On Saturday, it was a ground-breaking day for Brackley Town as they won the National League North for the first time and will be playing in the National League next season. This has come after 6 consecutive unsuccessful playoff campaigns including 3 play-off final defeats 2 of which have been in the last couple years.
However, the quest to join the top step of non-league football did not start off well this season with defeats to fellow promotion contenders Scunthorpe and Kidderminster Harriers in August, but was able to pick up wins against Chester and Curzon Ashton, but dropped points at Spennymoor a lost against Hereford left the Saints chasing the pack.
A lost to Chorley started September on the backfoot but wins against Peterborough Sports in the league and eventual National League South Champions Truro City in the FA Cup got the month rolling and they ended it by beating Marine and Advancing to the fourth qualifying Round of the FA Cup by defeating Ramsgate.
October started with a goalless draw at Southport before defeating National League Hartlepool in a replay to make the FA Cup First Round Proper, but a loss at home to Radcliffe stopped the momentum.
October ended with back-to-back wins over Needham Market and South Shields before a dream starts in November with a win on penalties versus Braintree Town to make the second round of the FA Cup for just the fourth time.
The rest of November brought momentum as ten points were gained but crashed out of both cup competitions first to Hashtag United in the FA Trophy then to Stockport County in the FA Cup.
December was costly as although they picked up wins against Chester and Leamington, losses to Kings Lynn and Scarborough Athletic as well as a draw to Bottom club Farsley Celtic left the Saints in midtable.
January started the charge as Brackley picked up three away wins, against Oxford City, Alfreton and Curzon Ashton.
A loss to Scunthorpe didn’t dim spirits as Gavin Cowans team bounced back with a cracking 4-1 win over Spennymoor to end January. Hereford dented hopes of promotion with a stoppage time winner in a 3-2 loss to start February, but the Saints grinded out wins over Needham Market and Peterborough Sports, a loss though to Chorley stopped that winning run.
The charge started through in mid-February, with wins over Marine and Southport and ended February with a 6-1 thrashing of Rushall Olympic. March began with wins over Alfreton and Darlington putting Brackley top of the National League North.
However, a draw to Kings Lynn and a loss to Buxton gave the lead back to Scunthorpe although the Saints did have a game in hand. A professional 1-0 win at Radcliffe set up the game in hand to promotion rivals Kidderminster Harriers who picked up the win to gain second place and put themselves in pole position to win the tile if Scunthorpe slipped up.
The Saints responded by winning five straight against Scarborough, South Shields Warrington, Oxford City and Leamington and with Scunthorpe dropping points it led to the final day with Kidderminster and Brackley level on points with the Harriers having a vastly superior goal Difference Brackley would need to beat their goal difference to win the title and avoid a seventh consecutive playoff campaign.
Brackley did their part by smashing Farsley Celtic 5-0, however Southport beat Kidderminster 2-1 sparking scenes of jubilation as the Saints will enter national football for the first time in their 135-year history.
It will be tough for the side to compete next year, but many thought they couldn’t compete with the likes of Scunthorpe and Kidderminster this season so who says they can do it again?
