text: 1922 – 23 nelson f.c. season the 1922 – 23 season was the 42nd season in the history of nelson f.c. and their second as a professional club in the football league . after finishing 16th in their inaugural third division north campaign in 1921 – 22 , the team performed well above expectations under the guidance of player - manager david wilson and went on to win the league title . the championship was secured with a 2 – 0 win over wrexham on 24 april 1923 . nelson ended the season on 51 points , with a record of 24 wins , three draws and 11 defeats in 38 matches . nelson entered the fa cup in the fourth qualifying round , in which they defeated rochdale . however , they were knocked out by stalybridge celtic in the next round . a total of 19 players were used by nelson in their 40 first - team matches , only six of whom had played for the club in the previous season . bob hutchinson and ernie braidwood , both new signings , played every league and cup match . with 23 goals in 36 appearances , joe eddleston was the team 's top goalscorer for the second season in succession . the highest attendance of the season at the club 's seedhill stadium was 12 , 000 on two occasions , the first of these the win over chesterfield on 10 march 1923 . background in the 1921 – 22 season , nelson had played as a professional club in the football league for the first time , following the restructuring of the league to introduce north and south divisions . former scotland international david wilson remained player - manager of the first - team for the second consecutive season after guiding them to a 16th - placed finish in the previous campaign . prior to the start of the season , the team did not play any friendly matches , meaning that the team 's last competitive match was the 0 – 0 draw with tranmere rovers on 6 may 1921 . the only warm - up for the campaign was a practice match between two teams made up of nelson players . the nelson leader reported that this match was satisfying , and hoped that it could be " the precursor of fine sport in the coming season " . before the 1922 – 23 season , nelson 's only previous title - winning campaign was their lancashire league championship in 1895 – 96 . there were a number of first - team personnel changes from the previous campaign , with only six first - team players staying at the club . centre forward joe eddleston , nelson 's top scorer in 1921 – 22 with 16 league goals , remained along with clement rigg , sid hoad and bob lilley . scottish defenders john steel and james price also continued to play for nelson . among those who left the club were harold andrews , who joined bury , and irish international inside forward billy halligan , who retired from professional football . goalkeepers harry heyes and robert bruce both moved on in the close season , so stockport county custodian joseph birds was signed as a replacement in june 1922 . in an attempt to improve the attacking prowess at the club , wilson signed experienced inside forward arthur wolstenholme on a free transfer from darlington in may 1922 , and scottish forward mike mcculloch arrived from heart of midlothian for a transfer fee of £ 150 . wilson also added to the defensive ranks with the signings of his former oldham athletic team - mate ernie braidwood , and of jimmy broadhead on a free transfer from scunthorpe & lindsey united . transfers football league third division north nelson 's league campaign started on 26 august 1922 with an away fixture at bradford park avenue , who had been relegated from the football league second division in the previous season . in the highest scoring match of the day , nelson lost the match 2 – 6 before a crowd of 10 , 000 who witnessed joe eddleston score his first goal of the season . bradford park avenue were again the opponents the following week for nelson 's first home game of the campaign and the match was won 1 – 0 by the host side courtesy of a mike mcculloch goal . eddleston 's second goal of the campaign secured another 1 – 0 victory , this time against stalybridge celtic , at seedhill on 9 september 1922 to send the team seventh in the table after three matches . a third successive home fixture saw nelson win 2 – 0 against halifax town with two goals from eddleston . nelson could not follow up their earlier victory over stalybridge celtic , falling to a 0 – 2 loss before attaining a fourth win of the campaign against southport a week later . another win against southport , nelson 's fourth since joining the league in 1921 , meant september ended as it had started with a 1 – 0 win which marked nelson 's fifth victory and clean sheet of the month . october began with a 1 – 3 defeat away at ashington , although new signing arthur wolstenholme scored his first goal of the campaign , and nelson 's first ever league goal against the northumberland club . a 2 – 0 win in the return match with goals from eddleston and mcculloch took nelson to the top of the league for the first time in the season the following week , overtaking wigan borough at the summit . the month ended with a pair of wins over tranmere rovers ; the first a 2 – 0 win on 21 october , and the second a 1 – 0 success a week later thanks to john black 's first goal in a nelson jersey . the team failed to score for only the second time in the season in the 0 – 1 away defeat to barrow on 4 november . despite conceding at seedhill for the first time in the campaign , nelson atoned for the loss seven days later with a 2 – 1 victory as a result of strikes from eddleston and wolstenholme . nelson did not play another league match for two weeks , when they faced rochdale at home . a first nelson goal for defender ernie braidwood could not prevent the side succumbing to a 1 – 2 reverse , not helped by first - team regulars wilson and wolstenholme missing the match due to injury , forcing inexperienced inside - right william bennett to make his league debut . in spite of suffering their second defeat of november , nelson remained top of the league going into december . their first fixture of the month was a home match against mid - table darlington on 9 december . nelson won a close match 3 – 2 thanks to another braidwood strike , followed by eddleston 's 10th and 11th goals of the campaign . a hat - trick from inside - forward wolstenholme gave nelson a 3 – 0 victory against the same team on 23 december in front of a season - low attendance of 3 , 000 at seedhill . nelson started the christmas period with an away game against halifax town . braidwood and wolstenholme both got on the scoresheet to help the team to a 2 – 2 draw in front of 18 , 000 supporters at the shay . on 26 december , nelson faced hartlepools united , to whom they had conceded 10 goals in two matches in the previous season . wolstenholme netted for the third game in succession as nelson claimed their first ever win against the club . however , in the first match of 1923 , hartlepools united won the return fixture 5 – 1 . nelson achieved their first win of the new year on 13 january , a 3 – 0 triumph against rochdale courtesy of an eddleston hat - trick . nelson lost 0 – 1 to lincoln city the following week , the first time they had failed to score in a league fixture for over two months . january came to a conclusion with a 2 – 1 win over the same team , goals from eddleston and mcculloch giving nelson the victory . nelson attained a first ever win against durham city on 3 february 1923 , and this was followed by a 4 – 0 win over the same side . the win saw sid hoad and bob hutchinson each net their first of the campaign , and striker eddleston increase his tally for the season to 19 . a goal by black was not enough to prevent nelson 's winning streak come to an end on 17 february with a 1 – 3 defeat away at wigan borough . nelson made up for the loss the following week , exacting a 1 – 0 win over wigan , with new signing dick crawshaw scoring on his nelson debut . at the beginning of march , nelson achieved back - to - back victories against chesterfield , the second a 4 – 0 win which saw a second goal in three games for crawshaw and two goals from utility man black , who was playing in an unfamiliar centre - forward role . nelson took only one point from the next two matches against crewe alexandra . the team failed to score in both games , the only time in the season they did so in successive matches . entering the easter period , eddleston 's 20th league goal of the campaign earned nelson a 1 – 1 draw with grimsby town at seedhill on 31 march . nelson 's winless streak extended to four games when they lost 1 – 2 away to wrexham at the start of april , although crawshaw continued his good vein of goalscoring form , netting his third in seven games . wolstenholme and braidwood scored to give nelson a 2 – 0 win over grimsby on 7 april , before beating local rivals accrington stanley 2 – 1 at seedhill . after another win against accrington the following weekend , nelson went into the home match against wrexham on 24 april requiring a win to secure the third division north championship . several mill - owners in the town closed their factories early so that supporters could attend the match on time . over 12 , 000 spectators attended seedhill and saw nelson achieve a 2 – 0 victory thanks to first - half strikes from crawshaw and eddleston . player - manager david wilson claimed he was " the happiest man in nelson " as his side gained promotion to the second division for the first time in their history . the win was followed by a team procession around the town , and the celebrations continued into the next match as the team claimed a third consecutive clean sheet with a 3 – 0 win at home to walsall . however , the season ended disappointingly for nelson as they suffered their heaviest defeat of the season , a 0 – 5 loss to walsall , on 5 may 1923 . match results key results final league position fa cup along with all the clubs in the third division north , nelson entered the fa cup in the fourth qualifying round for the 1922 – 23 season . for their first match on 18 november 1922 , nelson were drawn away at league rivals rochdale , who they had beaten 3 – 2 in the fifth qualifying round the previous season . nelson emerged from the match with a 1 – 0 victory courtesy of an eddleston goal , putting them into the fifth qualifying round for only the fourth time since they first competed in the fa cup in 1894 . for the next round , nelson were drawn against stalybridge celtic at bower fold , where they had been beaten 0 – 2 in the league on 16 september . in their first ever cup tie against stalybridge , nelson were defeated 1 – 0 before a crowd of 6 , 000 spectators . match results key results player statistics david wilson used a total of 19 players during the 1922 – 23 season and there were nine different goalscorers . the team played in a 2 – 3 – 5 formation ( the standard formation at the time ) throughout the campaign , with two fullbacks , three halfbacks , two outside forwards , two inside forwards and a centre forward . both ernie braidwood and bob hutchinson played in every league and cup game , while nelson 's record appearance holder clement rigg missed just one match , the defeat to ashington on 7 october . the team scored a total of 62 goals in 40 competitive matches . with 22 league goals and 1 in the fa cup , joe eddleston surpassed his 1921 – 22 total of 17 to become the team 's top goalscorer for the second consecutive season . new signing arthur wolstenholme was the second highest scorer with 13 goals , while braidwood notched the most goals of all the defenders with his total of six . key to positions statistics