ROSS Speight praised the resilience of his Middlewich Town players after they recovered from a defeat during the run-in that risked destroying their promotion hopes.

A 2-0 reverse at FC St Helens in the middle of last month left them fifth, and nine points adrift of second spot in Cheshire League One.

However victories in their final three fixtures, during which they scored 14 goals, propelled them up to third.

“That was a big moment,” said the Witches’ co-manager.

“If we’d beaten them, then we might have been able to put pressure on Daten for the title.

“Instead we lost that game, and it left us with no margin for error.”

A restructure further up the pyramid, which included four teams from the Premier Division having an application accepted to join the North West Counties League, created vacancies in the top-flight.

Speight told the Guardian that a place inside the top two, which would guarantee promotion, had always been their aim.

“We just wanted the lads to keep on winning,” he added.

“It’s not good them worrying about how many points they need or where they might finish because we didn’t know for sure what was happening above until late on.”

A 3-2 win at Windle Labour last Wednesday, when Harry Short scored a decisive goal after Rory Gorton had claimed a first-half double, made sure.

Speight said: “We created chances, and I always felt we’d be ok if we stayed switched on at the back.

“They had a goal disallowed at 2-2, and then we scored before seeing it out.

“There was some relief, but the overwhelming emotion was happiness at what we’ve achieved.”