Tadcaster are set to play in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division play-off final this coming Saturday, with Qualter’s side battling it out with Beverley Town for a place in the Northern Premier League Division One East for the 2026/27 season.

Having produced a spirited performance at Sheffield FC last Saturday, Taddy have the opportunity to return to step four of the non-league pyramid for the first time in three years – leaving manager Qualter hugely proud of his young squad.

“I said to the lads yesterday in training, obviously the final is the biggest game of the season, but you’ve already done the hardest bit in actually getting there,” Qualter told the Press.
“You’ve got to do all of the league, then play in the play-off semi-final, which is always a tense affair because you know what’s at stake.
“The final, you go there and just give it your best.
“You’ve got to the final regardless, whatever happens on Saturday, the club, the fans, all of their family and friends are amazingly proud of the group.
“We’re excited, we’re really looking forward to it.

“It’s about allowing the lads to be excited as well, a lot of the time managers kind of play it down a little bit, but it’s an amazing achievement to get there.
“We know that we’ve got one more job to do, and we are fully confident that we can do it.
“Beverley, if I’m honest, are probably the best side that we’ve played, bar Liversedge.
“They are very consistent, very strong, very good in both boxes.
“It’s going to be a very tough game, and they’ve got that experience, having lost in the play-off final last year.
“Whether that’s a positive or negative for them, we can’t control that.
“All we can control is ourselves, and doing the best we can do.

“Whatever level and whatever league you play in, in football, you always want to do well and you always want to be promoted.
“That’s what we started the season thinking and it’s what we’re striving for.“
For us to have the opportunity to give ourselves the chance to do that, it’s something we’re really excited about.
“But we’re not thinking about that, we’re thinking purely about the game on Saturday, preparing right, thinking about Beverley.
“More importantly, we’re thinking about ourselves.
“At the end of the day, you talk systems, you talk tactics, but it’s a squad against a squad.
“It’ll be whoever performs best on the day, they’ll win the game, so that’s what we’re focusing on.”

Tadcaster Albion could return to the step four of the non-league pyramid for the first time in three years with a win on Saturday.
Tadcaster reached this point after ending the normal season in fourth position, with a tremendous run of form seeing the Brewers finish the campaign on a real high.
They took that momentum into a semi-final with Sheffield, who Albion had beaten 4-0 two weeks prior, but found it hard early on when trailing 2-0 by the half-time whistle.
Qualter’s side showed immaculate character to respond, as two late goals from Miguel Cassama saw the match level, and onto a penalty shootout. With goalkeeper Ally Hughes playing a big part, Taddy booked their spot in the play-off final when Qualter himself dispatched from the spot.

Qualter has wanted his players to really soak up the moment in the days following the result, assessing: “It took a bit of time for us to reflect on it to be honest, I said to the lads that you probably won’t realise what you have done until you sit down on Sunday afternoon with your family and friends.
“After the game you are in the dressing room, you’re around everyone and you’ve got that adrenaline going through your body.
“You don’t really think about the result too much, you more think about the euphoria of winning on penalties.

“You don’t think too much about the next game or a play-off final, so it’s taken a bit of time.
“Me and the management staff had a beer together on Saturday night, which was nice, and once we sat down after, it was really good to reflect on what was a strange game of football, if I’m honest.
“It was more to reflect on what the lads have done this season, I said to them after in the changing room what they have achieved as a group.
“As a young group as well, a new group, they’ve got to take a lot of pride in it.
“I didn’t want the moment to pass them by, so we spoke to a lot of them on Sunday, told them to enjoy the day and the next couple of days.
“You don’t get to many semi-finals in your career, and you certainly don’t get to many play-off finals.”

Tadcaster had worked relentlessly to get to that penalty shootout, having lost as many as three players to injuries during the 90 minutes, and battling a heavy wind that disrupted Albion’s usual style of play.
So when Qualter scored that penalty to send him team through, it was a moment to savour in an otherwise challenging contest for the Brewers.
Tadcaster Albion had to weather a tough Sheffield FC battle to book their place in the NCEL play-off final.
The Taddy boss said: “It was amazing, for it to fall on me as the sixth penalty to be taken, and for it to end up being the winning one, it was a really nice moment for myself.
“I was more delighted for the boys, for the first-half of the game, we were a little bit tense and a little bit of a rabbit in the headlights.
“It was just because of the occasion, it was the biggest game that a lot of the lads have ever played in.
“To get to a play-off semi-final it’s a big deal, but going there two weeks before allowed us to know what the crowd would be like, it allowed us to know what the pitch was going to be like.
“It was a completely different environment, the week before we knew that if we won, we would get in the play-off “It was a bit of a free hit to be honest, because they were already in them, so we went there to give it a right good go and see what happens.

“Going into a semi-final, it’s very different, and I think we could sense that for the first 20, 25 minutes of the game, some of the young lads were quite nervous.
“That’s normal, to feel those feelings, so it was an amazing environment at the end in the changing room.
“You could see the relief, the happiness on their faces was the best thing about it.”

Our Thanks to York Press For Permission to Publish this Interview and their Sports Reporter Gabriel Ramsay

COME ON TADDY !!!!!!!!!