWRS, the two 1-1 draws in the last two seasons but a 3-2 win in October 2011 when a late flurry of goals, firstly from Barnoldswick’s Paul Fildes – who would go on, of course, to become a Rammy co-manager – slotted a penalty to put his side 2-1 but a penalty back for Mark Drew and then an Andy Dawson goal, a trademark header from a corner, clinched all three points.
STEVE WILKES SAYS:
“Have been really pleased with the performances from the lads, especially the back-to-back 3-0 wins over a really good Heys side but that’s five clean sheets in a row now and we are back to the top of the table, where we want to stay.
“Barnoldswick will be a difficult game, that is for sure, they played well against us a few weeks back and have got some good results of late too so we will not be taking anything for granted and we want to keep our recent record going, especially with some huge games coming up this month.”
