Ellesmere Port 22 - 54 Chester Gladiators 'A'

Port went 12-0 up but a valiant display by Chester saw them grind out another victory against the Port. Ellesmere will soon get that first win if the keep playing the way they do.

given where things are i don't think it worth considering. some sides are breaking up with players going back to winter sides, some are switching to the interim season and want time to prepare for that (as i think we would prefer) and the league has already lost a lot of sides at the back end of summer because they were based around RU sides and they've started their pre-seasons now. I think next years merit comp may have to be even shorter than this year as it seems that by August, sides are moving on to other priorities...

It will be Riversiders Eels -v- Bamber Bridge in the final, both opponents have conceded. Particularly surprised about Blackpool given the number of fixtures they completed.

Dont know how they signed 8 players before game against Bury

The Riversiders are actually no better off. We'd have had an away semi anyway in 4th. It has simply given Accrington a walkover to the final. I'll be extremely glad to see the back of the summer conference league to be honest, the apathy from some teams about completing fixtures and the ease with which new, unsustainable teams get lumped in at the top of the structure has just lead to year after year of it being a shambles. In my opinion the most impressive league this year has been the Merit League with a huge increase in fixtures played and a relatively low ratio of games conceded. The RFL should shout it from the rooftops really, yet there's not so much as a website or a paragraph in the trade press to check tables and results.

Blackpool had to sign a lot of lads on on the day when they played us but they were good players, many from the old Blackpool Stanley set up that was in the upper divisions of NWC. I imagine it was a a case of being able to get lads to turn out at home, on what was a nice day, but that they were not that committed beyond that.