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Season 1945–46. Cheshire League Edward Case Trophy At a special meeting held in Chester in May 1945, it was unanimously resolved to resume Cheshire County League football for season 1945-46. Clubs who were expected to resume were: - Port Vale, Crewe Alexandra, Tranmere Rovers, Northwich Victoria, Buxton, Stalybridge Celtic, Hyde United, Hurst, Wrexham, Witton Albion, Wellington Town, Chester, Wigan Athletic, Runcorn, Mossley, Rhyl and Stockport County. In addition, Droylsden and South Liverpool were admitted to membership. Winsford United, Congleton Town and Macclesfield were unable to resume owing to ground difficulties. At the meeting, Oldham Athletic applied for membership but after a lengthy discussion, and considering that South Liverpool could possibly be accepted into the Third Division of the Football League, they were not accepted. The Cheshire League explained that at present, 19 clubs comprised the league, and if South Liverpool went into the Football League, they would be left with an even number of clubs with which to draw up the seasons fixture list. At a later date however, South Liverpool stated that they were to remain with the Cheshire League, and Oldham were accepted. Now under the chairmanship of Mr. A Dunnett, Droylsden were eagerly looking forward to the new season. By mid-August, new secretary, Mr. J Barlow, (former secretary of Droylsden United), announced the new batch of players they had assembled for the coming season. Goalkeepers: Chappell, Skidmore, Lawrence; Full-backs: Randall, E Ramshead, Turner (Huddersfield Town), G Ramshead; Half-backs: Readett, Alcon (Blackburn Rovers), Walker (Manchester City), Freer (Manchester United), Hill and Buckley; Forwards: Lowe, Hooper, Broughton, Alkar, Mycock (Manchester United), Wilkinson, Van Gelder (Notts County), Hobson (Blackpool FC), Davies, Bartholomew (Grimsby Town), McClelland (Bolton Wanderers), and Buckley. Many other signings were made during the course of the season. Droylsden opened their first season in the Cheshire League at the Butchers’ Arms, where they drew 1-1 with Hyde United. The Droylsden team showed good early season form, which by Christmas had earned the club a place in the top five of the league table. Out of 16 matches played, the Market street lads had won 9, drawn 1 and lost 6. Some of the nine victories included a 7-1 beating of Runcorn; a 6-2 away win at South Liverpool; a 4-0 defeat of Crewe Alexandra and a 5-3 victory over Stalybridge Celtic at Bower Fold. In January, Droylsden completed the double over Northwich Victoria; 7-1 at the Butchers’ Arms, and 2-1 at the Drill Field. Two more wins followed, at Tranmere Rovers 2-0, and 7-3 at home to Chester Reserves. Droylsden then suffered a slight hiccup at fourth from bottom of the table, Rhyl, losing the match by 5 goals to 2. However, the Droylsden team soon recovered their winning form in the very next match at Crewe Alexandra, where they won 7-0. By this time Droylsden were lying second in the table, which was headed by Wellington Town. In late March the two teams met at the Butchers’ Arms in a top of the table clash, and the match generated so much interest that on the day of the match over 5,000 spectators poured into the ground for what promised to be a titanic struggle. Officials of the Cheshire County League were amongst those in attendance, including Mr. Edward Case, president of the league. In a tremendously hard fought match, Wellington took both points with a hard earned 3-2 victory, though the Droylsden team had covered themselves in glory by putting up a fine performance. That game virtually wrapped up the league title for Wellington Town, and at the same time destroyed any faint hopes Droylsden had of winning the championship. At the end of March, Droylsden recorded their one hundredth goal of the season by beating Port Vale Reserves 3-1 at the Butchers’ Arms. Wigan Athletic was then turned over on their own ground, where Droylsden won 4-1. Hurst suffered a similar fate at Hurst Cross, Droylsden winning 5-1 in front of a 3,500 crowd. Wigan then came to Market Street for the return match and were sent home with a 6-0 beating. By the end of April, Droylsden had secured runners-up spot in the league, and were presented with the Edward Case Cup after beating Mossley 3-0. In the Ashton Challenge Cup competition, Droylsden met Ashton National (now playing in the Manchester League) at the Butchers’ Arms in the first leg of a two-legged semi-final - Droylsden easily winning the match by 7 goals to 1. In the second leg at Ashton National, the Butchers’ Arms men confirmed their superiority over the Ashton team by beating them 4-1. The final was contested between Hurst and Droylsden at National Park on Friday evening, May 3 1946, where well over 5,000 spectators had assembled to see who would carry off the first post-war Ashton Challenge Cup. Cheshire League 1945-46
Ashton Challenge Cup Final
"The match kicked off with Hurst facing a powerful setting sun, and from the first kick the match was played with hard and grim football, with a number of stoppages for fouls. Droylsden opened the game by playing the better football, though it was Hurst who missed most of the best chances. Droylsden's stalwarts were Neilson and Shepherd, the latter constantly feeding his forwards with telling passes that was splitting the Hurst defence apart. After half-an-hour Hobson slipped round the Hurst right-back to give Mycock a pass from which he opened the scoring. While there was always something more virile and skilful in the movements of the Cheshire League runners-up, Hurst fought on with determination, and were rewarded just before the interval when a move between Shaw and Swindells culminated in Rudd equalising with a shot that beat Taylor all the way.
"The breeze freshened after the change-over, and Droylsden, for the most part, occupied the Hurst territory. Hurst's goalkeeper, Nuttall, brought off several spectacular saves but after 18 minutes, was well beaten by Davies, who went through from a clever pass by Shepherd. For a time the Hurst defenders were harassed almost to a state of bewilderment and Nuttall had to jump about like a cat to keep out a rain of shots from Mycock, Randall and Davies. Then, after 35 minutes, Cooper was guilty of a disastrous mistake in failing to clear an easy ball. Davies, well up, dashed past him and planted the ball in the net to increase Droylsden's lead. It now seemed to be all over bar the shouting, but Hurst fought on with grim tenacity and eight minutes from time, Ramsbottom sent Shaw through to make the score 3-2. Hurst then aroused a high pitch of excitement in a gallant but futile effort to equalise. Final Score: Droylsden 3 Hurst 2."
Droylsden: Taylor, Turner, Ramshead, Neary, Neilson, Shepherd, Hobson, Davies, Mycock, Randall, Jones. Hurst FC: Nuttall, Lear, Forbes, Baker, Cooper, Ashworth, Colquhoun, Swindells, Shaw, Ramsbottom, Rudd.
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