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Northern League Division One: A review so far

The Northern League has impressed once more with its shocks and surprises and with 15 or so games left to play, we look at what is at stake at both ends of the table.

Division One this season saw the entrance of Kendal Town from the North West Counties Football League. Bishop Auckland and Heaton Stannington won promotion from Division One last season and Marske United dropped down into the Northern League following their resignation from the Northern Premier Division.

Coming up from Division Two as champions was Blyth Town and they were joined by both play-off finalists, Easington Colliery and Newcastle Blue Star in quite unusual circumstances.

So with the end of the season drawing closer, lets take a look at how things stand.

Battling against the drop

Currently sitting bottom of the league in 22nd is Seaham Red Star. Red Star finished 16th last season and have had a torrid campaign so far.

They do have a game in hand on 21st place Tow Law and a win would see them leapfrog The Lawyers, however with two likely to drop down this season both sides have a lot of work to do to catch the likes of Whickham and Birtley who sit six and seven points ahead of them respectively.

Newly-promoted Easington have taken well to the new division following their promotion and are currently sitting comfortably in 15th with no apparent risk of dropping straight back down this season.

The fight for play-offs

The top of Division One is tight with just seven points separating 1st and 9th as things stand. Last years play-off finalists, West Auckland Town have failed to recapture the sort of form which took them to within one game of promotion and they currently sit in the bottom half of the division.

Newcastle Blue Star take up the last play-off position as things stand and that is some result in their first season in the league after their promotion back in May.

However, they are followed closely by Guisborough Town and Kendal Town. Guisborough will want to right the wrongs of last season when they missed out on play-offs narrowly.

Elsewhere, Newcastle Benfield are the team to watch. They finished 17th last season, but since the arrival of Andrew Ferguson they have went on a storming run and find themselves just five points short of the top five currently. If they are able to maintain the form they have demonstrated since Ferguson’s arrival over their last 15 games then it is very likely they will find themselves inside the top five come the end of the campaign.

Whitley Bay have a fair few games in hand on those around them. If they can win those they would also put themselves in with an outside chance of a play-off finish this season.

Challenging for the title

Last season Shildon finished 2nd to Bishop Auckland who were a cut above this level.

Now, it is Shildon who top the tree and they will be hoping to keep that spot and earn automatic promotion this time around.

However, they aren’t without a fight with Redcar Athletic following closely. Redcar Athletic have a game in hand and just a point in that would take them top. However, a recent blip in form for Redcar Athletic has seen people begin to question whether they do have enough to run Shildon all the way to the finish line.

Blyth Town and Boro Rangers cannot be written off either. They both sit on 52 points, just one off top and a purple patch of form now could see either of them defy the odds to win the league this season. However, a lot of people are still backing either Shildon or Redcar Athletic due to the experience within their squads.

Looking forward

With not long to go there is still plenty to play for at both ends of the table.

It looks as if this play-off and title race could be one for the ages and if the standings remain as tight as they are now there really will only be a thread separating the top bunch of teams in Division One this season.