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Telegraph
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Prepare for one of craziest final days English football has ever seen
With Liverpool the Premier League's champions-elect, automatic promotion wrapped up in the Championship and Birmingham walking to the League One title, the end-of-season anticipation is running thin in the upper echelons of the English football pyramid. However, a peek into the sixth tier reveals its final day is shaping up to have more drama than a soap opera. National League South has surely never seen anything like it, as the top six teams are separated by just three points heading into the final day, with the hunt for the title – and the only automatic promotion spot – going down to the wire. Truro City, Torquay United, Eastbourne Borough, Worthing, Boreham Wood and Dorking Wanderers could all still end up champions. 'There have been some epic title races down the years, but I've certainly never known one quite like this where six teams can win the title on the final day,' said Mark Badcock, editor of the The Non-League Paper. 'It's been shaping up this way for a large part of the run-in but still seems incredible. This is the situation with just 90 minutes, plus stoppages, left of the whole season.' With Dorking Wanderers sixth, Marc White's face the toughest task to claim top spot. White is still hopeful of pulling off an upset, though he had other permutations on his mind when asked about the intriguing final day. 'If you're the league, where the f--- are you going to take the trophy?' he said. 'Are you going to go to Truro? It's nearer to get to f-----g Los Angeles than Truro, or are you going to be in a helicopter over London somewhere?' Torquay United, one of the heavyweights of this division, occupy second spot, with a goal difference of two separating them from leaders Truro. Around 1,900 Torquay supporters are expected to travel to their match at Hemel Hempstead, with the Devon club aiming to end a two-year exodus from the National League. 'It's difficult for Torquay United as there is a target on our back,' manager Paul Wotton said. 'Everyone raises their game against Torquay, and everyone wants to beat Torquay, so we've had to deal with that. 'There's a lot of pressure managing this and great expectation. The Torquay badge can weigh heavy in the National League South on players, but all we've done is given ourselves a chance of achieving something special.' Eastbourne Borough are just one point off the summit. Adam Murray's men have been sensational at their home ground Priory Lane and are unbeaten in their 22 league games there this season, winning 13 and drawing nine. That bodes well for their home clash with Weston-super-Mare. Forward George Alexander has been key to their charge up the table, scoring 24 times from 38 appearances. But an injury issue for the 23-year-old could put the brakes on their bid for the top spot. 'He's been nursing a knock so whether he's going to be fit for Saturday we don't know yet,' Murray said, 'but he's been a big part of what we're doing and we're trying to get to get the balance right of when we risk him and when we put cotton wool round him. He'll be ready if needed.' Truro are in the driving seat to finish top, which would make them the first Cornish side to secure a place in the National League. Their game against relegation-threatened St Albans City is a must-win for both teams, with manager John Askey reiterating the message to his players. 'Winning is the only thing that matters,' he said. 'It will give the whole of Cornwall, football-wise, a massive boost. It's not only vital to the club but it's important to the whole area.' Fourth in the table on 85 points, Worthing would need the top not to win for them to steal top spot. They have managed just two wins from their past six games ahead of hosting Enfield Town, but manager Chris Agutter claimed his side are the strongest in the division and can get over the line. 'I believe we are the best team in the league,' Agutter said. 'Our record against the top eight teams is better than anyone's. Our issues have come in the less glamorous games, dropping points against teams that perhaps we shouldn't have done. In those head-to-head games, it's been very good.' Boreham Wood head to mid-table Tonbridge Angels. To go up, Boreham Wood require Worthing and Eastbourne Borough to fail to win and both Torquay and Truro to lose, so their job will simply to put pressure on those clubs above them. Given how this season has unfolded, you could not rule out any scenario out.
Metro
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Metro
'It's just bizarre' - Six non-league clubs set for football's craziest final day
'It's been so competitive and exciting for the fans, but it's not something I ever want to be part of again.' Season run-ins can prove nerve-shredding and nail-biting at the best of times, never mind if, like Dorking Wanderers chairman and manager Marc White, you find yourself in a six-way title race with just one game to go. In the English top-flight, Liverpool have long-been considered champions-elect and are cruising to the Premier League title with five games to go. Way down the pyramid in the National League South, however, it's a very different story where a quarter of the 24 clubs involved in the competition can still be crowned champions by the end of Saturday's final round of fixtures. Just three points separate the top six sides after a topsy-turvy campaign which has seen virtually all the contenders occupy the top spot at one point or another before being reeled back into the pack. And with automatic promotion only awarded to the league winners, five of the other title contenders will be forced to lick their wounds and gear up for a three-stage playoff to secure the second promotion spot to the National League. Perhaps fittingly, it is the league's southernmost club, Truro City, that top the table – if only on goal difference – heading into the final day Level on points with local rivals Torquay United, John Askey's side host relegation-threatened St Albans on final day, knowing that victory alone might not prove enough should Torquay better their result by three goals or more. Regardless, it has proved to be a remarkable season for the Tinners who would become the first Cornish club to play in the fifth tier if they seal promotion. 'We were favourites to go down with our location and our budget. Realistically, we shouldn't be in this position, but I think our home support has had a big say in this run we've been on,' Askey told Metro. Kick-off: Saturday, April 26 (3pm) Dorking Wanderers (6th) vs Chesham United (14th) Eastbourne Borough (3rd ) vs Weston-super-Mare (8th) Enfield Town (19th) vs Worthing (4th) Hemel Hempstead Town (11th) vs Torquay United (2nd) Tonbridge Angels (15th) vs Boreham Wood (5th) Truro City (1st) vs St Albans City (21st) 'We're just enjoying it while it lasts, and hopefully it can for another 90 minutes – it would be a fairytale ending to the season.' With Torquay likely to attack from the off to try and eat into Truro's goal-difference advantage, will Askey be furiously checking his phone on the sidelines? 'There's obviously the temptation, but we've got to focus on ourselves to start with,' he said. 'Later on in the game, if it transpires that we need goals then it will have an effect, but first of all we just have to take care of ourselves. 'Promotion would put us just one step away from league football which is something many had never dreamed of. Hopefully that can have a snowball effect not just in Truro but Cornwall and give more lads an opportunity to play football at a high level.' Second-place Torquay are perhaps the biggest club at this level having plied their trade in the Football League as recently as 2014. But the Devonshire club have since tumbled down the divisions, in part due to the reckless actions of former owner Clarke Osbourne, who sent the club into administration midway through last season after pulling his funding. 'There were certainly moments last season when we didn't know if we were going to exist for much longer,' Matty Wesley, co-host of the TalkingTorquay podcast, told Metro. Ultimately saved by a consortium of local owners in May last year, Torquay are back on the up having recruited more than 20 players and a new boss over the summer. Truro City: 1/2 Torquay United: 5/4 Eastbourne Borough: 25/1 Worthing: 40/1 Boreham Wood: 500/1 Dorking Wanderers: 500/1 Odds via William Hill The Gulls will make the 200-plus-mile journey to Hemel Hempstead on Saturday armed with 1,900 fans and the knowledge that any blip from their local rivals Truro will leave the door wide open for them to secure the title. But after years of turbulence off the pitch, a renewed positivity around the club's ultimate direction of travel feels a more-than-acceptable consolation if they are consigned to a place in the playoffs after Saturday's action. 'The new owners just get it,' Wesley added. 'All of them are Torquay fans or have links to the town, and they understand the expectation of lower league football fans. 'They have included the local community and the trust far more than the previous ownership – it feels like a completely different club from a year ago and that's arguably more important than whatever happens on Saturday.' Should Truro and Torquay both fail to win, the title race will be opened to the chasing pack behind. A point further back are Eastbourne Borough and Worthing, although the former have a far superior goal difference. Eastbourne have enjoyed a marked rise since Adam Murray's arrival – progressing from relegation contenders to playoff hopefuls within 16 months – and are one of many clubs at the level who have reaped the rewards of a more analytical approach to recruitment as well as an increased professionalisation across several aspects of the club. 'I think it's down to fine margins in non-league football now,' manager Murray said, speaking to Metro. 'The coaching has got better, and everybody does things right in terms of the analysis and fitness, so the standard has shot through the roof. It's far more of a level playing field than perhaps it used to be.' 'Coming from where we've come from last season, we're fear-free. We're enjoying the ride, and we'll go into the final day full of energy and excitement. 'Hopefully the cards fall our way, but the league has changed hands so many times and thrown so many curveballs that you can't try to overthink it.' While still mathematically in the race, Dorking and Boreham Wood need a minor miracle to lift the title come Saturday given they both trail the top two by three points albeit with superior goal differences. The nature of this season's chaotic run-in may be a first for White, but the larger-than-life Dorking boss thinks it could well become the norm for a division that only promotes two clubs each season. More Trending UK 23 hours ago By Sarah Hooper 'Because only two go up in this division you end up with a bit of a bottleneck. This division now has now got seven or eight full-time, quality clubs, so it's only going to get more difficult as the years go on,' he told Metro. His side may be rank outsiders when the first whistle goes on Saturday afternoon, but should we expect a final twist in the tale from those above? 'We know an awful lot has got to go our way – we're 500/1 for a reason – so we're preparing for that quarter-final [playoff] but the others may not be and that's a dangerous thing,' he added. 'Truro and Torquay could go from visualising the trophy on Saturday to playing a quarter-final eliminator on Tuesday, having finished fifth. I've never seen anything like it – it's just bizarre.' For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. MORE: Football fan killed himself over shame from being caught making racist gesture
