Rochdale set up final-day thriller

Emmanuel Dieseruvwe’s 99th-minute winner for Rochdale against Braintree Town last week was a showbiz ending to a game that set up a showbiz ending to the season: the victory means Dale go into the final day with a chance of winning the National League and sealing the one automatic promotion spot, and they are hosting the only team above them, York City, who lead by two points. Everything else in the division – the other playoff contenders, the four relegation spots – is settled, so the final day has 11 fixtures with not a lot on them, and one with everything on the line. With the game long since sold out York are showing it on big screens at their LNER Community Stadium and go into the match with the confidence of a side that have won 17 of their past 20 games (they did lose twice on their travels last month) and usurped the top spot Dale had hogged for much of the season when the then leaders had a mini wobble of two draws, two defeats and two wins around the end of March and start of April. “Whoever put the fixtures out at the start of the year might be getting a little bonus for how it’s ended,” said Ethan Ebanks-Landell, the Rochdale captain. “It’s a massive game, I don’t think there’s been anything like it in the history of football – not that I’m aware of anyway.”

More misery for Morecambe

It has been another season of misery for Morecambe, relegated from League One in 2023, from League Two in 2025, and now from the National League. Their season ends at Forest Green Rovers, who were relegated alongside them in 2023 and pipped them by a season to bottom spot in League Two but have stabilised and claimed a National League playoff spot for the second successive year. It will be Jim Bentley’s final game as the Shrimps’ manager before he steps into an unspecified supporting role for an unidentified new coach. “I like to think I will play my part in taking it forward, getting a feelgood factor to help make Morecambe great again,” he said. These are extraordinary times at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium, with this the club’s first season under the ownership of Panjab Warriors, whose head of communications and director of marketing had his financial assets frozen by the UK government in December after he was accused of supporting a terrorist organisation in India.

Title beckons for Bury FC

Anything but defeat at Atherton Collieries is likely to make Bury FC champions of the Northern Premier League West, which would be their third league title in five years. The bad news is that the only team that could catch them, Avro, are at home to bottom-of-the-table Darlaston Town, who have lost their past 13 games (but weirdly beat Avro and drew with Bury in four days in January). Bury’s average attendance, 3,698 – boosted by the 7,000 who saw them beat Witton Albion 4-1 in their last home game of the season – is almost five times that of the next-best-supported side in the division, Clitheroe (and, for that matter, more than seven teams in League Two).

Non-league lows

In the Isthmian South East (but not for long) East Grinstead Town host Margate seeking their second win, nearly seven months after their 1-0 success at Hassocks. After 41 games they have six points and a goal difference of -129. Other teams who won’t want to remember this season: AFC Dunstable, bottom of Southern League Central Division One, who will hope to improve on two wins in 41 games (11 points, goal difference -132) when they host second-bottom Rayners Lane; Glasshoughton Welfare of Northern Counties East League Division One, who ended with two wins and 10 points from 42 games, and a goal difference of -124; Axminster Town of the South West Peninsula League Premier Division East, whose 2-0 defeat at Ilminster Town last week was the 29th of a 30-game season (no wins, one point, goal difference -120), and Copthorne of Southern Combination Football League Division One, who travel to Selsey on Saturday seeking a win which would double their points tally: they have lost 31 of 32 games and have a goal difference of -125; their game at Billingshurst last week was called off at the last minute because they were unable to field a side.

At the other end of the scale: Bovey Tracey have played 28 of 30 games and have a goal difference of +103, though they did get to play Axminster twice (their first defeat of the season, at home to Bridport in February, was by the unlikely scoreline of 6-7). Mulbarton Wanderers won the Eastern Counties Premier by a remarkable 21 points, but Whitstable Town of the Southern Counties East Premier could better that: they take a 21-point lead into the final day.

Going up or going down?

In National League North Merthyr Town stand one place outside the playoffs, and need to outperform Buxton – who are at home to relegated, bottom-of-the-table Leamington (who have won two of their past five) – or to win while one of Chester or Scarborough Athletic don’t. But they’re playing AFC Fylde, who need victory to be sure of winning the title – any other result and they could be overtaken by second-placed South Shields, who are at third-placed Kidderminster Harriers. The other big game in the division is at North Street, where Alfreton Town, who occupy 22nd place, host Curzon Ashton in 21st and are looking to pull off something of a great escape – they have won three and drawn three of their past six, a 90th-minute winner last week keeping their hopes alive. At least one of those two must go down, while Hereford (who beat Marine in midweek to haul themselves out of the bottom four and host relegated Peterborough Sports), and King’s Lynn Town and Bedford Town, both of whose opponents are scrapping to stay in the playoff places, try not to get dragged into trouble.

All eyes on the top

In National League South the key matters to be decided are whether Maidenhead United, in eighth but with the five teams above them all within two points, can vault into the playoffs, and whether Hornchurch, in second, can sneak into top spot by winning if Worthing slip up. Inevitably Hornchurch are playing Maidenhead, and only one can get the result they desire. One imagines that match will be followed with fanatical interest at Woodside Road where Worthing, a point ahead of Hornchurch (but with a massive goal difference advantage) are at home to Ebbsfleet, who are a point ahead of Maidenhead. Meanwhile ninth-placed Maidstone United have a chance of sneaking into the playoffs if they beat relegated Bath City.

VCD Athletic’s farewell

In 1916 workers in the Vickers armaments factory in Crayford, south-east London, set up a works team, who played on the factory athletic grounds on Old Road. The factory has long gone but the team, VCD Athletic, remained on the same site. On Saturday they travel to Sittingbourne to play their last game. Their ground was sold this year, and its new owners are property developers who clearly have plans that a football club would get in the way of. “We have not been offered a new lease to remain at our historic home,” VCD’s chair, Gary Rump, said. “For over a century, the club has been more than just a football team – it has been a cornerstone of local identity, bringing together players, supporters, volunteers, and generations of families who have shared in its history, spirit and achievements. To reach this point, where we must accept that the continuation of the club is no longer viable, is deeply painful.”

The end of VCD continues a miserable trend for clubs in the area: of the teams in the top two divisions of the Kent League in 1985-86, Alma Swanley, Darenth Heathside, Fisher Athletic (in their original guise, Fisher FC have now reformed), Folkestone, Greenwich Borough, Kent Police, Four Area (Met Police), Slade Green, Snowdown Colliery Welfare and Thames Polytechnic are no longer with us. The news comes in the month Hillingdon Borough resigned from the league, while Hashtag United asked to be relegated from the Isthmian Premier League because, as their founder, Spencer Owen, put it, “moving to step four will mean significant budgetary savings”. Four months ago Bedlington Terriers folded after they failed to agree a new lease on their Dr Pit Park stadium.