Simon Houghton says he and Jason Dodsworth have left Nostell Miners Welfare with their heads held high after delivering the club’s best period of football for many years.
The pair transformed perennial strugglers Nostell, turning them relegation candidates to promotion hopefuls in only two-a-half-years.
Nostell were second bottom of the Toolstation NCEL Division One table when they took over in December 2017 and by the end of their first full campaign, the club finished fifth and ten points behind champions Grimsby Borough. In previous years their final placing would have secured a play-offs spot.
Nostell were ninth when Government restrictions brought the season to a grinding halt, having mounted an early assault on the top four promotion spots until loss of key players to injuries and work commitments.
Houghton says he and Dodsworth are proud of their achievements.
“Last year we broke various club records like the points record, we scored the second most number of goals in a season, we broke the record for clean sheets, the record for most wins and we secured the club’s highest finish up a table for many years,” Houghton told Non League Yorkshire.
“The club had been on a downward spiral for many years and myself and Jason can look back and say we achieved what we set out to. Yeah this season is tinged with disappointment, but sometimes it doesn’t go the way you planned it to.
“We produced some of the club’s best results for a long time. When we took over teams were coming to Nostell, enjoying our great facilities and taking away three points with ease. There was no celebrating afterwards. But we became a scalp and teams had to be on it to beat us because of the quality we had. That is a testament to the job we had done.
“We had some fantastic results. We did very well in the FA Cup and the FA Vase. Our favourite game from our time at Nostell is the 4-1 win over Selby Town on that Friday night in our first couple of months at the club. We were obviously near the relegation zone and they were flying at the time. We didn’t have a game on the previous Saturday and we went to watch them at Emley and they battered Emley 4-0. They then beat Tadcaster in the midweek and we thought the worst. But we changed tactics and did specific jobs on players and it was a special night.”
Dodsworth and Houghton replaced former Rotherham United defender Des Hazel. They won their first game in charge thanks to Dan Collins’ late header in the 2-1 win over Retford United.
The duo radically reshaped the side, bringing players with good pedigrees to Nostell such as the Owen brothers Jack and Liam, Rhys Meynell, Dec Welford and serial promotion winner Kane Reece. Over time experience bodies like Danny Rusling, Jack Wilson, Adam Hayton and Jack Cowgill were shipped in.
“The club was second bottom and it is always difficult going into a situation like that because confidence and quality are two things that are lacking,” Houghton said.
“We had seen them play by coincidence a few weeks before taking charge and there was only one player who stood out and that was Billy Mole and he was with us until the end.
“When we were approached we had an honest conversation with the chairman (Kevin Allsop) and it was clear that he didn’t want to get relegated. We said we’ll be able to do that and asked for the remit going forward. That was pushing for the play-offs and hopefully in the third season push for promotion. It sounded good and we hit our target for the first season and we hit our target for the second season, although by then the play-offs had been removed because of the restructuring. Only one went up so once we had a few injuries and a few silly defeats, it was always going to be difficult, but it was a great achievement to finish fifth.
“After our first full season in charge we hoped to kick on even though the budget was cut to a certain extent and it was a struggle to attract players because other clubs were offering big money.
“But we had a great start to the season and then we obviously lost the core of the team to injuries and work commitments which derailed us. It was frustrating because we could see what we had got and we put in some great performances like when we were 2-0 down to Selby Town at half-time and we won 3-2. We beat Skegness at home too later in the season.
“The lads were working hard and then we lost Lewis Akeister and Billy Mole to work commitments, plus Danny Edwards and Ben Teasdale to long-term injury. We could never get the same eleven on the pitch and because we didn’t have the budget we couldn’t go and get new players to replace them. We couldn’t; compete. We brought a number of the under 21s in and although they are good lads who all have potential, to get promoted it was going to be difficult. We had North Ferriby in the league and other teams with bigger budgets too.
“You look back and myself and Jason have done a really good job with the resources we had and I think the club has been lifted as a whole. It was a good place to be. The dressing room was good. Off-the-field it was good.”