WHITCHURCH Alport go into the New Year as First Division league leaders – irrespective of the outcome of Saturday’s crunch clash away at promotion chasing Alsager Town. 

The 2-0 Boxing Day win over Shropshire rivals FC Oswestry Town, coupled with Charnock Richard’s surprise 3-2 home defeat against struggling AFC Blackpool, gave Luke Goddard and Carl Everall’s men a four point cushion going into the New Years Eve set of fixtures. 

And another outstanding attendance at Yockings – 345 – underlines the huge potential at Alport, with supporters now starting to believe that promotion is possible. 

Once Alsager are out of the way, there’s only Litherland Remyca of the current top eight sides in the division that Whitchurch have to play. And that isn’t something lost on co-boss, Goddard.

“What we want to do is win five or six of the next eight matches,” he said. “That’s the target we’re setting and if we can go into the last ten league games and still be in contention for a promotion place, can you imagine the kind of gates we could be getting for home games? 

"It’s an incredibly exciting prospect and our fans could be a huge advantage for us because they’ve been incredible all season. I hear that in the pubs in the build-up to Christmas, all everybody wanted to talk about was the Boxing Day derby. 

"When you consider that Christmas is a time for families and such like, although Boxing Day is a traditional day for football, it’s still fantastic to see the 345 people paying to get into the ground when there are so many other options available.

"I don’t normally do emotional stuff but when you go onto our social media pages, the amount of interaction we’re seeing is remarkable. 

"Everybody is talking about us so the turnaround here is astonishing."

Alport are inviting anyone with an interest in becoming part of the football club in any capacity, to message the club on their Facebook account or via a DM on twitter (@alportfc). Alternatively, you can leave a comment on the official website whitchurchalportfc.co.uk

*For a full Alport round-up, see this week's Whitchurch Herald.