Date: Tuesday 1st January 2019
Venue: Craik Park, Morpeth Common, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 2YX
Kick Off: 3pm
Competition: Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Division One East
Admission: Adults – £6, Concessions – £4, Under 16’s – Free
Match Coverage: Twitter
Highlights: Highwaymen TV
New Years Day sees the Highwaymen looking to kick off 2019 in style as the welcome the Brewers from Tadcaster Albion to Craik Park.
History
The club was formed in 1892 as John Smith’s Football Club, the founders took this name as the location of their ground in Tadcaster is situated behind the John Smith’s brewery. They have very old roots in the York Football League, records show that they played in it prior to 1909.
Tadcaster joined the Yorkshire League Division Three in 1973–74. During their second season in the league, they were promoted to the Yorkshire League Division two, narrowly missing out on the runner-up spot on goal average.
The goal difference tables would be turned in favour of Albion during the 1976–77 season, when they were promoted to the Yorkshire League Division One on goal average. They had a very good cup run during the 1977–78 season, they reached the 5th round of the FA Vase.
In 1982–83 they became a founding member of the Northern Counties East League, they remained in Northern Counties East Football League Division One for fifteen seasons. In 2009–10 they won the Northern Counties East Football League Division One League title. In 2010–11, they finished 4th in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division and won the NCEL President’s Cup beating Farsley AFC 5–1 in the final.
In 2011–12 the club finished 8th and in 2012–13 finished 6th. In the autumn 2013–14, they lead the NCEL Premier for the first time in their history, eventually finishing 3rd after having 4 points deducted for fielding an ineligible player. They achieved their then highest number of points in the NCEL with 93 points from 44 games. They also scored a record number of league goals for a season (116).
Billy Miller was appointed the new manager on 20 May 2015 & with massive financial investment from the owners, Miller guided Albion to the NCEL Premier Division title in his first season in charge.
In their first season, in the Northern Premier League Division One North, Albion finished 19th. Following a solid start to the campaign, the second half of the season was disappointing & lacklustre. As a result Miller was replaced a couple of days short of 2 years in charge. Michael Morton & Simon Collins stepped up from managing the Under 21 team, to take charge of the first team.
Last Match
Morpeth secured an impressive victory away to Marske United on Boxing Day thanks to a hat-trick from Liam Henderson. The targetman flicked home an early header from Ben Sayer’s free-kick before Glen Butterworth drilled the hosts level. Sean Taylor restored Town’s advantage with a tidy finish before Henderson fired home his second. He completed his treble after the break when he volleyed home to seal a 4-1 win.
Tadcaster Albion suffered their first league defeat since September when they went down 1-0 at home to Pickering Town. Former Brewer, Josh Greening scored the only goal of the game to give the Pikes a valuable 3 points.
Manager
Michael Morton: Michael has over 15 years of coaching experience through the academies of Leeds United and Manchester City.
