WhiteBallProject wrote:

Ilkeston Town Stats 2024-25 Review Part Three - Northern Premier League Positions
 
Apart from the first four weeks Macclesfield unsurprisingly headed the Northern Premier League Premier Division table. Guiseley, Stockton Town and Hyde United (two) were the other teams to briefly top the table.
 
Worksop Town who finished the season in second place, and won promotion via the play-offs, actually started the season in twentieth.  Ilkeston Town however were never lower than eleventh and were generally on the edge of the play offs despite a spell in fourth place just before Tom Cursons left for Harrogate Town. 
 
Gainsborough Trinity dropped as low as twenty-first before finishing seventh just behond Ilkeston. Their poor positions was down mostly to successful cup runs earlier in the season. Morpeth Town were in the bottom two in week two of the season but recovered gradually to finish in eight place and might be the surprise package next season. 
 
As already Hyde United mentioned had two weeks at the summit before slowly falling away to eleventh before recovering somewhat in the final weeks of the season. Hebburn Town were another who were looking to secure a play off before hitting a bad patch of form falling to eighteenth before recovering to finish fourteenth thanks to a win over play-off bound Stockton Town in the final week of the regular season. 

Matlock Town started poorly but after a cash injection from former Ilkeston owner Dave Hilton they started to climb the table only to slip away and being relegated. Basford United rose to the edge of the play offs in October before dramatically falling away and like Matlock ended the season being relegated. Blyth Spartans however started badly and never recovered spending the vast majority of the season propping up the league ensuring a second successive relegation for the Northumberland giants.
 
Warrington Rylands slipped to bottom place in October but rallied and looked like play off contenders before slipping up at the end of the season. Prescot Cables had a very up and down season being nineteenth in October recovering then slipping back down the league again in January only to rally and finish tenth. FC United were another team who looked doomed in twenty-first place in October but pushed up the table to ninth only to slip back to seventeenth by April.
 
Next season Stockton Town., Ashton United and Guiseley will all be expected to be in contention but the late runs of Gainsborugh Trinity and Morpeth Town suggest they might be in with a chance and newly promoted Hednesford appear to be a lot of peoples favourites to top the league. At the bottom Lancaster City could struggle and Whitby Town and FC United of Manchester will be looking to improve to avoid the drop.
 
Finally the general consensus is that Ilkeston Town may finish in sixth place again but the Illkeston faithful will always believe Deaks will have us in contention for the very top.

Personally i think we will be a mid table team next season but i hope the team prove me wrong , i think it will depend how the young forward gets on ...