ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE. SATURDAY, 12th SEPTEMBER 2026.

Brack – Black –day for Brackley at Morecambe.

Morecambe welcomed Brackley Town for the second time ever to the Halo stadium in north Lancashire this afternoon. The first time the Saints visited – last season – both clubs ended-up being relegated from the National League. Both would be hoping to avoid a similar fate this season but the recent signs for Morecambe have been mixed and those for Brackley quite alarming.

This is what I at least knew about our visitors prior to the game:

What’s Brackley famous for?

Not a lot, in all truth. The Town Council tells us that it was founded in the Iron Age by a Chieftain called Bracca (hence Bracca-leah: a meadow on which this ancient gentleman once founded a settlement).

It boasted several Roman villas after that and was on the winning side in the English Civil War. Up the Roundheads!

Oh – and it has two railway stations too according to the Council propaganda I read when trying to find anything even vaguely interesting to say about the place: Brackley Central and Brackley Junction.

Sadly, this isn’t actually true any more.

Brackley Central (`Higher’ to the locals) was closed in 1966 by the infamous Dr Beeching as the former Great Central Line between London Marylebone; Manchester and Sheffield which it was part of had several major arteries axed altogether by the inspiration for the ‘Fat Controller’.

(I’ve made that bit up – but one of the most hated men Britain has ever produced was rather rotund, to be brutally honest…).

Another railway station, Brackley Junction – the geographically lower one referred to as the `Bottom station’ by the locals – had been built much earlier on the Buckinghamshire Railway line. It doesn’t exist anymore either and no trains now stop at the small market town.

And that’s about it, I’m afraid…

Brackley remains a small rural town in Northamptonshire of just over sixteen thousand people which once became prosperous on the basis of the wool trade provided by the sheep farming that was centred on the locality.

Ask your average football fan which teams play at St James Park and you will usually be told: “Newcastle United” followed by the more enlightened among us with “Exeter City”. But another St James Park – Brackley Town’s home turf – can be found precisely 189 miles south from the Halo Stadium in deepest, darkest Northamptonshire, close to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire borders.

Brackley Town – known as “The Saints” simply because of the association with the name of their stadium – was founded eons ago in 1890 and not a lot happened during the first century or so of their existence. There were regular promotions and relegations in the Southern; Hellenic; United Counties and various other leagues until they were finally promoted to the National League North during 2012. Two years later, they reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup for only the second time ever but took their first EFL scalp with a replay win over Gillingham by the only goal of the game following a 1-1 draw at Priestfield.

The club won the FA Trophy at Wembley eight years ago by beating Bromley 5-4 after Extra Time and penalties once the game ended 1-1. This success was followed by lots of near misses as far as winning promotion to the National League was concerned, losing on four occasions in the Play-Offs to Harrogate Town in 2018; York City in 2022; Kidderminster Harriers a year later and then Boston United in 2024. But at the end of the season before last, the Saints managed to win National League North outright and last season’s campaign would mark the beginning of the club’s adventure in the highest ever position in the English football pyramid they have ever inhabited.

Sadly for them, it ended in tears when they finished fourth from the bottom of the table and were immediately relegated. Having said that, though, they did better than we did and ended-up a place above us in the Legion of the Damned. In the only head-to-head meetings between the two clubs so far though, Morecambe got the upper hand, winning by two goals to nil home and away during the last two months of 2025.

We shall renew that acquaintance next season at home on Saturday, 12^th September 2026 at 15:00hrs. Morecambe will then travel to St James Park on Saturday 16^th January 2027 and kick-off at 15:00hrs. 

Perhaps surprisingly – given Brackley’s status as relative minnows over the last few decades and the fact that the two clubs’ paths had never crossed competitively until last year – there are a few players who have played for both clubs, most notably Justin Jackson and the outstanding Carl Baker.

Brackley arrived today in twentieth position in the National League North; right on the edge of the Precipice of Perdition below which a second relegation in a row would await them. They have won only one of their last six league games and lost three, most recently a five-nil trouncing at Buxton last Tuesday night.

Yes – Buxton; the team Morecambe demolished at the Halo stadium 4-0 a week ago. This had been the Shrimps’ third league victory in a row but the wheels well and truly fell off at Southport last Tuesday as they struggled against a poor team and lost a match 2-1 which left a really bad taste after argy-bargy and general nastiness between the two sets of players and some of the management as well at the end of the contest. Jordan Slew at least emerged from this stupidity untainted and was warmly received by his many admirers at the Morecambe end of the ground after the match. Good for him – we should never have let him go.

This is how Morecambe Manager Adam Lakeland succinctly summed-up his team’s task in today’s programme:

“Our attention now turns fully to Brackley, who will provide another stern test this afternoon and we know we’ll need to perform well if we’re going to get the result we want.”

With the embargo on our club finally lifted last week, the Manager has managed to make a new signing this week. 21-year-old Zimbabwean forward (or `attacking midfielder’ depending on which source you believe) Alex Cherera has signed his first full-time professional contract – two years in his case. He has scored lots of goals for Liverpool-based club Lower Breck in the Northern Premier League and has also played for Bury in the past. Hopefully, he can develop further under the tutelage of Adam Lakeland and score lots more goals for our club which – very unusually – actually paid an undisclosed fee for his services.

Adam’s Opposite Number – ex-Barrow boss Andrew Whing – would be looking for a positive response from his players this afternoon. He is under pressure after the humiliation by Buxton four days ago. He said after that game:

“We’re really young and naive but we can’t keep using that as an excuse They need to learn quickly. We miss first contact and second balls and that sets the tone. For our supporters who have come tonight, I obviously apologise for that because that’s nowhere near it. I don’t think this group deserve that (result) for what they’ve done so far, but that can’t happen with heads dropping and mistakes happening.”

One of the reasons Brackley are struggling, apparently, is the absence of Club Captain Kyle Morrison. He is a natural leader and a steadying influence in the heart of their defence by all accounts and his absence today could again prove pivotal for a side desperately in need of a good result.

The weather in north Lancashire dawned wet, windy and quite cold for the time of year today. By the time kick-off arrived, though, the rain had virtually stopped but the wind was still keen.

The visitors presumably won the toss because they chose to change ends and play facing the wind with their backs to the massed home supporters in the first half.

There then followed forty-five minutes of utter tedium with neither side getting a grip on the game; some really poor passing; lots of head tennis and virtually no quality or action worth mentioning.

It would seem that Brackley simply intended to nullify anything creative the Shrimps came up with and try and hit them on the break. If so, their Master Plan almost came unstuck after just seven minutes as a tremendous strike from Jake Cain bounced harmlessly back into play off the crossbar as visiting custodian Harrison Rhone was beaten all ends up. But this was an oasis of excellence in a desert of mediocrity until injury time. Then – at long last – one of the intricate moves Morecambe had been trying but failing to put together finally came off. Neat interplay saw Elliot Newby with an excellent chance right in front of goal – and he didn’t disappoint.

So Morecambe went back to the Dressing Rooms with a slim lead they probably deserved if only for their more positive approach to the game so far. The Saints’ spoiling tactics had come undone at the death and you wondered how their Manager was going to change this and get his players onto the front foot to get back into the match.

The answer is: he couldn’t.

Although their Centre-Forward Tahvon Campbell ran around a lot and made a nuisance of himself, the men in the yellow strip never looked like getting back into the game. Just two minutes of the restart had been played when the visitors fell further behind. All I saw was an innocuous-looking cross into their box from the Morecambe right and goalkeeper Rhone watching in horror as the ball went between his legs into the net as he was unable to react. Josh Tomlinson has subsequently been accredited with turning Will Smith’s cross into his own net, presumably as he tried to clear the ball.

As the home supporters taunted the Town Manager and his imminent need to look for alternative employment – and reminded us all of their collective love of local club Barrow – Brackley looked down and out from this moment on.

Morecambe Skipper Smith scored with a delightful volley after Cain’s pin-point free-kick with fifty-four minutes on the clock.

And that was basically that. Adam shook things up a bit late in the contest and gave new signing Alex Cherera a brief run-out at the end. But the game was probably won as soon as Morecambe scored: the Saints seemed incapable either tactically or practically to respond: they are the weakest side I at least have seen in this competition so far.

Morecambe moved up to tenth in the National League North tonight as a result of the win. Brackley fell over the Precipice of Perdition into the Legion of the Doomed into the relegation zone in twenty-first position. Andy Whing will be really worried about his position this evening.

This is what his Opposite Number said at the end of a routine win for the Shrimps against an obviously really poor team tonight:

“Pleased with that, to be honest. I thought we had a lot of control in that first half without really asking enough questions. We probably didn’t penetrate enough for the control that we had. The way that we’ve performed and controlled that game while scoring three goals and keeping a clean sheet – for me – probably makes it our most complete ninety-minute performance of the season.”

Morecambe:  13 Myles Boney; 3 Ben Williams; 4 Liam Hogan; 5 Will Smith (C) (22 Ruben Curley 96’); 6 Lewis Baines (Y); 7 Teddy Collis (14 Isaac Buckley-Ricketts 76’); 9 Joe Garner (Y) (21 Alex Cherera 86’);10 Matty Daly; 11 Elliot Newby; 17 Paul Lewis (Y) (8 Lewis Leigh 66’); 20 Jake Cain (2 Cameron Coxe 76’).

Subs Not Used: 31 Alfie Scales 19 Ronnie Blois.

Brackley: 1 Harrison Rhone; 2 Kieran Coates; 3 George Harmon; 4 Charlie Cooper; 8 Ewan Williams (Y); 9 Tahvon Campbell; 10 Kai Yearn (7 Kian Pannant 71’); 12 Josh Tomlinson (Y); 14 Tommy Fogarty; 15 Kieron Morris (21 Fin Roberts 71’); 18 DJ Sturridge (16 Kai Lissimore; 60’).

Subs Not Used: 20 Alastair Worby; 6 Will Armitage; 17 O’Shea Ellis; 19 I-Lani Edwards.

Att: 2,006 (29 intrepid souls from Brackley.)