RICHIE Mottram was last night named Supporters Club Player of the Year at Runcorn Linnets' end-of-season presentations.

The Jimmy Lightfoot Trophy was one of two awards picked up by hometown favourite Richie as around 170 players, officials, supporters and guests congregated in the main function room at The Heath Business & Technical Park which was fittingly decked out in Yellow and Green.

The goalkeeper also won the Bill Philcock Shield as the Travel Club's Away Player of the Year.

The first-team squad received the North West Counties League Premier Division runners-up trophy and medals from club chairman Derek Greenwood.

Another highlight thanks to the wonders of technology and the considerable efforts of event hosts Mark Buckley and Tracy Ryder, was a "video link-up" with Kev Towey in Spain!

Kev was named the Young Linnets' Player of the Year, the Phil Tyler Trophy being presented by avid young fan Caleb Goodwin, who was handed the winner's Number 9 shirt as a memento. The award was collected by team-mate Mike Burke on Kev's behalf.

Talismanic striker Towey, now just six goals shy of the club's all-time goal scoring record, also received the President's Trophy from Alan Jones as leading scorer in 2014-15.

Steve Pritchard and Stuart White handed their Vice-Presidents' Award for special achievement to winger Matt Atherton in recognition of him setting a club appearances record during the campaign.

Central defender Michael White's first season with the club was crowned with the Players' Player accolade, club captain Michael Ellison handing over the George Worrall Trophy.

The Home Player Award went to Adam Wade, the winner of the Ray Shingler Trophy being decided on the aggregate vote of visiting clubs. Club secretary Lynn Johnston made the presentation.

Kyle Hamid picked up Linnets Ground Development Group's inaugural Player of the Year award from Paul Tandy while there were retirement gifts for first-team players Martin Crowder and Michael Duffy from Trust Board member Reg Woods on behalf of the club and Kyle Hamid (from the players).

The customary Goal of the Season poll on the club's official website saw a tie for first place. The Wilf Bettley Trophy awarded by Joan and Dave Bettley was, therefore, shared for the first time. The joint winners were long-serving midfieldman Michael Ellison for his first (and so far only) Linnets goal at Abbey Hey and striker Freddie Potter, whose glorious lobbed winner at home to AFC Blackpool will likewise live long in the memory.

Tables were later to be turned on Joan Bettley as she and Joyce Carter, stalwart ticket sellers on first-team match days, collected the Noel Bell Memorial Award for club service from Sue Bell, widow of the Supporters Club chairman.

Sue led the warm tributes paid during the evening to long-serving Supporters Club committee member John Leach, who had died earlier this week after a long illness. All our thoughts are with John's wife and family at this sad time.

The Supporters Club's current chairman Stuart Houghton, who had succeeded Noel in the post, presented a £700 Supporters Club cheque to his football club counterpart Derek Greenwood.

Reflecting on the season, club manager Joey Dunn said emotions were still raw after the disappointment of a second successive runners-up finish but come August everybody will be ready to "go again" thanks to the strong mentality within the dressing room and excellent support behind the scenes.

The contributions of all sections were recognised with Runcorn Linnets Junior FC's head secretary Ciaran Clotworthy and Runcorn Linnets Ladies' head coach John Pickering (both also members of the club's Trust Board) updating the audience on progress along with Andy Hill, manager of Runcorn Linnets Under 18s.

The juniors (due to strength in numbers) and Linnets Ladies (whose season is still running) will each have their own presentation ceremonies in due course but the Youth team's achievements in winning the North West Youth Alliance's 2nd Division Cup were marked with a number of Player of the Year awards.

The Coach's Prize went to Eddie Shaw, who scored both Linnets goals in their 2-1 final defeat of Irlam at Burscough while Adam (Dom) Hadley picked up the Manager's Award and Taylor Kennerley was the choice for Players' Player. Mention was also made of Jordan Cobley's involvement with the National Championship-winning Cheshire Youth squad.

This is the first time that the club's Presentation Night has taken place at The Heath. The club thanks Anthony Stonebanks, catering manager and staff, for their superb hospitality and service and everyone who contributed to the event's success.

The photos from the presentation evening are available to be viewed here. Thanks to everybody who came along to show their support, and we'd like to express our gratitude to all the staff at The Heath Business and Technical Park for providing such a fantastic venue and warm welcome.

Well done to Runcorn Linnets Under 13s who completed a treble tonight with their 5-2 victory over Heath Rangers Barca in the Halton & District Junior League G Stapleton Cup final. All credit too to the Heath team, who scored the first and final goals of an enjoyable tie at the Millbank Linnets Stadium.

Oliver Service netted a hat-trick for the winners and captain Owen Kennington the other two goals. Liam Gobin was voted man of the match.

Linnets had already won the Halton & District U13s League title while seven of the team, skippered by George Clotworthy, triumphed in the Halton & District Futsal competition.

In the second part of this evening's double bill, Heath Rangers defeated Cromwell Athletic 3-1 in the Under 14s G Hesketh Cup final.

MANAGER Joey Dunn is vowing Runcorn Linnets will only come back stronger after congratulating Glossop North End on their well-deserved title success.

Dunn's team finished Premier Division runners-up in the North West Counties League for a second successive season but says Glossop are worthy champions while stressing that Linnets will be more determined than ever in 2015-16.

"Once I have had a couple of weeks' rest we will be right back at it planning another assault on a league which has sadly been so close for the last two seasons," said Dunn.

"We have worked hard to put Linnets back where we think the club should be. I was fortunate to play for the club in what now would be the Conference North and we have aspirations step by step to climb that ladder again.

"Adversity is something that should be used to reflect upon and provide fuel to reach even higher in achieving your goals. So we will hopefully be back firing on all cylinders come the pre-season and season proper in August with the last two seasons being the driving force to hit those required heights."

Dunn admitted he could in no way be critical of his players for dropping points late in the season once the hangover from again missing out on promotion had set in.

He added: "Last season as the manager of the Linnets, I felt that we had left something out there and had lost the league when it was won by Norton. But this season the biggest accolade I can pay Glossop is that I am immensely proud of my team's efforts and points total and genuinely believe that the league has been well and truly won by a fantastic effort from (Glossop manager) Chris (Willcock) and his team.

"I am sure that Chris would have been concerned by the number of games they were left with coming into the last few months. However, their run has been nothing short of amazing and as a football man, I can only express my admiration for the way Glossop have gone about their business."

Dunn also had a message for fans, who have again given Runcorn the highest average home crowd in the NWCL.

"The following has been fantastic again and even when we didn't pick up wins when we needed this year, you never voiced any negative views to either me or the players for which I am extremely grateful," he said.

"You have always been a knowledgeable and honest set of fans and on behalf of the players, staff and officials can only sincerely thank you."

Dunn's team were beaten 1-0 by FA Vase and League Challenge Cup finalists Glossop on Saturday in the final match of Runcorn's season with Ben Richardson's second-half goal avenging 2-0 defeat by Runcorn at Surrey Street in September.

Michael White had a 41st-minute penalty saved by North End 'keeper Greg Hall in front of a crowd just short of 500.

Runcorn lost to Glossop North End in the North West Counties Premier League at The Millbank Linnets Stadium with a score of 0-1. Michael White has a penalty saved, and put the rebound over in the 41st minute. Glossop North End went ahead in the 64th minute. Duffy sent off with 3 to go, after only being on for 4 minutes.

Match Report