Beavers basks in glory of title success

The 40-year-old Thornton Cleveleys boss is today basking in the glory of leading the club to their first ever West Lancashire League Premier Division title after they finally shook off Fulwood Amateurs in the race for the trophy.

Thornton’s nervy 1-0 win at Blackpool Wren Rovers handed them the title as Fulwood fell to a 2-0 defeat at Richardson Cup-winners Tempest United.

Billy Dollin was the matchwinner with a 50th minute effort as Wrens managed to keep 27-goal Dom Lawson (pictured) off the scoresheet.

And the former midfielder admitted he had to battle to stay focused on the job in hand as news filtered through from Bolton.
“We heard rumours around the ground that Tempest were 2-0 up,” said Beavers, who is assisted by Paul Gregory (both pictured top)

“I know the lads up at Wrens and I know they weren’t going to just let us turn up and win it on their ground. They didn’t want that to happen and fair play to them.

“You hear you’re minutes from winning it but we were only 1-0 up and we just had to focus on what we were trying to do.

“They matched us for 50/60 minutes but then we got a host of chances to finish it off, but we couldn’t get that second goal. We could have made it much easier for ourselves!”

Beavers, who took charge in 2016, admitted his side had felt the pressure of leading from the front as Fulwood breathed down their neck with the prospect of goal difference settling the title duel.

“Everyone has wanted to beat us – being top puts you on a pedestal,” he said, speaking on Sunday evening after a night of celebrations at the club’s Poolfoot Farm base and in Poulton.

“Fulwood have put real pressure on us – they scored 13 in their last two home games, so we knew it could come down to who scored the most. I’ll be honest I didn’t expect them to lose on Saturday but it’s been a great battle.

“Our lads have shown great commitment and work ethic. The commitment is second to none. They have all trained really hard and bought into what we wanted to achieve.

“We got a few lads in from Sunday League football, some quality players, and developed some others and that has proved its worth especially in the last five or six games where we have kept loads of clean sheets. I think we’re worthy winners.”

Steve Abbott, club chairman for more than 30 years, was among a few of the ‘older ones’ who drifted off home after a few hours toasting the title winners back at the club.

““It was tense. We knew we couldn’t afford to lose and to be honest I didn’t think it was going to reach a head on Saturday, Fulwood have been on a terrific run.

“We knew there was someone at the Tempest match giving us the scores but we couldn’t get the score at half-time for some reason. But then we heard second half and it was a case of ensuring we won – but yes, it was a bit nervy.

“Beating Fulwood 1-0 back in March was the key, we deserved to win that day and then the lads managed to keep Fulwood at bay. They have barely conceded a goal in the last six games which is remarkable.”

While all is now calm on the pitch, plenty of work is going on behind the scenes to set Thornton Cleveleys up for a stable future.

The club owns 15 acres of land which neighbours Fleetwood Town’s Poolfoot Farm training base and work is busy continuing on a new clubhouse to call their own.

They have a range of pitches and have already spent £200,000 on drainage.

So is the logical next step a move up the football pyramid into the North West Counties following in the footsteps of former league members Charnock Richard, Longridge and Garstang?

“I always think in any walk of life you have to try to be the best you can be,” added Beavers.

“I’ve been at the club for 20 years and we’ve always been mid-table and getting by season after season.

“It’s definitely something that we need to be thinking about but for now we’re just going to enjoy it.”

Abbott said: “It’s something that’s in our vision for the future. We enjoy playing in the West Lancashire League and that step up will only happen if everything is right off the pitch too, and we’ve a bit of work to do yet.”

Tony Hesketh, manager of Fulwood Amateurs, was typically gracious in his post-match assessment – and is already excited about what 2022-23 holds in store.

“We’ve had a fantastic season,” said the former Lancaster and Chorley manager.

“It’s been an unbelievable effort to push Thornton to the last two games bearing in mind where we were at Christmas. I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved.

“We needed to stand up and be counted at Tempest and we just weren’t at the races, they’re a good side who have just won the cup so it was never going to be easy.

“Congratulations to Thornton, they had a fantastic first half to the season and they kept it going over 30 games and they deserve their success.

“We won the league last time and were then 15 points clear when Covid happened so I’m excited by the young squad we’ve got.

"The U16s and U18s have won their Lancashire cups so there is a real conveyor belt of talent coming through. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it all.”