‘It’s just bizarre’ – Six non-league clubs set for football’s craziest final day

The National League South is set for a thrilling finish (Credits: PHIL MINGO/PPAUK/REX/Shutterstock)

‘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.

‘It would be a fairytale ending’

Truro City lead on goal difference ahead of final day (Picture: Shutterstock)

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.

‘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.’

‘It feels like a completely different club’

Torquay United are level on points with Truro (Picture: Shuttershock)

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.

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.’

‘The standard has shot through the roof’

Eastbourne Borough could yet win the title (Picture: Shutterstock)

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.’

‘It’s only going to get more difficult’

Dorking Wanders are 500/1 outsiders on final day (Picture: Shutterstock)

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.

‘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.’

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