Although they may have been a local town, Oswaldtwistle never managed to give birth to a team that could ever even hope to rival Rovers and never mind manage to have out a rivalry in reality. They did however meet their illustrious neighbours when they were on their way to their third FA Cup triumph in 1886. A Hugh McIntyre goal was all the difference between the two sides at Leamington Street although the game hardly caught the imagination of the locals as barely a thousand turned up to watch.

The smaller Rovers joined the Lancashire League for two years in the early 1890s but that seemed too much for them and quickly left. In 1894 they entered the Lancashire Combination, a league generally populated by small local sides and the reserve teams of the larger Lancashire clubs.

After a good start, Ossy struggled along looking out of their depth until they were relegated to the second division in 1904 and continued to struggle for five further years until they had to leave that as well. Rovers are not thought to have survived for long after that although there have been other local sides (such as Oswaldtwistle Immanuel) that have represented the town in non-league circles. Today, Oswaldtwistle, as a town in the area between Blackburn and Accrington, is home to many supporters of Blackburn Rovers, although there are some fans of Accrington Stanley and the dreaded Burnley there although in smaller numbers. As always, there are also the ubiquitous creatures known as Manchester United supporters as well, as there is in the very Ewood area itself! Shocking...

There is just one interesting snippet of the story left untold. On 18th February 1888 Oswaldtwistle Rovers played host to Newton Heath in a friendly. Rovers were awesome and thrashed their guests 6-0 in an utter rout. As a postscript to that…Newton Heath later went on to become a league team and change their name, by which they became better known. Today we call them…Manchester United!

Oswaldtwistle Rovers results against Blackburn Rovers in major competitions. 1886 – FA CUP R2 – Blackburn Rovers 1 Oswaldtwistle Rovers 0