Cheshire Senior Cup

For the rugby union competition, see Cheshire RFU Cup.

The Cheshire County Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Cheshire Senior Cup, is a football knockout tournament founded in the 1879–80 season and involves teams from Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England. It is the County Cup competition of the Cheshire FA and currently involves teams from the Football League and non-league clubs. However, while non-league clubs often field their first team in the competition, professional clubs often field their reserve teams. The inaugural winners of the cup were Northwich Victoria in 1880 and the record winners of the trophy are Macclesfield Town.

Cheshire Senior Cup

Founded	1879–80
Region	Cheshire
Number of teams	27
Current champions	Congleton Town (3rd title)
Most successful club(s)	Macclesfield Town (21 titles)
Website	Cheshire FA

Inaugural season (1879-80)

Source:^[1]

There were just six clubs who participated in the first season of the Cheshire Senior Cup. The draw for the first round was made on 3 February 1880, with the ties played on 14 February 1880. The full results were:

1st ROUND: Birkenhead v Macclesfield (scratched), Hurdsfield 1-8 Hartford St.Johns, Northwich Victoria 3-0 Crewe Alexandra

SEMI-FINAL: Northwich Victoria 3-1 Birkenhead. Bye: Hartford St.Johns

FINAL: Northwich Victoria 2-0 Hartford St.Johns (at Crewe)

 

The original Cheshire Football Association Challenge Cup, which was presented to Northwich Victoria in 1885 following their success in the competition for 6 consecutive seasons. The engraving says 'Presented to Northwich Victoria Football Club by the Cheshire Football Association 23 June 1885 As a mark of appreciation for their having won it six seasons in succession'.

Current participants (2023-24)

Team	Stadium	League
1874 Northwich	Townfield	NPL West
Alsager Town	Wood Park Stadium	NWCFL Division One South
Altrincham	Moss Lane	National League
Ashville	Villa Park	NWCFL Division One South
Barnton	Townfield	NWCFL Division One South
Cammell Laird 1907	Kirklands Stadium	NWCFL Division One South
Cheadle Heath Nomads	The Heath	NWCFL Division One South
Cheadle Town	Park Road	NWCFL Premier Division
Chester	Deva Stadium	National League North
Congleton Town	Cleric Stadium	MFL Premier Division
Crewe Alexandra	Alexandra Stadium	EFL League Two
Hyde United	Ewen Fields	NPL Premier Division
Macclesfield	Leasing.com Stadium	NPL Premier Division
Nantwich Town	Weaver Stadium	NPL West
Northwich Victoria	Wincham Park	MFL Premier Division
Runcorn Linnets	Millbank Linnets Stadium	NPL West
Runcorn Town	Pavilions Sports Complex	NWCFL Division One North
Sandbach United	Sandbach Football Centre	NWCFL Division One South
Stalybridge Celtic	Bower Fold	NPL West
Stockport County	Edgeley Park	EFL League Two
Stockport Georgians	Cromley Road	NWCFL Division One South
Stockport Town	Stockport Sports Village	NWCFL Division One South
Tranmere Rovers	Prenton Park	EFL League Two
Vauxhall Motors	Rivacre Park	NPL West
Warrington Town	Cantilever Park	National League North
Winsford United	Barton Stadium	NWCFL Division One South
Witton Albion	Wincham Park	NPL West

[1]

Finals

A full list of finals appears on the Silkmen Archives website. Results of Finals since the 1978–79 season are:

Season	Winners	Runners-up	Final result	Venue	Attendance
1978-79	Northwich Victoria	Runcorn	3-1	Chester
1979–80	Winsford United	Witton Albion	4–1	Crewe
1980–81	Hyde United	Stalybridge Celtic	4–3 (replay)	Altrincham
1981–82	Altrincham	Runcorn	1–0	Crewe
1982–83	Macclesfield Town	Congleton Town	2–1	Crewe	1,772
1983–84	Northwich Victoria	Runcorn	3–0	Altrincham
1984–85	Runcorn	Altrincham	2–0	Northwich	1,153
1985–86	Runcorn	Northwich Victoria	3–1	Altrincham	1,044
1986–87	Runcorn	Altrincham	3–1	Northwich	1,118
1987–88	Runcorn	Macclesfield Town	2–1	Crewe	2,025
1988–89	Runcorn	Macclesfield Town	3–1	Northwich	1,764
1989–90	Hyde United	Macclesfield Town	1–0	Northwich	1,389
1990–91	Macclesfield Town	Witton Albion	2–0	Crewe
1991–92	Macclesfield Town	Witton Albion	2–0	Tranmere	1,349
1992–93	Winsford United	Witton Albion	3–0	Northwich
1993–94	Northwich Victoria	Runcorn	1–0	Witton Albion
1994–95	Witton Albion	Altrincham	2–1	Northwich
1995–96	Witton Albion	Hyde United	3–1	Altrincham	768
1996–97	Hyde United	Macclesfield Town	3–0	Northwich	1,005
1997–98	Macclesfield Town	Runcorn	1–0	Northwich
1998–99	Altrincham	Northwich Victoria	1–0	Witton Albion
1999–00	Macclesfield Town	Altrincham	2–1	Witton Albion
2000–01	Stalybridge Celtic	Stockport County	5–1	Hyde
2001–02	Crewe Alexandra	Altrincham	3–0 (aet)	Northwich	625
2002–03	Crewe Alexandra	Northwich Victoria	2–1	Altrincham	534
2003–04	Woodley Sports	Witton Albion	2–1 (aet)	Altrincham
2004–05	Altrincham	Crewe Alexandra	2–0	Witton Albion	623
2005–06	Witton Albion	Stalybridge Celtic	2–0	Altrincham	427
2006–07	Cammell Laird	Northwich Victoria	3–1	Witton Albion	425
2007–08	Nantwich Town	Altrincham	3–3 (5–3 pens)^[2]	Witton Albion	747
2008–09	Altrincham	Nantwich Town	3–0^[3]	Witton Albion	689
2009–10	Northwich Victoria	Woodley Sports	1–1 (5–4 pens)	Altrincham	281
2010–11	Northwich Victoria	Altrincham	2–0	Nantwich	352
2011–12	Nantwich Town	Stalybridge Celtic	1–0	Chester	449
2012–13	Chester FC	Stalybridge Celtic	2–1	Witton Albion	1,156
2013–14	Northwich Victoria	Tranmere Rovers	2–1	Nantwich	352
2014–15	Macclesfield Town	Northwich Victoria	3–2	Nantwich	304
2015–16	Stockport County	Tranmere Rovers	2–1 (aet)	Nantwich	503
2016–17	Crewe Alexandra	Nantwich Town	3–2	Crewe	1,831
2017–18	Nantwich Town	Stockport Town	3–0	Runcorn	251
2018–19	Nantwich Town	Cammell Laird	5–2	Altrincham	338
2021–22	Stockport County	Vauxhall Motors	5–0	Stockport	1,978
2022–23	Congleton Town	Altrincham	2–2 (4–2 pens)^[4]	Altrincham	1,153

Results by team

Teams shown in italics are no longer in existence.^[5]

Club	Wins	First final won	Last final won	Runners-up	Last final lost	Total final appearances
Macclesfield Town	21	1890	2015	11	1997	32
Northwich Victoria	19	1880	2014	16	2015	35
Crewe Alexandra	15	1887	2017	13	2005	28
Runcorn	12	1925	1989	7	1998	19
Witton Albion	11	1902	2006	10	2004	21
Altrincham	7	1905	2009	15	2023	22
Chester City		1895	1932	6	1929	13
Stockport County		1906	2022	3	2001	10
Nantwich Town	6	1933	2019	7	2017	13
Hyde United		1946	1997	6	1996	12
Tranmere Rovers	4	1919	1958	5	2016	9
Winsford United	3	1959	1993	7	1973	10
Congleton Town		1921	2023	3	1983	6
Stalybridge Celtic	2	1953	2001	6	2013	8
Davenham	1	1886	1886	2	1887	3
New Brighton Tower		1898	1898		1900	3
Ellesmere Port Town		1957	1957		1972	3
Sale Holmfield		1903	1903	1	1902	2
Woodley Sports		2004	2004		2010	2
Cammell Laird 1907		2007	2007		2019	2
Sandbach Ramblers		1914	1914	–	–	1
Crichton's Athletic		1920	1920			1
New Brighton A.F.C.		1924	1924			1
Chester		2013	2013			1
Hartford St. John's	–	–	–	1	1880	1
Birkenhead					1881	1
Witton Novelty					1882	1
Crewe Hornets					1891	1
Lostock Gralam					1913	1
Barnton Victoria					1922	1
ICI Alkali					1933	1
Stockport Town					2018	1
Vauxhall Motors					2022	1

References

1. Clayton, Keith (2010). Cheshire Senior Cup, 1880 to 1915. Kenilworth: Clayton Family Press. ISBN 978-0-9564461-0-7. OCLC 751622759.
2. "Altrincham FC Match Report".
3. "Altrincham FC Match Report".
4. "Congleton win the Cheshire Senior Cup". NWCFL.com. 28 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
5. "Cheshire Senior Cup" (PDF). silkmenarchives.org.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2023.

External links

• Cheshire FA Page