International recognition given to two former NWCFL players

[FF News]

Two former NWCFL players lined up alongside one another on full international duty in the past week.

Lois Maynard and Matt Walwyn both played in two games for St Kitts and Nevis on a mini-European tour where their national team, known as the "Sugar Boyz", recorded a historic 1-0 over Andorra last Friday, before moving on to Tallinn where they lost 3-0 to Estonia on Tuesday. It's the first ever time that the team has faced European opposition.

Former Winsford United and current Tranmere Rovers player Lois Maynard made 52 appearances for Winsford in the 2012-2013 season. winning 11 “Man-of-the-Match” awards, and was voted Blues “Player-of-the-Season”.

Playing mostly in the centre of defence for Winsford, Lois switched to Rochdale at the end of the season and from there moved to Halifax Town where he made 85 appearances scoring 18 goals. He joined Tranmere at the start of this season.

Matt Walwyn will be best remembered for his memorable appearance as substitute in the 2008 FA Vase final at Wembley for Kirkham & Wesham, where he came on a substitute late in the game and scored two goals in the last six minutes to clinch a 2-1 win over Lowestoft Town.

The win topped a memorable first season for the club, who had just clinched promotion from the NWCFL Second Division, and under their new name of AFC Fylde they went on to clinch the Premier Division title the following season with Matt once again playing a notable part in the club's success.

Since then, Matt has had spells at Chorley and Droylsden and is currently at FC United of Manchester, for whom he made 22 appearances last season.

Lois started and Matt came on as substitute in both games for St Kitts and Nevis, and they are the latest players to progress from the NWCFL to full international level, following in the recent footsteps of Rory Patterson (FC United of Manchester/Northern Ireland) and Anthony Pilkington (Atherton Collieries/Republic of Ireland). Adnan Ahmed also played at full internation level for Pakistan while part of Nelson's 2013/14 Division One title winning squad.

The win by St Kitts and Nevis in Andorra is especially notable as it is the first time a Caribbean Football Union team has beaten a European team in almost ten years.

That game took place on 28th February 2006 when Trinidad & Tobago won 2-0 in a friendly against Iceland at Loftus Road as they prepared for the World Cup Finals and a game against England, with skipper Dwight Yorke scoring both goals, including a penalty, to secure victory.

The Andorra result has been celebrated in the Caribbean and beyond, and Anthony Johnson, President of the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Association, said:

"Subsequent to the game last evening, we have received congratulations from persons across the world.

"For us, we hope it will result in more professional opportunities for our players, because that is also a significant part of what we are trying to achieve at the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Association”.

Source: www.nwcfl.com

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