WEEKEND PREVIEW: VALLEY RETURN HOME AS LEAGUE ACTION RESUMES

After two weekends on the road, Mersey Valley finally return to Banky Lane on Saturday as attention switches back to Cheshire Football League Two and an intriguing first home game of the season against Upton.

Valley head into the weekend still searching for their first competitive victory of the new campaign, but encouraged by a much-improved performance in last Saturday’s narrow Cheshire Cup defeat against Dukinfield Town.

The visitors, meanwhile, could hardly have made a more emphatic start. Two league games, two victories and 13 goals scored have put Upton at the top of the early League Two table and set up an interesting afternoon in Ashton-on-Mersey.

Cup Weekend Produces Plenty of Talking Points

With much of League Two involved in county cup competitions last Saturday, there were only two league fixtures – but neither was short of goals.

Upton followed their opening-day 6-2 victory over Moore United with another emphatic home performance, beating Maine Road Reserves 7-2.

That means they arrive at Banky Lane having scored 13 goals in their opening two league matches.

Moore United also collected their first points of the season as they responded to that opening defeat at Upton by beating Cheadle Heath Nomads Reserves 3-1.

Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for League Two clubs in cup competition.

Haydock progressed in the Liverpool County FA Saturday Junior Cup with an impressive 5-0 victory at Marina Sands, while Pilkington recorded the biggest scoreline of the weekend with an 8-1 win over Liobians.

Warrington Rylands Development continued their positive start to the season with a 2-1 victory over Crosfields, while Congleton Town Reserves progressed in the Cheshire Amateur Cup after beating Helsby 2-1.

Barnton Reserves were involved in one of the afternoon’s closest ties, drawing 3-3 with Lymm Rovers before eventually exiting 4-3 on penalties.

Back To League Business

There is a full League Two programme this weekend with five fixtures scheduled for Saturday.

Haydock return to league action at home to Congleton Town Reserves, while Moore United will look to build on last weekend’s victory when they welcome opening-day winners Barnton Reserves.

Two sides who started their league seasons with victories meet as Wythenshawe host Warrington Rylands Development, while Pilkington and Cheadle Heath Nomads Reserves will both be looking for their first league points when they meet at Ruskin Sports Village.

And at Banky Lane, it’s Mersey Valley against Upton.

Valley Return Home

It has been a challenging start in terms of results for Mersey Valley, but there was plenty of encouragement to take from last weekend’s performance against Dukinfield Town.

Facing the reigning Manchester Football League Premier Division champions away from home was always going to represent a difficult cup tie, but Valley competed throughout and took the lead seven minutes into the second half.

Pete Greenwood’s excellent pass released James Matthews, who kept his composure to put Valley ahead and score his first competitive goal of the season.

Dukinfield responded seven minutes later through Wardle before a superb long-range strike from Fox with nine minutes remaining eventually ended Valley’s cup run.

There were positives despite the defeat.

Charlie Hill produced an excellent performance at centre-half to earn the Star Man award, while Alex Gorst made several important saves and Luke Boaler made his Mersey Valley debut.

The afternoon also brought a significant piece of club history.

Mike Woolley’s second-half introduction was his 92nd appearance for Mersey Valley, moving him clear at the top of the club’s all-time appearance list.

Now the focus returns completely to the league.

Saturday will be Valley’s first competitive game at Banky Lane this season and they could hardly have been handed a more interesting opponent.

Upton arrive with maximum points and 13 goals from their opening two games.

Valley will be looking to ensure their first home appearance of the campaign is the afternoon their own season gets moving.

Ahead of Saturday’s game, we caught up with manager Jon Hudson.

Another defeat last weekend, but was that a performance that gave you more encouragement?

Definitely. Nobody likes losing football matches and ultimately we’re judged on results, but I thought there was a lot to be pleased about last Saturday.

We knew how difficult the game would be. Dukinfield are an excellent side, particularly at home, and there were periods when we had to work incredibly hard.

But we stayed in the game, competed properly and then got ourselves in front.

The disappointment is that we couldn’t see it through, but compared to the previous weekend I thought there was a lot more to build on.

Does going 1-0 ahead against a side of Dukinfield’s quality show what this group is capable of?

I think we’ve always believed in the group. What we need now is consistency.

We’ve played two competitive games and there have been good periods in both, but we haven’t got the results.

Ultimately that’s what we have to change. There are no points for saying you played well or competed against a good team. We need to start turning performances into results.

Mike Woolley became Mersey Valley’s record appearance holder last weekend. How significant is that achievement?

It’s brilliant for Mike and thoroughly deserved. He’s been a huge part of this club for a long time and I think everybody who knows him knows how much Mersey Valley means to him.

Ninety-two appearances at this level takes commitment. Players have work, families and everything else going on in their lives, so to keep turning up and representing the club year after year is something he should be incredibly proud of.

I’m delighted for him and hopefully there are plenty more appearances to come.

Saturday is finally the first home game of the season. Are you looking forward to getting back to Banky Lane?

Massively. It feels like it’s been a long time coming. We’ve had two difficult away games to start the season, so it’ll be good to get back home and hopefully have plenty of people down there supporting us.

We want Banky Lane to be somewhere we enjoy playing and somewhere teams don’t particularly enjoy visiting, that has never really been the case in the last few years – we have been to easy to beat and we are desperate to make Banky Lane a fortress.

Hopefully Saturday is the start of that.

Upton have scored 13 goals in their opening two league games. What have you made of their start?

You can’t ignore those results. Scoring six and then seven in your opening two league games is an excellent start and they’ll obviously come here with a lot of confidence.

We know we’re playing a side that has started the season really well. But it’s very early. They’ve played two league games and we’ve played one.

We’re concentrating on ourselves, making sure we take the positives from last weekend and trying to produce a performance that gives us an opportunity to get our first points on the board.

Is there extra determination to get that first win after starting with two defeats?

Of course we want to win. We’ve effectively rebuilt this squad over the summer and we’re still learning about each other every time we play.

The important thing is that we keep moving forward. I saw progress last Saturday. Now I want to see another step forward this weekend.

We know the challenge Upton will bring, but we’re at home, we’re looking forward to it and we’ll be ready.

This Weekend

Saturday 19 September 2026

Cheshire Football League Two

Haydock v Congleton Town Reserves | 2:00pm
Mersey Valley v Upton | 2:00pm
Moore United v Barnton Reserves | 2:00pm
Wythenshawe v Warrington Rylands Development | 2:00pm
Pilkington v Cheadle Heath Nomads Reserves | 3:00pm

After two away trips, Mersey Valley are finally back at Banky Lane. The visitors arrive as the division’s early pace-setters.

Valley arrive looking for their first points.

Mersey Valley v Upton
Saturday 19 September | 2:00pm
Banky Lane, Ashton-on-Mersey, M33 5SL

Home football is back.

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