FOOTBALL fans across the country will each make their Christmas wish this week -- and Nationwide North club supporters will be no exception.

However, no matter how hard Father Christmas tries to please everyone at Yuletide, only one team can wrap their mitts around the championship trophy.

As the festive period brings out the fun in everyone, let's be playful and forecast which club will come out on top.

A tough one to call you would think with just 11 points separating league leaders Alfreton Town and Lancaster City in 15th position. Barring the bottom seven, everybody including Worcester City has a genuine chance.

Southport's confident boss Liam Watson got the ball rolling before his side's trip to Altrincham last Saturday when he insisted the Sandgrounders could land the title.

Watson said: "We've not lost a league game since September and if we can continue to be resilient then there's no reason why we can't take the title, and that's our aim.

"We are all working hard to make sure that the second-half of the season is special, and we must take advantage now that we have given ourselves a fantastic foundation to work from."

Oh dear! Perhaps he will need to revise his comments a little following Southport's 2-1 loss to the Robins. However, hats off to Watson for airing such conviction.

It may be a touch over the top to suggest City will finish in top spot, with the four play-off spots a more realistic target. But with the club's current standing, nothing is beyond the realms of possibility if Barton's troops string an excellent run together in 2005.

That would require good res-ults, consistently good performances and City's big name players coming to the fore, among them goalkeeper Danny McDonnell, influential skipper Carl Heeley and goal ace Leon Kelly.

Apart from Nuneaton, City have already locked horns with those clubs vying for the title, so who else from what we've seen look good bets for the title?

Alfreton Town are the bookmakers' favourites after defeating Harrogate Town in Saturday's top-of-the-table clash, although the Derbyshire outfit looked anything but champion when failing to score against City at St George's Lane in October.

Southport tumbled out of the Conference in 2002/03 but maintain a big-club mentality, Harrogate boast the best home record in the league this season, Worksop looked handy when beating City 2-0, while nobody should forget FA Cup heroes Hinckley United and their games in hand.

My choice though would be Kettering. Although they have played more games than all their rivals, the Rockingham Road club are of one of the division's best counter-attacking teams and were outstanding in both matches against City.