LYMM AFC will be counting their lucky stars in hope of back-to-back promotions.

As a sign of these strange times, however, in neither campaign would they be officially awarded the title.

Last season, the Old Boys – a nickname that nods to their long history – had their first team topping the Lancashire Amateur League Division Three table when the 2019/20 season was null and voided.

Having picked up 36 points from 15 games, they were awarded promotion based on being league leaders – a reward to compensate for over-performing or other teams above dropping out.

This season, Lymm flew out of the blocks once again and notched seven wins from as many games, with a goal difference of +31 in Division Two.

They are certainly holding their own as the only Warrington side across all seven divisions but now the season has been null and voided once again, could they still make it back-to-back promotions?

“Obviously winning seven out of seven, you can’t do much more than that,” manager Mark Napier-Hemy said.

“I was looking the other day, over the past two seasons we’ve played 23 matches which is pretty much a full league season if you put them together and we’ve lost one game, so I have full faith that we would have gone on to win it again this year.

“I believed that last season we would capitalise on our position and go onto win it and I think exactly the same this season.

“If anything, we have got stronger. I don’t think the league is much more challenging although it is a slightly higher calibre of opposition.”

Napier-Hemy does bring an element of realism that despite Lymm’s faultless record, they might not be so fortunate again.

“We had played about double the games of this season so I’m not sure if we’ll get that luxury again.

“And even with last season, I think some of the excitement was drawn out of it with us not being able to celebrate winning a game to go up and it was just a formality at the end of the season on an email, so it’s a shame to not be able to celebrate the success over the past couple of seasons.”

Despite the obvious disappointment, Napier-Hemy believes curtailing another season was the right call and regardless, he can reflect upon quite a journey.

From operating four teams in the early 2000s, that was reduced to one bottom division side a decade ago but they are now back up to running three teams.

The first team has their eyes set on rising back up to the Premier Division, a league they have not graced since 2009 after ending a 13-year stay.

Whatever circumstances Lymm find themselves in, the manager is excited about the prospect of guiding the side in the right direction.

“It’s a really exciting time to be a part of,” he said.

“We have a talented group of players ranging from 17 to 40 plus and have had an influx of new players over the past couple of seasons which has been key to pushing the club on.

“We switch focus to the upcoming cup competitions and hope to end the season with some silverware before we do it all over again in prep for next season – which will hopefully be played to its conclusion!”

“It’s the right thing to do because logistically, it just wasn’t going to work with a lot of teams having over 20 games left and pitch hire and the likes so I can understand why it’s happened.

“But, from our point of view it’s a real shame for the second year running to have that outcome, although we had the benefit of going up last season as common sense prevailed with the position we were in.”

Lymm AFC are always on the lookout for new players to join their three teams and can be contacted on Twitter @LymmAFC or on Instagram @lymmoldboys.