Manchester Central 2021/22 Season Review

Manchester Central concluded a whirlwind season at the end of April, managing to pull off what seemed to be an impossible task following the first half of the season, capturing promotion to the First Division of the Manchester Football League.

It came down to the final day of the season against promotion rivals Avro Reserves, where they picked up a 3-2 home win in the most dramatic fashion through a late winner at the death, which confirmed Division One football in the 2022/23 season.

It was a rocky start to the season for Central back in August, suffering a 3-0 home defeat to Leigh Genesis in the season opener. This defeat began the run of a poor first five games for Central, losing four of them, although picking up their first win in a 3-1 away victory against Cavaliers, following goals from Rory Robertson and a double from Gabriel Wiwoloku.

Central were able to somewhat pick it up in the next five games, winning four of them which included two thrilling wins against Avenue and Breightmet United, ironically concluding this run with an 8-0 home win in the reverse fixture.

In the opening 10 games, Central endured a tough start winning five and losing five, although managing to score an impressive 29 goals, which marked the first sign of Central’s firepower and goalscoring ability across the team.

Forward Gabriel Wiwoloku was a major contributing factor to this record, starting the season in great goalscoring form, netting 10 goals in 10 matches, ultimately ending the season as the second top goalscorer for the club, notching a highly impressive 26 goals in 24 appearances.

Despite this supposed change in form, Central just could not get any sort of consistency and struggled to go on a run of games which would give them an opportunity to breach the promotion places. However, it was a 2-1 home win that turned the tide in their season.

With just 10 games remaining in the league, it seemed highly unlikely that Central could reach the top five, however, a 2-1 win at Wright Robinson over Daisy Hill marked the beginning of the club’s most successful period of the year, winning seven out of the next 10 games.

The run saw Central continue their impressive goalscoring form including an 8-0 home win over AFC Burnley and a 7-1 home win over Astley & Tyldesley, which further highlighted the brilliance of eventual top scorer Fuad Kasali, scoring five times across both games, including a hat-trick in the latter game.

Across this period, Kasali came up massive for manager Chris Tomkinson, notching an outstanding 15 goals including two more hat-tricks against AFC Monton and Cavaliers, ultimately finishing the season as top scorer, netting 31 times in only 23 appearances.

This run of games also pointed out Central’s brilliant home form, which certainly was a key factor in their bid for promotion in the second half of the season. Only winning one out of five home games in the first half, Central found their groove in the second at Wright Robinson, winning seven out of eight.

This period however did include a 4-1 home defeat to Division One side Altrincham Hale in the Murray Trophy, meaning Tomkinson had to put all his focus on getting promotion to Division One with just three league games remaining.

In the remaining fixtures, Central picked up their largest win of the season, smashing 16 past a struggling Cavaliers side in their chase for that final promotion spot. In then a critical must win game at Daisy Hill, Central ironically picked up a crucial 1-0 win over the side that were their opponents when their season turned around.

It then came down to the final day of the season, where it was win or go home for Central against promotion rivals Avro. And in a topsy-turvy game that could’ve swung either way, it was the main man Fuhad Kasali who snatched promotion from Avro, bobbling a last-minute winner into the far corner to seal the win.

It was by no means a perfect season, but for Chris Tomkinson and his players, it ended in perfect style, rallying back from an improbable position heading into the new year to clinch promotion, where Central look forward to an exciting challenge in Division One for the 22/23 season.