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Northern League Division Two: A review so far

As the business end of the Northern League season approaches, we will take a look at what Division Two has produced so far, and what could be on the horizon at either end of the table.

The newcomers to Division Two this season coming up were Darlington Town, promoted from the Wearside Premier Division, Alnwick Town who came up via the Northern Alliance and Grangetown Boys Club who earned Northern League status via the North Riding League.

Sunderland RCA dropped down to Division Two following relegation.

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

Battling against the drop

With two teams likely to go down this season it is still quite an open battle at the bottom.

Washington have sat bottom of the league for most of the season and as things stand are currently 17 points adrift from safety. Anything can happen in football, but Northern League fans would be shocked to see them make up that gap in the next 14 outings.

Grangetown Boys Club are fighting to retain their spot in Division Two following their promotion and they are still firmly in the conversation.

A couple of positive results would see them close the gap to RCA who are looking to avoid the drop again. Boldon sit above RCA and both sides are enjoying a more positive run of results as of late.

The former have won their last two, whilst the latter have lost just one of their last five.

Slightly further up, Alnwick Town look as if they will have enough to avoid being dragged into it, but Bedlington Terriers’ recent form of two wins in their last 15 means they can’t afford to take their foot off the gas just yet despite currently sitting in 17th.

Darlington Town as the other newly-promoted team are all but guaranteed to survive this season and they will be happy to have had a stable first year in the Northern League.

The fight for play-offs

Chester Le Street United currently occupy the final play-off position in Division Two and they have had a brilliant campaign so far after finishing 19th last time around.

However, they are closely followed by Thornaby who have just been taken over by the ex Esh Winning boss, Bobby Coltman.

Esh are sitting comfortably at the moment and with games in hand they could build a nice cushion between themselves and those below them. Ryton and Crawcrook Albion have the potential to climb inside the top five if they were to win their two games in hand and in doing so they could begin to cut adrift the likes of Prudhoe and FC Hartlepool.

Challenging for the title

Currently sitting top of the league is Horden. Many expected them to win the league this season after their play-off campaign last season.

They are one point above Yarm and Eaglescliffe, but with two games in hand they have the potential to extend that gap to seven and if they did that it would be hard to see anyone catching the side who have only lost once so far this season.

Jarrow cannot be ruled out however. They are three points behind the league leaders and also have two games in hand on Yarm. Should Horden slip up in those games in hand, Jarrow will be looking to pounce and climb above them at a crucial stage of the season.

Looking ahead

There is still a lot to play for in Division Two and neither end of the table can be called just 14 or so games from the season curtain.

As always, it appears the final couple of months of Northern League action will be entertaining with twists and turns no doubt to be expected.