Golcar United were praised for the way they helped champions Bury AFC celebrate the last game of the season in front of their biggest-ever attendance.
There was nothing left to be decided as Bury were champions and Golcar had already sealed third spot and a play-off place so the game was as much about the occasion as the football.
Golcar officials left a stash of beers in the Bury dressing room and the team gave the players a guard of honour as they came out onto the pitch.
Golcar left a box of beers with a handwritten note saying: “Congratulations on the title win. Have a beer on us!”
That went down well on social media with Bury fans praising the “classy” way Golcar handled themselves and the celebrating visitors.
The Weavers had a club record 1,200 attendance at the Skye Direct Stadium on Saturday and chairman Peter Gledhill hailed the day a big success off the field.
On the field, Golcar striker Ash Flynn missed a first half penalty and the game remained goalless at half-time. Bury, however, grabbed the lead just past the hour mark through Ben Wharton and two more late goals from Tom Greaves and Jimmy Moore gave Bury a 3-0 victory.
Mr Gledhill said: “As an occasion the day was absolutely superb and all our helpers did a great job with the catering and the bar. We had our biggest-ever crowd and the Bury fans were exuberant. We had security and a police presence but everything went well.”
There were almost 1,000 home fans – Bury had 250 tickets – and Mr Gledhill said: “We have great support, second only to Bury in our league.
“Two companies came up to me at the end of the game and said they would sponsor us next season. Our support is immense and our fans deserve for this club to reach a higher level.”
Golcar go into the play-offs and face fourth-placed AFC Blackpool at the Skye Direct Stadium on Saturday April 9 (3.00).
Whoever comes out on top takes on the winner of second-placed Holker Old Boys and fifth-placed Nelson the following Saturday. The match will be played at whichever club finished the season highest.
After a great first half of the season, Golcar’s form has dipped since February and they’ve won just once in 10 league matches.
The play-offs were the aim before the season started so that target has been achieved but they need to return to that early season form to secure promotion.
Mr Gledhill said: “At the start of the season the play-offs were our reasonable objective and we’ve achieved that and we’ve done well overall.
“Blackpool beat us here a couple of weeks ago but that was a tight game and, yes, we can beat them. Our early season form will take us up.”
