Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Then-Shaw Lane Aquaforce manager Craig Elliott celebrates winning the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division with Luke O’Brien, captain Sam Denton and Danny Frost in May 2015
Pontefract Collieries will follow in the footsteps of Shaw Lane AFC if they can secure promotion to the Evo Stik for the first time in their history.
The Colls only need one more win from their final four games to complete back-to-back promotions – an achievement that should surely be classed in the same bracket as Leicester City’s unexpected Premier League truimph in 2016.
But such a feat is not unprecedented. The most recent example is Craig Elliott’s brilliant and unforgettable 2015 Shaw Lane side which contained the likes of Non League greats Shane Kelsey, Joe Thornton and Lee Morris.
The Ducks finished second in Division One in 2014 before going onto lift the Premier crown 12 months later after arguably the greatest ever NCEL title race.
Rainworth Miners Welfare, Carlton Town and Retford United have also achieved the same feat of back-to-back promotions from Division One to the NPL.
Hatfield Main did win back-to-back Division One and Premier Division titles in the mid-1990s, but they did not make the step-up into the NPL.