Monday 31 October 2011

Staveley MW U19 4 v Hallam U19 0 - Baris NMU19L Division 1

Monday 31st October 2011, at Inkersall Road
Baris North Midlands U19 League Division 1

Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 4
Michael Cuckson 30, 54, Tom Colclough 65
Matthew Langley 85
Hallam (0) 0

Admission £2, Programme 50p, Attendance 70+
It's not even as though Hallam performed badly, but when Staveley Under 19's play the way they did in the second half, they are enticing to watch and all but impossible to beat.
Tonight Matthew Langley controlled the midfield for Staveley at times, allowing Michael Cuckson the freedom to link up with the home side's attack and cause Hallam some real damage.
The visitors actually had the ball in the net first when Lewis Oxley scored from a corner, but Roger Evans, the linesman, didn't hesitate in raising his flag and the effort was ruled out.
Stirred into action, Staveley took the initiative and on 17 minutes Langley fired a shot over the Hallam crossbar after making himself space to collect the ball and shoot from a right wing corner.
A few minutes later Lee Anthony looked as if he had put the home side ahead, but Daniel Costello in the visitors goal got down to pull off a fine save to his left, at the expense of a corner.
On 30 minutes Lee Anthony put in a measured cross from the right which was headed home by Michael Cuckson, the Hallam defence hooked the ball away after it had crossed the line, so Cuckson finished the chance off a second time just to be on the safe side.
Hallam had some very big and competitive players, but they were not overly physical ... however on 55 minutes Cuckson got into a goalscoring position again and the Blues were two in front.
On 65 minutes Tom Colclough made no miostake with a great finish through a scrummage of players to increase Staveley's lead.
With five minutes remaining, the impressive Trystan Brown broke down the left and Matthew Langley, who had just been involved in breaking down a Hallam attack at the other end, popped up on the edge of the visitors area to claim a goal his man of the match performance deserved.
Full time came and despite a late flurry around the visitors box, the score remained 4-0 ... the same margin of victory Staveley had beaten Hallam by last month in a League Cup tie at Inkersall Road.
That's the 75 games (so far) milestone reached this season, although a lot of the matches I've seen have been played on familiar grounds, that I am a regular visitor to.
But ... I'm definitely going to start varying my rota a bit more in the near future and be a bit more geographically adventurous.
However, Tuesday night (tomorrow) will definitely be a revisit.
I want to drive up to Fleetwood Town for the Stags FA Cup replay (winners to play Wycombe Wanderers at home), but I have a 4.30AM alarm call awaiting me on Wednesday and I want to be tucked up in bed before midnight. So it looks as though I will be at Frickley Athletic v Buxton instead, because that's just a quick run up the A1 from my home turf.
I would've passed the 80 game mark by now, but a bout of food poisoning after a late night post gig feast in down-town York last weekend, kind of restricted my movements for most of last week.
I'LL BE BACK!!!

Saturday 29 October 2011

Luton Town 5 v Hendon 1 - FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round

Saturday 29th October 2011
FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
at Kenilworth Road
Luton Town (3) 5
Aaron O'Connor 8 pen, 72, James Dance 13,
Tommy Wright 25, Stuart Fleetwood 71
Hendon (1) 1
George McCluskey 5
Admission £12, Programme £2,
Attendance: 2,329 (193 visiting fans)
Luton Town: K. Pilkington, Osano, Beckwith, Antwi, Howells, Dance, Hand, Kissock, O'Connor, Wright, Fleetwood. Subs: Tyler, Samuel, Carden, Henry, Tavernier, Willmott, Crow.
Hendon: Thomas, Parker, Cousins, Peacock, Wharton, C. MacLaren, Busby, McCluskey, Charles, K. MacLaren, Aite-Ouakrim. Subs: Rankin, Bubb, Fraser, Dyer, Laurencin, Burgess, Lewis.As I mentioned in a previous blog entry pertaining to my recent visit to Bedford Town, one and a half dozen years ago (approx), in the days before colour photography was invented, this father and son team, set out on life's wondrous journey together. We live 122 miles apart these days... and my granddaughter, AKA his niece, has been missing him like mad since he went away to the University of Bedfordshire a whole month ago, so today we arranged for them to have a day out at the cinema and 'do stuff' together. If anybody had been worried about an earth tremor in East Retford this morning, don't be alarmed, it wasn't an earthquake like the one they had in Market Rasen not so long ago... it was merely our Izzy jumping for joy and bouncing with excitement that she was heading south to join her Uncle Sam for the day.
Being the kind of 'family guy' who believes in letting the younger members of my fold do their own thing and giving them space to develop their own ideas, whilst picking up the pieces when required, offering advice when asked for it and having a far too relaxed policy on giving them financial assistance on a frequent basis, ahem! I decided to afford them some quality time together during the day and then meet up with them for a big slap up feast at teatime.
Tsk, what on earth was I going to kill time during the afternoon?
Oh, I know!
I could have joined the 89 hardy souls who went to see Dunstable Town beat Stotfold 2-1 in the Molten Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division today, because that was only a few miles drive away, but I opted to stay in Luton itself instead, because it gave me more time for shopping.
But there was a\ method in my madness... our Sam had sourced me a music store in town, that had loads of Trojan label (and similar) music for sale at prices that would've tempted even the biggest skinflint to get his hand very deeply into his pocket... and I did!
After all, there is always room for another 30 or so 'essential' purchases in everyone's record collection, isn't there!?
Being of a 'Gung-Ho!' mentality when it comes to exploring a variety of interesting neighbourhood's on my travels, I decided to ignore all the advice about avoiding the Bury Park estate 'short cut' with all it's (apparently) threatening narrow alleyways and (allegedly) dubious locals... and I got to Kenilworth Road in half the time I would've done if I taken the circuitous route that the Luton Town website recommends.
I've been to the Hatters ground loads of times before and I've never had an ounce of bother in and around these so called 'mean streets'.
The football ground stands in the middle of the part of town that is predominantly, almost to the point of exclusivity, a Muslim community.
Yet the vast majority of people who actually attend matches therein, are white and of English origin.
Maybe the fact supporting your local football team requires a degree of partisan tribalism and borderline mob mentality, that goes against the grain of the 'Love for all, hatred for none' principles of the teachings of Islam... and explains the demographic juxtaposition of your typical Saturday afternoon crowd at Kenilworth Road.
Either way, it's outside my scope of learning and understanding, so I won't expound further.
In Luton, people just get on with minding their own business and leave everybody else to get on with theirs too and it seems to work... even in the streets around the football ground that are decorated with: 'This area is under Sharia law' stickers.
As I entered the ground, the flickering screen in the small bar under the Kenilworth Road Stand, was showing the end of the live Premier League game on Sky TV, where Arsenal were beating Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge.
There have been a lot of high scoring games in the top flight of late, some might say that this is testimony to it being the 'greatest league in the world', but I reckon it just proves a lot of defenders who are supposed to be among the elite, are in truth, just average Joe's who are getting paid far too much.
I used to watch a lot of 1st Division games back in the day, but since the Premier League came along, I've only been to two ... and that was just to tick off a couple of new grounds that I hadn't visited before.
Right from the kick off, Luton took the game to their Isthmian League Premier division visitors and had forced two corners at the Oak Road End (one from the right, then one from the left) inside the opening two minutes, but there was no end product to either.
On 5 minutes, Hendon got a free kick, out to the right hand side of Luton's penalty area.
Scott Cousins floated the ball into the box and George McCluskey got up unmarked to knock the ball past the former Mansfield Townand Notts County goalkeeper, Kevin Pilkington.
It's all a blur for Pilks
But three minutes later, Luton were awarded a penalty after Dean Beckwith was upended in the box... and yet another former Stags player: Aaron O'Connor netted the equaliser from the resulting spot-kick..
On 13 minutes, the Hatters were in front, when Curtis Osano crossed the ball in from the right and James Dance got in amongst the Hendon defence to head the ball home.
Unfortunately for the goalscorer, it was his last taste of the action and he was stretchered off with a head injury sustained whilst putting his side ahead.
Sport hurts!

O'Connor thought he had put Luton 3-1 ahead, when he ran diagonally from right to left across the Hendon defence and nudged the ball gently beyond the keeper's reach... the effort was goal-bound, but Stuart Fleetwood gave it a final touch, just to make sure and to claim the goal for himself, he turned to take the acclaim of the crowd but saw the linesman's flag instead. Fleetwood in being a 'greedy guts' had inadvertently wandered offside and effectively cancelled out O'Connor's second goal ... he'll be popular!
After more good work on the right from Osana, Tommy Wright headed Luton's third goal on 25 minutes.
Hendon looked deflated, but kept things ticking over until the interval when they could regroup and have a fresh look at things. Luton for their part, obviously had a couple of players who could do their visitors some real damage going forward like John Paul Kissock and the aforementioned Osana and thus they were well in control.
Hendon started the second half like they wanted to make a game off it and for a while the home crowd started to become restless as their defenders hoofed a series of clearances into touch instead of using the ball to their advantage when they had possession.
Elliott Charles received the ball on the edge of the Luton box, he had time to take aim and fire, but rushed his shot and missed woefully in front of the travelling Hendon supporters.
The visitors were applying a lot of pressure around the Hatters box, but they couldn't quite find the key to unlock their hosts defence.
In the 63 sixty third minute, Kevin Maclaren was sent off, when he received a second yellow card for a bad tackle on John Paul Kissock... and now Hendon were really up against it.
In the seventy first minute, the Greens were briefly down to nine men while Jamie Busbly was off the pitch receiving treatment for a head injury.
Luton used their numerical advantage to the full and blitzed Hendon with two goals in a minute from Fleetwood and O'Connor.
As things stood at this point, 5-1 was perhaps a bit of a flattering margin for Luton to be in front by, but by the end of the game, taking into account the O'Connor effort that Fleetwood had rendered null and void in the first half and a whole load of chances that went begging late on, the Hatters were actually good value for their victory.
It did get a bit like the Alamo out on the field of play as the clock ticked down and Luton continued to pummel the former European Amateur champions and three time FA Amateur cup winners.
FT: Luton Town 5 v Hendon 1
Back in Luton town centre, the young folk had been having a great time and they'd managed to spend every last penny I'd left them with, they're very good at that sort of thing!
They were enthusing already about Izzy's next expedition to Bedfordshire, while I smiled to myself, secure in the knowledge that I already have the fixtures for Dunstable Town, Wooton Blue Cross and Ampthill Town tucked away in my back pocket.
Travel tip ... sticking to the legal speed limit, as one does when there is a minor in the car, bugger the M1, because the A6, A421 and A1 route back up to North Notts from Luton is a much quicker route.
YouTube highlights of today's game:

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Retford United U19 3 v Harworth CI U19 1 - Baris NMU19L Division 2

Wednesday 26th October 2011 at Cannon Park
Baris North Midlands U19 League Division 2

Retford United (2) 3
Sam Foulds 27, Bobby Johnson 33, Luke Marris 65
Harworth Colliery Institute (1) 1
Liam Ainger 44

Admission £2 inc programme, Attendance 45ish

Retford United
Lewis Brealey, Ashley Mitchell, Jordan Pickering, Luke Marris, Bradley Beresford, Gareth Davies, Alister Plant (Captain), Sam Foulds, Bobby Johnson, Harry Corr, Luke Walker.
Subs - Adam Ellis, Leighton Hall, Jack Radford

Harworth Colliery Institute
Tom Hogg, Liam Argyle, Luke Bailey, Jason Markell, Liam Smith, Tom Padgett (Captain), Callum Tiffany, Liam Ainger, Ryan Foster, Tom Sowden, Kurtis Cockburn.
Matt Smith, Jamie Royal, Christopher Leather
"I love it when we get a corner"
Phil Hall, Retford United U19 Asst. Manager
"I hate it when they get a corner!"
Glenn McPherson, Harworth CI U19 Manager

Prior to kick off, one of the regular clique who follow Harworth Under 19's commented that tonight's game would probably be a case of damage limitation for the visitors ... last season's fixture between these two sides had been a bit of a one sided going over for Harworth and just a month ago, Retford claimed all three points at Scrooby Road, by virtue of a 5-0 win, despite a much improved performance by the home side that night, who didn't help their own cause by missing several gilt edged chances.
United set off on the front foot, but a couple of half chances and a free kick on the edge of the box came to nothing.
Harworth were playing like they wanted to restore some local pride in this Bassetlaw derby tonight and didn't look to be in any mood to finish the game on the wrong end of a high score again ... even though the home side were obviously the favourites to win.
Callum Tiffany dropped his shoulder, feigned a dummy run in midfield and made himself room to play a precision pass into the path of Curtis Cockburn.
Cockburn's been playing very well since he was drafted in to fill the number 11 shirt for Harworth ... his run caught the Retford defence out, but the Badgers keeper Lewis Brealey stood his ground 'til late, got down well and saved the shot with his legs in a one on one situation.
Up until 27 minutes it had been a fairly even game, but then United stormed into a two goal lead inside the next 6 minutes.
Both goals came from right wing corners, Sam Foulds ceased on the first chance and Bobby Johnson the second.
If you're going to get caught out from dead ball situations, they're two of the last players in this league you'd want to be sniffing around when it's make or break time.
That top corner looks inviting and unguarded Liam

It would've been easy for Harworth to feel a bit bewildered and for a few heads to drop after the double set back, but they regained their composure and went looking for some redress before half time and their efforts were rewarded when Liam Ainger hooked a twenty yard free kick into the top corner of the Retford goal.
Half time - Retford 2 v Harworth 1
On 65 minutes United cemented their lead, from yet another corner, this time from out on the left.
Luke Marris got the final touch in a goalmouth scramble.
Harworth almost got a goal back ten minutes later, when Jason Markell's goal bound header was beyond the reach of Lewis Brealey, but Bradley Beresford was on hand to head the ball away to safety.
Retford soaked up the visitors efforts for the remainder of the game, whilst always looking threatening when they broke themselves.
Harworth played very well and can take a lot of heart from this performance, but they came unstuck from three corner kicks, the first two of which left them with a big hill to climb.
Retford Under 19's side have a spine of quality players throughout their team ... and they were just that little bit too strong for their visitors tonight.
All three finishes, as we've come to expect from this Retford side, were clinical.
Elsewhere in Bassetlaw tonight, news was filtering through that Worksop Town were beating Bradford Park Avenue in a FA Trophy replay, which will invoke a few memories of a couple of runs in that competition the Tigers had before their time in exile away from their home turf, for quite a few people who were actually at Cannon Park tonight instead of Sandy Lane ... funny how things work out sometimes isn't it!?
As in funny peculiar, rather than funny ha, ha.
Good luck in the next round Worksop Town :-)
FOOTNOTE: A few weeks ago Harworth CI U19 secretary Simon Stones was very poorly, but thankfully he seems to have made a full recovery and looks as fit as a fiddle again ... albeit one that needs a bit of a polish and a retune.
So anybody who was going to step in to help Simon out with his job at HCIFC U19's (or three billion other jobs he does for the Scrooby Road club) won't be doing now.
I'm really glad to see you looking so well mate :-)
And for clarification purposes - besides being a Mansfield Town supporter, Rob Waite also attends football matches at a variety of other clubs as a non affiliated neutral (but sometimes very slightly biased) onlooker, but he has no official ties to any of them at this present time.

Saturday 22 October 2011

Mansfield Town 3 v Alfreton Town 2 - BSBP

Half time

Saturday 22nd October 2011, at Field Mill
Blue Square Bet Premier
Mansfield Town (0) 3
Matt Green 75 pen, Lindon Meikle 86, Andy Todd 90+2
Alfreton Town (2) 2
Aaron Brown 13, Paul Clayton 21
Admission £15, Programme £3
Attendance 2982
Full time

Alfreton were cruising at 2-0.
The Stags, who had squandered numerous chances, looked to be heading for a defeat, until the visitors had two players sent off in the second half.
The Derbyshire side have a shocking disciplinary record this season, their manager should be taking a serious look at that instead of blaming opposition players, match officials, Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all ... because with 11 players on the pitch, they would undoubtedly have won this game today.
The Nottinghamshire side ... hmm, will the real Mansfield Town please stand up, please stand up, please stand up!?
How can the same team that went away to table topping Wrexham and beat them hands down a few weeks ago, play as disjointed and unconvincingly as this at home, against a team struggling one place above the foot of the table?
The truth is out their somewhere.
A lucky win for Mansfield today, even their own manager conceded it was fluky in his post match interview.
Mansfield Town
1 Marriott,
3 Kendrick (Todd 62), 6 Riley, 16 O'Neill, 17 Sutton, 11 Murray, 14 Bolland, 9 Connor, 10 Green, 15 Dyer, 24 Meikle
Unused Subs - 23 Redmond, 22 Day, 4 Worthington, 21 Howell
Alfreton Town
21 Day,
2 Law (Jarman 32), 5 Young, 12 Franks, 25 Potter, 7 Brown, 8 Moult, 14 Hall, 19 Mullan (Hawes 63), 9 Clayton (Senior 66), 15 Wilson
Unused Subs - 17 Mackin, 22 Ellison
Sent Off - Wilson 48, Young 60, both for second yellow card offences

Bloody hell young 'un, your hands are massive!

Mansfield were lively from the off, but were wasteful in front of Alfreton's goal three times before the visitors went on the attack themselves.
Greg Young picked out Anthony Wilson with a long throw (this pair feature heavily as the story of this game unfolds) and the Reds number 15 flicked the ball on to Anton Brown who stunned the majority of the Field Mill crowd by heading home the opening goal from the edge of the six yard box.
He'd ghosted in completely unmarked and unchallenged.
The unmarked Anthony Wilson heads Alfreton in front on 13 minutes

Within 8 minutes Alfreton were two in front.
Jake Moult crossed the ball into the box from out on the left wing, it wasn't cleared or dealt with as it flew across the face of the goal ... Jamie Mullan had the time and space to knock the ball back across the goal line, where Paul Clayton had the simplest of tap ins to put the relegation threatened North Street side further ahead.
If they come up against defending like this on a regular basis they won't go down.
Sutton, Green and Dyer all had chances to half the deficit before half time, but the visitors were having none of it ... and the age old tradition of results going against the form book in local derbies, looked more and more like being continued as the game wore on.
Half time came, the visitors were still in the ascendancy ... and though they had created plenty of chances themselves, the Stags were still chasing the game.
Sloppiness in front of both goals was costing Mansfield dearly, but take nothing away from Alfreton, they deserved to be in front.
Play nice!

Early in the second half, Anthony Wilson led with his arm as he challenged Martin Riley ... it was a yellow card offence, not a red, but the referee had no option but to dismiss Wilson because he had already been booked earlier.
Alfreton's lack of discipline was ultimately going to cost them all three points in the long run.
As Wilson left the pitch, Greg Young talked himself into a booking for remonstrating with the ref.
Unbelievably, already carrying a yellow card, on the hour mark,Young then scythed down Lindon Meikle out on the right wing ... and as a consequence he didn't have far to walk to the players tunnel when the red card came out.
The Stags fans wave cheerio to Greg Young

Whatever Nicky Law, the Alfretom manager, might be saying about the referee in the aftermath of defeat, his own players lack of responsibility at crucial times turned the game.
Alfreton packed out the defence in a bid to preserve their lead.
There ensued a period of play where Mansfield threw everything at the visitors, but they were frantic in their efforts, rather than being patient and trying to press home their numerical advantage in a calm and measured way.
To be frank, the air kicks, skew-with shooting and panic measures the Stags resorted to for a short while, was embarrassing to watch.
Surely it was only a matter of time until Alfreton's defence was breached, with two extra platers attacking them, so why did the Stags players let the nerves creep in?
Paul Connor homed in on goal and was fouled by Adie Hawes ... ironically Hawes was a sub who had come on the shore up the visitors defence.
Matt Green made no mistake with the penalty ... and there was a tangible sigh of relief from the home fans that their team was back in it.
A flash of individual skill and composure from Lindon Meikle, with just four minutes remaining, saw the home side pull level.
It was a quality strike after Meikle had made himself a yard of space in the crowded Alfreton penalty area.
It looked as though Nicky Law's side were going to have to settle for a draw, after being in front for so long and in spite of their stubborn refusal to cave in under the numerical disadvantage.
It's a trick photograph, this one actually went wide.

But the visitors were undone, deep into injury time, when Andy Todd chased down an over hit cross from Matt Green and hit it low and hard back across the goal from the left by-line.
Joe Day, the keeper who is on a month's loan at Alfreton from Peterborough United, dropped down at the near post to block the cross cum shot and it hit is body and spun into the net.
Even though I wanted the Stags to win and I wouldn't ever be considered for the position of Nicky Law's fan club secretary (to say the very least), I couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy for Day and the 8 remaining players in red ... they had bust a gut to keep their team in the game and were now going home empty handed.
I still cheered anyway and made two fingered gestures at Law himself, of course ;-)
At the final whistle, the fans in our end applauded the nine men of Alfreton off the pitch as well as their own team for their comeback ... but the Stags had made bloody hard work of it, especially when you consider the visitors had just played out the final thirty minutes, plus four minutes stoppage time with two players missing.
I'll leave the final words to Paul Cox, the Stags manager, quoted verbatim from the post match interview I heard in the car on the way back home.

"We fluked a win.
Did we get away with it?
Definitely!
Did Alfreton deserve to lose?
No!"

NEXT UP: GOLDBLADE, plus support bands, tonight at York 'Fibbers', doors open 7.30pm, new material being showcased.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Staveley Miners Welfare 3 v Frickley Athletic 3 - Friendly

This way for free football ... roll up!
Wednesday 19th October 2011, at Inkersall Road
Friendly

Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 3
Jordan Eagers 16, Simon Barraclough 67, Andrew Fox 89
Frickley Athletic (2) 3
Ollie Ryan 13, 53, Jack Watts 41

Admission FREE, Attendance 35
Tonight, I was going to the Harworth Colliery Instute Under 19's League Cup tie against Dinnington Town at Scrooby Road, but that was called off, because of a problem with the electrics at Harworth.
This is due to somebody breaking into the HCIFC sub station and causing damage to the mains supply.
Well, he's earned himself a free ride in an ambulance and a stay in hospital for his troubles.
And that is before he's dealt with in court.
In these politically correct times, I'd probably get a slap on the wrists from the National Assembly for Do Goodery for saying things like 'tough shit you got what you deserved' and 'what kind of imbecile messes about with high voltage equipment without getting it isolated first?'
So I won't.
But that doesn't mean I'm not thinking it.
Lets cross our fingers that the victim of this crime makes a full recovery soon ... as in, I hope Harworth's power supply is fully restored ASAP, so they don't have to postpone any more first team or Under 19's matches ... and their reserves don't have to change by torchlight again. Hopefully they're not losing any revenue in the bar either.
As for the culprit ... he is reaping what he's sown and that is none of my concern or business, so I shall keep counsel on the matter.
Wow! Staveley MW even have their own wheelie bins, very posh!

A plan B presented itself in the shape of friendly fixture, arranged at short notice (hence the low attendance), between two sides I watch on a regular basis anyway, Staveley MW and Frickley Athletic.
The game provided both sides with an opportunity to give a few players a run out, for a variety of reasons.
Frickley's Ollie Ryan, in particular, needed a good 90 minutes under his belt... and he will be pleased with tonight's workout, which saw him involved in the majority of Frickley's attacking moves, whilst claiming two goals for himself.
Staveley are a hard side to beat and to their credit, even at 3-1 down and chasing the game, they refused to play it long ... keeping the ball on the deck and not giving up the fight saw them claw their way back into the game and they equalised in the very last minute with a goal from Andrew Fox.On 13 minutes Ollie Ryan scored his first ever goal for Frickley.
Ryan joined the club from Northwich Victoria in June, but injury problems have delayed his availability for first team selection thus far.
Peter Rinkcavage must be delighted with the shift Ryan put in tonight, against NCEL promotion contenders Staveley.
Three minutes after the visitors took the lead, Jordan Eagers fired home the equaliser for Staveley from the edge of the box.
Although this was only a friendly, the north Derbyshire club never go out on the field of play just to make up the numbers.
The game was played in the right spirit, with plenty of open passing play from both sides.
Jack Watts hit the Staveley upright on 22 minutes and Ryan Mallon hit the crossbar on 25.
After a mix up in the six yard box, Jack Watts squeezed the ball home to put the visitors in front just before half time.
On 53 minutes Ollie Ryan struck again, probably putting himself in contention for a game on Saturday against FC United of Manchester in the FA Trophy.
And four minutes later he turned provider for Jack Watts, but the young striker had wandered offside just before he struck and his strike was ruled out.
Watts then hit the ball narrowly wide of Staveley's left hand post and Mallon followed suit a few minutes later.
Staveley hit the underside of the bar when they attacked on 67 minutes, as the ball bounced on the line and Adam Billard and his defence tried scrambling the ball away, Simon Barraclough pounced to fire the loose ball home.
Ollie Ryan almost claimed his hat trick, but he headed narrowly wide on 70 minutes.
Then the same player rolled the ball into the path of Karl Jones, but Staveley restricted the Frickley number 7 to along range shot and his effort went over the bar.
Frickley's centre half, Michael Simpkins, took a hefty knock late in the game, but he was able to get up and carry on, despite needing an ice pack after the game.
Simpkins is another player who needed a workout tonight.
He was certainly kept busy as Staveley went looking for an equaliser late on.
Frickley had played a load of neat passing stuff and looked strong in the second half, despite the score line suggesting they were better in the first.
But Staveley don't accept defeat without a fight and for the last ten minutes they were really pushing forward to try levelling the score.
Apparently, there is no such thing as a non competitive game at Inkersall Road.
In the dying seconds Staveley rattled the crossbar again and Andrew Fox scored an exact replica of Simon Barraclough's earlier strike.
There wasn't time for any more goalmouth action and an entertaining and open game finished three apiece, with handshakes and smiles all round.
Though I would've happily paid to get in, the free admission absorbed some of the outlay from the previous night's excesses, as my partner in crime - a lady I'm going to have to go public about if we attend many more games together - accompanied me to both Sincil Bank and Inkersall Road.
Before she gets an official stalker status however, I'm buggering off elsewhere without her on Saturday. Commitment is one thing, however ... letting my love life interfere with my football travels is completely unacceptable, even though we've been together a 'couple' of years now (it seems MUCH longer, probably even more so for her) and there a big anniversary celebration on the nearby horizon.
There's plenty of time for more football before then though!
NEXT UP - Spoilt for choice, there are loads of tempting options this coming weekend, though I most likely won't be going too far, because I'm going to a gig in York on Saturday night and need to be back in time to get there quite early.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Lincoln City 1 v Mansfield Town 1 - BSBP

... and a great Stag too!
I hadn't charged my camera batteries tonight ... a Mr Forgetful moment!
So my picture of this tribute to the late, great Keith Alexander didn't take :-(
Many thanks to Dan Westwell for letting me use his photograph, cheers mate!


Tuesday 18th August 2011 at Sincil Bank
Blue Square Bet Premier
Lincoln City (0) 1 Gavin McCallum 76
Mansfield Town (0) 1 Matt Green 86
Admission £18, Programme £2.50
Attendance 2,944 (inc. 981 Stags fans)

At the weekend I visited the posh and respectable end of the county of Lincolnshire, where the locals are perfectly normal and well versed in the protocol of social etiquette.
But tonight we ventured slightly further into the red-neck quarter of yellow-belly land ... so I packed my guitar just in case the young local musical talent fancied a 'duel'.

Alas, I didn't see 'Banjo Boy' tonight ... apparently he was out hunting possum with his 'maw n' paw' in a woodland copse near Cherry Willingham.
But Adam, a guinea pig 'fancier' and author of the 'The mind of an Imp' blog was there, sat with his Retford Imps posse and several hundred empty pink seats in the Stacey West Stand.
His blog is always worth a read ... and his dance steps in the above video (wearing his lucky hat) demonstrate that the lessons he's been having were well worthwhile.
Lincoln City
1 Anyon, 3 Nutter, 4 Watts, 13 Sinclair, 16 Nelsony, 8 Power, 10 Fuseini (Christophe 53), 17 Nicolau, 25 Cunningham (Thomas 85), 30 McCallum, 14 Smith (Perry 83)
Unused Subs - 21 Draper, 6 Hone

Mansfield Town
1 Marriott,
3 Kendrick, 6 Riley, 16 O'Neill, 17 Sutton, 11 Murray, 14 Bolland, 9 Connor, 10 Green, 15 Dyer (Briscoe 78), 24 Meikle (Todd 90+2)
Unused Subs -
23 Redmond, 22 Day, 4 Worthington

Though it is only 35 miles or so between Mansfield and Lincoln, the fact that 981 Stags fans (plus the ones who sneaked into the home seats to avoid the queues) were willing to make the journey on a miserable midweek night, even though their side have only scraped one win in their last three games, shows the kind of potential Mansfield Town still have, despite them being a non league side these days.
I'd only expected half of that number to travel over ... and the majority of them weren't just here to enjoy Lincoln's great selection of pubs or to get involved in the minor skirmish that took place before the game outside the ground either.
At £18 a head, that's one hell of a following ... though there are a few reservations being expressed about certain non football related incidents, that have happened at the club over the last week or so, you can't fault their support, or the efforts of Paul Cox and his team tonight.
The first half was a bit scrappy, but Mansfield just about shaded it possession wise, although Lincoln did make one or two dangerous runs into the box that went worrying unchallenged.
Lindon Meikle came closest to breaking the deadlock for the Stags when his in-swinging long shot beat Joe Anyon and the City defence but crashed against the upright.
The Imps are sitting near the wrong end of the table at present and finding the adjustment on their return to non league football more difficult to deal with, than most people thought they would.
Currently manager-less (and by all accounts penniless), Lincoln City will have been happy with a point tonight as they bid to claw their way up the table to a position of safety.
The Stags are toughing it out in between mid table and the play off places after dropping six points from two of their last three home games.
Tonight's performance shows they are trying to address that blip in form and check their recent mini decline though.
The chasing pack aren't too far ahead to start panicking just yet ... and the support they took to Sincil Bank, shows that the Stags faithful are putting their trust in Paul Cox, after initially being split over whether he was the right man to get the manager's job.
Lincoln's keeper Joe Anyon earned his man of the match award in the second half.
Not only did he pull of a couple of quite outstanding saves, he also set up the Imps goal, that had all the hallmarks of a John Beck era Lincoln City goal about it.
Anyon ventured from his goal area to clear the ball upfield from out near the touchline, to avoid a throw in as much as anything.
But his wind assisted long punt towards Alan Marriott's goal was misjudged by the Stags centre half Martin Riley, which let Gavin McAllum nip in to put the home side ahead.
On the balance of play, Lincoln were lucky to be in front, but all the statistics and percentages in the world count for nothing when offset against goals scored, so it was time for Mansfield to get their sleeves rolled up and try salvaging something from a game they should've been winning by now.
With just four minutes to go Paul Connor unselfishly opted to play the ball across the face of the goal instead of shooting, Matt Green slid in and the Stags finally had the ball in the net
"JOE ANYON ... City stopper goes under the spotlight"
He did tonight and emerged with flying colours.

Lindon Meikle almost forced the issue in stoppage time but his effort flew over the bar and both sides had to be content with a point apiece.

NEXT UP - Staveley MW v Frickley Athletic (friendly) at Inkersall Road tomorrow night.