Magpies cannot afford to rest on their laurels ahead of Leamington test
Boss Andy Preece reckons Chorley will require many more points this season before they can be even assured of a play-off place in the National League North.
The Magpies are sitting nicely in fifth spot in the table – just five points behind league leaders Chester City and boasting a game in hand.
Remarkably, their current haul of 61 points with 11 games still to go, would in previous years been virtually enough to seal a top seven spot.
Three years ago, the Magpies qualified for the play-offs having accumulated 65 points from their 46 games, while in 2023 just three points separated fourth-placed Brackley Town, on 69 points, and Chorley who ended up finishing 12th!
Even as far back as 2019, before the Covid-hit years, when the Magpies won promotion after finishing second, 65 points would have been good enough to seal a play-off spot.
Maybe last season was a sign of the new standard required as 75 points was needed to finish inside the play-offs with Chorley acquiring 83 points to seal fourth position.
With an away trip to Leamington to look forward to this weekend having beaten bottom side Farsley Celtic 4-0 at Victory Park in midweek, the Magpies remain focused on the title, but they teams are queueing up behind them to take advantage of any slip-ups.
"It’s huge to be on 61 points at this stage of the season with more than 10 games to go,” Preece told ChorleyFC TV. “There’s still a lot of points to play for and it’s going to take a lot of points to win the league, finish second, third, fourth; get in the play-offs.
"It’s weird, some years you don’t need too many points; I think to just miss out on the play-offs with 66 points two years, it’s going to take way more than that this season.
"There’s a lot of work still left to be done but we have put ourselves in a great position and anything is still possible. It’s exciting.”