High-flying rivals battle for Liverpool Senior Cup final spot

RUNCORN LINNETS v Runcorn Town

Liverpool FA Senior Cup semi-final

Tuesday, April 14th 2026 jko 7,45pm)

APEC Taxis Stadium, Stockham Lane, Murdishaw, Runcorn, WA7 6GJ.

Preview

The APEC hosts the first Runcorn derby since October 31st 2023 as Linnets and Town are reunited in the Liverpool Senior Cup.

The clubs collide in the semi-finals as we look to reach the final for a second time with Town having already clinched the North West Counties League's Division One title while making the finals of the Cheshire Senior Cup, which we won last season, and the NWCL's Edward Case Cup.

It has been a remarkable turnaround campaign for the Weston Point team, who had endured three tough seasons after relegation from the NWCL's Premier Division at the end of 2021-22.

They finished next to bottom of Division One North the following season before bottom-half finishes of 13th and 12th in the last two after being moved into the Division One South.

Town have been revitalised and transformed under co-managers Darren Moore and Liam Page, who were previously part of our backroom staff under Billy Paynter's management. Liam had also played for us very briefly.

They last week beat our fellow Northern Premier League West promotion contenders Vauxhall Motors 3-1 at Viridor Community Stadium to book a place in the Cheshire Cup final for the first time.

Town come to Stockham Lane in Liverpool County FA's equivalent competiton having eliminated National League North club Marine in their quarter-final at Crosby.

The Liverpool Senior Cup has already provided the decade's only so-called El Classicorn derby to date. That fixture two and a half seasons ago saw us cruise to a 7-0 victory.

Ryan Brooke and Mwiya Malumo sent us into half-time two goals to the good. James Hooper added a third after the break with Joe Lynch scoring a hat-trick from midfield and Ollie Molloy getting the other.

The first-round tie, played in front of 735, was our first Liverpool tie sonce losing on penalties to Marine in the 2022-23 final.

The winners of Tuesday's semi-final will meet Everton whose Under 21s side defeated Warrington Rylands 3-2 on Monday.

Past meetings

There have been nine previous derby clashes on our ground with Linnets winning five and Town two with a couple of draws.

Our biggest league win against tomorrow's visitors was in April 2014 when goals from Antony Hickey (2), Kev Towey and Matt Atherton saw us win 4-0.

The visitors had been left to continue with a player short at 1-0 when 'keeper Stuart Plant was sent off - Towey dispatching the resulting spot kick.

Our now assistant manager Chris Lawton had scored our winner the first time we entertained our nearest neighbours at Easter 2014.

He is one of the few to have played in El Clasicorn matches for both clubs and has scored for each.

Lawty ended up in our goal in the Boxing Day 2016 duel at what was then the Millbank Linnets Stadium when Tom Hunt was dismissed with more than an hour to play for handling outside his area.

The makeshift 'keeper kept Town at bay until, with five minutes of normal time left, a combination of his punch and the head of visiting player Simon Thelwell sent the ball looping just under the crossbar.

Linnets had been denied a famous win as the game ended 1-1 with Lawty giving a man-of-the-match display for the 10-man Linnets.

Town's only league win at our ground was in the final match of our NPL title-winning season of 2017-18 with Liam Turner scoring the lone goal in stoppage time.

It did little to dampen post-match celebrations as we lifted the long-awaited championship trophy, which had already been secured in a 5-0 home victory over Squires Gate.

Town's other win at Stockham Lane came in the Cheshire Senior Cup in January 2015.

Curtis Cummins scored both goals as the Blues took command in the second half.

The goalkeeping jinx in Runcorn derbies struck again only three weeks after Chris Lawton's stand-in heroics. This time youngster Ryan Swift departed through injury with Matt Atherton taking over in goal - not for the only time in his long Linnets career.

Form guide

With Saturday's 3-1 victory at Kidsgrove Athletic, Linnets clinched a Northern Premier League West play-off spot for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

We need three points from the last six to be sure of fourth place - although two would probably suffice.

Wins from our last two matches will secure third spot, ahead of current occupants Stalybridge Celtic, who we trail by two points but will entertain next Saturday in our final home outing of the NPL West campaign.

We have won 12 of our 20 matches since Michael Ellison returned as manager just after the turn of the year with four draws and four defeats.

Town finished their title-winning league programme on Saturday with an 8-0 thrashing of bottom-placed visitors Haughmond.

It means they are 25 games unbeaten in all competitions since losing at Telford Town in the Macron Cup on November 22nd, winning all but two of these games.

With 89 points from 34 matches, they have lost just once in the league all season - scoring 118 goals (with 24 against) in claiming 28 wins with five draws.

Former Linnet Tom Ruffer, son of ex-Runcprn AFC captain Carl Ruffer, tops their appearance chart with 47 (35 league plus 12 cup) while Connor Spiers is leading scorer with 26 (17+9).

How to get here 

By car - postcode for APEC Taxis Stadium is WA7 6GJ.

By train - Runcorn is served by two railway stations, Runcorn (Liverpool Lime Street to London line, also with services from Chester and Birmingham)  and Runcorn East (trains to and from Manchester, Chester and North Wales). Both stations are served by buses running close to the stadium, although Runcorn High Street bus station (10-minute walk) offers a wider choice for passengers using Runcorn Railway Station.

By bus - the ground is a short walk from the Runcorn Busway - alight at Orniston Bollingbroke Academy (Halton High School) and follow pathway on the opposite side of the busway from the school to Murdishaw Avenue and cross into Stockham Lane. Many local services (including Shopping City circular) run on the busway as well as those from Widnes, Warrington, Liverpool and Chester.

A local taxi service is provided by APEC Taxis (tel 01928 575757).

Parking 

There is a large free car park on site.

Bar and catering 

The licensed clubhouse bar offers a range of alcoholic and non-alcholic drinks while hot food, tea, coffee and soft drinks and confectionery are on sale from the tea bar.

Admission 

Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance.

Entry will also be available by cash or card at the turnstile.

Prices are:

Adult - £11

Concession (Over 65s) - £8

Juniors (18 and under) - £2