ST HELENS Town duly ended the 2016/17 season in 13th position, just below the half-way point in the Hallmark Security Football League First Division.

Town suffered two defeats in the last four days, despite taking the lead in both fixtures – away to Holker Old Boys on Tuesday and Championship runners-up Charnock Richard at Prescot on Saturday.

Tuesday’s game was a low-key affair, played on a bitterly cold evening in Barrow.

St Helens were badly under-strength, largely due to injuries to key men after a long season.

Goalless at half-time, Town went ahead through Danny Lomax after 61 minutes and looked set for a win, but a late double from Jamie Pattinson put paid to the visitors’ hopes and the final score of 2-1 to the home side ruled out any chance of a top half finish.

Charnock Richard arrived at Prescot on Saturday assured of promotion, barring an unlikely combination of a heavy defeat to St. Helens and a massive win for Litherland REMYCA, involving a net turnaround of at least 20 goals, so the visitors had little to play for, but to look forward to receiving their runners-up trophy and medals at the end of the game. Still, St. Helens Town’s patched up combination decided to make a game of it and took an audacious lead on 16 minutes when Luke Edwards burst through the middle of the defence and sent Michael Chojnicki through on goal. The young full-back drew the last defender and finished in cool fashion from a tight angle from the corner of the six-yard box to slot home his first goal for the club.

Charnock fought back and levelled through Jonathan Hession five minutes later, ghosting through to surprise Adam Fairchild in the Town goal. The Lancashire side’s leading scorer, Carl Grimshaw, put Charnock 2-1 ahead after 24 minutes and they remained in control for the remainder of the half.

Grimshaw added his second and Charnock Richard’s third goal on 68 minutes and although Andy Gillespie netted his 24th goal of the season to bring Town back within striking distance at 2-3 with five minutes remaining, Charnock Richard ran out comfortable winners in the end.

St. Helens won 16 and drew 8 of their 42 fixtures in what was an inconsistent season, packed full of highs and lows, yet with plenty of promise. They took points from all top four clubs, including wins at Charnock Richard and Litherland REMYCA, but injuries, suspensions and loss of key players to other clubs took their toll.

As mentioned above, captain Andy Gillespie was once again top scorer with 24 goals. Dale Korie-Butler and Luke Edwards each scored 12, whilst Ste Rigby netted eight times. Of 49 games played, Ste Rigby and Andy Presho each played 47, with Andy Gillespie 40 and Eddie Pegler 37.

If they can retain the nucleus of their present side for a year or two, there is no reason to believe that they cannot be challenging for a return to the Premier Division in the near future, especially given they will be playing at the new Ruskin Drive facility when the new season kicks off on 5 August.