Prestwich came from behind with strikes from Adam Latham and Sean Haslam to retain their LAL Premier Division crown on Wednesday night following a tense 2-1 victory over Tottington United.
Having already secured the Lancashire FA Amateur Cup a few weeks ago, Craig Howarth’s team were then playing catch-up with, at one stage, seven games in hand on title rivals Old Boltonians.
The Turton side finished their league campaign on the 12th April with 63 points from 26 games. At that time, Prestwich were 5 games and 13 points behind.
Boltonians far superior goal difference meant that Prestwich had to win all five to retain the title.
That run started with a 2-0 success at Bury GSOB. Wins over Howe Bridge Mills and Rossendale Amateurs followed before a last minute Ashford Blake free-kick gave Prestwich a 2-1 win at Old Blackburnians on Monday.
With just a day to recover, Tottington visited a saturated Heys Road last night in the title decider. Lose or draw and the prize would be off to Bolton.
The opening stages were fairly even with both teams creating chances to take the lead. It was an understandably tense and nervy affair with the home side knowing how much was a stake.
However, when Tottington snatched the lead ten minutes before the break, Prestwich had it all to do against a determined opposition.
But this recent run of games has seen the side come back from the brink a number of times, so there was no reason that couldn’t be repeated once more.
Adam Latham, making his First Team debut after being plucked from the Reserves, came on for the start of the second half and made an immediate impact with his probing runs down the left.
And on the hour, he hit home the equaliser from just inside the box to restore hope around Heys Road.
Prestwich were living on the edge. As the clocked ticked on, Howarth rearranged his troops looking to break down the stubborn Tottington defence. But this opened things up and left his side vulnerable to the counter attack.
When a Tottington forward fired an effort in from the angle, collective breaths were held as the ball flew narrowly past the far post with everybody present expecting Alex Blake’s net to bulge.
Chances were squandered at the other end too with a Richard Steadman header narrowly off target after Sean Haslam’s effort was sent high and wide.
There was last ditch defending from the visitors with their penalty area littered with bodies on numerous occasions as they got whatever legal body part possible in the way.
But with 10 minutes remaining, Latham found an un-marked Haslam six yards out who held his nerve to head in probably the most crucial goal he’ll ever score.
After the obvious pile-on in the corner, Prestwich went and got their bus out of the garage and parked it firmly in front of goalkeeper Blake.
There were a couple of opportunities to hit Tottington on the break but the tired legs opted for the relative safety of the corner flags as the clock ticked down.
And when the whistle finally blew, bedlam ensued with historic back-to-back titles as well as a season double firmly in the bag.
However, it doesn’t all end there. Prestwich now turn their attention to the League Cup and a semi-final on Saturday, ironically at Old Boltonians Tower Street ground, against Wardle, 2:30pm KO.
Could this season get better still?
