Astley Bridge Cyclones

Exciting times ahead for the Black and Yellow!! 🖤💛🖤💛

👀🖤💛 SOMETHING IS BUILDING AT ASTLEY BRIDGE FC…

There is a real sense of momentum around the club at the moment.

As we continue towards our 150th Anniversary, a great deal of work is taking place away from the pitch — looking at where Astley Bridge FC has come from, what the club represents today and what we want the future to look like.

There have been emails, meetings, new introductions, ideas shared and conversations opened that could become very important for the club.

Some began with nothing more than:

“What if…?”

And a few of those ideas are now starting to develop into something far more interesting. 👀

We can’t share everything just yet. There is still work to be done and a few pieces that need to come together, but there are some genuinely exciting possibilities being explored behind the scenes.

Whatever comes next, the focus remains the same — creating more opportunities for our players, supporting our families, recognising the volunteers who give so much to the club, investing in our community and making sure the history of Astley Bridge FC is properly celebrated.

For almost 150 years, generations of players, coaches, volunteers and families have played their part in shaping this football club.

Now the aim is to respect that past while continuing to build something even stronger for those who come next.

Our past. Our pride. Our future.

There may just be a few developments on the horizon that the Black & Yellow family will want to keep an eye on… 😉🖤💛

Keep watching.

The Bridge is rising.

⚽️🔥 MATCHDAY – THE CYCLONES ARE BACK IN ACTION! 🔥⚽️

Another pre-season Saturday is nearly here as Astley Bridge Cyclones U9s head to Ladybridge High School to take on AFC Bolton Yellows U9s! 🖤💛

📅 Saturday 22nd August 2026
⏰ Kick-Off: 9:30am
📍 Ladybridge High School, BL3 4NG
🤝 Pre-Season Friendly

🖤💛 Cyclones Managers:
Adrian Bulmer & Jonny Critchley

💛🖤 AFC Bolton Yellows Manager:
Danny Cooper

This one should have a little extra fun involved too… 👀😂

Two of our Cyclones lads will be lining up against some of their school friends, so we're expecting plenty of friendly rivalry, a bit of playground bragging rights on the line and no doubt a few conversations when they're all back at school! 😆⚽️

For the Cyclones, it's another great opportunity for the boys to keep building together, developing their football, growing in confidence and enjoying their pre-season ahead of the new campaign. 💪🌪️

We’re looking forward to seeing Danny and everyone from AFC Bolton Yellows for what should be a brilliant morning of grassroots football. 🤝⚽️

Most importantly — go out, enjoy yourselves and have fun, lads! 🖤💛

🌪️ UP THE CYCLONES! 🌪️

🖤💛 MATCHDAY REPORT | PRE-SEASON 💛🖤

⚽ Horwich St Mary’s Dragons vs Astley Bridge Cyclones U9s
📅 Saturday 15th August 2026

Another brilliant morning of pre-season football for the Cyclones, with plenty of positives to take away as the boys continue building towards the new season. 💪⚽🌪️

Today also saw Teddy, Eden and Max come into the team. Thrown straight into the action, all three started the opening quarter and handled themselves brilliantly despite having never played together before. They settled quickly, showed plenty of confidence and did a fantastic job. 👏

We also welcomed Cian back into the side, helping the new lads settle and providing a really solid foundation from defence.

🔵 SECOND QUARTER

The second quarter brought a change of personnel and an increase in tempo.

Cian moved into the striker role and did a fantastic job holding the ball up from Elijah’s monster kicks. 🧤🚀 His strength and footwork allowed the rest of the boys to get forward and join the attack.

Cian then produced a brilliant through ball for Max, who arrived from the left wing and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner. ⚽

Cian was soon provider again, finding Noah on the edge of the box, who made absolutely no mistake — drilling the ball into the back of the net! 💥⚽

At the other end, Kaleb was a rock in defence. Disciplined, composed and confident on the ball, his forward passing helped the Cyclones maintain the pressure.

Horwich St Mary’s kept battling though and managed to pull one back.

🔵 THIRD QUARTER

Teddy dropped into defence and put in a sterling performance. Strong on the ball, he linked up brilliantly with Noah and Eden as the Cyclones confidently played their way out from the back.

The boys also showed growing confidence in using their goalkeeper, with Elijah producing some excellent clearances and impressive footwork when called upon. 🧤⚽

It was a tight quarter before Cian produced something special… 🔥

From what looked like an almost impossible angle, he stepped up for a free-kick and fired the ball across the goalkeeper and straight into the top corner! 🚀🎯

Absolutely nothing the keeper could do about that one!

🔵 FOURTH QUARTER

The final quarter really showed the boys’ fitness and strength.

Noah shored things up defensively, allowing Max, Teddy and Kaleb more freedom to push forward.

Kaleb worked brilliantly in the striker role, holding the ball up and bringing his teammates into play.

Noah then found Teddy, who spotted the space ahead of him — and he certainly wasn’t stopping! 💨

Teddy drove forward with confidence before hammering the ball into the bottom corner! ⚽🔥

He then turned provider, producing a brilliant switch of play across the pitch to Max, who took an excellent first touch before calmly slotting the ball into the back of the net for his second of the morning. ⚽⚽

🏁 FULL-TIME THOUGHTS

A fantastic performance from every single one of the boys, with teamwork, effort and team spirit on show throughout the game. 🖤💛

With new players coming into the side and several boys adapting to different positions, they worked incredibly well together.

There is still plenty to learn and plenty of football ahead of them, but once this group fully settles and becomes accustomed to playing alongside one another, they are going to be a formidable little team to come up against! 💪🌪️

⚽ GOALS

⚽⚽ Max
⚽ Noah
⚽ Cian
⚽ Teddy

🏆 MATCHDAY AWARDS

👏 Parents’ Player of the Match — Teddy 🏆
👏 Coaches’ Player of the Match — Cian 🏆

Huge congratulations to both lads and a massive well done to the whole team. 💛🖤

📸 We’ve also got some fantastic action shots from today’s game to share alongside the Matchday Report — capturing the football, teamwork and all those little moments that make grassroots matchdays so special! ⚽📷

Thank you as always to Horwich St Mary’s Dragons for having us and for another enjoyable pre-season game. 🤝

Onwards we go, Cyclones! 🌪️

🖤💛 UP THE CYCLONES! 💛🖤

🖤💛🖤🖤

☀️🎪 SUMMER BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY, ABFC FAMILY FUN DAY – SAVE THE DATE! 🎪☀️

We’re getting ready for a brilliant day at Astley Bridge FC and we’d LOVE to see as many of our players, families, friends, supporters and members of the wider community there as possible! 🙌⚽

📅 Monday 31st August 2026
⏰ 11:00am – 3:00pm
📍Stapleton Avenue, BL1 5ES

There’s already loads planned for the day…

🎁 Heart2Heart Flowers and Gifts
🧸 Craftyliciouscrafts new
🎨 iFacePainting
🍦 John’s Ices
☕ Gerry's Cafe
🏰 CJs Bouncy Castle Hire Leyland
🍻 Northern Monkey Bar
🖤💛 Astley Bridge Merchandise

…and plenty of activities to get involved with!

Come down, bring the family, invite your friends and spend your Bank Holiday with us! 🙌

🖤 One Club.
💛 One Community.
⚽ One exciting future together.

📣 ARE YOU A LOCAL BUSINESS?

We’d still love to hear from businesses who would like to get involved, attend, have a stall or support the day.

📱 Please contact Emma on WhatsApp: 07860 211176

Please SHARE this post and help us spread the word across Bolton and beyond! 📲💛🖤

⚽️🔥 PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY – MATCHDAY! 🔥⚽️

The Cyclones are back in action this Saturday as we make the short trip over to Horwich for another brilliant pre-season test! 💛🖤🌪️

🆚 Horwich St Mary’s Dragons
📅 Saturday 15th August
⏰ Kick Off: 9:00am
📍 Scholes Bank, Horwich, BL6 7QE

Another great opportunity for the boys to keep building their fitness, confidence, teamwork and match sharpness ahead of the 2026/27 season. 💪⚽️

After a fantastic first friendly last weekend, we’re looking forward to seeing how the lads continue to develop together and put everything they’ve been working on in training into another competitive game. 🔥

🌪️ CYCLONES LINE-UP 🌪️
🧤 Elijah – GK
⚡ Teddy
⚡ Noah
⚡ Kaleb
⚡ Mal
⚡ Eden
⚡ Cian
⚡ Max

👔 Managers: Adrian & Jonny

A big thank you to Curtis and everyone at Horwich St Mary’s Dragons for welcoming us over. We’re really looking forward to seeing the Dragons again and enjoying what should be another fantastic, friendly morning of grassroots football. 🤝⚽️

Come on Cyclones! 💛🖤
Work hard. Play together. Enjoy every minute. 🌪️⚽️

⚽️ PRE-SEASON MATCH REPORT 08/08/2026 ⚽️

🔥 Atherton Town Galaxy vs Astley Bridge Cyclones U9s 🔥

The Cyclones are back! And what better way to kick off pre-season than with a proper footballing battle! 💪⚽️

The game started with both teams looking a little apprehensive, but it was Atherton Town who struck first with a thunderous free kick that flew straight into the top corner. 🚀

The Cyclones soon settled into their rhythm, and it was Kaleb who carried the ball brilliantly out of defence before calmly slotting it into the bottom corner. ⚡️ 1-1!

🔵 Second Quarter

Noah moved into defence and stood strong, making some excellent challenges while staying disciplined in his position. 👏

This gave the boys the platform to build some fantastic link-up play, with Eden, Malik and Kaleb combining well and making some great runs.

A brilliant run forward from Malik led to some exceptional link-up play with Kaleb, before Kaleb finished the move off in style to grab his second goal of the game! 🎯

Atherton continued to push and managed to find their second, keeping the game nice and close.

But that only seemed to wake the Cyclones up! 🔥

Eden produced a fantastic mazy run forward before playing in Malik, who coolly slotted the ball home. ⚽️

And Malik wasn’t finished there! 💨 Another powerful run forward saw him fire another one into the net.

At this point the boys got a little excited and allowed Atherton back into the game — but there was still plenty more to come!

🔵 Third Quarter

Elijah was absolutely outstanding between the sticks, pulling off some great saves and showing exactly why he is such a fantastic goalkeeper. 🧤⭐️

The boys worked hard on their game management and kept things tight.

Noah stood strong at the back alongside Elijah, and the Cyclones managed to keep Atherton out throughout the 10-minute quarter. 💪

There were some excellent passages of football, including a brilliant move where Malik played the ball through to Kaleb, who finished with a fantastic strike into the top of the goal! 🚀⚽️

🔵 Fourth Quarter

By now both teams were starting to feel the effects of the game, but the Cyclones remained disciplined and kept working hard.

Elijah made some more excellent saves and also showed great distribution from the back. 🧤👏

Then came another brilliant moment from Kaleb, who picked the ball up in defence, weaved his way through several players and finished with a superb strike past the keeper! 🔥

But perhaps the proudest moment of the game came right at the end.

From our corner, Atherton broke quickly on the counter attack with all four outfield players charging forward.

But Noah and Malik weren’t having any of it! 💨💨

Both boys found a huge burst of energy to sprint back and make some last-ditch tackles to stop the attack.

That is exactly the kind of effort and teamwork we want to see! 👏👏👏

⭐️ A Very Proud Day

The boys should be incredibly proud of themselves today.

They listened to what we asked of them, worked hard, stayed disciplined and showed some excellent football and distribution throughout the game.

There is plenty for us to work on, as you’d expect in pre-season, but there were also so many positives to take away.

A fantastic team effort from the Cyclones! 💙⚽️

We can’t wait to see what this group can produce as we head into the season.

Keep working hard, keep listening, keep enjoying your football! 🔥

🌀 Come on Cyclones! 🌀

🖤💛 MATCHDAY IS ALMOST HERE! 💛🖤

The Astley Bridge Cyclones are back in action this Saturday as we travel to Butler Park for an exciting pre-season friendly against Atherton Town Galaxy! 🌪️⚽️🌌

📅 Saturday 8th August
⏰ Kick-Off: 9:00am
📍 Butler Park, Eckersley Fold Lane, Atherton, M46 0PJ
🏆 Friendly

Leading the team from the touchline will be our managers, Adrian and Jonny. 👏

The boys have been working hard during pre-season, and this will be another brilliant opportunity to build confidence, develop as a team and prepare for the 2026/27 season ahead.

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone from Atherton Town Galaxy and enjoying a competitive, positive and enjoyable morning of grassroots football together. 🤝

Good luck to both teams — play with confidence, support one another and, most importantly, enjoy every minute!

ONE CLUB. ONE TOWN. ONE CYCLONE. 🌪️
UP THE CYCLONES! 🖤💛

Adrian Bulmer Jonny Critchley