Eastwood Town F.C. - History

History

Although there was a football club named Eastwood Town operating in the Nottinghamshire Alliance in 1921, it was only in existence for two years. It was not until 1953 when the present club was founded. On 29 August that year, Eastwood Town beat Bilsthorpe Colliery 4–1 to start their voyage, again in the Nottinghamshire Alliance. The club won one title, finished six seasons as runners-up and one in third place. Similar success was enjoyed in the Central Alliance and East Midlands Regional Leagues and some impressive FA Amateur Cup runs established the club as one of the Midlands' leading non-professional club.

Their record home gate of 2,723 was set in February 1965 against Enfield in an Amateur Cup-tie.

The "Badgers" professional career began in the Midland Counties in 1971. They progressed via the Northern Counties East League to the Northern Premier League. The all time leading scorer of Eastwood Town F.C. is Martin Wright who scored 228 goals between the years 1974 and 1983.

After 16 years in the NPL, Eastwood suffered their first ever relegation but bounced straight back in 2003–04 with a treble of NCEL runners up spot, Presidents Cup winners and Nottinghamshire Senior Cup winners, and also reached the last 8 in their only ever FA Vase campaign.

Back in the NPL, Eastwood finished sixth in Season 2004–05 and after a run in the FA Trophy were deprived of entry into the last eight when Hereford United scored a late penalty equaliser.

Since his promotion from Assistant Manager to Manager in October 2006, Paul Cox has led the club to three County Senior Cup-finals being victorious on every occasion. The "Badgers" victory over Ollerton Town in May 2008 saw them win this the trophy a 13th time in just over 30 years, after waiting nearly 25 years for their first success. It was also the second time they have won the trophy three years in succession.

In October 2007 Robert Yong became the Chairman of the club. On 21 April 2008 the club lifted their first trophy under the new regime, beating Skelmersdale 3–0 to lift the NPL Challenge Cup for the first time in its history. A fourth-place finish in the Premier Division earned Eastwood a place in the promotion play-offs, away to Gateshead. However, Gateshead won 4–0. At the end of the season, Paul Cox was persuaded to leave his teaching post and become the first full time manager of Eastwood Town.

In the 2008–2009 FA Cup, with a 2–0 victory over Wrexham in the Fourth Qualifying Round Replay at Coronation Park, Eastwood qualified for the first round proper for the first time since 1999. They went on to beat Brackley Town 2–1 and then Wycombe Wanderers 2–0 in the second round, both at home, to reach the 3rd round in which they lost to Kettering Town 2–1 on the 3rd January 2009.

On the 25th April 2009, Eastwood achieved their main objective for the season, when victory over Ossett Town in front of a capacity crowd ensured the Badgers won the Northern Premier League Premier Division in only their second year at this level. Along with the Peter Swales Memorial Shield (beating Durham 2–1 in the final), the F.A. Cup run, and reaching the final of the Nottinghamshire Senior Cup ensured the 2008/09 season will live long in the memoirs of fans both old and new.

Eastwood started life in the Conference North with a creditable draw against relegated Northwich Victoria. The Badgers first victory came in on the 11th August 2009 in their first away fixture at Gloucester City. Goals from Peter Knox, Emeka Nwadike and Danny Holland saw the Badgers triumph 3–1 this was followed by another victory away at Harrogate Town. Victory over Alfreton Town and then Gainsborough Trinity at the end of August saw the Badgers lead the table for a period of 3 weeks. They remained in a play-off position until mid February and only saw their challenge falter in the final week of the season.

Off the pitch extensive remedial work ensured the ground gained the necessary ‘B’ grading to remain in the league and work began to remove the pronounced slope to the Coronation Park pitch.

The 2010–11 started poorly for the Badgers with their first ten games yielding a record of won 3 drawn 0 lost 7 scored 14 conceded 21 which saw them hover around the bottom three in the league. Their next ten games still did not give a clue as to what was to come next, although their record did improve to a comfortable mid-table won 8 drawn 2 lost 10. However from that point on they flew up the league to get into the play off positions on 12 April 2011. However, the league informed the club that they could not take part in the playoffs should they finish in a top five place at the end of the season.

The appeal against the decision was heard on 19 April and the original decision upheld. Despite the set-back, the players continued to perform and the club finished 4th, with the players setting a new Conference North record of 19 league games unbeaten.

On 3 May, they also went on to win the Nottinghamshire Senior Cup for the 15th time, after beating Northern Premier League Division One South side Carlton Town 6–1 in the final at Field Mill, Mansfield. The victory put them only two victories behind joint record holders Nottingham Forest and Sutton Town.