Harworth Colliery 6 v Welbeck 1 - CMFL North

Saturday 30th November 2013
at the Recreation Ground, Bircotes, DN11 8JT
Harworth Colliery (3) 6
Ollie Chappell 17, 58
Sam West 32, 45, 75
Jordan Hardman 77
Welbeck FC (0) 1
Jordan Collier 57
Admission £3, Programme £1, Attendance 26
Harworth Colliery:
Mark Latham, Jordan Hardman, Jonny Bownes, James Woodward (C), Martyn Gee, Gaz Sides (Lewis Francis 72) , Greg Archer, Ollie Chappell, Dean Bonser, Tom Walker (Makenzie Tomlinson 58), Sam West
Welbeck FC:
Darren Milnes, Paul Wass, Mark Robinson, David Cooper, Chris Snowball, Alistair Jones (C), Jordan Collier, Craig Taylor, Julian Stevens, Steffan Frost, Mark Staniforth
Subs - David Lambert, Ashley Siddall

I've got nothing but respect and admiration for the players of Welbeck FC, for the way they turn out each and every week, regardless of the fact that they already virtually know, before a ball as even been kicked, that they are probably onto yet another hiding to nothing.
It is hard not to feel sorry for them, though and I'm damn sure that is the last thing they would want anyway, but though their points won and goals conceded columns make for even more frightening viewing than that first time I ever saw that evil child catcher out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on TV, yes ... *that* scarey (sorry if I just rekindled anyone's childhood nightmares), they've got many attributes that a lot of the more successful sides are sadly lacking, even at grassroots level in non league football.
Namely: a one for all and all for one team spirit, a work ethic that deserves far more reward than its ever going to get this season and a dignified sense of sportsmanship and perspective as regards humility.

Having witnessed many other teams just buggering off home after a heavy defeat over the years, or even leaving straight after a win, because they consider themselves to be too high and mighty to be mixing with lesser mortals ... it was good to see the Pitmen hanging around after the final whistle.
In fact Welbeck probably stayed in the Pavilion Bar at Harworth Colliery, for longer than any other team has done all season and a lot of other clubs could learn a lot from their conduct and handshakes and good humour in the face of yet another going over.
I'm not entirely sure where they keep mustering up the enthusiasm and motivation from, to keep getting off the canvas and busting a gut until the final whistle week in and week out, in the face of such a poor return for their efforts, but it must be some kind of awesome strength camaraderie that pushes them on.
I couldn't ever be thick skinned enough to take that kind of beating on the chin every weekend, without becoming a blubbering wreck and throwing the towel in.
Welbeck aren't quitters, in spite of all the knock backs they suffered this term, to coin a phrase ... they don't do running away.

By way of a massive coincidence, Welbeck got turned over by exactly the same scoreline as their reserves had at Harworth a few weeks ago see pictures here and under exactly the same circumstances, i.e. 3-0 to the home side at half time, then Welbeck pulled one back before the Colliery went on to win 6-1.
That afternoon Tony Garner bagged a hat trick, today it was Sam West's turn to have a claim on the match ball.
Harworth started the game at a frantic pace and it almost seemed to be playing on the Colliery players minds that they were supposed to win today's game, given that they kicked off some 33 points above their visitors, with a plus 30 goal difference against Welbeck's minus 73.
They were virtually camped in the Pitmen's final third of the pitch, but a lot of their play was hurried and rushed until they eventually settled down, against a backdrop of  "Patience!", "Slow it down!" and "Relax!" cries from the home dugout.
Gaz Sides was putting in a lot of work to good effect on the left hand side of the pitch, Sam West and Ollie Chappell are developing a good understanding, Jordan Hardman was relishing getting forward down the right flank and Greg Archer was busying himself running around the centre circle, playing the role of link man all afternoon.

Ollie Cappell broke the deadlock on 17 minutes with Harworth's 50th league goal of the season,
James Woodward's searching ball into the box, found Gaz Sides who's knock across the goalmouth was just begging to be finished off ... Chappell's first attempt was blocked but the ball ricocheted back to him and he knocked the ball home from close range, as the home side started to get into their stride and shake off any pressure to perform jitters they had displayed early in the game.
Gaz Sides came close to increasing Harworth's lead shortly afterwards, but he put the ball narrowly wide after get onto the end of a Tom Walker free kick.
Sides had a really good game until he was substituted late on, to give young Lewis Francis an opportunity to use his fresh legs to run at Welbeck's defence, which he did well, for the short time he was actually on the pitch.
Sam West bagged the Colliery's second goal on 32 minutes, when Ollie Chappell planted a neat lob over his headed for the diminutive front man to run on too. Westy nodded the ball down, outstripped his marker for pace and buried the ball past Darren Milnes.
Jonny Bownes sent Chappell away with a neatly weighted pass, he in turn played the ball into the path of West who forced a great save out of Milnes.
Right on the stroke of half time, Chappell and West both sprinted towards the goal in pursuit of the ball, that was just waiting to be thumped into the net, West narrowly got there first and took the chance of off Ollie's toe to put the home side 3-0 up.
HT 3-0

Harworth came out after the break looking to turn the screw, but Welbeck shut up shop for a while..
Dean Bonser and Ollie Chappell worked the ball into the visitors area, but Welbeck stood strong and got the ball away.
With almost an hour on the clock, Harworth were letting Welbeck come at them so they could exploit the gaps left at the back, when Jordan Collier suddenly showed a burst of pace, stormed into the Colliery penalty area through the left back channel and thumped the ball into the net.
Welbeck were back in it now ... for all of 50 seconds ... before Sam West played Ollie Chappell through at the other end and he cooly restored the home sides three goal cushion.
Second half substitute Kenzie Tomlinson, who'd replaced a below par Tom Walker on 58 minutes was terrorising Welbeck with his pace, he whipped in a cross to Dean Bonser, but once again Milnes kept the score down with an instinctive save.
Tomlinson repeated the trick and put Bonser clear again, but he turned awkwardly and lashed the ball wide of the left hand post ... in fact, he almost hit the corner flag. But hey ho! The game was a foregone conclusion by then anyway.
Jordan Hardman sent Kenzie away down the right with a delicate pass, Kenzie's cross found West 12 yards out Westy capped off a great performance by completing his hat trick from 12 yards out on 75 minutes.
Welbeck had scrapped for every ball and began to look a bit demoralised now and the prolific goalscorer Jordan Hardman took advantage of a gap in the visitors ranks and spanked a lay off from Sam West into the back of net.
6-1 to the Colliery.

Jordan's getting used to this attacking malarkey now and he tried his luck again from long range inside the final two minutes and Harworth's other goal scoring defender Martyn Gee was joining in with the attack too as the game drew to a close.
It hadn't been very pretty at times. In fact, there had been several fairly scrappy spells during the game, when the visitors could've got back it.
But Harworth won it the hard way in the end, by a convincing scoreline and Welbeck ended up with nothing to show for all of their resilience and tenacity .
The Colliery had to scrap for this result, but a combination of their graft and quality saw them through in the end.
It'll be interesting to see the match ratings from today, because I thought that there were at least four stand out performances amongst the Harworth ranks and it must also be said that Welbeck had a couple of lads who put that bit extra in beyond the call of duty for their cause too.
Credit where it is due also to the match officials, Ken Hughes, Paul Dexter and Paul Kilbourne, who played a big part in keeping the game flowing with their common sense approach. I can't remember the last time I saw no yellow cards at all shown in a competitive match. It made for a refreshing change.
FT - Harworth Colliery 6 v Welbeck FC 1

THE66POW man of the match: Sam West, who, not for the first time today, nicked the accolade from Ollie Chappell.

Handsworth 3 v Staveley Miners Welfare 1 - NMU19L Div 1

Thursday 28th November 2013
North Midland U19 League Division 1
Handsworth (1) 3
Ollie Grady 7, 83
James Dawes 72
Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 1
Ross Goodwin 19
Admission £2, programme £1 (one sheet of A4 folded paper)
Details to follow Monday night

Photo courtesy of Mark Hartley (AKA the Hallam Skinhead)

Staveley Miners Welfare 8 v Liversedge 2 - NCEL Prem

Wednesday 27th November 2013
at Inkersall Road, Steveley, S43 3JL
NCEL Premier Division
Staveley Miners Welfare (3) 8
Michael Trench 8
Reece Littlejohn 25, 36, 82
Ryan Damms 50, 61
Jake Vernon 68, 84
Liversedge (1) 2
Matt Thompson 9
Sam Talbot 59
Admission £5, Programme £1, Attendance 120

Left click image to enlarge

 Match details to follow ASAP

Blidworth Welfare 0 v Southwell City 4 - CMFL South

Saturday 23rd November 2013
At the Welfare Ground, Mansfield Road, Blidworth
CMFL South
Blidworth Welfare (0) 0
Southwell City (2) 4
Lyam Webster 25, 48, 85 (pen)
Theo Waites 43
Admission £3, Programme £1, Attendance 40 or so
More details from today's game here --> On the Road 2013-14

Match details to follow ASAP

Sheffield FC 1 v Staveley Miners Welfare 3 - Sheff & Hallam Cup

Wednesday 20th November 2013

At 'the Home of Football', Sheffield FC Stadium
Coach & Horses Ground, Dronfield
Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup 3rd Round
Sheffield FC (0) 1
Andy Gascoine 57
Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 3
Jame Smith 41
Matt Thorpe 69
Josh Scully 76
Admission £7, Programme £2, Attendance 79

Sheffield FC
Poulter, Turner, Algar, Burrell (C) (Al-Hakam), Whitehorne, Stirrup, Roney, Gascoigne, Powell (Thomas), Fereday (Purkiss), Woolley
Staveley Miners Welfare
Dewberry, Hague, Austin, Smith (C), Dickman, Colliver, Lindley, Scully (Wafula), Vernon (Damms), Thorpe (Finlaw), Trench.
Unused sub - Butt

On a cold, wet, windy night, when we were 'treated' to the first snowfall of the Winter in chilly Dronfield, Staveley extended their unbeaten run to five games in all competitions, with a thoroughly deserved derby win, over friendly local rivals Sheffield FC, of the Evostik NPL South.
The Welfare will now travel to Worksop on Tuesday 10th December, where they'll face Parramore FC in the Quarter Final of the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup.
Those who didn't brave the elements to watch this pulsating cup tie, will probably think of the 1-3 final scoreline as being something of a surprise, but I have no doubt that each and every one the 79 hardy souls who did turn out, would testify that the best team on the night won fair and square and were worthy winners over the 90 minutes of slog, hard work and guile. A fact that the home side generously acknowledged straight after the game, much to their immense credit.
Sheffield had their moments, but it was the visitors who adapted best to the ever worsening underfoot conditions and found the extra impetus required to keep the momentum going, to conquer both their illustrious opponents and the awful weather conditions.
Staveley were lively from the outset, but 'Club' started to make a few inroads deep into the visitors ranks through Matt Roney and Vill Powell.
Josh Scully, played Michael Trench in on goal, but the home side's defence closed ranks and saw the ball away from danger.

Spot the ball (Josh Scully has it)

Warren Burrell lofted a pass towards the back stick, but Mark Fereday put the ball wide of the post from less than a yard out.
Andy Gascoine came close to breaking the deadlock but his 20 yard free kick was turned away by Martin Dewberry.
Sheffield's apparent urgency to get to grips with the game, spurred Staveley to go on the offensive and Jake Vernon tested Rob Poulter from 18 yards out, but his shot flew narrowly wide of the mark. Moments later, Vernon combined well with Josh Scully, but the Welfare number 8 couldn't keeper his shot down and put the ball over the bar.
Richard Stirrup had his attempt on goal blocked by Dewberry and Staveley broke from end to end and almost went ahead when Trench intercepted an attempted header back to Poulter by Ben Turner, rounded the keeper and was unlucky to see his goalbound knock cleared via a last ditch interception by Joe Whitehorne.
With half time rapidly approaching, the ball fell to Jamie Smith 25 yards from goal and with both his running and passing options rendered inert by the mud, he unleashed an unstoppable curling shot past Poulter instead.
Vill Powell was just inches away from equalising right on half time after Pat Lindley had done just enough to force Fereday into rushing his cross instead of allowing him to put the ball on a plate for his player coach.
HT 0-1

Spot the scoreboard 1-3

Staveley knew one goal wouldn't be enough and they came out all guns blazing after the break.
Two corners in quick succession and a Nicky Hague cross in from the right came to nothing.
Matty Thorpe played a telling cross into the path of Michael Trench, but he struggled to reach it as both goalmouths became quagmires and Sheffield were relieved to clear their lines.
Scully came close to doubling the visitors lead, but Poulter tipped his shot from 12 yards round the upright.
Jamie Smith tried to deceive Poulter with a low shot from outside the box, but the ball came to an abrupt halt in the mud in front of the homes sides keeper.
As so often happens when a team has had a glut of unconverted chances at one end, Sheffield went on the attack and amidst an almighty scramble in the visitors box, Andy Gascoine equalised at the second attempt after his initial shot had hit a team mate and rebounded back to him.
Matt Roney's slipping and sliding solo run, as cut out by Dewberry and the ball was cleared upfield as far as Thorpe out on the right flank of Sheffield's final third, he battled forward dragging the ball along through the mud and delicately, but deliberately lifted the ball over Poulter and into the back of the net, to regain the visitors lead.

Ryan Damms was thwarted from 12 yards out, when his shot landed in front of Poulter and stopped dead, in the ever growing puddle that was forming in Sheffield's six yard box.
And shortly afterwards Scully was unlucky when he ran on to James Colliver's through ball, but struggled to keep his footing and put the ball wide.
But Scully's luck was in shortly afterwards, when he took advantage of a defensive slip after Damms played him in on goal, muscled past Turner and drilled the ball beneath Poulter as he at full stretch to block the angle.
With 14 minutes to go, sitting on a two goal cushion, a resilient Staveley now stood strong, diffusing anything resembling a threat from Sheffield with a dogged determination across the middle of the park.
Matt Roney did find his way through once, but his shot cannoned back off the upright.
Inside the last five minutes, with the home side now looking beaten and ready to get out of the snowy blizzard that was developing and back into the warmth of their dressing room, Colliver once again played a well weighted through ball in for Scully, but his miscued his shot narrowly wide.
Not to worry, he'd already struck the hammer blow that finished Sheffield off with the Welfare's third goal.
An absorbing and entertaining cup tie came to an end, in a nick of time while the players could still get off of the swamp of a pitch and the spoils were all Staveley's.
FT - Sheffield FC 1 v Staveley Miners Welfare 3

England 0 v Germany 1 - International Match

Tuesday 19th November 2013, at Wembley Stadium

International Match
England (0) 0
Germany (1) 1
Per Mertesacker 39
Attendance 85,934
Left click pictures to enlarge

England
Hart, Cole (Gibbs 53), Jagielka, Walker, Smalling, Gerrard (Henderson 56), Lallana (Lambert 76), Cleverley (Wilshire 64), Townsend, Rooney (Barkley 71), Sturridge
Unused subs - Johnson, Ruddy, Baines, Cahill, Milner, Lampard, Forster, Defoe, Rodriguez
Germany
Weidenfeller, Mertesacker, Westermann (Draxier 67), Schmelzer (Jansen 45), Boateng (Hummels 45) Sub subbed (Höwedes - 65'), Kroos, S.Bender, L.Bender, Reus (Schürrle 82), Gotze, Kruse (Sam 56)
Unused subs -  Adler, Müller

A 'fitting finale' to the final friendly celebrating the Football Association's 150th anniversary ... apparently.
In the aftermath of a defeat that saw England suffer two consecutive losses at Wembley for the first time since 1977, Roy Hodgson said:
"There's certainly no question of panic If anything I'm much wiser, with regard to the players I've got at my disposition and what we need to work on going into a tournament."
"I'm not prepared to accept that two friendly defeats in which I have used a lot of players in two tough games is going to take the shine off what has been a very good year."
"It has been a great year for the Football Association on their 150th anniversary and it's been a great year for me because we have qualified for the World Cup.
"We have achieved our goal and we have a lot to look forward to. I am looking forward very much to 2014."
But he stopped short of saying "Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring!"

Joking aside, Hodgson is right of course (except perhaps he should've used the word disposal instead of disposition) ... and even though there will be another onslaught of overnight vicious anti England team rhetoric and sentiment spread across social media channels and the back pages of tomorrow mornings newspapers. I'd urge people to get hold, albeit with a tenuous grip, of the meaning of the word perspective, before taking certain elements of the press corp too seriously.
Germany were slated in many circles, for fielding an experimental line up for this practice match and were even accused of being disrespectful for doing so.
Why?

Germans

England have chopped and changed over the course of the last two games an put several 'trialists' through their paces, so what is so wrong about Germany doing exactly the same?
I for one had travelled to the capital to support England, not to swoon over opposition players of the calibre of Mesut Ozil and besides, you can hardly say Germany's 'reserves' were hardly lacking in quality.
However while people are all too eager to look for an angle to have a good old moan about and it sells newspapers, the lets make mountains out of molehills editorial department, will never have to go without a living wage.
And lets face facts here, rubbishing the England team and 'Kraut bashing' have kept many a lazy so called sports journalist in a job over the years now.

At least the middle aged loudmouth, sat a couple of rows behind me, in a plastic St. George's flag bowler hat, emblazoned with the name of his favourite red top newspaper, who shouted out to nobody in particular: "Hey look boys, he's coming off, do the Luftwaffe use U-Boats instead of subs?", will find plenty to amuse himself with in the early editions.
I can only assume he doesn't have a masters degree in wartime history.
The most pleasing aspect of the game for me, was the way that Joe Hart defied his critics and put in a man of the match performance, against a backdrop of a orchestrated campaign against him, which has seen him pushed under the spotlight as the whipping boy, who is allegedly responsible for all that is currently wrong with the national game.
One post match internet report, claimed that there were ironic mocking cheers around the stadium after Hart pulled off his first save of the night.
That's crap!

The 'England's number one' chant was neither ironic or mocking, it was both heartfelt and genuine.
The media and pub bores will just have to find themselves another victim, because eighty five and a half thousand England fans blew the Joe Hart unpopularity myth out of the water tonight.
Mind you, the same media source that made those claims, also said that England haven't beaten Germany since 1977, so they're not exactly gaining a growing reputation for accurate and factual reportage.

Though Hart played well, there were some glaring shortcomings in England's attacking play at times.

Though I would hasten to add that Wayne Rooney gave his all, just as he had against Chile, but though he can lead the line well, he can't take opposition sides on single handed. 

The much heralded Daniel Sturridge didn't exactly pull any trees up tonight, though it would be wrong to single out any individual player for criticism from what was in truth a fairly lacklustre team performance all round.

Steven Gerrard saw his effort skim narrowly over the crossbar and the ever lively Andros Townsend thumped a crashing shot against the upright, but other than that, the grim statistic that England didn't actually register a single effort on target all night, pretty much sums up, what sort of a night this was.

As I've said previously, the results in warm up practice games don't count for anything, so I'll try not to be too despondent about England's loss tonight, but even though the passing and movement in the first half tonight, was a vast improvement on the pedestrian paced performance against Chile; once Germany went ahead and in particular once the multiple second half substitutions began, breaking up whatever limited sort of  rhythm the game still had, as a spectacle this disjointed encounter wasn't very good.
Optimistically, one can only hope that Roy Hodgson is tethering performances in these World Cup preparation games so that the team will peak at precisely the right time. But I'm not going to hold my breath in anticipation.
Realistically it is fairly obvious to me that getting through the group stages in Brazil will be an achievement in itself and anything more than that will be an unexpected bonus.
But I won't mind too much if I'm proved wrong.
Onwards and upwards, eh!?

Click here for --> England v Germany report from the BBC Sport website

Phoenix FC 0 v Harworth Colliery 5 - CMFL North

Saturday 16th November 2013
CMFL North
Phoenix FC (0) 0
Harworth Colliery (1) 5
Lee Edmondson 13
Tom Walker 53
Greg Archer 63
Jordan Hardman 77
Gaz Sides 86
Admission £3, Programme £1
Raffle winner Brenda Latham.
Winning ticket drawn by Brenda Latham :-O

Phoenix FC
Matt Smith, Kieron Gallagher, James Cregan, Chris Lund (C), Andy Garlick, Joe Bland, Tom Colclough, James Lawton, Rob Gorman, Steven McDonnell, Sam Hadfield
Subs - James Davies, Scott McKenna, Stevie Spence, Suhail Hussain, Aaron Cross
Harworth Colliery
Mark Latham, Jordan Hardman, Paul Burns, Jonny Bownes, Martyn Gee (C), Gaz Sides, Greg Archer, Ollie Chappell, Dean Bonser, Tom Walker, Lee Edmondson (Makenzie Tomlinson)
Unused Subs - Sam West, James Woodward

Since their opening day defeat by seven goals to one at Harworth (I had to mention it), Phoenix have been chalking up a few decent results along the way and this afternoon they kicked off in 4th place in the CMFL North, three points and one place below the Colliery, but with a game in hand.
Following a tentative opening spell, where it was evident that the home side wanted some kind of redress for their visit to Scrooby Road in August, the visitors took the lead on 13 minutes.
Greg Archer played a slightly fortuitous one-two off of the home sides captain Chris Lund, who was grounded at the time and knocked the ball wide to Jordan Hardman, Harworth's right back quickly played the ball inside to Ollie Chappell who planted a slide rule pass into the path of Lee Edmondson, who knocked the ball past Matt Smith from 8 yards out.
Harworth were soon on the front foot again and once more it was Hardman, Edmondson and Chappell who were involved, when Jordan's searching cross was laid back by 'Eddy' to Ollie, who was clattered by Andy Garlick as he lined up to shoot.
Garlick received a booking for the offence and as a consequence became the only player to get his name in the referee's notebook all afternoon, as the match officials: Jamie O'Connor, Paul Beswick and Dennis Ashman, kept a lively and competitive game flowing, in a refreshingly proactive way.

Tom Walker buried the free kick into the back of the net ... alas it was Parkgate FC's net! At least that is roughly the direction that the ball was travelling in as it cleared the silver birch lined coppice that acts as a windbreak at the bottom end of the Phoenix pitch.
Gaz Sides went to ground under a challenge from Joe Bland out wide on the left flank. But Matt Smith took the ball off Chappell's head just in the nick of time.
Before the break, Phoenix were pushing for an equaliser and Kieron Gallagher knocked a free kick across the field to James Cregan and he let rip with a low shot from 25 yards. Mark Latham, who must have seen the ball late because of the Colliery's defensive wall, was across like a flash to turn the ball away and preserve his side's lead.
Right on the stroke of half time, Steve McDonnell played Sam Hadfield in on goal, but Jonny Bownes was on hand to clear the ball away at the expense of a corner.
Bownes put in a great shift today, given that his central defensive partner and captain Martyn Gee was only playing through the pain barrier out of necessity, due to a player shortage and he should really have been resting. A great effort from Geebo who took one for the team today, that he'll no doubt be feeling throughout the next week.
Both unused subs today were only actually there to give Phoenix the impression that Harworth had a full compliment of players available, both Sam West and James Woodward are actually injured at the moment.
HT - Phoenix FC 0 v Harworth Colliery 1
Just about the right score going in as the visitors had shaded the first half, in my humble and almost unbiased opinion.

If Harworth had just about merited their lead at the break, there was no denying who was the better side after the interval, when the Colliery hit Phoenix like a platoon of shock troops of an unexpected invasion.
Ironically, they had played pretty much the same tactics in the first half v Westella Hanson in the week, with no reward for their efforts, today they were unstoppable. That's football for you.
Chappell dispossessed Smith on the left hand side of the penalty area and dropped the ball over the keeper towards the Phoenix goal, but Joe Bland raced back and cleared the ball from under the bar.
Gaz Sides broke into the box from the left flank but his shot went just wide of the right hand upright.
Sensing that Harworth were getting the upper hand, Phoenix mounted an attack down through the left channel, but Tom Colclough was thwarted by a classy and timely interception from Greg Archer, who set up and end to end attacking move and sprint forward from Tom Walker who rounded Smith and kept the ball on target this time. Two-nil to Harworth.
With a two goal cushion, the Colliery could relax a bit now and invite Phoenix to bring the game to them, leaving gaps at the back to exploit.
This allowed Gaz Sides the space to run into and time to unleash a shot, that hit the last defender on the shoulder and deflected wide for a corner.

Walker swung a dangerous looking left wing flag kick right into the heart of the Phoenix defence and Archer was on hand to put the ball past Smith and increase Harworth's lead on 63 minutes.

Lee Edmondson came very close to increasing his sides lead even further from a Paul Burns cross as Harworth threatened to run riot.

However, Phoenix still have their game in hand and their goal difference to think about, so in spite staring defeat in the face now, they battled their way back into Harworth's final third. James Lawton broke free and homed in on goal, but Mark Latham was off his line quickly and went down bravely at the Phoenix players feet to gather the ball.

Phoenix came back again, but as Rob Gorman lined up his shot, Jonny Bownes arrived to block the angle and the home sides number 9 put the ball wide of the target.

At the heart of all of Harworth's play and distribution in Phoenix's half was Dean Bonser, battling for every ball and spraying passes around. His unselfish performance and unrelenting effort made him the man of the match in my eyes. A real team player who was the engine room of Harworth's victory today in my humble estimation.

Not content with claiming the highest off the mark shot of the game in the first half, Walker was on the phone to the Guinness Book of the Records again on 72 minutes, to record the widest miss too, as he nearly hit the corner flag with just the keeper to beat.

Phoenix were defending deep, trying to keep Harworth at bay now ... and as the visitors pondered how to play their way through the packed goal area to cement their lead, the ball came to Jordan Hardman who didn't need a second invitation to try out his new party piece, as he drilled a thumping shot home from 25 yards out.

Kenzie Tomlinson's pace almost saw him in on goal twice in the closing stages, but Smith, anxious to avoid a rout, was quickly off of his line to thwart Harworth's local teen idol both times.

Inside the final five minutes, Gaz Sides broke into the left hand side of the Phoenix box, the defence who were expecting a cross to either Kenzie or Walker, stood off for a vital couple of seconds and with a burst of pace, Sides took advantage and claimed a goal for himself, before running off to celebrate with the corner flag.

In stoppage time, Paul Burns pumped a left wing free kick into the Phoenix goalmouth, but Smith held onto it as the final whistle sounded.

A good first half from Harworth, followed a great second half.

Although certain other teams still have games in hand, which in all likelihood they'll probably pick up points from, today's win, coupled with Sherwood Colliery's impressive 4-3 victory at Westella Hanson, means that, for now at least, Harworth Colliery are currently at the top of the CMFL North table.

FT - Phoenix FC 0 v Harworth Colliery 5

England 0 v Chile 1 - International Match

Friday 15th November 2013, at Wembley Stadium
International Match
England (0) 0
Chile (1) 2
Alexis Sanchez 7, 90+
Attendance 62, 953

England:
1 Forster, 2 Johnson, 3 Baines, 4 Milner (21 Defoe - 66' ), 5 Cahill, 6 Jones (12 Smalling - 57'), 7 Wilshere (18 Cleverley - 71' ),
8 Lampard (19 Henderson - 71' ), 9 Lallana (17 Barkley - 77' ),
10 Rooney, 11 Rodriguez (20 Townsend - 57' )
Unused Subs:
13 Ruddy, 14 Cole, 15 Gibbs, 16 Jagielka, 22 Hart
Chile:
1 Bravo, 2 Mena, 3 Gonzalez, 4 Isla (18 Jara - 59' Booked ),
7 Sánchez, 11 Vargas (16 Muñoz - 71' ), 14 Fernández
(9 Gutierrez - 45' ), 15 Beausejour (22 Fuenzalida - 82' ),
17 Medel, 20 Aránguiz (6 Carmona - 45' ), 21 Diaz
Unused Subs:
5 Silva, 10 Valdivia, 12 Toselli, 13 Rojas,19 Fernandes da Silva Vitoria, 23 Herrera

Tip for first time Wembley Stadium visitors:
Enter thru' turnstile J.08 for a bag search, or J.09 for a blow job

All told, an attendance of 62, 953 made it to Wembley to watch Roy Hodgson's experimental England line up take on South American opposition, in this practice match, which was effectively the first of a series of 'pre-season friendly' games and get togethers in advance of the 2014 World Cup

3pm (or 5.30pm so that gates wouldn't be affected at the games that hadn't been postponed due to the international break) on a Saturday afternoon would be the ideal time for a weekend football match to kick off. 

But hey! What do I know?

Ignore the fact that not all England supporters live in London and the Home Counties and let's clog that Friday afternoon and early evening congestion up even more, by scheduling qualifying group games and friendlies at the national stadium on Friday nights.

As for the game itself.
Hmm, in the eyes of the great English public (a harsh combination of judge, jury and executioner if ever there was one); Roy Hodgson is already damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

That is to say - stick with your tried and tested first picks and experienced players and he's going to get slated for not trying something different and bringing new players into the England set up, who need playing time under their belts, just in case they are needed to fill in at the last moment, if for some reason, one or more of the recognised England players suddenly become unavailable just before the World Cup tournament begins.
Imagine the furore if that scenario did happen (and it quite often does) and no back up plan was in place, and the potential replacement players weren't suitably prepared
But bring in 'freshers' and try out different systems and tactics that the England side will have to adapt to in Brazil during these sort of warm up games, against the kind of opposition they're going to be facing in Brazil, and he's on a hiding to nothing for not picking a settled team every game, or allegedly not even knowing what his best starting eleven is and for not going hell for leather to win each and every single time the national side step out onto the field of play.
England expects ... some fairly unrealistic results at times.
Of course, winning is a good habit to get into and there's nothing like a good run of results to get confidence soaring.
But, though there will never be such a thing as a meaningless England game in my eyes, the truth of the matter is, the results of friendly matches, though good for the morale, don't actually count for very much, if anything at all, in the grander scheme of things.

Games like tonights are where teams have the opportunity to learn from mistakes. Any flaws in the tactical game plan will hopefully going to be picked up on and ironed out, before the real competition begins in earnest next year.
For example, those short corner routines that went completely tits up tonight, are a good example of a criminal waste of possession that need abandoning with immediate effect.
Chile impressed me no end tonight, if it wasn't England they were pulling all over the place and passing off the pitch for long spells, while utilizing they entire width of the lush Wembley surface, I would probably have enjoyed and admired the aesthetics of their performance and ability a whole lot more than I did mind you.
Score wise, both teams got what they deserved from this game, but in the aftermath, Chile's quality was somewhat overlooked as the radio phone ins and social network sites went into meltdown with Mr Angry type characters venting their spleen on England's team of 'miserable failures'.
It is high time that this national psyche, whereby people get all hysterical and bursting at the seams with rage whenever the national football team fail to win a game, needs injecting with a severely large quantity of realism.

The fact of the matter is, England is a team full of international standard players, but at this present moment in time, they don't actually have any team members you could genuinely describe as outstanding or world class. Do they?
Roy Hodgson is astute enough to know that and realises that he needs to harness the strengths of what he has available to him, into a pattern that can both attain results (to a point) while stifling more technically adept opposition, in the process of doing so.
Instilling such a pragmatic approach, isn't always going to be pretty, or easy on the eye, but England are through to yet another tournament and if they are to avoid getting turned over and humiliated when (if) they reach the stage of the tournament when they face infinitely stronger and more talented sides.
Ouch! The truth hurts, but those are the facts.
I don't believe anybody is mentally unstable enough to think England can actually win the World Cup in Brazil next year, or that we can expect anything more out of the tournament than watching the national side making the best of a bad job.
But, having listened to one or two of the callers who've got through to a radio phone in I've just listened to as our coach headed away from Wembley towards the North Circular, I could be wrong.

As long term development goes, the England national side are (yet again) at the rip it up and start again stage. 

But at least the guy in the hot seat knows that he, not to put too crude a point on it, is in a position where he can only piss with the cock he's got and to that end, he'll have to set his aim accordingly. 

Please mind the carpet.

It's going to be a long time coming before England are going to be up there with the biggest hitters in world football, if indeed they ever scale such heights again. And it is mind numbing to a soul destroying level that so many indignant and genuinely angry people just don't get that and demand unattainable levels of results ... and then implode with moral outrage, when a very ordinary football team don't live up to those far fetched expectations. 

I just don't get that kind of incomprehensible mentality at all.

There are plus points to be taken from England's recent games, such as the emergence of players like Ricky Lambert, Andros Townsend and Adam Lallana, but I'm afraid we're going to have to concede that those are only crumbs of comfort as England enters yet another phase of underachievement in the shadows of the tastefully floodlit statues and reminders of a more glorious past.

I love my country and I will continue to support my national football side in the same way that I always have done, through thick and thin (and even thinner). 

But please spare me the pathological rants in the morning about 'what went wrong' and all those half baked 'where the national game must change to bring back the good times' analogies.

And if anybody tiresomely bothers me with all that "Footballs coming home" and "47 years of hurt" bollocks borne out of  *that* Euro '96 cash in song, I will punch you, twice possibly. Seriously, that is your one and only warning. Try me!

I think it was Neil Young, the Canadian singer/songwriter, not to be mistaken for the former Manchester City, Preston North End and Rochdale striker, or the current Chester manager who both share the same name, that said "You glorify the past, when the future dries up", hmm, I reckon he had a point.

So in a nutshell, what did we learn from tonight's friendly international that we didn't already know?

The floors open, because I'm buggered if I can answer that.

So while you ponder that conundrum, here's my suggestion for a song to be adopted as England's Brazil 2014 anthem:

Goodnight everybody, my fellow traveller, England fan and old mate Ian Rainsford, is now leaning heavily on me and snoring his rocks off on this northbound coach, restricting the blood flow to my right arm and rendering inert my ability to type one handed any longer.

In Roy we trust!

Click here for --> England v Chile match report from the BBC Sport website