Prestwich Heys will be fighting on two fronts when they visit Workington’s Borough Park on Saturday.
At the weekend they beat Beverley Town 4-1 in the preliminary round of the FA Vase and are looking forward to FA Cup action against Reds.
But last night they suffered a 2-0 defeat at AFC Liverpool which left them 16th of 24 in the North West Counties League Premier Division, currently headed by Kendal Town.
Their previous League game, last Tuesday had produced a 4-2 win at Cheadle Town (managed by ex-Reds midfielder Paul Marshall) when star of the show was striker Matt Davies with a hat-trick.
Hot-shot Davies is clearly a man that Workington will have to be wary of as he also notched a couple in Saturday’s FA Vase win.
Prestwich is less than four miles from Radcliffe and with the Heys management team of Lee O’Brien and James Hampson friendly with their counterparts up the road they will certainly have been given the low-down on Reds.
Radcliffe, very, very impressive last week in their 4-1 win at Borough Park and followed-up with a 5-2 victory at Marske on Saturday before a 5-0 romp against FC United of Manchester on Monday.
After a disappointing run of results away from home, culminating in Monday’s 3-0 loss at Bamber Bridge, Reds boss Danny Grainger will welcome a change of competition.
But he is also mindful that Reds would benefit – both in confidence and cash with a good run in the FA Cup (very overdue) especially with £2,250 on offer for Saturday’s winners. Losing consolation is only £750.
The club was formed in 1938 as Heys Old Boys and did not become Prestwich Heys until 1964 when they were well regarded for performances in the FA Amateur Cup.
The victory over Sutton United in 1969 ranks as one of Heys most famous moments, attracting nationwide coverage, coming a week before their opponents were due to meet Leeds United in the FA Cup.
More recently Prestwich Heys were one of the sides to benefit by an FA restructure of the Non-League pyramid after Covid when they were promoted to the North West Counties League Premier Division due to having one of the best points per game ratios.
Playing at the highest level at which the club has ever played Heys finished 16th in the 2021/22 season.
During the summer of 2022, Heys parted ways with their manager and former Youth team player Lee O’Brien came in with James Hampson as joint managers. The duo guided Heys to a 7th placed finish in the NW Counties Premier Division, their highest ever final position in the pyramid structure.
