CHEADLE TOWN PREVIEW
After a triple of away days, the Rams hit a lengthy run of five home matches in the next six in what could be the pivot between promotion success or play-off drama. It all starts with a very tough fixture against Cheadle Town at the HWRS on Tuesday night.
MATCH: Ramsbottom United vs Cheadle Town
VENUE: Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, Ramsbottom, BL0 0BS
COMPETITION: North West Counties League Premier Division
DATE: Tuesday 10th February 2026
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:
This is a very important part of the season for the Rams. We are unbeaten in our last eight games but only three of those have secured all three points and, since last playing at home, we have had two guilt edged opportunities to bring home the maximum only to concede late, late equalisers at FC Isle of Man and Charnock Richard.
The Rams have 16 games to go and nine of those are on home soil where we have remained the only NWCFL Premier Division side to have kept their home record unscathed from the visiting teams. It is a proud record, for sure and with five of the next six league matches at the HWRS, much could be decided.
Starting that run of home games is a game against Cheadle Town – always a poignant fixture but this year, a little more so as it comes 10 days shy of 25 years since the 2-1 NWCFL Division 1 defeat to the Cheshire side was sullied by the shock passing of Ramsbottom United’s legendary manager Ken Bridge.
It hasn’t been a great season for the visitors who find themselves down in 18th place but more than comfortably clear of the drop zone – 19 points clear in fact – so their remaining matches are about trying to climb as much as they can to claim a nice mid-table slot.
And that means danger for the Rams despite Cheadle having won just once in 2026 thus far and it took two second half goals from Harvey Hayhurst and Matt Dudley in the reverse fixture way back in July to claim all three points from the trip south, finally breaking down the hosts who played with 10 men for 77 minutes.
This ever running rollercoaster continues to dip and climb and there is a long way to go. Let’s just get right behind the lads like we always do!
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 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.
Please be aware that the access road to Ramsbottom Cricket Club and Ramsbottom United FC has now had a no parking policy imposed with immediate effect carrying a fine of £100. Please do not park on this road.
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 who has come up from Cheadle Town for this game.
Our history against Cheadle Town goes all the way back to our very first season of semi-professional football on 23 August 1995 and our first match at this level at the Riverside when our now Club President Phil Rose scored the first home goal in NWCFL in a 1-1 draw.
But it is a bizarre quirk in the record that, of the 19 games played between the sides since that first in 1995, the Rams have won 15 and Cheadle on two – those two coming in the reverse fixture some two weeks later and the other a 2-1 win at the HWRS as mentioned earlier in 2001.
Since then, it has been the Rams all the way although the last four meetings have all been won by the odd goal – 1-0, 1-0, 2-1 and 2-1 (Tom Hoyle scoring above last season) so, despite the record, there will be no stone left unturned to continue that record.
STEVE WILKES SAYS:
“We have been really disappointed not to have brought nine points home with us since our last home match. The 4-4 draw at FC Isle of Man and 1-1 at Charnock Richard left us hugely frustrated as we had the better of the games and didn’t capitalise on the performance.
“We know that every single game left this season is crucial and that starts with this game against an always difficult Cheadle Town side, who haven’t had the best of seasons but they are more than competitive in this division so we will need to turn these performances into full three points.”
