Staveley Miners Welfare 1 v Thackley 3 - NCEL Prem

Saturday 29th March 2014

at Inkersall Road, Staveley

NCEL Premier Division

Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 1

Josh Scully 12

Thackley AFC (0) 3

James Firth 48

Matthew Mathers 50

Patrick McGuire 82

Admission £5. Programme £1. Attendance 100

Left click images to enlarge

Staveley Miners Welfare:
Ben Townsend, Jamie Smith (C), Michael Trench, Sam Finlaw, James Coulbeck, Matt Hassett, Nick Hague (Jonathan Wafula 66), Josh Scully, Joe Flint, Matt Thorpe, Robbie Start (Oli Ryan 73).
Unused sub - James Colliver
Thackley:
Ben Higginson, Damian Hopkins, James Firth, Paul Whiteley (C), Lewis Morgan, LIam Hudson, Mohammed Rizwan (Ben Cohen HT), Pat McGuire, Ben Jones (Zivanai Mbire 66), Matt Mathers, Mike Garrod
Both of Thackley's listed subs were used

In the wake of this afternoon's result, I posted 'An awful lot of good football in the first half and a lot of awful football in the second' on THE66POW's Twitter feed, which (as everyone else uses social media to promote themselves, so I might as well join in) can be found at https://twitter.com/THE66POW
Of course, that was posted from a Staveley perspective, because Thackley actually enjoyed a very productive second half.
Following on from their previous couple of games, and after the five star billing I'd given Staveley as first rate entertainers after Wednesday night, this drop in performance level, leastways after the half time break, was definitely an after the Lord Mayor's show style display from James Colliver's side.

They'll know that they can (and must) do better and they don't need that spelling out to them by little old me.
Thackley looked very tired after playing virtually every other day over the past week, but they still found that extra bit of stamina and resolve from somewhere, to finish Staveley off in the second half, even if they were generously afforded acres of space to express themselves in, from time to time.
Thackley's Matt Mathers was singled out as their danger man prior to the game, but within a minute of him first showing the Welfare defence his teeth, with a fairly weak shot that was wide of the mark, Josh Scully had fired Staveley in front with an absolute peach of a goal.

Jamie Smith, filling the right back slot today, spotted Scully's run and picked him out with a long throw down the right hand channel, a defender had strayed from his post to track the run of Michael Trench and that gave Scully the space and time to turn neatly, pick his spot and plant an unstoppable volley past the advancing Ben Higginson.
An absolutely quality strike!
I really hope that old ruffian who records games from the top of that blue and white striped tower in the corner of the ground, that looks like an oversized Tesco economy range cereal box (the tower that is, not the cameraman) captured that one for posterity.

The remainder of the first half was akin to a game of cat and mouse, with Staveley knocking the ball around well and demonstrating a lot of intricate passing play, without actually showing an awful lot of penetration in the final third.
Most of the limited danger Thackley were creating at this point, when they did push forward, seemed to come through Ben Jones, a larger than life battler, who has done the rounds and is highly respected.
I know all too well myself, how difficult it can be to maintain the fuller figure and can appreciate just how much hard work, selfless discipline and dedication to a special diet, people like Jones have to strive to adhere too.
I salute you Ben Jones, for bulking up beyond the call of duty.
Top man!

Jones thought he had equalised on the stroke of half time, but the ever alert Jamie Smith was on hand to clear the ball to safety, just inches before it crossed the line ... and Thackley's appeals amounted to nothing as Gareth Davis, the assistant referee, was bang in line with the incident and confirmed that there was nothing doing.
"You'd have had that if it had ketchup on it!" somebody cruelly called out to Jones.
Rise above it big man ... they'll never understand the noble art of salad dodging, because they're too busy fannying about with faddy diets and trying to squeeze into their 28 inch waist jeans, to have lived life to the full.
So then, so far, so good.
Staveley were only just in front, but though it was only by a solitary goal, they were comfortably in front and seemed to be in control of the game.
HT 1-0

Wow! 

The wheels came off in a spectacular fashion for the home side after the break as Thackley pulled level and then took the lead inside the first five minutes.

Staveley conceded a corner, but cleared the ball, in a fashion, to the edge of the box, where it fell to James Firth, the Thackley left back, who moved forward a couple of yards, completely unchallenged and drilled the ball just inside the ride hand post past the despairing Ben Townsend, who been left badly exposed and was advancing from his line to try and narrow the angle.

Matt Mathers headed Thackley in front when he got up higher than anyone else in the box and met Damion Hopkins right wing cross to perfection. 

It was almost a carbon copy of Rikki Paylor's goal against Staveley for Bridlington Town in midweek,

Matt Thorpe picked up the pace for the home side and charged off down the left flank and slipped the ball inside to Robbie Start, who struck a shot just over the Thackley crossbar.
Thorpe was pivotal to Staveley's attacking play and on his next forward run, Thackley decided he was causing them too many problems and Liam Hudson took him out of the equation, with a thundering tackle that earned the visitors centre half a yellow card.
Josh Scully played a measured free kick in towards Joe Flint, but the Welfare striker diverted the ball just wide of the upright with a deft flick of his head.
Jonathan Wafula's introduction from the bench on 66 minutes, freshened things up for the Welfare.
His pace and close ball control will cause a lot of defenders a few problems, particularly when he breaks into the box from the flanks in the area where full backs are fearful of committing themselves to tackles that could result in a penalty being awarded, if they aren't executed with precise accuracy to the nth degree.

Ben Townsend clears from Matt Mathers

Thorpe came at Thackley's back four again, from right flank this time and he picked out Start, a defender lost his footing and an equaliser looked inevitable ... but the ball sat up unkindly for Start as he was about to squeeze the trigger and he punted it over the bar.

Scully once again set up a chance for Flint, but he put the ball wide of the post much to the relief of Higginson who's been left short of cover by his defence.

Thackley almost sealed the win on 80 minutes, but that man Jamie Smith was on hand again to make a last ditch clearance.

But the game was effectively over on 83 minutes, when Pat MaGuire found himself unmarked 12 yards out, just to the left hand side of the penalty area and he knocked the ball across the face of the goal and in off of the right hand upright.

Staveley's keeper Ben Townsend conceded three goals this afternoon, but he is entitled to be asking where his defensive cover was for each and every one of them.

The home side had contributed to their own downfall this today, with a couple of sloppy finishes and some questionable marking for all of Thackley's goals.

But, I don't want to take anything away from Thackley in saying that, because they battled away until the very end, despite the obvious fatigue they're suffering from as they soldier on to clear a backlog of fixtures. Their approach wasn't always easy on the eye, but they ground out a result and turned the game around in the second half, so credit where it is due.

FT - Staveley Miners Welfare 1 v Thackley 3

As the Thackley striker Matt Mathers' more famous brother Marshall (that might be a fib on my part, by the way) might say: "Will the real Staveley Miners Welfare, please stand up, please stand up, please stand up!?"

Staveley MW v Thackley AFC, match report from the Chesterfield Post inc. a few ropey photographs

Retford United 2 v Heanor Town 1 - CMFL Reserves Supreme

Thursday 27th March 2014
at Cannon Park/Jones & Co. Stadium
CMFL Reserves Supreme Division
Retford United (0) 2
Jack Ward 77
Aaron Hutchinson 86
Heanor Town (1) 1
Jack LIghtly 27
Admission £2. Programme £1.
All goal times are approximate, given that Kev Blackburn, the match referee, paid scant regard to any sort of accurate timekeeping tonight. Though his questionable understanding of how his wristwatch works, is infinitely better than his grasp of the actual rules of the game of Association Football and his joke telling.

Retford United had by far the better of the first half a hour of the game, but Heanor were still in front on 27 minutes, after Jack Lightly floated the ball just under the crossbar, via a free kick from out on the right wing.
He might have meant to go for goal ... and it might have been a speculative cross ... either way, they all count and it gave Heanor a bit of a lift and they looked more comfortable with the ball, than they initially had, as half time approached.
Retford had to wait patiently until the 77th minute, until their efforts were finally rewarded and Jack Ward headed home the equalising goal.
But Lightly should have regained the lead for the visitors shortly afterwards. Alas, having done the hard part, of collecting a long pass into the Badgers penalty area and advancing past Retford's keeper, Tom Fuller, with a burst of pace, he blazed his effort wide of the inviting open goal ... he didn't mean to do that ;-)
Inside the final five minutes, Sam Hutchinson saw his well struck free kick from 25 yards out, tipped over the bar by the Heanor keeper.
But Sam's younger Brother Aaron did find the net, heading home a left wing corner to finally give the Badgers the lead right at the end of the game.
All in all, a good performance from Retford's second string, who made good of the squad available to them tonight, by introducing two goal scoring substitutes into the mix.
It's just a shame that there weren't a few more people here to see it.
FT - Retford United Reserves 2 v Heanor Town Reserves 1

Staveley Miners Welfare 3 v Bridlington Town 3 - NCEL Prem

Wednesday 26th March 2014
at Inkersall Road, Staveley
NCEL Premier Division
Staveley Miners Welfare (1) 3
Joe Flint 29, 87
Matt Thorpe 68
Bridlington Town (0) 3
Craig Hogg 64
Rikki Paylor 71
Ashley Allanson 90+
Admission £5. Programme £1. Attendance 102

Left click image to enlarge

10th placed Bridlington Town travelled to Staveley Miners Welfare, who are currently languishing in 17th position in the NCEL Premier Division ... and you could have been forgiven for anticipating yet another dreary NCEL, end of season, going through the motions, sort of game.
But, thankfully, both teams had other ideas and a crowd of 102 were treated to a very open and entertaining 96 minutes of football here at Inkersall Road tonight.
At the weekend, Staveley had recorded an impressive result, by beating in form Heanor Town 2-1, away from home, while 'Brid' had recovered from being 3-0 down at Albion Sports, to salvage a 3-3 draw.
Though tonight's comeback was nowhere near as arduous a mountain for the visitors to climb, as the one they had conquered at Farsley on Saturday, it was probably an even more dramatic finale, given that they equalised three times over the course of the game and finally snatched a share of the points so deep into injury time, that a passing milkman had hopped off of his float, to pop in and watch the last few minutes of this pulsating, end to end, entertaining encounter.

Back ground notes:
Despite it having been a transitional period for Staveley for quite a while now, for far too long a while actually, their attendances have held up pretty well around the treble figure mark, in spite of some indifferent results and below par performances, because a lot of local football enthusiasts can see what SMWFC is about and what they are trying to achieve.
Those spectators/supporters have bought into the ethos of how the people at the club are trying to fulfil those aims.
Namely, by investing in the future and working tirelessly towards keeping a production line of talent coming through the youth ranks every year and assembling a solid structure around those players.
Staveley Miners Welfare is about developing youngsters, via the junior section, Under 19's and Reserves, to build a first team who are groomed (for want of a better word) and prepared towards doing things 'the Staveley way', which is the right way to go about doing things, in my considered and slightly biased opinion.
Neil Cluxton, who is sadly no longer with Staveley, deserves a lot of the credit for helping to create that infrastructure.
Alas, he was a major casualty in the recent struggle to get the good ship SMWFC back on course away from stormy waters, mercenary ex players and journeymen footballers, which was a real shame, because 'Clucky' is a genuinely decent guy. Being the consummate and loyal club man that he was, he stepped up the take the reins as first team manager at a time when the club was on the ropes and taking a standing count ... and for that selfless act alone, he will always be held in very high esteem by everybody who has the best interests of Staveley Miners Welfare at heart.

Unfortunately, he moved on when the first team position didn't work out for him. Personally, I was gutted that he didn't stay at the club in some capacity, because I thought he was 'nailed on' to take his old role back.
But football is like that ... and the turnover of good people moving on from clubs, for reasons that they alone will ever fully understand, is a non stop, unrelenting and (quite often) fairly brutal process, that chews up and spits out many a good man.
Neil wasn't the first and he certainly won't be the last.
The list of unfinished symphonies and 'if only' scenarios in this game is endless.
I hope that Neil returns to Staveley Miners Welfare and re-establishes himself in his development coach role at some point in the future.
Surely that would be the ideal, win/win situation for all concerned.
Back to the present day however. The league table doesn't lie, it's been an awful season at times for this ambitious football club, but you can sense, amongst those who turn up at Inkersall Road on a regular basis, that they know better times are just around the corner and that having been knocked off course by a terminal run of misfortune ... which, by some strange quirk of fate, seemed to coincide with Staveley's untimely elimination from the FA Vase at the semi final stage two years ago ... things are on the upturn again.
It could be said that the faithful are "Waiting for the great leap forward", as some pseudo agit pop protest singer from Essex once warbled.

For what it is worth, I'm more than happy to chuck my weight behind the widely held opinion, that the right first team management team are now in place, to start leading the team back in the right direction again.
Ok, they arrived more out of necessity and by accident than design, but the shoots of recovery are clear for all to see.
James Colliver and James Roper take a bow ... along with the loyal and often forgotten coaching staff at Inkersall Road.
Right, after that long winded introduction, on with tonights action:
The game was just 11 minutes old when Staveley's player manager had to leave the field having tweaked his calf, but that gave his replacement from the bench, Robbie Start, 80 minutes to show what he was capable of, having only had 20 minutes playing time for the club previously, after coming of in the second half of Saturday's win at Heanor Town. Start, along with his strike partner Joe Flint, another recent acquisition, put in a great performance, which'll no doubt see him in contention for a place in the starting 11 this coming weekend.
Tonight's Staveley team, once again, included a healthy quota of players who are home grown, which led to one 'terrace wit' shouting out "Come on Staveley Under 19's!"
Craig Palmer almost opened the scoring for 'Brid' in the tenth minute, but Ben Townsend managed to push his well struck 25 yard free kick away and recovered in time to save again from Shaun Day who pounced on the rebound.

A succession of corners for the home side came to nothing, before Joel Sutton tried his luck against Townsend from long range, but once again, the Staveley keeper gathered the ball safely.
The Seasiders keeper, Paul Fraser, was called into action, when Josh Scully's effort from the edge of the box fell kindly for him, via a deflection, after Joe Flint had knocked a sideways pass into the path of the industrious midfielder, who was having to work even harder than usual tonight, given that his player manager was now off the pitch and Jamie Smith was on the bench, having picked up an injury in the warm up at the weekend.
To that end, Michael Trench was covering an enormous amount of ground too.
Joe Flint, making only his third start for the Welfare, opened the scoring on 29 minutes, when the visitors defence made hard work of clearing a corner from Scully and the powerhouse striker smashed a low shot into the back of the net that Fraser had no hope of stopping.
It was Flint's second goal in Staveley's colours, he opened the scoring at the weekend too and by the end of the night, his goals per game ration would read 3 from 3.
Surprisingly, given both team's gung-ho approach to attacking football, Flint's strike was the only goal of a very open, end to end first half.
HT: 1-0

Forthcoming fundraiser for SMWFC Under 14's team

Quite often, games that have promised much during a lively opening 45 minutes, fail to deliver after the interval, but not tonight. And both teams came back out fully intent on carrying on with their respective all out attack tactics. 

Which was good to see. 

Effectively, neither side have anything left to play for this season, so entertaining the crowd is the best policy to adopt ... and it will keep them coming back for more of the same. I fully expect both of these sides to be amongst the frontrunners in the NCEL Premier next season, time will tell of course, but I'm quietly confident that you will be able to quote me on that in 12 months time.

Bridlington were almost on level terms on 50 minutes, but Michael Trench was on hand to clear the ball off the line and Staveley immediately broke away up the other end, where a well weighted forward pass from Matt Thorpe sent Joe Flint tearing away towards the goal, but his shot was flew high and wide of the target and the ball vanished into the car park.

Robbie Start, repeated Flint's party piece, by blazing the ball over the stand after carrying it all the way to the goal area from Staveley's half.

Inevitably, straight after the two glaring misses for the home side, Bridlington attacked down the left flank, the ball was played into the box and Craig Hogg fired home the equaliser.

Within four minutes the home side were back in front, when Jamie Smith, on as a substitute on the hour, combined well with Start through the left channel, the latter floated the ball into the box where Matt Thorpe headed home the ball by the right hand post.

On 71 minutes the game was level again, when Rikki Paylor rose to powerfully head home Ashley Allanson's right wing corner via a towering leap by the front post.

Bridlington should've been in front when Joel Ramm squared the ball into the path of Joel Sutton, nut the visitors number 10 scuffed his shot wide. The same two players were involved moments later and they switched the ball across the 18 yard line to Allanson who also missed the target.

Nick Hague took advantage of a defensive slip, but his audacious lob came to nothing.

Both sides continued to take it in turns to attack at will, but it looked as though Staveley had won the game, when Flint whacked home his second goal of the night, after Jamie Smith had played the ball to him on the edge of the box.

In injury time, Fraser kept the visitors in the game, when he turned Trench's effort round the post, after Jonathan Wafula had made a great run into the left hand side of the penalty area and delivered a low cross to the Staveley captain.

Deep into injury time, Bridlington mounted one last assault on the Staveley goal and as they raced forward en masse, Ashley Allanson delivered the hammer blow that secured a point for the Seasiders from 12 yards out.

Wow! What a finale!

FT: Staveley Miners Welfare 3 v Bridlington Town 3

Staveley would've been disappointed to have conceded a goal so late in the game and were probably wondering where the referee Joe Simpson had found so much stoppage time from, but on the balance of play, a draw was a very fair result. 

All in all a great advert for the NCEL. 

As Paul Weller would say ...

Don't worry David, I'll put some Slim Whitman on next week ;-)

Follow this link to Jim McIntosh's match report from this game in the --> Chesterfield Post

Retford United 1 v Parkgate 1 - NCEL Prem

Tuesday 25th March 2014
at Cannon Park (the Jones & Co. Stadium)
NCEL Premier Division
Retford United (0) 1
Gav Cooper 88
Parkgate (1) 1
Matt Reay 13
Admission £5, Programme £1
Team sheet 20p, Attendance 53

Photographs courtesy of Jon Knight - Thanks Knighty!

Retford United:
Barford (Hitchcock HT), Smith, Severn, Jarvis (O'Neill 83), Sanderson, Johnson, Stannard, Hadley, Cooper, Thompson, Muirhead.
Unused subs - Hutchinson, Swannack.
Parkgate:
Reay D, Poole, Bond, Wragg, Reay M, Jones, Abdulla, Doughty (Dawson 67), Graham (Whittington 83), Preece, Langford.
Unused subs: Slater, Morley, Lowe.

Retford United's indifferent run of form since the turn of the year, has seen them slip from being outside contenders for the NCEL Premier Division title, down to 13th in the table.
Tonight's crowd of just 53, was their lowest gate of the season and with five of their seven remaining fixtures until the end of the season being scheduled as home games, you have to seriously wonder if the attendances will get any better in the interim, at a time when the club, more than ever, need 'a bit' of a boost financially through the turnstiles.
The visitors had by far the better of the first half and deserved to be in front at the break.
But, after the restart, the Badgers laid siege to the Parkgate goal.
And though the Steelmen almost held out to take all three points, Retford's efforts warranted at least a share of the spoils, which they duly claimed, inside the last two minutes.
Parkgate went into this game some 25 points behind Retford United, but having beaten tonight's hosts 2-1 at their Roundwood Pavilion ground, just seven days ago, they didn't look unduly overawed by that statistic and they were up for this game from the off.
Whilst the Badgers did a very passable impression of a team with nothing left to play for this season, who are merely going through the motions until the end of April.
It was no surprise at all that Parkgate took the lead on 13 minutes, when Matt Reay met Scott Preece's right wing corner with a thumping header, that Jody Barford had no chance of keeping out.
The home supporters who had made the effort to turn out tonight, grimly watched on as Parkgate looked like adding to their lead ... and it wasn't really until just before the interval that United came close to responding to the Steelmen's goal, when David Reay had to be alert to gather the ball from an aerial challenge from Danny Jarvis at the second attempt.

Thankfully, after their half time team talk, Retford came out and finally started to look interested ... and not before time.
Kyle Hadley pulled a shot across the face of goal and just wide of the post and Gav Cooper narrowly failed to find the equaliser with a close range header, inside the first five minutes of the second half.
Piers Bond came to the visitors rescue and the linesman's flag foiled a couple of dangerous looking breaks from the home side, as Retford grew in stature.
The majority of the game was now condensed into the visitors last third as Retford continued to press without being able to find a way to unlock a stubborn rearguard action from the south Yorkshire side.
With the Badgers throwing everything forward late in the game, it left room for Parkgate to manoeuvre the game away from their goal area for a short while.
Second half Badgers goalkeeping substitute, James Hitchcock (Barford hadn't come back on after half time, because he was injured), turned Danny Abdulla's deflected shot wide at the expense of a corner.
And Abdulla and Ben Langford both shot wide, as the counter attacking visitors looked to finish the game off.
After all of the possession and chances they had created in the second half, a defeat, especially by more than the margin of a single goal, would've been unkind to Retford United.
But, deservedly, with just over a minute of the scheduled 90 remaining, Kyle Hadley hooked a cross into the Parkgate box from out on the right flank and Gav Cooper headed home the equaliser, from roughly the same spot that Matt Reay had opened the scoring from in the first half.
On the balance of things, given that Parkgate were the better team prior to the half time interval and Retford were in the ascendancy after the restart, a draw was just about a fair result.
FT - Retford United 1 v Parkgate 1

AFC Mansfield 0 v Bentley Colliery 0 - CMFL North

at Forest Town Stadium (AKA the Clod)

Central Midlands League (North) -3pm kick off

AFC Mansfield (0) 0

Bentley Colliery (0) 0

Admission £3

Programme £1.50

Attendance 60 ish

AFC Mansfield:
Sheppard, McGurk, Cantrell, Draper (c), Holmes, Naylor D (Carter 68), Buxton, Naylor J, Rick (Bettison 22), Wiltshire (Timons 78), Haslam.
Unused Subs - Wilson, Fletcher
Bentley Colliery:
Teale, Reynado, Maxfield, Doran, Brown, Padgett, Downing (c), Scott, Read, Parkhouse, Lynch.
Unused Sub - Winterman

Bentley Colliery rolled into Forest Town this afternoon, with a bare bones 11 man team and one other registered player, to name as a sub, who was never likely to get on ... which is a commonplace thing for teams in this league to do, when they are short staffed, but are also trying to create the impression that they are virtually up to full strength.
Believe me, I know! Been there done that ;-)
AFC Mansfield have scored 117 goals thus far this season and they are currently top of the CMFL North table.
On paper, this fixture constituted a home banker, if ever there was one, but Bentley had other ideas.
Their 4-5-1 formation was designed by Chris Scott and Craig Eanor to suffocate the life out of AFC Mansfield's attacking ambitions and restrict the movement of their front line.
And the visitors stubborn, all hands to the pumps, determined rearguard action, earned them a hard won point, while frustrating the life out of the Bulls, who genuinely seemed to struggle to find a way of overcoming Bentley's approach to the game at times.
The Bulls growing frustration was compounded when Dean Rick had to hobble off, just after the twenty minute mark, having taken a knock when he went in for a 50/50 with Bentley's keeper Mike Teale

Sure, the visitors rode their luck at times and were the beneficiaries of one or two fortunate goalmouth deflections, but their tactics were effective, very effective.
They worked hard for each other as a team and that, in essence, is why they returned home to Doncaster with a well deserved point ... which could've been three points, but for the intervention of a deliberate handball.
The intrigue created by watching just how long Bentley could keep Mikey Taylor's side at bay, made for an really absorbing contest.
The south Yorkshire side had a few half decent chances of their own, not least when Dan Reed forced a great save out of Dale Sheppard. But, in the main, the visitors played really deep and a lot of the game was played in and around their penalty area, where, in my estimation, Mike Teale, the Bentley keeper, earned himself the man of the match award for this afternoon, particularly for playing on through the pain barrier later on the game.

Doug out (of his) dug out

AFC Mansfield's Peter Craggs excellent match report CLICK HERE to read it catalogues just how many attempts AFC Mansfield had at finding a way through Bentley's crowded goalmouth, but try as they might, the home side just couldn't blow the Colliery's house down.
In fact, Bentley themselves could've won the game inside the final few minutes.
The Bulls keeper Dale Sheppard had ventured towards the halfway line to pump a free kick into the mix and he was only just back in his area when Bentley launch a long ball out of defence. Sheppard ventured to the edge of his box to intercept the ball, but it held up in the wind and bounced a few yards outside the box into the path of the oncoming Kevin Lynch, Sheppard had to venture forward and had no option but to handle the ball to prevent Bentley having the target of an open goal to aim at.

If the referee had waited a few seconds before sounding his whistle, then Bentley would've won the game, because amidst the shouting and pointing, they had put the loose ball into the back of the net.

But the match official had opted not to play the advantage and AFC Mansfield could count their blessings as the free kick didn't even get anywhere near troubling the emergency replacement keeper Steve McGurk.
But then the football karma balanced itself out at the other end ... and in the very last minute, when Mark Carter finally beat Mike Teale, with a goal bound header from a long Steve McGurk free kick, the Bulls Joe Naylor got in the way and inadvertently cleared the ball from under the cross bar.
Bentley came with a gameplan, they executed it perfectly and were very close close to pulling off a surprise win as a consequence, fair play to them.
The return match in two weeks will be interesting.
FT - AFC Mansfield 0 v Bentley Colliery 0

Mansfield Town 0 v Chesterfield 0 - Sky Bet League 2

Saturday 22nd March 2014
at Field Mill (AKA One Call Stadium)
Sky Bet League 2 - 1pm kick off
Mansfield Town (0) 0
Chesterfield (0) 0
Admission £18
Programme £3
Attendance 5.931 (inc. 1,497 away fans)

Mansfield Town
Marriott, Riley, Dempster (Clucas 63), Tafazolli, Beevers, Jennings, Howell, Murray, McGuire (Meikle 63), Palmer, Rhead
Unused Subs - Sutton, Stevenson, Clements, Daniel, Speight.
Chesterfield
Lee, Darikwa, Evatt, Cooper, Humphreys, Banks (Bennett HT), Hird, Morsy, Roberts; Richards (Doyle 70), Kearns (Gnanduillet 70).
Unused Subs - Dunbavin, Smith, O’Shea, Ryan.

Both sides were looking for three points from this lunch time local derby encounter, for completely different reasons, but they had to settle for a point apiece.
The visitors are in the hunt for promotion to League 1, while Paul Cox is trying to steer the Stags away from a cluster of clubs towards the bottom end of the table.
The Stags started the day in 16th place in League 2 (Division 4), whilst the Spireites were looking to go back to the top of the table, after a 2-1 defeat at Plymouth in midweek had seen them slip to second place.
As quite often happens, when local rivals meet head to head, the form book goes out of the window ... and that is exactly how things panned out at Field Mill today.
When the sides last met in the league, back in September, Mansfield won 1-0 at the Proact Stadium, on an afternoon when Calvin Andrew scored his only goal ever for the club.
He was released by Paul Cox in January of this year, having made just 16 appearances in Mansfield's colours. But he will always have a special place put aside in the hearts of Mansfield Town fans for his goal in that game and his joyous celebration afterwards.

Of course, the Spireites won on their last visit to Field Mill, earlier this season, by virtue of a solitary Garry McSheffery strike, in a Johnstones Paint Trophy game.
Some might say that games in such competitions are irrelevant, but they're wrong ... there will never be such a thing as a game between todays two sides, that doesn't really matter.
However, the JPT itself is not as important as the Football League and the two other major cup tournaments and at full time this afternoon, Mansfield had taken 4 points off of their nearest and dearest, without conceding a goal, in the competition that matters most.
I hear that Peterborough United are big favourites to win this season's JPT final which is being played soon at Wembley Stadium.

Early in the game, a rare slip up by Ryan Tafazolli put Marc Richards through on goal, but with Alan Marriott beaten, the Stags big number 12 recovered well, made up ground and was on hand in the nick of time, craning his neck and just getting his head to the ball, to divert Richards effort over the crossbar at the Quarry Lane End. Phew!
The Spireites settled in and picked up the tempo early on, but as the game progressed Mansfield grew in stature and in the later stages they were really pushing on and going for the win.
It has taken Ollie Palmer a while to get settled in at Mansfield this season, but today he put in his best performance yet in a Stags shirt and he was an handful for Liam Cooper all afternoon, while his strike partner Matty Rhead was relishing the role he was playing too.
The highly rated Mason Bennett, on loan at Chesterfield from Derby County, entered the fray at half time and he nearly opened the scoring on 51 minutes against his local club, but he fired narrowly over from close range ... good lad!

When Paul Cox threw Sam Clucas and Lindon Meikle into the mix on 63 minutes, the Stags gained the initiative and now looked like the team most likely to come out on top, in this hitherto evenly balanced contest that had swung one way and then the other. Although it finished honours even, it was obvious that neither side wanted to settle for a draw.
Clucas, not yet back to full match fitness, had a couple of half decent attempts on goal, where he would've benefitted from having regained his sharpness a bit more and Meikle (as he does) ran non stop at the visitors defence from the moment he came on.
Both teams had opportunities to force the issue and both keepers had a few hair raising moments.
Inside the final two minutes, Marriott held on to Armand Gnanduillet's long range free kick at the second attempt and then young Mason Bennett continued to impress me, by shooting straight at the Stags keeper from the edge of the box, he's really going up in my estimation now ... good lad, again!

Chesterfield's final throw of the dice had gone, but three minutes into stoppage time, the crowd rose to their feet as one, as Sam Clucas nodded Adam Murray's last ditch ball into the box down, straight into the path of Ollie Palmer, who was in space, twelve yards out and just to the left hand side of the Spireites goal ... Palmer completely wrong footed Tommy Lee and dragged his shot across the face of goal, but the ball bobbled, agonisingly, just inches wide of the right hand upright. Noooo!
A point apiece was probably a fair result from a neutral perspective ... but I was most definitely not viewing this game as a neutral.
I was very critical of the Stags last month for playing so poorly against Bury, on a night where the visitors had played them off the park and battered them 4-1.
But today, credit where it is due. 100% commitment all over the pitch, spot on tactically and some great tinkering from Paul Cox to up the ante when things needed mixing up.
FT - Mansfield Town 0 v Chesterfield 0

It is vital that the Stags continue to play with the same sort of heart and commitment that they showed today in their remaining games, as they're still only five points above the drop zone, with eight games remaining.
In all honesty I would've taken the draw before today's game, given the respective league positions of both sides, so I won't pontificate over a list of of 'if only' type sentiments.
Well played Stags - now keep it going right to the wire.
Ollie Palmer's input today and the reappearance of a certain Jake Speight on the Mansfield bench, points towards Paul Cox having a few extra attacking options for the run in, but my main concern from now on in is that Mansfield get some more points on the board ... regardless of how they come by them.

Retford United 0 v Heanor Town 2 - NCEL LC R4

Thursday 20th March 2014
at Cannon Park - Jones & Co. Stadium
NCEL League Cup R4 (Quarter Final)
Retford United (0) 0
Heanor Town (1) 2
Kieran Debrouwer 38, Chris Shaw 81
Admission £5, programme £1, attendance 94
Photos courtesy of Jon Knight - Thanks Jon
Click THIS LINK for Jon Knight's Flickr photo stream

Retford United:
Hitchcock, Smith (Holdsworth 81), Severn, Stannard, Sanderson, Dorgan (Medcalf 72), Johnson (C), Jones, Wilkin, Thompson, Booth.
Unused subs - Muirhead, O'Neill, Hutchinson.
Heanor Town:
Frost, Webster, Shaw, Raven, Peel, Blake, Debrouwer, Hall (C) , Benger (Crosby 82), Holmes, Stevenson.
Unused subs - Tinsley, Moran, Nicholls, Baker.

Well Retford United ... that was shocking!
Heanor Town thoroughly deserved their win tonight and, if truth be told, the Badgers got exactly what their efforts warranted too.
The woodwork had come to Retford's rescue twice, before the visitors went down to ten men after just 18 minutes, when the Lions captain, Nick Hall, was shown a straight red card.
So, having already been let off of the hook twice, it was now surely 'advantage United', with 72 minutes still left to play.
Err ... not quite.
The Badgers never made the extra man count and in truth, there were spells of the game, when they didn't even look interested in advancing through to the semi final stage of a competition that represents the last remaining silverware available to them this season.

Kieran Debrouwer scored four times on his last visit to Cannon Park, earlier this month, so the Retford defence will have known all about how much close attention his every move would require.
Alas, on 38 minutes, he advanced on the Badgers goal from the right hand side of the penalty area and slotted home a well taken goal from a tight angle, without a defensive challenge in sight.
That was Debrouwer's 49th goal of the season, so far ... a quite incredible record.
It was actually difficult to tell which team were playing a man light as the first half came to a close ... and to be frank, the home side were being embarrassed by how comfortably Heanor were controlling several  of the pitch, namely: the defence, the midfield and the final third.
HT 0-1
Heanor came out after the interval and generously offered Retford United the chance to get back into the game, by starting with just Nathan Benger up front, while the rest of their side played deep and waited for a seemingly inevitable Retford onslaught that was bound to come soon.
Hmm, well I left the ground at full time, approximately ten minutes ago, and that onslaught still hadn't materialised  by then, so you can scrap that theory.
United had shown a few hints that suggested that they were getting more involved, but as the second half progressed, it became apparent that they really weren't getting to grips with the game at all.
It must've been painful and embarrassing for the Badgers followers, having to watch their team going halfheartedly about their business, offering little or no threat going forward against a team who were reduced to ten men, while a cluster of Heanor fans noisily mocked a home side, who appeared to be merely going through the motions.

Of course, the Badgers did create a few chances, but  when it mattered, their focus and application in front of goal was somewhat lacking. Even the Badgers own prolific goalscorer, Reece Thompson (32 goals this term, to date) couldn't make any difference to the scoreline tonight.
Retford's misery was compounded when Chris Shaw doubled the visitors lead directly from a right wing corner kick, that evaded everybody in the six yard box, with nine minutes remaining.
The game was now effectively over and only one side looked like scoring from then on in ... and it wasn't Retford United.
Well played Heanor Town, they came, they saw, they conquered and thoroughly deserved to win ... while Richard Sennett's side had a real off night and weren't at the races at all.
FT - Retford United 0 v Heanor Town 2
Positives from a Retfordian perspective ... Rob Sanderson played well enough, the rain stopped before the game started, and err ... well, that's your lot actually!

Glasshoughton Welfare v Staveley Miners Welfare - ABANDONED 73 minutes

Tuesday 18th March 2014
at Leeds Road, Glasshoughton
NCEL, Premier Division
Glasshoughton Welfare:
Paul Hargreen, Josh Thorpe, Josh Prudhoe, Jamie Williams, Steve Barraclough, Alex Booth, Hillario Serreao, Mark Newton, Thomas Carr, Andrew Seed (C), Dell Pollock
Subs - Luke McCrum, Liam Kellett, Reece Chappell, Steve Edwards, Adam Walsh
Staveley Miners Welfare:
Ben Townsend, James Colbeck, Wes Hill, James Colliver, Adam Jukes, Matt Hassett, Nick Hague, Sam Finlaw, Matt Thorpe, Jamie Smith, Michael Trench
Subs - Jonathan Wafula, Chris Butt, Ryan Dickinson, Ross Goodwin

Programme from the original date (1st Feb) with an updated 8 page insert.

Glasshoughton Welfare 
Staveley Miners Welfare
MATCH ABANDONED AFTER 73 MINUTES
The score was 1-0 to Glasshoughton Welfare at the time. 
Alex Booth had scored the only goal of the game on 30 minutes, after latching onto a loose ball from a Ben Townsend save, booth drilled the ball into the back of the net from an angle on the right hand side of the six yard box.
The home side's Twitter feed had carried the message "Glasshoughton welfare 0 Staveley 0. Very scrappy opening 20 minutes" while the first half was in progress. 
During the interval, I asked their committee, why they had used a letter 's' in their summary, because it would've described the game thus far, far more accurately without one. 
Not that spelling is a one of Glasshoughton's strong points ;-)

To be fair to both teams, the likelihood of there being much aesthetically pleasing football being played on such a bumpy pitch in a strong, swirling wind, that had descended on the Leeds Road ground from all directions tonight, was very slim.
Staveley had created enough chances to be at least on level terms, when the malfunctioning electrics intervened, but the near misses wouldn't have counted for anything anyway if they had gone in ... so que sera!

Staveley's Michael Trench had a penalty saved by the home side's keeper, Paul Hargreen, who got down well to his right to keep the ball out.
Hargreen acquitted himself well tonight.
From where I was stood (straight in line with the goal area Staveley were attacking) the reason why a penalty was awarded, was shrouded in mystery.
Maybe Hargreen had handled the ball in his own box, or a Glasshoughton player had kicked it too hard?
No Staveley player appealed for a spot kick and they're not usually shy about speaking up.
The match was abandoned shortly afterwards following two second half power cuts/floodlight failures.

The game restarted after the first black out down one touch line after a break of about 15 minutes, as the officials and both teams sensibly agreed to try and get the game finished.
But they went out again soon afterwards and the referee was left with no choice but to call an halt to proceedings.
After the game: the A1 southbound was closed (again), the diverted traffic through Doncaster was complete chaos and my car broke down.
Oh be f*cking joyful!

73 mins - Glasshoughton Welfare - Tuesday 18th March 2014