MARK Molesley says Weymouth’s trip to Kettering Town tomorrow (3pm) to decide who is the Southern League champion just shows how strong the 2017/18 season was.
Weymouth finished fifth with 97 points behind Kettering before the divisions were restructured prior to the start of the 2018/19 term.
The Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division was split into two leagues, the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Central, which Kettering won, and the Evo-Stik Southern Premier South – conquered by Weymouth.
However, with previous seasons having only one champion of the league there is thus an extra match to determine who are the Southern League champions out of the two sides that won the leagues that used to constitute the one Southern League.
Molesley said: “I think it shows how strong it was last year.
“I think if you look at it obviously Hereford went up, Slough went up but then and us and Kettering have both won our respective leagues and King’s Lynn have run (Kettering, who were the only team to finish above King’s Lynn) tight and they are second.
“So all the play-off teams (from 2017/18) are up at the top again it shows how strong that league was.
“I think any other year and we would have won the league last year so it is nice to know that we have both gone on and won them this year.”
With the end of this season, with the play-offs pending, now only King’s Lynn Town from the top five of the 2017/18 season have not risen to the National League North or South, with the Linnets facing Stratford Town in the play-offs on Monday.
However, Molesley is happy with a chance to celebrate either way after their fantastic, promotion-sealing season.
Molesley said: “It has been a fantastic season and this game we can go and enjoy it.
“I think it is fantastic that our sponsors Bluebird (Coaches) are laying on coaches free of charge, I think that is a lovely gesture from our sponsors and it just shows what a good relationship we have with them.
“Hopefully people will climb on board and have a good day out and we can celebrate either way after a fantastic season.”
Molesley admitted the club are assessing a couple of knocks, but would not be drawn on who the players are, as he said: “Everyone who is fit will travel, we have got a couple of knocks we are assessing at the moment.
“We will go up to the game and put our best foot forward. We want to win the football match.”
