Rochdale set up final-day thriller

Emmanuel Dieseruvwe’s 99th-minute winner for Rochdale against Braintree Town last week was a showbiz ending to a game that set up a showbiz ending to the season: the victory means Dale go into the final day with a chance of winning the National League and sealing the one automatic promotion spot, and they are hosting the only team above them, York City, who lead by two points. Everything else in the division – the other playoff contenders, the four relegation spots – is settled, so the final day has 11 fixtures with not a lot on them, and one with everything on the line. With the game long since sold out York are showing it on big screens at their LNER Community Stadium and go into the match with the confidence of a side that have won 17 of their past 20 games and usurped the top spot Dale had hogged for much of the season when the then leaders had a mini wobble of two draws, two defeats and two wins around the end of March and start of April. “Whoever put the fixtures out at the start of the year might be getting a little bonus for how it’s ended,” said Ethan Ebanks-Landell, the Rochdale captain. “It’s a massive game, I don’t think there’s been anything like it in the history of football – not that I’m aware of anyway.”

It has been another season of misery for Morecambe, relegated from League One in 2023, from League Two in 2025, and now from the National League. Their season ends at Forest Green Rovers, who were relegated alongside them in 2023 and pipped them by a season to bottom spot in League Two but have stabilised and claimed a National League playoff spot for the second successive year. It will be Jim Bentley’s final game as the Shrimps’ manager before he steps into an unspecified supporting role for an unidentified new coach. “I like to think I will play my part in taking it forward, getting a feelgood factor to help make Morecambe great again,” he said. These are extraordinary times at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium, with this the club’s first season under the ownership of Panjab Warriors, whose head of communications and director of marketing had his financial assets frozen by the UK government in December after he was accused of supporting a terrorist organisation in India.

Anything but defeat at Atherton Collieries is likely to make Bury FC champions of the Northern Premier League West, which would be their third league title in five years. The bad news is that the only team that could catch them, Avro, are at home to bottom-of-the-table Darlaston Town, who have lost their past 13 games. Bury’s average attendance, 3,698 – boosted by the 7,000 who saw them beat Witton Albion 4-1 in their last home game of the season – is almost five times that of the next-best-supported side in the division, Clitheroe.

In the Isthmian South East, East Grinstead Town host Margate seeking their second win, nearly seven months after their 1-0 success at Hassocks. After 41 games they have six points and a goal difference of -129. Other teams who won’t want to remember this season: AFC Dunstable, bottom of Southern League Central Division One, who will hope to improve on two wins in 41 games when they host second-bottom Rayners Lane; Glasshoughton Welfare of Northern Counties East League Division One, who ended with two wins and 10 points from 42 games; Axminster Town of the South West Peninsula League Premier Division East, whose 2-0 defeat at Ilminster Town last week was the 29th of a 30-game season, and Copthorne of Southern Combination Football League Division One, who travel to Selsey on Saturday seeking a win which would double their points tally.

In National League North Merthyr Town stand one place outside the playoffs, and need to outperform Buxton – who are at home to relegated, bottom-of-the-table Leamington – or to win while one of Chester or Scarborough Athletic don’t. But they’re playing AFC Fylde, who need victory to be sure of winning the title. The other big game in the division is at North Street, where Alfreton Town, who occupy 22nd place, host Curzon Ashton in 21st and are looking to pull off something of a great escape.

In National League South the key matters to be decided are whether Maidenhead United, in eighth but with the five teams above them all within two points, can vault into the playoffs, and whether Hornchurch, in second, can sneak into top spot by winning if Worthing slip up. Inevitably Hornchurch are playing Maidenhead, and only one can get the result they desire.

In 1916 workers in the Vickers armaments factory in Crayford, south-east London, set up a works team, who played on the factory athletic grounds on Old Road. The factory has long gone but the team, VCD Athletic, remained on the same site. On Saturday they travel to Sittingbourne to play their last game. Their ground was sold this year, and its new owners are property developers who clearly have plans that a football club would get in the way of. “We have not been offered a new lease to remain at our historic home,” VCD’s chair, Gary Rump, said. “For over a century, the club has been more than just a football team – it has been a cornerstone of local identity, bringing together players, supporters, volunteers, and generations of families who have shared in its history, spirit and achievements. To reach this point, where we must accept that the continuation of the club is no longer viable, is deeply painful.”