THE66POW

Mansfield Town U19 Academy 3 v Birmingham City Blues 1 - Football Conference Youth Alliance - Northern Division

2012-02-01T16:05:00.008Z

Wednesday 1st February 2012, at 'The Clod' Forest Town FC

Football Conference Youth Alliance - Northern Division
2pm kick off
Mansfield Town (2) 3
Matt Harris 34, 35, 54
Birmingham City (0) 1
Late consolation 83
Admission free, Attendance 35 (give or take)Mansfield Town team:
Hopkins, Coupe, Shaw, Gregory, Jones, Flint, Rogers, Vincent, Hawkins, Harris, Somes
Subs - Horsley, Chambers, Villums

Matt Harris' opening goal at Forest Town this afternoon

To avoid a colour clash, the Blues played in orange today, but their keeper played in all yellow.
The Forest Town pitch had thawed out nicely on a 'spring like' summer day ... well, at least it looked spring like, it was still damn cold outdoors today.
The young Stags started brightly and had City on the back foot, but the visitors were strong in defence and held tight until the 34th minute, when Matt Harris got on the end of a Jason Gregory shot and knocked the ball home from inside the 6 yard box.

Matt Harris heads home his and Mansfield Town's second goal

Within a minute Joe Flint put a cross over into the Birmingham goal area and Harris was on hand again to put a looping header just underneath the crossbar to make the score 2-0.

In the second half, Matt Harris completed his hat trick on 54 minutes.
Adam Somes unselfishly fed the ball into Matt's path with a cheeky back heel and from just inside the box Harris lobbed the Blues keeper, he frantically scrambled back a few feet and got a hand to the ball trying to push it over the bar, but only managed to help it on it's way into the roof of the net.

In the 83rd minute, City got a goal back, but other than that they barely troubled the Stags today, who put in another solid performance to maintain top spot in the Conference Youth Alliance, North Division.
See current table here --> http://football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=17675&LeagueCode=FCYL2011
There will be a more detailed report from this game in the Mansfield Town v Darlington programme on Saturday (by Craig Priest), including some 'expert photography' ;-) by a bloke who lives in Retford.
Woo hoo! I'm almost famous!More photos here --> http://www.flickr.com/groups/1885346@N20/pool/

Harworth CI 1 v Belper United 0 - CMFL League Cup Replay

2012-01-31T21:58:00.010Z

Tuesday 31st January, at Scrooby Road, Bircotes
Windsor Foodservice Central Midlands Football League,
Baris League Challenge Cup, 2nd Round Replay
Harworth Colliery Institute (0) 1
Gareth Sides 80 pen
Belper United (0) 0
Admission £3 inc. programme
Harworth Colliery Institute
1. Mark Latham 2. David Cornthwaite 3. Michael Nugent 4. David Reeve 5. Stuart Needham 6. Bobby Johnson 7. Louis Reed 8. Simon Wars 9. Gareth Sides 10. Kev Shelley 11. Jordan Pickering
Subs - 12. Luke Edwards 14. Matt Bradley 15. James Stuart
Belper United
1. Adam Jablonski 2. Oliver Kelly 3. Eddie Bridges 4. Adam Taylor 5. Dave Bacon 6. Scott Slater 7. Richard Searson 8. Tony Hemmings 9. Jamie Wilde 10. Richard Clarke 11. Kyle Wadsworth
Subs - 12. Karl Payne 14. Darren Mayes 15. Steve Watson
Belper United are CMFL newcomers this season, they play in the Southern division.
While Harworth CI ply their trade in the Northern section.
When the two sides met, for the first time ever, at Alton Manor back on January 7th, the game ended in a 2-2 draw, hence the need for a tonight's replay at Scrooby Road.
A Gareth Sides penalty, in the 80th minute, separated the sides at the end of this one.
But it beggars belief that neither team had managed to convert a number of great chances either side of that.
Kev Shelley hit the post inside the first 5 minutes, it set the tone for the rest of the first half.
Belper's Adam Taylor was the next player to be given the chance to break the deadlock, but in a one on one with Mark Latham, the Harworth keeper saved well to win that particular duel.
With 20 minutes gone, Jordan Pickering cleverly released Louis Reed inside the visitors box and it took a fine one handed save at full stretch from Adam Jablonski to turn the ball away to safety.
Belper attacked again, Tony Hemmings, who was central to most of their forward play tonight, released right back Oliver Kelly on the overlap, whose dipping shot skimmed the top of the cross bar.
The best chance of the first half fell to Gaz Sides, who sprang the offside trap and found himself clean through facing Adam Jablonski charging from his line.
The Harworth centre forward chose to hit the ball instead of placing it, or lobbing the keeper and miscued his effort straight into the Belper keeper's arms.
A few minutes later from a difficult angle, Sides fired just over the bar.
Belper finished the first half strong and Mark Latham had to be alert to keep the ball out during a goalmouth scramble.
Half time ... goalless.
With the temperature dropping rapidly, the second half was far more cagey from the outset.
But the incident counter soon picked up pace again, especially in the last twenty minutes.Bobby Johnson laid an inch perfect pass for Kev Shelley to run on to but the linesman's flag put paid to that effort as the Harworth striker lined up his shot.
At the other end, Belper's Richard Clarke air kicked with the goal at his mercy and Mark Latham gratefully gathered the ball.
Belper had a few good efforts during the next few minutes, Jamie Wilde saw his header from a right wing cross well saved and then Mark Latham held onto Richard Clarke's free kick from the edge of the box.
With 15 minutes remaining, you could hear the unmistakable sound of studs rattling on the hardening pitch, reminding us that the weather forecasters have been predicting the worse over the next few days.Louis Reed sprayed a pass out to Sides on the right wing, who's pinpoint cross found Kev Shelley, but his header was inches wide of the left hand upright.
We began to joke about how cold it was going to be when extra time arrived, while secretly wishing somebody, anybody! Would score a solitary goal to spare us the extra half an hour of seasonal January weather.
On 80 minutes, Reed ran into the goal area as Jablonski charged off his line, the Belper keeper's momentum skittled the Harworth captain and a penalty was awarded.
The visitors bench and their followers were incensed, but if the incident had happened at the other end, they would happily have accepted the decision with good grace.
Likewise, if the roles were reversed, Harworth would've felt it was a soft penalty and a harsh call too.
However, the keeper took the man, not the ball, end of.
It didn't help matters that the referee was having such a poor game tonight.
Either way, Sides despatched the spot kick.
Advantage Harworth.
With the clock ticking down, Jordan Pickering put a right wing corner into the path of Bobby Johnson, but the Belper defence charged down his shot.The visitors threw everybody forward looking for a late equaliser ... but Louis Reed cleared his lines, sent Bobby Johnson on an upfield run and with Jablonski well off his line, having gone upfield to help out with in attack, Bobby decided to aim for the open goal from 45 yards out.
His shot, agonisingly, hit the foot of the post and bounced back into play.
But all the drama was at the other end of the pitch.
Before Reed had cleared his lines the ball did appear to bounce up and hit him on the hand.
It didn't look like a deliberate offence, but it changed the momentum of the ball and made controlling the pass to Johnson a whole lot easier.
I think it was on the ref's blind side, which is the only reason I can think of why he didn't give United a last minute penalty.
For the record, I would've given one ... and I wanted Harworth to win.
A Belper fan stood near us, who had complained about absolutely everything from the word go, almost went into meltdown at this point.
Chill out pal, it's only a game ;-)
Amidst the ensuing shouting, finger-pointing and histrionics, hardly anybody noticed that Mark Latham saved a late effort from Karl Payne to preserve Harworth's lead and see them through to the next round, for the first time since the year dot.
Full time 1-0.
It's a shame that those of you who left early, missed all the drama at the end :-P
That's what you get for wearing a St. Mirren hat to games!
Referee mark out of 10 ... 4, he stepped in at short notice, credit to him for that ... and he was presentable. But apart from that, by and large he missed a few important things over the course of the game and didn't impress anybody tonight.
I realise it's a thankless task being a CMFL referee and I don't envy a single one of the officials in this league, but I'm just being honest and calling things as I saw them.
Please note, that the 4/10 is my own mark, I'm not officially involved with either team.

Stamford AFC 3 v Sutton Coldfield Town 2 - Evo-Stik NPL - First Division South

2012-01-28T18:09:00.000Z

Saturday 28th January 2012, at the Premier Kitchens' Arena
Evo-Stik Northern Premier League - First Division South
Stamford AFC (1) 3
Bruno Holden 30, 76, 78
Sutton Coldfield Town (1) 2
Mark Bellingham 32, Joel Fuller 67
Admission £8, Programme £1.80, Attendance 184
In which 5th placed Stamford AFC, entertained the Royals of Sutton Coldfield Town, who were 6th in the table and 2 points behind the Daniels prior to kick off.

Left click image for larger view

Stamford AFC get their nickname 'the Daniels', from Daniel Lambert, who it is claimed, is the fattest man in British history (they haven't measured me yet though).
He died in Stamford and is buried in St Martins churchyard which is close to the ground.

Daniel Lambert 1770-1809

You might choose to believe that I'm making all of this up, much the same as all the other fiction you read on THE66POW, but it's on Wikipedia, so it must be true ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lambert
If anybody knows which local tailor he used, I'm on the lookout for a new pair of trousers for best.

On the subject of 'Big Dan', a reputable internet source states:
In 1809, suddenly while on tour in Stamford, aged thirty-nine, with of a waist measurement of 9 feet, 4 inches, and weighing 739 pounds, Lambert died of an unknown cause.
The wall of the inn where he was residing had to be dismantled to allow his body to be removed for burial.
His coffin had to be supported on wheels and it took twenty men to lower it down a ramp to the grave.
So now you know!

St. Martins in the background, one of many churches on the Stamford horizon

"Two shit teams!"
Not my post match assessment, but the 'appraisal' of a Stamford AFC regular I was talking to as we left the ground.
It would be fair to say, two evenly matched sides cancelled each other out all over the pitch for the majority of the first seventy minutes, which was akin to watching a slow (very slow) moving, strategic game of chess.
But it burst into life on 67 minutes, when Joel Fuller wound Stamford's centre forward Bruno Holden up, by putting the visitors 2-1 ahead.I see a lot of Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, Premier Division teams in action ... and in all honesty, I can't see either of these two play off contenders causing many ripples in the next tier up, if they win promotion at the end of this season.
But, going by his performance today, Bruno Holden is definitely capable of making the step up.
I'll hold my fire at this juncture however, because it wouldn't be right to judge Stamford or Sutton Coldfield Town on the strength of having watched just one game they've played in this season.
In fairness, Nathan Watson and Danny Brooks both put in decent shifts for the home side too.
Today's victory consolidated 5th place (the last play off berth), for Stamford.
Hucknall Town and Loughborough Dynamo both leap frogged over Sutton Coldfield in the table, who dropped to 8th, with Leek Town snapping at their heels, 2 points adrift in 9th, but with 4 games in hand.
The Daniels were in front after half an hour, when some neat passing play down the left flank released Holden, who opened the scoring from 12 yards out.
The Royals attacked from the restart and pretty soon they were lining up a direct free kick just outside the Stamford area.
Mark Bellingham made no mistake and he planted the ball just inside the left hand post beyond the reach of the Daniels keeper Ross Whalin's reach.
An onlooker on the terrace cruelly shouted out to Whalin: "You would've caught that if it was a pie!"
Have you noticed how the sort of people who indulge in this kind of 'wit' are usually several pounds heavier than the victims of their verbal brickbats?

Ross Whaling ... Whoops! I mean Whalin

A bit of a stalemate ensued either side of half time and I was really glad of the company of a couple of good mates I was at the game with, to help break the tedium.
Clear cut chances were at a premium and this cagey, uneventful game seemed to be teetering slowly (painfully slowly), but surely towards a draw.
In the 67th minute, Stamford failed to deal with a speculative high ball into their box ...... and moments later Joel Fuller was charging away celebrating his final touch, which had put the visitors back in front.
While the Stamford back line argued amongst themselves about who was at fault.

Thankfully for the home fans - who I have to say were a friendly and welcoming bunch, with one or two oddities thrown in for good measure (you expect that kind of thing when Daz Bailey is around) - Sutton Coldfield's second goal, acted as a wake up call and Stamford sprang into life.
On 76 minutes, a 30 yard shot from Luke Garton cannoned back into play off of the Royals crossbar, the ball fell into the path of Bruno Holden, who buried the equaliser past Niall Cooper.

You have a good pick mate, nobody is watching :-O

Almost immediately, Stamford regained possession and were on the attack again.
Matthew Isamene and Scott Mooney combined well on the right hand side of the box and found Bruno Holden in space.
The Daniels number 9 gratefully completed his hat trick.
Obviously Bruno Holden was in a confident mood today. Prior to the game he had commented on Twitter: "On way to football ... Fancy a few goals today ...!!"

Until the final 20 minutes or so, the game had been a turgid affair, bereft of much incident worthy of note, but it finished on a high note.
Inside the last five minutes, the impressive Danny Brooks fired narrowly wide and bruised the side netting of Cooper's goal.
Though Stamford had (possibly) shaded a fairly evenly balanced and at times rather dull game, by upping their game towards the end, they didn't really merit more than the narrowest margin of victory ... and so it proved to be.
Final score: Stamford AFC 3 Sutton Coldfield Town 2.

Bend it like Brooks

I'll be taking in some more action in this division soon.
Hopefully, today was just a one off and isn't typical of the standard that is the norm in the First Division South at present.
Next up:
Harworth Colliery Institute (first team) Tuesday and Retford United (Under 19's) Wednesday, both weather permitting.

Luton Town 0 v Mansfield Town 0 - BSBP

2012-01-25T23:24:00.018Z

Wednesday 25th January 2012, at Kenilworth Road
Blue Square Bet Premier
Luton Town 0
Mansfield Town 0
Admission £18, Programme £3,
Attendance 5,261 inc. 111 in away end

Luton Town:
K Pilkington, Gleeson, Taylor, G Pilkington, Howells, Kovacs, Lawless, Watkins, Morgan-Smith (Fleetwood 57mins), Crow (9 McAllister 67mins), O'Connor
Unused Subs - Tyler, Dance, Poku
Mansfield Town:
Marriott, Riley, O'Neill, Sutton, Dempster, Murray, Roberts, Green, Dyer, Smith (Meikle 76mins), Hutchinson (Briscoe 82mins)

Unused subs - Redmond, Worthington, Howell

Quote from the Luton Town website report:

Two goal-line clearances from skipper George Pilkington earned the Town a point in front of the live television cameras.

The Hatters captain came to his side's rescue in each half: firstly heading Adam Smith's effort off the line on 10 minutes before brilliantly stretching to hack Matt Green's header off the line with just five minutes left.

The rest is all my own incoherent rambling.
Don't say you weren't warned.
Following the Stags unconvincing win against lowly Hayes and Yeading on Saturday, I said that some of the players 'will have to do better than that at Kenilworth Road on Wednesday'.

Well folks, although the BSBP draw specialists didn't win, I'm happy to report that they upped their game no end and were easily the equal, at least, of their highly fancied 'famous' hosts tonight.

Sure, the Hatters had their moments and Alan Marriott in the visitors goal was sporadically busy, but the Stags worked hard together as a unit, throughout the whole spine of the team, all night ... and it was very uplifting to watch first hand.
I personally believe that Paul Cox is definitely, 100% definitely, the right man to manage Mansfield Town, they've had a bit of a wobble of late, but look to be back on track and building for the future again.
They've now gone five games unbeaten again, the problem is, there have been too many bloody draws along the way, all season.

Luton, the town itself, gets a lot of bad press and is saddled with the reputation of not being a very desirable place to live.
I don't think I'm being too unkind when I say it isn't aesthetically charming in any way, shape or form, whatsoever.
Though, to be fair, the same could be said for the majority of towns I travel to in pursuit of football's holy grail.

But, since my son opted to go to Bedfordshire University this last year, I've seen quite a lot of the 'off the beaten track' attractions that this seat of learning has to offer in recent times and have reassessed my overall impression of Luton as a consequence.
But not necessarily for the better.

In conclusion, I must say, my favourite local feature, is probably the A6 northbound, which is the quickest escape route I've found out of Luton up to now, that leads towards the A1 and my own horrible council estate home.
If anybody has any faster suggestions for getting out of this ugly runt of a place, then I'm keen, nee desperate, to hear from them.
Both sides had early opportunities to take the lead.
Janos Kovacs hit the Stags crossbar and Mansfield came even closer when their former keeper Kevin Pilkington, for old times sake maybe, had a rush of blood to the head and charged out of his box in an effort to break down an attacking move ... Matt Green calmly knocked the ball to Adam Smith in space and his shot was on it's way over the line until the other Pilkington, Luton's captain George, ran backwards and headed the ball from under the bar.

The game ebbed and flowed both ways and the longer that the home side struggled the take the initiative, the more Paul Cox's side grew in stature and confidence.

Right on half time, Kovacs headed over the Stags bar. In doing so he had collided with Alan Marriott.
Thankfully, after a stoppage while the visitors keeper received treatment, he was able to carry on.

As the second half commenced, Gary Brabin, the Luton manager, had obviously given his side an half time bollocking and they came out all guns blazing.
But Mansfield absorbed the pressure, saw a few good chances come to nothing and began to assert themselves on the game more and more.

From various conversations over the course of the afternoon and evening ... we had commenced socialising in the White House, a Wetherspoons pub in Luton Town centre at 2pm ... it was apparent, that a good few Hatters fans aren't especially fond of Brabin, despite the fact that they are sitting third in the BSBP table and have progressed to the 3rd round of the FA Trophy, when they beat Hinckley United 3-0 in a replay on Monday.

'Pilko' ... Ex Stags and current Hatters keeper

Adam Smith came close again for the Stags, then in the final five minutes Matt Green beat Pilkington (K) in the air and with the ball heading goal bound and three points seemingly en route up the M1 with the Mansfield Town team, Pilkington (G) acrobatically hooked the ball away as it was going over the line.
I'm not convinced it wasn't over the line when the Luton skipper pulled off his second rescue act of the night, but to be honest I'm too biased to call it either way.
The Stags fans directly behind the goal were better placed to see it than me and they were in uproar towards the referee's assistant.
I suspect they are just as biased as me though.

Luton weren't unduly fussed by the - i) travesty of justice, ii) accurate call by the linesman*, (delete as apt, depending on whether you were blatantly wronged and stood in the away end, or spawny and grateful your team were riding their damn good luck elsewhere in the rest of the ground) and they surged up the field.
A late strike from Luton would've been a bitter blow for the Stags in light of what had just happened, but Marriott comfortably saved Dan Gleeson's shot from the edge of the box and the spoils were shared.

Green's goal didn't stand and inconclusive evidence aside, the draw was probably a fair result.

It needs to be said ... there were many positives to be drawn from the Stags effort, commitment to the cause and cohesion tonight.

Paul Cox picked exactly the right team for the job and played exactly the right tactics tonight.

And odd though it may seem, I felt better about tonight's draw as I left the ground, than I had about the smash and grab raid of three points against Hayes & Yeading ... I'm sure anybody else who attended both games will understand where I'm coming from.

The Oak Road Stand - it's nearly in that bathroom

Next up ... having a couple of nights off from football, because looking through the fixtures I can't find anything appealing.
Then I'm throwing a pair of dice to determine where I'm heading off to at the weekend, the options are infinite.
Though one of: Ebsfleet United, Gainsborough Trinity, Hall Road Rangers, Easington United, Stamford, Chorley or Rainworth MW v Mansfield Town XI (£3 admission) seems most likely.
For all you free-loaders out there, take note, it's ex-gratis admission day at Stocksbridge Park Steels v North Ferriby United in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League on Saturday 28th January.

Frickley Athletic U19 3 v Appleby Frodingham U19 1 - Northern U19 Alliance

2012-01-23T21:58:00.001Z

Monday 23rd January 2012
at the Tech5 Stadium, Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Northern Under 19 Alliance
Frickley Athletic (1) 3
Matt Cunliffe, Brett Souter, Nick Guest
Appleby Frodingham (1) 1
Jake Parker
Admission £2, Attendance 45 (or so)
In which Frickley came back from being a goal down, to record a fairly comfortable home win that cements their place at the top of the table.
29 minutes into the game, a speculative free kick into the box, dropped nicely into the path of Appleby Frodingham's Jake Parker ... and he finished well from 10 yards out.
A frustrated Blues side, must have felt aggrieved about going behind, given that they'd had most of the game and several clear cut chances before the visitors scored.
But 6 minutes after Parker's strike, they were back on level terms, when Matt Cuncliffe found the narrowest of gaps just inside the left hand post and equalised via the outstretched hand of Callum Cutillo in the Appleby 'Frod' goal.

Half time 1-1

Four minutes after the break, Brett Souter got up at the back post and powered home a header from a free kick out on the left wing, which was taken by, err ... somebody who was obscured by that bloody great pillar that helps to hold the Tech 5 Stadium roof up!
Then on 55 minutes, Nick Guest broke free down the right hand channel, persevered with his run into the box despite some close attention, held off the challenge of a chasing defender and slotted home Frickley's third goal of the night.
With a little more polished finishing the home side could've chalked up a greater margin of victory, but in the end they won it at a canter.
Frickley U19's next scheduled fixture is on Thursday 9th February against Brodsworth Welfare AFC, at Westfield Lane. This fixture has been moved back from Monday 6th, to protect the pitch for the visit of FC United of Manchester to the Tech5 Stadium on Tuesday 7th February in the Doodson Sports League Cup.
Thanks to the FAFC U19 manager Alan Semley for clarifying a couple of things for me after this dumb ass blogger mislaid his notebook ... D'oh!

Mansfield Town 3 v Hayes & Yeading United 2 - BSBP

2012-01-21T17:33:00.014Z

Saturday 21st January 2012, at Field Mill
Blue Square Bet Premier
Mansfield Town (1) 3
Ross Dyer 38, Matt Green 67, Ben Hutchinson 90 pen
Hayes & Yeading (1) 2
Julian Owusu 31, Louis Soares 55
Admission £15, Programme £3
Attendance 1872 (inc. 26 visiting supporters)
Mansfield Town:
1 Marriott, 3 Kendrick, 16 O'Neill, 17 Sutton, 31 Dempster,
11 Murray, 35 Roberts (Howell 90+3mins), 10 Green, 15 Dyer (Hutchinson 63mins), 19 Smith, 24 Meikle (7 Briscoe 79mins)
Unused Subs - 23 Redmond, 6 Riley
Hayes & Yeading United:
40 Pentney, 3 Moutaouakil, 4 Hand, 5 Cadmore, 18 Pele (not *that* one, obviously!), 38 Rose (27 Collins 46mins), 7 Soares,
20 Lee (25 Ajala 75mins), 6 Owusu (33 Bassele 83mins),
11 Wishart, 39 Walsh
Unused Subs - 31 Beasant, 26 Legg

200 blue West Stand lower tier seats, have gone missing

Driving away from Field Mill, I heard people talking on the car radio, about a 'thrilling' match between Mansfield and Hayes & Yeading.
Hmm, I'd been to the Stags game too, but though I would concede the game had elements of drama about it, given that they had come from behind twice and won the game with a penalty kick in the final minute, the actual quality of the spectacle I had just witnessed wasn't exactly what I would have called 'thrilling'.
Granted, the north wind howling down the pitch, which still chilled me to the bone up at the very back of the Quarry Lane End, made controlled passing football and aesthetically pleasing geometrical movement, nigh on impossible ... but Mansfield made bloody hard work of beating their relegation threatened visitors.

Luke O'Neill steps up ...
and hits this free kick so hard it smashed a seat to pieces in the Quarry Lane End

I'm delighted that in spite of all of the above, Paul Cox's team still won ... after all 'I AM A MANSFIELD TOWN SUPPORTER' and I was up out of my seat, punching the air and cheering the winning goal as much as anybody else.

But let's put the record straight here ... that heartfelt rejoicing, was as much of an outpouring of relief as it was a triumphant celebration.

This was an ugly, horses for courses win.
And though quite possibly, the Stags were even the better side for the last fifteen minutes or so, in no way, shape or form were they 'thrilling'.

Three points is three points though.
But I can't help feeling, that a point apiece would've been a fairer outcome.

Hayes and Yeading for their part, have some big, strong players, but they aren't an overly physical or long ball team and those guys can obviously knock the ball around on the deck.
They took the lead on 31 minutes from what was possibly their first attack of the game, when Jamie Hand found Julian Osuwu with a powerfully struck low cross which evaded the Stags defence and gave the visitors number 6 a close range chance to tap home.

Before then, the Stags had created several chances but they had been completely void of any bite in front of goal.

Ross Dyer fired home an equaliser from the edge of the box after Matt Green had set him up from a Gary Roberts free kick.

Carl Pentney then pulled off a great save from a Gary Roberts free kick, before Roberts cleared a Dwane Lee header off the line at the other end.

After the interval, the Middlesex side were back in front when Louis Soares fired home from the edge of the box, sans any defensive attention and in yards of space.

Pentney pulled off another excellent save from Joe Kendrick, but was beaten on 67 minutes by Matt Green after Adam Smith's persistence and refusal to give up chasing the ball had created the chance for him.
Welcome back from your loan spell at Aldershot Town Adam, good work ;-)

Mansfield, attacking the North Stand, picked up a bit of momentum towards the end of the game and actually put a few passes together, but the visitors still gave them a couple of scares and even hit the post on 72 minutes when Tom Cadmore almost put them back in front.
Just when it looked like a 2-2 draw was on the cards, Daniel Wishart brought Gary Roberts down in the visitors penalty area in the very last minute.
And the Stags recent signing Ben Hutchinson, put away the resulting spot kick to give Mansfield a much needed (but no frills) victory.

I don't want to sound too critical, because in the end Mansfield Town won.
The conditions dominated proceedings this afternoon and in truth it wasn't a very good game to watch.
In fairness Hayes & Yeading United, they can justifiably feel unlucky to have lost right at the end.
But even though they probably deserved a point, that's the way it goes sometimes.

The saving grace of the game, through my 'desperate to find something positive to say about the Stags' biased eyes, was the tireless running, passing and work rate of Gary Roberts and his captain Adam Murray in midfield.
A few other players, I'm not naming names, they'll know who they are, will have to do better than that at Kenilworth Road on Wednesday.
A lot better.

A scrappy win on a horrible afternoon, but they all count.
It wasn't 'thrilling' though.

Luton Town have an FA Trophy replay against Hinckley United on Monday night.
Hopefully it will be played in strength sapping, hideous weather conditions and go to extra time and loads of penalties, so the Hatters are well and truly knackered before Wednesday night.
Are the Stags out of the running for a place in the play offs?
Not mathematically, so lets not get too despondent about a lacklustre performance this afternoon, even though if we're being honest, we know they rode their luck a bit.
All aboard for Kenilworth Road ... COME - ON - YOU - STAGS!!!

It only takes a camera to change his mind

Baris NCEL Easter weekend groundhop fixture details

2012-01-19T23:22:00.001Z

Baris NCEL Easter weekend groundhop fixture details:

THURSDAY 5TH APRIL, 2012
7.45pm - D1 - Yorkshire Amateur v Hemsworth Miners Welfare (was 9th Apr)
FRIDAY 6TH APRIL, 2012
10.45am - D1 - Eccleshill United v Dinnington Town (was 21st Apr)
1.45pm - Prem - Thackley v Long Eaton United (was 3rd Mar)
4.45pm - Prem - Liversedge v Arnold Town (was 7th Apr)
7.45pm - Prem - Brighouse Town v Barton Town Old Boys (was 17th Mar)
SATURDAY 7TH APRIL, 2012
10.30am - Prem - Maltby Main v Parkgate
1.30pm - Prem - Staveley Miners Welfare v Pickering Town
4.45pm - D1 - Hallam v Teversal (was 10th Mar)
7.45pm - D1 - Worsborough Bridge Athletic v Rossington Main

Sheffield Wednesday Women 0 v Lincoln Ladies 7 - Friendly

2012-01-19T21:48:00.010Z

Thursday 19th January 2012, at Cannon Park
Friendly
Sheffield Wednesday Women (0) 0
Lincoln Ladies (4) 7
Admission Free

Sheffield Wednesday:
Maslin, Balmond, Hunt, Nutter(c), Birtles, Robinson, Barker, Scott, Tait, Baxby, Naylor
Subs - Windle, Smith.
Lincoln:
Hobbs, Barker, Daly, Stoney(c), Staniforth, Walton, Clarke, Hamilton, Allen, Cantrell, A.Trialist Subs - Bradley, Horwood, M.Harris,
The gulf in class between these two sides, as the scoreline suggests, was massive.
Wednesday have a good side, with two or three stand out players.
Super League side Lincoln, on the other hand, have players of exceptional quality throughout their entire squad, in every department.
Tonight's game was a complete mismatch ... women against girls if I may indulge myself in a little cliché tweaking.
It would be fair to say, that one of my friends who had gone to Cannon Park with me tonight, i) hates Sheffield Wednesday with a passion (though that doesn't unduly concern me, I'm not exactly fond of that particular club myself either), ii) has a cynical attitude towards the women's game in general, iii) displays severe misogynist leanings at times.But even he, the original olde worlde male chauvinist pig, said to me after the game "Fair play, you were right and I'd go out of my way t see Lincoln play again, they're quality!"
Which kind of cancelled out his pre match "Butch dykes, kicking lumps out of each other" dismissal of what he was expecting before he'd even seen a ball kicked.
His words, not mine, I hasten to add.
Lincoln Ladies, unlike their useless male counterparts from Sincil Bank, pass the ball around as sweetly and neatly as any team I've seen play all season.They attack at speed and in numbers, work tirelessly for each other off the ball, use the whole width of the pitch to good effect ... and if the Owls keeper hadn't been one of their better players, then never mind a seven goal hiding, tonight the Imps could've racked up an even greater score.
Superlatives abound, but I make no apologies for that ... any praise, regardless of whether is sounds OTT or not, is wholly justified.
There isn't a single player who wore the all blue kit of Lincoln tonight, who didn't look 100% comfortable on the ball, or who couldn't make time and space for themselves to out-manoeuvre their opposite number, throughout the team, from back to front.The Owls, for the most part, were chasing shadows and making up the numbers tonight.
There was a spell in the second half when Lincoln were toying with the Sheffield side and walking rings around them ... and I mean literally at walking pace.
I've seen this Wednesday side before, like I've already said, they're a good team.
But, they'll have to take stock of Lincoln's dominance and accept they've been given a bit of footballing lesson over the course of the 90 minutes.
It will have been a steep learning curve, but tonight's visitors - the Owls use Cannon Park as their base this season - have set the benchmark for the standard to which the Wednesday Women's side must aspire to if they want to move up a grade.
Go and take a look for yourself if you don't believe me.

England internationals playing at Cannon Park, Retford, tonight

2012-01-19T08:57:00.002Z

Jess Clark

Tonight at Retford United FC, Cannon Park, Leverton Road, Retford, Notts, DN22 6QF ...
Sheffield Wednesday Womens FC take on Lincoln Ladies in a game that kicks off at 8pm.
Admission is free, bar open, food available etc.

While the male Imps of Lincoln continue to disgrace the once proud red and white stripes of Lincoln City, the ladies go from strength to strength and tonight they have named three current England internationals: Jess Clarke, Casey Stoney and Sophie Bradley in their line up.

Brett and Graham in action

Also at Cannon Park tonight, starting at 7.30pm, Retford United FC are holding a 'meet the management' event where the Badgers manager Brett Marshall and his assistant Graham Walker will be in attendance along with members of the playing staff, to answer questions from the supporters.If women's football isn't your thing ... and you're not into rubbing shoulders with local football's 'Glitterati', also tonight:
There is a general knowledge quiz night being held in the Pavilion at Harworth Colliery Institute FC, Scrooby Road, Bircotes, Notts, DN11 8AD.
Entrance fee £2 per person which includes food ... prizes available and there's Bingo afterwards.

Woo hoo! Don't ever say Bassetlaw isn't a rocking place to live EVERY single night of the week :-)

Yorkshire Main 3 v Harworth Colliery Institute 3 - Yorkshire Main won on penalties - CMFL Floodlit Cup North

2012-01-18T23:09:00.003Z

Wednesday 18th January 2012, at Edlington Lane
Central Midlands Football League Phoenix Trophies Floodlit Cup North
Yorkshire Main (1) 3
Osborne pen, Cooper or Latham OG???, Hinsley
Harworth Colliery Institute (1) 3
Nugent, Edwards, Stuart
Score after extra time 3-3
Yorkshire Main won 5-4 on penalties
Admission £3 inc. programme Attendance 'fluctuated'

Kick off 7.45pm match winning penalty scored at 10.31pmCup tie football at it's primitive best, incorporating a crisp January night and a heavy pitch.
Yorkshire Main drew first blood - and there was quite a lot of blood drawn tonight, all in the name of sport and honest endeavour you understand - when Leon Osborne fired Main in front from a 7th minute penalty.
Rumour has it that Mansfield Town have been monitoring Osborne's performances.
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if several other teams were watching him too, because with the ball at his feet he's a class act, who could definitely do a job at a much higher level of football's pecking order than the CMFL.

Yorkshire Main - all red, black trim

Harworth were level within four minutes when Mike Nugent thumped the ball home right footed from 25 yards out.
Jordan Pickering came close to adding to Harworth's total when he fired narrowly wide.
Jordan is one of two Retford United Under 19's players who was turning out for Harworth tonight as part of his development, Bobby Johnson being the other.
Neither of them seemed unduly phased by the physical side and pace of the CMFL and passed a tough test tonight, against one of the better sides in the league, with flying colours.
Alistair Plant will do just as well if and when he's called on too.
It's a good link up, which the two neighbouring Bassetlaw clubs both stand to benefit from.

Harworth CI - orange shirt and socks, black shorts

Following a 'heavy challenge' cum '50/50 ball' incident (depending on which bench you were on), halfway through the first half, Harworth's Craig Anderson had to go for several stitches in a nasty gash on his leg, after he was 'caught' just above his knee.
His club secretary took him to Doncaster Hospital and that really nice Rob bloke who does that 66pow blog, took over keeping times and names for the visitors until Simon returned ... so any inaccuracies are all my own work.
Leon Osborne fired narrowly wide with Mark Latham at full stretch, John Morgan pulled the ball right of the visitors goal after cutting in from the left and Ryan Evans had his shot smothered on the line by the Harworth keeper as the Edlington side pushed forward.
At the other end, Jordan Pickering had a goal bound free kick headed off the line right on the stroke of half time.

Harworth launched the first attack of the second half, but Jordan Pickering, having done the hard part of getting into the box and working himself an angle to shoot from, put the ball high and wide of the mark.
Michael Sides hit the ball straight at Mark Latham when he was clean through, then shortly afterwards Lee Isaac looked odds on to score when he sprang the offside trap and homed in on the Harworth goal, but he miscued his shot and put his effort well wide.
Kev Shelley found himself in a great position in front of the Main goal, but just as he cued up his shot, John Tunney managed to get in a last ditch tackle.
On the hour (I know I often sat that, but this one was genuinely smack on 60 minutes), Luke Edwards fired Harworth ahead from the right hand side of the box.

And on 73 minutes, James Stuart put Harworth even further in front with a quality strike from 30 yards out and ran away to celebrate with the big white rabbit that was following him all over the pitch.
Yorkshire Main looked broken and beaten, but then Mr Jinx, the Harworth secretary, returned from the hospital and the home side clawed their way back into the game with two late goals, the second of which was scored just as the referee was about to blow the final whistle.
In the late exchanges it was sad to see Leon Osborne having to limp off the field unable to carry on, but in the absence of their best player, Main pulled the score back to 2-3 amidst an Alamo type scramble where either Mark Cooper or the visitors keeper Mark Latham got the final decisive touch to the ball and then pulled level with the last kick of the 90(+) minutes through Luke Hinsley.
Though the timing was fortunate the finish was excellent.Extra time was punctuated with players dropping like flies with cramp.
An eminent sports scientist in our midst told me that cramp is caused due to a lack of hydration and fluids, fascinating stuff, eh!? ;-)
Bobby Johnson wrong footed three Yorkshire Main players in the middle of the park to create a chance for Harworth, it was great to watch, a moment of brilliance, but I fear that there are some defenders in this league who would've taken offence at being shown up like that ... and though I'd never want to see Bobby lose that aspect of his game, he would do well to get some extra padding around his ankles, just in case a slightly less talented opponent ever went out looking to bring him down a peg or two.
On 90 minutes, before extra time kicked off, a few of the crowd left and went home ... there is one school of thought that says they must've thought it was a league game that had finished at three apiece and a less generous one that suggested they probably had 10pm curfew restrictions to adhere to.
Whatever their reason for going was, I feel compelled to say, those 'Edlo' lads are no bother to anyone, their presence at Yorkshire Main makes for a lively but often amusing atmosphere and they're all friendly and good natured.

Kev Shelley spots up the first penalty kick

30 extra minutes failed to separate the two teams and the game went to a penalty shoot out decider.
With both sides having put away their first three penalties successfully, Harworth's captain Martyn Gee stepped up and put his attempt over the cross bar.
At four apiece, Dave Tracey was entrusted with the final kick that would put Yorkshire Main through and he made no mistake.
An agonising way for Harworth to lose, but there was still plenty of handshakes and back slapping between the two teams after the game.
It had been a bit feisty at times and no place for the faint hearted, with a few strong challenges flying in, but afterwards it was all forgotten about.
I think it's time that the FA forgot about the mandatory pre match handshake and made teams line up and get together after games instead.
Finally a word about the referee tonight ... shocking!
Everybody has an off night every so often ... and at least Mr Kiecz was consistently shocking both ways.
I've definitely seen him handle games better than he did this one ... err, that's all!

Penalty shoot out

It was sad to hear that at the Harworth Under 19's Mini Shield game at Scrooby Road tonight, Dinnington Town's Rob Fenton had turned awkwardly and badly broken his leg.
Hope you aren't as badly hurt as it first seems Rob and that your recovery time isn't anywhere near as long as is being initially suggested.
For the record, after a break in play while Rob received treatment and was taken away to hospital, Dinnington went on to win the game 8-2.
GET WELL SOON ROB!

Frickley Athletic 2 v Chorley 1 - Evo-Stik Northern Premier Division (reprise)

2012-01-14T17:46:00.005Z

Saturday 14th January 2012

at Tech5 Stadium, Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Frickley Athletic (0) 2
Stuart Ludlam 75, James Ashmore 80 pen
Chorley (1) 1
Ben Turner 41 OG
Admission £8, Programme £1.50, Attendance 260
Frickley Athletic:
Steve Dickinson, Kelvin Bleau, Ben Turner, Danny Walsh, Lincoln Adams, Stuart Ludlam, Grant Darley, James Ashmore, Brad Grayson, Ollie Ryan, Ryan Mallon (Lee Whittington 15 mins (Danny South 73 mins))
Unused subs. David Cyrus, Jon Hood
Chorley:
Russ Saunders, Ali Brown, Andy Russell, Andy Teague, Wayne Maden, Jamie Vermiglio (Matt Walwyn 85 mins), Adam Roscoe, Steve Flitcroft, Chris Denham, Steve Foster (John Cunliffe 62 mins), Tom Ince.
Unused subs. Mark Ross, Jordan Bowen, Ahmadi Proya

I met up with Chorley director John Gibbons in the 'Big Fellas Social Club' before the game, who was the instructor on a course I took recently, in conjunction with my job ... and a damn good one at that.
Good to see you again Gibbo!
Thanks for the invitation to Victory Park later in the season, be careful what you wish for, I might turn up ;-)

Oh heck!
My third Frickley game in 6 days (inc. the Under 19's) and they've won them all.
But, I am NOT a Frickley Athletic supporter ... no, honestly!
However, whenever I tell my friends that, all they say is "Who are you kidding, us or yourself?"
OK, today, even though there was a shortage of games in my locality due to a ground frost, I would've gone to Westfield Lane anyway, to see if the Blues could carry on where they left off at Matlock on Wednesday.
Which they did.

And today's starting line up was unchanged from the one that took to the field at Causeway Lane too.

Lee Whittington (top left) made his Frickley debut as a sub, coming as a 15th

minute sub after Chorley's right back had put Ryan Mallon out of the action

The Under 19's also won on Thursday, but I'd already told the blond Beelzebub that I would go to the pictures with her that night, so I had to miss out ... a real Frickley fan wouldn't have missed a game like that to watch a film about an evil old dictator, portrayed by Meryl Streep.
Some say that the 'Iron Lady' is a rather cruel take on the later years of the ex Tory prime minister's life, but I disagree ... it is nowhere near savage enough.
But anyway my point is - and surely the above evidence proves this ... I am NOT a Frickley Athletic supporter.
Comprehend!?
I'm ignoring the text message I just received that said "Stop living in denial and get yersen' a blue and white scarf fatso", because I don't need one.*
A few weeks ago on this self indulgent bullshit blog, I wrote: "Frickley usually raise their game and play well against better teams, but when they're up against poor or bog standard sides, they do, on occasion, seem to get dragged down to their level."
Today they demonstrated what I was getting at, particularly in the second half, when their fighting attributes, combined with the backing of the home support, created a cup tie atmosphere.
The first 45 minutes was a cagey affair, with the midfield flooded with players and very little in the way of clear cut goalmouth chances at either end.
Steve Dickinson tipped a header from Chorley's Andy Teague over the bar, as the visitors forced a string of corners, but in the main the Blues keeper was seldom really threatened.
One thoroughly researched and well written blog I often read, dedicated to Chorley FC, see here: http://redcardreco.blogspot.com/2012/01/frickley-v-chorley-preview.html had predicted another gubbing for the South Elmsall side today, similar to the 6-0 result when the sides last met at Victory Park back in August.
But it's stand up and be counted time at Frickley Athletic right now and it was evident right from the outset, that they weren't going to roll over and die for anybody today.
One could say the first half wasn't very entertaining, you could counter that by saying, if you give a team like Chorley the room to manoeuvre, they will pull you all over and give you the run-around.
But close them down, frustrate them and front them up, toe to toe, all the over the park and keep up the ante ... and well, they're beatable.
It looked as if the game was going to be goalless at half time and then Frickley could take advantage of the 'natural gradient' of the pitch in the second half, to apply pressure on the visitors goal.
But on 41 minutes, Tom Ince shot at Dickinson's goal from the edge of the box.
It was going wide, but Ben Turner, making sure it wasn't going to creep in, stuck out his foot to block the effort and diverted the ball just inside the post for an own goal.

This Frickley side never make things easy for themselves do they!?After the break, it was gloves off and into the fray time.
Frickley are fighting for their Premier Division status and the highly rated visitors knew they had been in a scrap by the time 90 minutes were up.
The home crowd could sense that their team were giving it their all and got behind them.
I think it would be fair to say that the Westfield Lane faithful aren't renowned for being shy about letting anyone know if they think they're putting a shift in or not.
Chances went begging and Russ Saunders in the Chorley goal was suddenly in the thick of it.
Granted, it was more 'gung ho' and determination than finesse and tippy tappy football at times, but it was effective and the visitors were now under the cosh.
Football 'purists' watch multi million pound fancy dans poncing around on SKY TV. Fans of real football, of the no holds barred, cut and thrust variety, head to arenas like the Tech5 Stadium on cold Saturday afternoon's to get their kicks.
I know which I prefer.

Five in attack!? Now, that's cavalier!

On 75 minutes, Frickley finally got the breakthrough their efforts warranted, when Stuart Ludlam thumped home a header from a corner out on the left ... and five minutes later Jamie Vermilglio impeded Ollie Ryan as he ran in on goal and the referee awarded a penalty, which James Ashmore placed just inside the post, into exactly the same spot that Ben Turner had found on 41 minutes, to be precise.
Note at this juncture, all you vocabulary nit pickers ... In football parlance, one can thump the ball with one's forehead (and outfield players are forbidden from using their hands anyway), therefore that wasnae' a grammatical faux pas, so shurrup!

It was all over now, bar Steve Dickinson having to deal with a Tom Ince free kick right at the end.
I was quite excited when I saw Tom Ince's name on the team sheet, because I thought (God knows why, eh!?) that it was the same Tom Ince who had excelled for Blackpool on last week's Match of the Day (ITV variant), the son of the ex England midfield powerhouse Paul Ince.
Alas, as the picture below shows, this Tom Ince looks nothing like that Tom Ince.
This one had signed for Chorley from Leigh Genesis and to the best of my knowledge as never appeared in a televised game ... which is just as well, because the more famous one is deadly from that sort of range.
Frickley worked really hard and deserved the three points today, you could see how much it meant to everyone at the club, from the reception the team got as they left the pitch at the end of the game, from those who stayed behind to show their appreciation.
It must've been very uplifting for the players and management.
Nobody really expected the Blues to turn a team like Chorley over, whereas most people had anticipated a win over struggling Whitby a couple of weeks ago ... so this one was a massive bonus.
There's still a lot of work to be done while the South Elmsall club strive to haul themselves up the league table, but that'll keep for another time ... for now, just let them indulge themselves in a night of celebration.
Nice one Rinky ;-)

Aw bless, she promised to follow him to the end of the earth.

So guess where he took her!? Nice to see you Andy mate :-)

Elsewhere, on the WunderTurf pitch at Cannon Park, the only other game down to step 6 of the football pyramid, in my neck of the woods, that survived the overnight freeze, ended in a 2-1 win to Retford United against Long Eaton United, with the winning goal coming in the last minute from a guy that THE66POW sponsors.
Worksop's game v Newport in the FA Trophy was called off early on and it's been rearranged for Tuesday night.
The mighty Stags weren't playing today, because they're not interested in the FA Trophy this season and they are putting all their efforts into concentrating on the League instead :-/

*My good lady already bought me a matching Frickley Athletic hat and scarf ensemble for Xmas, after I asked her to.
She was at Westfield Lane with me today, but had forgotten her purse and muggins ended up paying her in (again).

Frickley Athletic 2 v Chorley 1 - Evo-Stik Northern Premier Division

2012-01-14T17:26:00.001Z

Match details, pictures and stuff to follow ASAP ;-)
Several members of the Waite family from Moorthorpe, Retford & York were present today.
I'll report here what those 'Waite watchers' had to say about the game later on.
Frickley did well today, especially in the second half and didn't seem to miss Alex Calorie, err ... I mean Callery, too much.
This result was just the tonic they needed ... and not a slimline one either.
Chorley went in front on 41 minutes when Ben Turner was unfortunate to put the ball past his own keeper.
But Frickley tipped the scales after half time, weighing in with goals from Stuart Ludlam and James Ashmore.
A game for all tastes, that would have suited any palate, I could live on a diet of football like this every weekend, ta very much.

Matlock Town 0 v Frickley Athletic 1 - Doodson Sport Cup

2012-01-11T22:37:00.003Z

Wednesday 11th January 2012
at the Reynolds Stadium, Causeway Lane
Doodson Sport Cup 4th Round
Matlock Town (0) 0
Frickley Athletic (1) 1 - Danny Walsh 28
Admission £9, Programme £2, Attendance 169
We entered Matlock through a cloud of smoke, caused by all the clutch and brake cables that had overheated on the challenging A632 into town and parked up near the ground.
I nearly didn't get to the game though, because I almost tripped over a skateboard that somebody had abandoned near the 'Visitors management and officials' parking spaces.

The obligatory pre match handshake picture

Matlock Town:
Jon Kennedy, Micky Harcourt, Lee Featherstone, Liam King, Adam Yates, James Lukic, Scott Bibby (James Whitfield 62), Kris Bowler, Ian Holmes, Tyeisse Nightingale, Gareth Davies (Kris Whitcombe 81).
Unused subs. James Travis, Matthew WIlkinson, Nick Buxton
Frickley Athletic:
Steve Dickinson, Kelvin Bleau, Ben Turner, Danny Walsh, Lincoln Adams, Stuart Ludlam, Grant Darley, James Ashmore, Brad Grayson, Ollie Ryan (David Cyrus 78), Ryan Mallon.
Unused subs. Matthew Semley, Liam Schofield, Jon Hood
The two sides had met at the weekend in a League match, where a 3-0 win for Matlock dumped Frickley right into a battle for survival at the wrong end of the table.
But tonight, the visitors won through to the last eight of the League Cup.
Also through to the quarter final stage are: FC United of Manchester, Northwich Victoria, Bradford Park Avenue, North Ferriby, Kendal Town, Rushall Olympic and Witton Albion, so the standard of teams still in the Doodson Sport Cup, gives the competition the kind of credibility that the sponsors were hoping for this season.
Which is a bit of a U-turn compared with how it's been received in recent years, when a number of teams played understrength line ups and didn't care too much for this much maligned Cup.Realistically, there are only around 7 clubs who can still challenge for promotion from the Northern Premier League now, barring a late charge on the rails (Nantwich Town maybe?), either by winning the league, or taking the play off route.
But at least Frickley are still on the cup trail on two fronts, namely the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior Cup and the League Cup/Doodson Sport Cup, so this season is far from over and there is plenty to still play for, besides the all important and severely needed league points of course.
An FA Cup or FA Trophy run is always nice, but it's hard to imagine any Evo-Stik League club reaching Wembley in either of those.
Though I'm sure Worksop will be giving it their best shot against Newport this coming weekend ... Good luck you Tigers!

What Frickley really needed tonight, as well as a win to break their recent run of results, was a bit of luck.
Good fortune has abandoned the Blues (or Whites tonight, due to the colour clash) of late, but on 28 minutes, after both sides had already created a couple of chance to no avail ... Hmm, looking at the game from a completely neutral angle; the referee Matty Walsh, may just have missed an infringement by a Frickley player and when he waved play on, Grant Darley took the ball towards the Matlock area, knocked the ball wide to the overlapping Danny Walsh and the Frickley number 4 fired the visitors ahead, via a deflected effort.
I'm certain these things really do even themselves out over a season and Walsh (M) hadn't exactly been benevolent to Frickley when he had last officiated one of their games at Westfield Lane towards the back end of 2011. But I don't think the Matlock fans sat around us would've been interested in hearing that point of view.
Just because you're losing! :-P
Just because you're losing! :-P

Jon Kennedy, the Matlock Town goalkeeper, was always in line to get a good write up tonight, from the moment his dad bought me a pint in the Gladiators social club before the game (cheers big man, good to see you again), but his performance merited one anyway.
Twice in the second half Kennedy was tested in one on one situations, right at the beginning and just before the end, against Ollie Ryan and James Ashmore respectively.
I've seen Jon come out on top in these situations so many times over the years, I know who my money was on both times ... and I would've won both dead cert wagers too.Jon's looking leaner, keener and fitter than he did for a while and he's obviously enjoying a new lease of life at Causeway Lane.
Good for him, by my reckoning he's still the best goalkeeper in this league by a long way.
;-) And you should see how much critical acclaim he'll get when his dad gets me another pint!
But joking aside, Big Jon is still up there with the best and would be an asset to any club at this level.
Steve Dickinson in the Frickley goal made a number of important stops too, as the Frickley defence rode their luck a couple of times.

Ultras!

Matlock appear to have acquired a young group of vocal supporters who make themselves heard for the entire 90 minutes at home games.
It would be easy for them to make the short journey to nearby Chesterfield to watch League 1 football, but it is commendable, on a number of levels and for a whole plethora of reasons, that they shun the Spireite calling and follow their local club instead.
Especially in light of Chesterfield's attendances going up when they were promoted as League 2 champions last season and glory hunting reached epidemic proportions in the land of the Crooked Spire.
Standing by MTFC and not defecting to Chesterfield, just because they've had a good season and your team didn't by comparison, is the true mark of a man.
Gentlemen, I salute you!
Gareth Davies hit the visitors crossbar as Matlock went in search of an equaliser and on 75 minutes an incident occurred that must make one wonder if Frickley's name is already engraved on the Doodson Sport Cup - no pressure at all to deliver now Pete and Jason ;-) - when Steve Dickinson saved Liam King's free kick (see above) and the ball dropped to former Mansfield Town striker Ian Holmes, who headed against the crossbar and then straight at Dickinson from the rebound.
The Frickley keeper gratefully hung on to the ball for dear life.
Steve Dickinson has had some criticism from the hard to please section of the Frickley faithful, but if any of them saw his performance tonight, they would've reassessed their evaluation of the former Southport 'cult hero' on the strength of one or two saves he made.
Dickinson's game revolves around the positional awareness that experience brings, rather than diving around like a mad man and grabbing everyone's attention (he is, after all, 38 years of age), which is why his contribution to the team, sometimes seems to go unnoticed.

Kelvin Bleau almost scored Frickley's second with 10 minutes remaining but Jon Kennedy saved his 25 yard effort and then Brad Grayson fired into the side netting with five minutes remaining.
Though nobody could argue that there were a couple of times over the 90 minutes when Frickley's luck was in, they also created enough clear cut chances to have won by a bigger margin themselves and may well of done so, if Jon Kennedy hadn't been in such a stubborn mood in the Matlock goal.
My blond, dizzy headed travelling companion, who was also present at Harrogate Town v Frickley Athletic Cup game earlier in the season, now reckons she's Frickley's cup tie talisman (taliswoman?) and says she'll be at the Blues next Doodson Sport Cup game too.
As long as you pay for yourself to get in and buy your own pie and peas, you're more than welcome any time, in the event that I actually go to that game of course ;-)FOOTNOTE:
Added Friday 13th January 2012
Doodson Sport Cup QF draw:
Frickley Athletic v FC United of Manchester
Kendal Town v Witton Albion
North Ferriby United v Bradford Park Avenue
Northwich Victoria v Rushall Olympic

Ties to be played on Tuesday 7th February with extra time and penalties if required.

Thackley 5 v Retford United 1 - Baris NCEL League Cup 3rd Round

2012-01-10T23:00:00.004Z

Tuesday 10th January, at Dennyfield
Baris NCEL League Cup 3rd Round
Thackley (4) 5
Dempsey Smith 3, Mike Garrad 11,
Nicky Matthews 15, 43, Liam Moore 70
Retford United (1) 1
Adam Scott 25
Admission £5, Programme £1 (free team sheet)
Attendance 64 inc. Bradford Park Avenue's kit manOn arrival in Thackley, courtesy of the Beechmeister's wonder tours and a Chelsea pensioner's directions, we discovered that the Retford United team were still on their way and the kick off had been delayed.
The party animal in our entourage, who has recently rediscovered his second flush of youth, didn't waste a second and marched towards the bar shouting 'Get the beers in ladies, the love monster is in the house' (or similar), while our anorak wearing Groundhopper bloke wandered off to take pictures of signs and search out a programme and team sheet. The sad git no doubt worked out where the teams came out onto the pitch too and would be in exactly in the right place to take a picture of the pre match handshake.

Thackley 'Arsenal-esque' v Retford United, all yellow.

Thackley have a very well appointed stand that comfortably seats 300, but we chose to stand behind the goal Retford would be attacking in the first half and subsequently only had a long distance view of the majority of the action.

The Badgers kicked off at approximately 7.55pm & 7.58pm & 8.06pm & 8.10pm ... if their mini bus driver had struggled for a place to park, there was plenty of space to be had all across United's back four.

Slightly lopsided but free team sheet, left click to enlarge image

Dempsey Smith started the ball rolling from the first attack of the match, when he fired home from the right hand side of the six yard box.
Soon afterwards Mike Garrad headed home a left wing cross and before Retford had even warmed up properly, Nicky Matthews had put the Dennyboys into a commanding three goal lead with just fifteen minutes on the clock.
Retford could point to the number of players they had unavailable for tonight, their late arrival at Dennyfield and the truncated pre match warm up, as contributing factors for their lacklustre start, but I'm sure they wouldn't want to be accused of making excuses.
Quite simply, Thackley were more up for it, showed more desire, were the better team on the night and deserved to be three up from a flying start.

Adam Scott rounded the Thackley keeper Matt Convey to pull a goal back on 25 minutes and for a brief spell it looked as though the visitors might get back into the game and mount a comeback. But after a couple of corners amounted to nothing, they went AWOL again and by half time it was 4-1, when Jason Fisher, the United goalkeeper made hard work of dealing with a cross and the ball fell for Nicky Matthews to put the Dennyboys 4-1 up.
Dave Issott did see his effort fly narrowly wide of the Thackley goal just before the break, but Retford attacks were few and far between by now.
The second half was far less eventful.
Thackley knew they had the game won and took their foot off the gas, played deep and let Retford, who if truth be told hadn't even found the accelerator all night, try to break them down.
If it was a cricket match, Matt Morgan the Thackley captain could've declared, but it's football, so we still had 45 minutes to get through regardless.
Even though their side was depleted, I had expected more from Retford United tonight.
Too many passes went astray and Thackley had acres of space to play the ball around in.
In his after match quotes for the Retford Times, Brett Marshall the Badgers manager, said he was disgusted with his side's performance and dropped a strong hint that some players might not get picked on Saturday as a consequence of what had happened tonight.

The excitement was all too much for Mr Mayfield

There was still time for Thackley to add a fifth goal in the 70th minute, when substitute Liam Moore charged through a great big gap in the Retford back four and found the net, to make the score and final result 5-1.

In truth Thackley had already won the game inside the first quarter of an hour ... and both teams got what they deserved from their input into tonight's game.

Next up - Matlock Town v Frickley Athletic, in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, League Cup, AKA Doodson Sport Cup, tomorrow night.

Frickley Athletic 1 v Nostell Miners Welfare 0 - Northern Under 19 Alliance

2012-01-09T22:27:00.003Z

11 v 11 ... Nostell MW in red v Frickley Athletic in yellow

Monday 9th January 2012
at the Tech 5 Stadium, Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Northern Under 19 Alliance, Central Division
Frickley Athletic (0) 1 Nenad Smiljanic 70 pen
Nostell Miners Welfare (0) 0
Admission £2, Attendance 47
A fairly evenly matched first half, in which third placed Nostell cancelled out the league leaders for long spells and a bit of a stalemate ensued, which wasn't helped as a spectacle at times by the stop/start nature of the game.
As the first half wore on, Frickley began to make head way and take the game to their neighbours, but by half time, despite creating a couple of good chances, they hadn't yet found a breakthrough.
At the interval, on a surprisingly mild January night, despite the goalless scoreline, I was still having a good time anyway, putting the world to rights with the two Frickley John's and a little bloke who'd just walked in from a photo shoot, where he'd been modelling kids clothes for Grattan's catalogue.
Anybody that tells you the rest of us are also familiar with the fashion industry and have our own portfolios with Big Fellas, the oversized gents outfitters who sponsor the Frickley Athletic social club, is fibbing.

The second half was very one sided, played almost exclusively in the Nostell half of the pitch as the young Blues, or Yellows tonight for some reason, put the visitors under the cosh.
In the second half, Frickley Under 19's turned into a microcosm of their first team in recent games, by creating chance after chance without being able to apply the finishing touch.
On 70 minutes Nenad Smiljanic scored the only goal of the game with a well struck penalty kick.
From then on in, the 1-0 scoreline doesn't reflect the dominance and lion's share of possession the home side had.
It was one way traffic, but try as they might, Frickley, time after time, where always just a whisker away from killing the game off.
In the end a well deserved win, but the margin of defeat flattered the visitors in the second half.

Talking of one way traffic.
Arrgh!
When are the swine-hounds that are responsible for the maintenance of the A1, going to get whatever it is they are doing to the A638 southbound slip-road finished?
Another night out and yet another detour through down-town Doncaster to pick up my route home.
Stop it, this joke is wearing very thin now!

Next up - Tomorrow night. On tour with the Beefcake Posse', for Thackley v Retford United, Baris NCEL League Cup 3rd Round.

Sheffield United 3 v Salisbury City 1 - FA Cup 3rd Round

2012-01-07T18:28:00.006Z

Saturday 7th January 2012, at Bramall Lane
FA Cup 3rd Round
Sheffield United (1) 3
Porter 18, Evans 60, Webb OG 72
Salisbury City (0) 1
Macklin 86
Admission £10 Programme £2 Attendance 10,488Sheffield United:
Simonsen, Ertl, Maguire, Collins, Jean-Francois, Williamson (Chapell 78), Doyle, McDonald, Flynn (Cresswell 51), Evans, Porter (Beattie 51)
Unused Subs - Long, Montgomery, McAllister, Williams.
Salisbury City:
Scott, Webb, Dutton, Giles, Brett, Adelsbury, Anderson, Clarke (Losasso 62), Williams, Read (Macklin 62), Fitchett (Knight 81)
Unused Subs - Arthur, Casey, Kelly, Harris.
The FA Cup 3rd Round.
In which Salisbury City, sat 16th in the Blue Square Bet Southern Division table, prior to today's game, travelled up from Wiltshire to South Yorkshire (in Swindon Town's coach - see above) to take on Sheffield United, promotion contenders in the NPower League 1 (Division 3), currently sat in 4th place in the table ... though they were 3rd until Huddersfield Town battered Wycombe Wanderers 6-0 last night and climbed above the Blades (who still have a game in hand over the Terriers) on goal difference.
Charlton Athletic are clear at the top of the League 1 table with a 5 point cushion and in second place, 2 points ahead of United and Huddersfield are, err ... the other Sheffield side.
For the benefit of those of you who don't want to do the maths, that's an 84 place gap between today's sides, which by the time Salisbury left the pitch, had grown to 85, by virtue of Maidenhead United beating Eastbourne Borough 1-0 (in injury time) to move above City in the BSBS pecking order.
Take notes, there might be a question about some of the above scene setting preamble and waffle in the quiz at the end.
Prior to kick off, there was a minute's applause by way of a tribute to Gary Ablett, the former England Under 21 defender who passed away on New Years Day, Ablett had made a dozen appearances on loan for the Blades in 1996.
Though Salisbury battled gamely, played an attacking formation and kept going right until the very end, in front of their vocal following at the Bramall Lane End of the ground - this victory was fairly academic and straight forward for United, who should've been out at least 4-0 up by half time.A combination of sloppy finishing and a string of great saves from City's keeper Mark Scott (who, like the team coach, is on loan from Swindon Town), kept the score down to 1-0 at half time. Ironically, the one and only time that the home time did find the net, Colin Porter scored through the otherwise impressive Scott's legs, after getting onto the end of a Lee Williamson cross.
Williamson used to be a team mate of the current Salisbury City manager Darrel Clarke when they both played for Mansfield Town.
After Clarke left the Stags, Danny Wilson was his manager at Hartlepool United.
Wilson of course, is now the manager of Sheffield United.
Small world innit?
The second goal on 60 minutes was a messy one.
Lescinel Jean-Frabcois shot, his effort took a deflection but Scott still managed to save it. From the rebound Kevin McDonald took aim and either, i) the ball hit Ched Evans on it's way into the net, or ii) Ched Evans cleverly diverted it past Scott and deserved to be awarded the goal ... it probably wouldn't have gone in without Evans' contact, so there you have it.

A Ched Evans shot, that he actually meant, led to the third Blades goal too, it deflected heavily off of Danny Webb and that was it, game over, bar all the the shouting and "We'll support you 'ever more" chants from the away end.

The Shoreham Street 'Kop' wasn't open for business today

Today's referee was called David Webb, he isn't the same David Webb who scored for Chelsea in the 1970 FA Cup Final replay against Leeds Untied at Old Trafford, but Danny Webb of Salisbury City, who put the ball past his own keeper in the 72nd minute, is the son of the former Stamford Bridge favourite.
Sometimes, I don't know how I manage to cram in so much historical and factual insight and fascinating information into the match reports on the humble blog.
Hmm, I wonder if anybody really reads all this long winded space-filling stuff.With about 12 minutes to go, Lloyd Macklin fired over Steve Simonsen's crossbar.
With just 4 minutes to go, he scored a cracking goal from 25 yards out.
Though it came too late for the visitors to salvage anything from the game, apart from some pride, at least gave the sizeable away support something to cheer before their long ride home.
Both sets of fans applauded Salisbury City off at the end ... and so did I.
Sheffield railway station is only a brisk 10 minutes walk from United's ground and I made the 17.24 train, with time to spare for some liquid refreshment en route.
One Retford based Blades fan will be grateful that I spotted him asleep in the train carriage as I stood waiting to get off, or who knows where he might have ended up tonight!?

Ollerton Town 2 v Mansfield Town U19 3 - Friendly

2012-01-04T21:12:00.004Z

Wednesday 4th January 2012, at Walesby Lane
Friendly
All proceeds raised at the gate and from the raffle are being donated to the Emma Stamp Charitable Trust
Ollerton Town (0) 2
Mansfield Town (2) 3
Matt Harris, Jack Hawkins, Clayton Brown
Admission £2 (or more if you wanted to make a bigger donation)
Attendance 108
A bloody horrible night weather wise.
108 was a very respectable attendance in such foul weather.
There were a few faces present tonight that I haven't seen at any Stags games for quite a while, most of who were here to pay their respects to Emma Stamp, a very popular young woman who followed the Stags all over the country and was a member of the Ollerton Stags.
Sadly, Emma passed away last month.

Ollerton fielded a fairly strong team tonight, made up of players from their Central Midlands Football League side, while the Stags were represented by Mansfield Town Under 19's.
It was nice to see, that in spite of the conditions and a shortage of covered facilities at Walesby Lane, even the Stags chairman and CEO, amongst other club officials, understood the significance of the occasion to the local supporters club and turned out, when many others had been put off by the wind and rain ... a gesture that didn't go unnoticed. Matt Harris fired the young Stags ahead early on, but for the most part the strong wind was making a mockery of any attempt by either side to keep the ball down and play football.
But they soldiered on never the less.
I feel praise is due to Rob Townsend, the the match referee and his assistants, for the way they controlled the game and did their level best to keep it moving along smoothly.
He's one of the best local refs, by a long way ... and that showed through his common sense approach tonight, in what must have been horrendous conditions to turn out in.
After a defensive lapse, any one of three Stags players could've scored just before the break, but it was Jack Hawkins who took responsibility from 8 yards out and made no mistake.
Half time, Ollerton Town 0 v Mansfield Town Under 19's 2Ollerton pulled a goal back after the break, it would be fair to say it was 'wind assisted'.
The original effort had a lot of back spin on it, but looked to be going several feet wide of the goal, when all of a sudden, a strong gust got hold of the ball and deceived the Stags keeper and back four at the last second ... and the ball nestled just inside the post.
Ollerton celebrated their good fortune, while the Stags cursed their luck.
However, there was nothing fluky or lucky about Ollerton's equaliser ... an 88th minute free kick from the edge of the box bulged the back of the net and it looked as though the Stags Under 19's were on course to emulate the first team's result at York on Sunday, when they drew 2-2 after being 2-0 ahead.
But with 90 minutes almost up, the ball fell kindly to Clayton Brown to the right of the Ollerton goal and he volleyed home a late winner for the visitors.

Nostell MW 0 v Tadcaster Albion 3 & Frickley Athletic 1 v Whitby Town 2

2012-01-02T17:27:00.029Z

Another day, another double.
Today, I took advantage of the early kick off time at Nostell Miners Welfare and the close proximity of the A638 to both 'The Welfare Ground' and Frickley Athletics's 'Tech5 Stadium', on Westfield Lane in South Elmsall ... to squeeze two games into this Bank Holiday Monday afternoon.
The grounds are just 10 miles apart and the first game finished at 1.50pm, which gave me plenty of time to complete the leisurely drive south over Ackworth Moor Top in the bright winter sunshine, while listening updates on the radio from the closing stages of Heart of Midlothian's inevitable victory at the home of SPL relegation certainties Hibernian.
Monday 2nd January 2012,
at the Welfare Ground, Crofton Community Centre
Baris Northern Counties East League Premier Division
Kick Off 12:00 Noon
Nostell Miners Welfare (0) 0
Tadcaster Albion (1) 3 - Jamie Hopcutt 7, 65, 70
Admission £5, Programme £1, Attendance 120

Left click image to enlarge

There was a pitch inspection at 9.30 this morning at the 'Welfare Ground' but thankfully the game went ahead as planned at noon.
The pitch was obviously still very wet in a few places, but both sides provided an enjoyable game of fast flowing football ... the visitors played particularly well.
This win, combined with Retford United's 1-1 draw at home to in form Parkgate, means that Tadcaster are now 4 points behind my local side at the top with two games in hand.
Tadcaster and Retford face each other at Albion's ground this coming Saturday in what promises to be a lively game.The game was just 7 minutes old, when Albion's Jamie Hopcutt, surged down the right channel into the box, unchallenged ... and fired the ball past Gav Ainsley's reach for the opening goal.
Ainsley's was possibly the busiest player on the pitch today, because he was called into action by a very lively 'Taddy' side time and time again.
On 24 minutes he did well to rush out a block the ball at the feet of Steve Jeff (see below).
The two came face to face again soon afterwards but Jeff pulled the wall just wide of the right hand post after waiting to the last moment to shoot in a one on one with the Nostell keeper.
With five minutes of the first half remaining, Nick Thompson broke free, but couldn't keep his shot down and the ball sailed over Ainsley's crossbar and out of the ground.
I wouldn't go so far as to say Tadcaster had the whole of the first half to themselves, but they had most of it.

And they came out even stronger after the break.

Prior to signing for Nostell MW, their number 10 Ernie Boafo, had

also played for Ghana Under 17's, Ajax ... and Lower Hopton!

Graeme Whitehead put an inviting ball across the face of the goal from out on the right wing, but Tadcaster's prolific striker Carl Stewart narrowly failed to get a decent touch on it and the danger was cleared.
Nostell's best opportunity so far, came when a quickly taken free kick by Toby Ritter put James Eyles in on goal, but Arran Reid pulled off a great one handed save to thwart the Nostell number 7.
A minute later Tadcaster were on the attack again and Graeme Whitehead headed against the crossbar from a right wing corner, the ball rebounded back into play and Gav Ainsley saved the day again.

On the hour, Ainsley was called into action once more, when he blocked a close range effort from Carl Stewart.
Stewart had another go a couple of minutes later and after running into the box under pressure from a very attentive defender still got his shot in ... but Gav Ainsley ... of course ... managed to turn the ball away for a corner.

In the 65th minute, Jamie Hopcutt left two defenders in his wake (see above), then delicately lifted the ball over the over worked Nostell keeper, as he charged out to narrow the angle and it was 2-0 to the Brewers.
Hopcutt then completed his hat trick with 20 minutes to go, when Steve Jeff found him in space with a great pass and he slammed the ball home from inside the box.
Ainsley had won his duels with both Carl Stewart and Steve Jeff today, but not Hopcutt ... he was in an unstoppable mood.

The home side pushed forward, looking to restore a bit of pride.
Graham Marchant's shot from outside the box took a wicked deflection, Arran Reid just managed to get his fingertips to it at full stretch.
Back at the other end, Stewart made a last ditch attempt to finally beat Ainsley, but he fired the ball straight at the keeper who made possibly his easiest stop of the afternoon.
Another Toby Ritter free kick into the Albion box spelt danger and a defender knocked the ball away with his hand.
Marchant hit the spot kick low, hard, to one side of the goal and on target, but in a flash Reid got down to his left and saved it.

A thoroughly deserved victory for Tadcaster Albion, in a game that was punctuated by two great goalkeeping displays ... alas, the busiest of them didn't have a clean sheet to show for his efforts, not that Jamie Hopcutt will be unduly concerned about it.

70 minutes later, a few miles down the A638 ...

Frickley Athletic, where the crowd are right behind you, so to speak

Monday 2nd January 2012

Kick Off 3:00 PM
at the Tech 5 Stadium, Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, Premier Division
Frickley Athletic (0) 1 - Ollie Ryan 76
Whitby Town (1) 2 - Andy Appleby 17, Matthew Tymon 90

Admission £8, Programme £1.50, Attendance 273

Left click image to enlarge

A couple of months ago, when Frickley were flying and giving the likes of Harrogate Town a run for their money in t'cup, you could have backed this game, quite heavily, as a nailed on, dead cert, home banker.
But the Blues are stuttering at the moment.

From what I've seen with my own eyes, it seems to me that they've been a bit flat since they didn't really do themselves justice in the FA Cup game at Gainsborough Trinity and they've lost their way and a whole load of confidence and self belief since then.
They're still creating plenty of chances, but the final touch in the last third just doesn't ever seem to come.
It's just not happening for Frickley at the moment, no matter how hard they try.

Sure, they still have their moments, but when things aren't going your way, well ... earlier in the season, when hope sprang eternal, Frickley snatched a 95th minute equaliser at Whitby through Lincoln Adams, today they conceded a goal right at the end and surrended 3 points to the same opponents. Points that would've given them a bit of breathing space and a lift before the difficult run of games that lay ahead.
A couple of player bans, meaning that Frickley were down to the bare bones and lacking in options, combined with the misplaced 'priorities' of an AWOL, mercenary, proven and prolific striker, who was away playing elsewhere, didn't help their cause today ... and neither did a couple of curious decisions by the referee.

... meanwhile in the distance, half a dozen supporters got out through a gap
at the back of the Frank Hill Stand and made good their escape over the
old (but artistically re-landscaped) colliery slag heap.

There was a very negative vibe around Westfield Lane this afternoon and Whitby Town couldn't have arrived in South Elmsall at a better time to smash and grab themselves some vital points in their own fight for Evo-Stik Northern Premier survival.
This was a 'must win' game for both sides ... or more to the point, a 'mustn't lose' game.

It would've been unthinkable a couple of months ago, that Peter Rinkcavage's team, with their top ten aspirations and ambitions, could be dragged into a relegation scrap, but with some very tricky games ahead of them, well ... the goals had better start coming from somewhere. Because as of today, they're in one.
To be fair to Whitby, they had the better of the first half, by some way.
If truth be told, they could've gone in at the break more than just the single goal in front.
But at 0-1, the game was still there for taking ... and after a half time talking to, Frickley came out showing more heart and desire ... and though they didn't get back into the game until the 76th minute, when Ollie Ryan powered past two defenders and shot them level from ten yards out, they were well on top by that stage.

"Tell them I said, they've got to play nicely and let you join in"

Alas, though there only ever looked likely to be one winner throughout the second half, Frickley just couldn't find the breakthrough that would seal the win for them and it looked as if they were going to have to settle for a draw.
Whoops!
With men committed forward, the Blues were hit by a late sucker punch as Whitby counter attacked and Matthew Tymon hit a late, late winning goal for the Seasiders.

The home side had the last attack of the match, but just as they forced a corner in the dying seconds, the referee blew up for full time and it was all over.

Some of the natives became very restless.
A number of them vented their anger at the ref.

Granted, if I was marking his performance today he would've been lucky to get 50/100, but it wasn't him who kept squandering goalscoring opportunities.

"Went to mow a meadow"

As we were leaving a Frickley supporting friend challenged me "to find any f***ing positives whatso-f***ing-ever to write about after that shower of sh**!"
OK, here goes.
Frickley usually raise their game and play well against better teams, but when they're up against poor or bog standard sides, they do, on occasion, seem to get dragged down to their level.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not calling Whitby Town poor, because they weren't today, especially in the first half and right at the end when they showed some great 'never say die' resolve.
But Frickley seem more interested when they have to engage their brains and compete against good quality opposition.Next Saturday they're at Matlock Town and the week after they entertain Chorley at home (with another visit to Matlock in the 'Doodson Cup' in between) ... so they've got ample opportunity over the next couple of weeks to make it look as if I do, very occasionally, know what I'm talking about ... sometimes.
Well it bloody well sounded positive to me!!!

Of the two games today, I only really enjoyed the first one.
There was too much at stake for several good friends of mine, who I have a lot of respect for, in the other game ... I was gutted for them at the final whistle.
There's a lot to be said for being a detached free spirit roaming the highways and bye-ways of planet football, without your colours nailed to any particular mast.
Thought for the day ... I wonder if those people dotted around the very top of yonder hill can see me down here?

Next on THE66POW, there are a few interesting looking midweek Under 19 games not too far from my locality over the next few days, weather permitting, but I've got nothing concrete planned until next Saturday, when I'm off to Bramall Lane, to watch Sheffield United v Salisbury City in the FA Cup 3rd Round.

Central Midlands Football League Groundhop Bonanza details 2012

2012-01-01T20:18:00.003Z

I always preferred 'The Virginian' myself, but here goes anyway:

I personally won't be attending the CMFL Groundhop Bonanza weekend this year, though I might take in the morning kick off at Clifton, before I head off elsewhere.
But here are the details (below) for anybody who might be interested.
I've attended half of the previous CMFL Bonanza events and can vouch for the fact that they're very well organised and run like clockwork.
Rob Hornby always puts a lot of time and effort into getting these weekends together and his preparations are already at an advance stage.
As well as the actual games, there are always lots of football merchandisers present - and if previous events are anything to go by, the food and drink options (alcoholic beverages included) have always been first rate.
So without further ado, here is the schedule for the weekend and Rob Hornby's contact details if you have any enquiries or want to book tickets or transport etc.
Rob Hornby can also be found on Facebook and he post's on what we all still affectionately call Tony Kempster's Non League Forum using the alias, err ... robhornby.
There is a click on link to the forum somewhere to the right of this page.
The 9th Windsor Food Central Midlands Football League Bonanza takes place on Friday 16th March 2012 & Saturday 17th March 2012, with the usual format of one match on the Friday Evening and Four on the Saturday.
The event starts on Friday 16th March 2012 at Bilborough Pelican, a club who have re-entered the Central Midlands Football League recently, who will be hosting newcomers Belper United, in a game with a 7.45pm kick off.
Though this ground was visited during a previous CMFL Bonanza weekend, Pelican have now altered their name to Bilborough Pelican and this match will be played under floodlights.
On Saturday 17th March 2012, there is a coach available on first come first served booking service through Rob Hornby
It will be departing from and returning to Nottingham Railway Station.
The 1st Match on Saturday 17th March 2012, sees 2 new CMFL sides playing against each other, when Clifton FC host Real United in a local Derby with a 10.10am kick off.
Match number 2 of the day, also features another 2 clubs who are new to the CMFL, with Basford United hosting Nottinghamshire Police at 1pm.
Match 3, is over the border in Derbyshire, where Dronfield Town v Thoresby CW has a 4.30pm kick off.
The final game of the weekend event, is the a local derby match where, Glapwell FC play host to Parkhouse FC with a 7.30pm kick off.
Advanced Tickets are just £15, which covers you entry to all 5 matches and includes a pack of match programmes from all 5 games.
Coach travel for Saturday is just £15 but please book early for the coach, places are strictly limited.
Some clubs will be charging £1 for Car Parking on the day.

For more information e-mail Rob Hornby at hornby60uk@yahoo.co.uk

Yaxley 1 v Irchester United 0 & Peterborough Northern Star 2 v Kings Lynn Town 2

2011-12-31T19:31:00.008Z

I often get asked if I'm a Groundhopper ... and I usually categorically refute the allegation. However today, well ... caught red handed and guilty as charged innit
This morning, I bid farewell to the family and my kind, considerate, understanding and loving t'other half, telling them "I'm on my way, to far away, goodbye and toodle-loo", then gratefully rested my aching bones and weary carcass in the back seat of Mr C. Picken's auto-mobile, before heading south, down the A1, in the general direction of Peterborough.
For those of you who don't already know, Colin lives in Scotter ... and Scotter is the capital city of Lincolnshire.
Peterborough United, AKA 'The Posh', were playing away this afternoon, 'oop north in Middlesbrough.
But that was of little consequence to us, because today, our intrepid trio of thrill seekers were pushing back the boundaries and going elsewhere anyway, for a ChromaSport & Trophies United Counties Football League double, at a couple of grounds none of us had ever visited before.
Woo hoo!

Namely, In2itive Park, the home of Yaxley FC, followed by a mad dash across the city to Peterborough Northern Star's Focus Community Centre home, 7 miles to the north in the salubrious suburb of Dogsthorpe.

I'm indebted to Colin for inviting me along today and offering to drive, because the dislocated shoulder I suffered in the run up to Xmas, is making driving a very uncomfortable experience at present.
And until I can get my own car fixed next week (ever tried finding a garage that is open over the festive season?) I can only embark upon - "Short distance runs only mate ... and take it bloody steady!" - according to the kindly mechanic who gave up a small portion of his Yuletide holiday to give my car a quick once over.
Not that I'm trying to milk the sympathy angle here, because I know none of you really give a flying one anyway.

Saturday 31st December 2011
at In2itive Park, Leading Drove, Yaxley, PE7 3NA
United Counties League - Premier Division
Yaxley (1) 1
Ricky Hailstone 21
Irchester United (0) 0
Admission £6 Programme £1
Yaxley: Lea Jordan, Ryan Wood, Lewis Stone, Aaron Ridout, Matt Holland, Pete Smith (Sam Bate), Paul Jones, Dan Fountain (Jones De Sousa), Sam Bettinson, Ricky Hailstone, Andy Beech (Josh Rosser)Irchester United: Gavin Harding, Dean Hopewell, Joe Hopewell, Phil Lawrence (Lewis Strafford), Chris Gell, Jake Gillingwater, Liam Bright (Dave Maguire), Gary Storher, Matt White, Stuart Reid, Lee Thompson (Curtis Long)
There are 21 clubs in the UCL Premier Division.
Prior to kick off Yaxley were sat uncomfortably in 20th place, 2 points above Desborough Town who have played 2 games less than the rather quaintly nicknamed 'Cuckoos'.
By comparison, this lunchtime's visitors, Wellingborough based Irchester United, are having a much better season and travelled to Yaxley today, formidably looking down on their hosts from a lofty position of 17th in the table.
How mouth watering can any prospect get, I ask you!?.

A precautionary call was made to Yaxley FC en route. to check if the game was on, given the amount of persistent rain there had been overnight. And we were cheerily informed that there would be no problem with the pitch.
I was reliably informed by fellow traveller Paul Hawkins, that this area of the country is historically known as 'The Soak'.
Well it had lived up to it's name today ... and I learnt a new and fascinating geographical fact, that will liven up many a bar room debate in the future ;-)

The home side were on top in the first half, while Irchester struggled to put more than a couple of passes together.
It wasn't exactly a game for the purists, but there was plenty of effort and endeavour on display. They're a friendly lot in Yaxley and seemed genuinely pleased that people had made the effort to travel to watch them.
On ten minutes there was a hold up in play, while the ball nestled in the neat row of conifers that stands along one side of the pitch, acting as a wind break.
Thankfully more balls were available and the game could continue.
We didn't really want any more delays, the timing in between our first and second games of the afternoon was critical and depended on this one finishing on time.
The elders of the conventions of Groundhopping pedantry, would drum us out of the Tufty Club and confiscate our badges, if we were to shave a couple of minutes off of either game, even if such a course of action was deemed necessary to adhere to the small matter of obeying the rules of the highway code and the law of the land.
We must have safety on the Queen's highway (look right, look left, look right again ... as our junior school road went), but hell have no fury like some of the stopwatch brandishing Mr Angry characters who permeate certain internet forums, but ... for the record, we can keep hold of our anoraks, Thermos flasks, notepads, pens, cameras and spare socks for a little while longer yet ... and we did it without Sat Nav guidance or the aid of potted and plotted directions from piles of obscure Non League travel digests, handbooks and directories.
Mavericks or what!?
That said, I was sorely tempted to deliberately leave Yaxley's game early and then stand around in the muddy overspill car park at Northern Star's ground until five past three, just to prove what an anarchist and rebel I am.

I'm happy to report there were also a plentful array of posh toilet facilities

in the ground, with tiled walls, posh soap, hand dryers and all mod cons

As yet another ball went sailing over into the nearby allotments, an octogenarian local bemoaned "What a daft bugger, a simple tap out of play would've done. Knowing this ref, if we run out of balls he'll call the game off!"
Personally, without actually having a ball to use, I'm hard pushed to see how any referee in the world would've had any other alternative to be honest, but I kind of understood the gist of what he was getting at. "You wouldn't boot it over there if you had to fetch it yourself, you little twerp!"
One of the referee's assistant's looked like he used to be in Bucks Fizz in a previous life, he didn't let indecision take him from behind, he trusted his inner vision and didn't let others change his mind his mind.
He was spot on whenever there came a time for making his mind up.

On 21 minutes Yaxley scored the only goal of the game, in keeping with the tempo of the game thus far, it was a scrappy one.
Lewis Stone drilled an in-swinging right wing corner into the mix, it cannoned off a couple of players, before the home side's captain Ricky Hailstone managed to nod it over the line.
Lewis Stone's dead ball prowess was at the centre of Yaxley's two other decent chances in the first half.
Another of his pinpoint corners was knocked narrowly wide by Aaron Ridout and then the Yaxley number 3 saw his free kick well saved by Gavin Harding on the stroke of half time.

After a poor showing in the first half, the Romans invaded Yaxley territory at will after the break and went about building some straight road's leading into the heart of the home sides defence.
Lea Jordan, Yaxley's keeper, hadn't had much to do for the first 45 minutes and was so underused he would've been better employed retrieving stray balls from around the perimeter of the ground, but he earned my vote as man of the match in the second half, with a string of top class saves that without a doubt, won his side all three points today, just as much as his captain's first half goal.

Jordan was at full stretch and running backwards when he managed to tip Stuart Reid's goalbound effort over the crossbar, it was an outstanding save. Minutes later he managed to get enough of a touch with his fingertips onto a Jake Gillingwater shot to turn it onto the bar.
Irchester's attacks were coming thick and fast now, Dean Hopewell was denied by Jordan (again) and so was Gary Stohrer (yet again).

Curtis Long sent a cross in from the right wing and it looked as though Stuart Reid must score from a header at the back post, but he headed wide (see his team mates reaction above).
Right at the end of the game Lea Jordan was finally beaten, but Jake Gillingwater's free kick was narrowly wide of the goal.
As the referee blew for full time we were already stood next to the exit and were heading out of the car park before the first of the players had even reached the changing rooms.
After the first half, Yaxley had just about deserved to be in front and Irchester United definitely deserved to be behind, because they hadn't played very well at all before the break ... to put it mildly.
But the visitors attacked like a team possessed after the restart and if the Yaxley players got a win bonus for that result, they should all donate them to their keeper Lea Jordan.
In a nutshell, a game that had promised and delivered very little for a while, was completely transformed and ended up being quite entertaining in the end.

14 minutes later ...
Saturday 31st December 2011
at Focus Community Centre, Chesnut Avenue, Dogsthorpe
United Counties League - Premier Division
Peterborough Northern Star (0) 2
Karl Gibbs 77, John Stead 90+2 penalty
Kings Lynn Town (1) 2
Luke Thurlbourne 5, Stephen Spriggs 57
Admission £5 Programme £1 Attendance 466Peterborough Northern Star: Luke McShane, Nathan Horne, Mark Cox, Dan Clements, Richard Jones, Wayne Morris, Ali Nyang, Liam Hook, Matt Cook (Karl Gibbs), Jon Stead, Addie Staffieri (Avelino Vieira)
Kings Lynn Town: Alex Street, Ryan Fryatt, Jordan Yong, Dan Buhlemann, Stuart Wall, Rob Hughes, Stephen Spriggs (Danny White), Luke Thurlbourne, Liam Harrold (Robbie Harris), Danny Beaumont (Nelson Moreira), Jamie Thurlbourne

A top of the table clash, between 4th placed Peterborough Northern Star and their visitors, league leaders, Kings Lynn Town.

The Peterborough side, formed in 1905, have previously been called both Northern Star and Eye United, which explains why their nickname is the 'Eyes'
Town were formed in 2010 following the demise of the original Kings Lynn team, who's 130 year history stretched from 1879 to 2009.
The home side attacked inside the first minute and Alex Street, the Linnets keeper, was soon in action, making the first save of the game, his block ran loose to the incoming John Stead (see above) who's effort from the rebound was well off target.

The opening exchange was a wake up call for the visitors and soon the play switched ends and Luke Thurlbourne got on the end of a Stephen Spriggs cross to head home the opening goal.

Kings Lynn Town usually wear a very smart yellow and blue kit,

but today they wore a revolting slime green and grey away kit

From then on, it was Kings Lynn who had by far the better of the first half.
However to their credit, PNS didn't panic or start hitting the ball long in an effort to chase the game, when they did have the ball they kept it down and passed it around.The sizeable following from Kings Lynn, acted as a 12th man for their side, geeing up their own players while trying to unsettle the Northern Star lads and match officials.
Sadly there was a small element amongst them who's hostility overstepped the mark at times, especially with some abuse and 'wisecracks' aimed in the direction of Ali Nyang, the home side's number 7.
He is a competitive and combative attacking midfielder, the engine room of the Northern Star side, but although he isn't particularly shy about making his presence felt, he was also on the receiving end of a fair bit of physical stuff too."Even if the ref can't say what you are, cos he's not allowed to be racist, Luis Suarez and John Terry would f***ing tell you!" was one of the more repeatable insults thrown in the direction of the pitch.
I hasten to add that the majority of the away support were perfectly fine and a credit to Kings Lynn Town.
There were a lot of Linnets fans present and the majority of them were there to watch the game and support their team.
But half a dozen or so of them revelled in the confidence highs that safety in numbers numerical advantage and the anonymity of hiding in a mob gives big gobs and cowards.Kings Lynn, are a good side, I'm glad their reformation gave the original club's supporters a 'back from the dead' side a club to support and I've always enjoyed going to games at their ground, right back to when Peter Morris was the manager there. However it would be easy to see how a small (but voiciferous) minority could get Kings Lynn Town a bad name if the club allow them to get a foothold.
I feel I must repeat myself here, just to emphasis my point ... it was only a few idiots indulging in the unwanted bravado crap and MOST of the Kings Lynn following were nothing to do with it.
My own opinion of Ali Nyang is ... although this is the first and only time I've seen him play, if first impressions are anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised to see him playing at an higher level than the UCL any time soon, there were some really good players on both sides, but Nyang stood out more than any of the others. Though Stephen Spriggs, the Kings Lynn number 7, deserves a special mention for his performance too.

When half time came, Kings Lynn hadn't managed to extend their lead, despite having had plenty of play in and around the Northern Star box and the teams went off with just a single goal separating them.
There was one funny moment as the players were leaving the pitch for the interval and one of them decided to have a moan at a linesman over a decision he had allegedly got wrong.
The official replied "OK mate, I made one mistake in 45 minutes, how many did you make?"

The two Time Lords in the ground were disappointed that the Daleks

had failed to turn up for their traditional Bank Holiday battle.

Come in a Tardis! You must've come in a Tardis!

Kings Lynn ought to have extended their lead when Steve Spriggs put a cross into the path of Liam Harold, but he narrowly failed to make the slightest contact that the chance needed.
But on 57 minutes the ever lively Spriggs, took advantage of North Star's defender Mark Cox standing off him and ran through to make the score 0-2.
At this point, it looked as if Kings Lynn Town's impressive record of not having dropped a point away from home this season would remain intact.

Northern Star's manager Chris Plummer made a double substitution sending on Karl Gibbs and Avelino Vierra, it proved to be an inspired switch.
Gibbs pulled a goal back on 77 minutes, his first shot came back to him off a defender and he calmly rolled his second past Alex Street who seemed to be anticipating the home side's sub to blast his effort rather than place it.
Game on again.
The Peterborough side rode their luck a few minutes later, when a combination between the visitors substitutes saw Robbie Harris head a Danny White cross against the bar.

Two minutes into stoppage time, Avelino Vierra was stopped in his tracks as he advanced on the visitors goal for one last push.
John Stead put the penalty kick away comfortably, even though Alex Street got a slight touch to it ... and Kings Lynn's run of consecutive away wins had been halted.
But they're still unbeaten on the road in the UCL Premier Division and nail on certs for the title.
I think it would be fair to say, that we had witnessed an apparent gap in class today, or maybe even a gulf, between games at the top and bottom of the UCL league table.
I'm looking forward to visiting a few more places I've never been to before in 'The Soak' soon.
Performance of the day ... Colin Picken, for navigating the route between Yaxley and Dogsthorpe to get us to the second game in time for kick off with just two minutes to spare, ensuring we didn't miss a moment of the day's action.
Personally I would never have gambled on that left turn at the first traffic lights and we'd probably still be driving around Dogsthorpe now, looking in vain for the floodlights, if I was at the controls.
Good call that man!

NEXT UP ...
I'm giving the New Years Day, York City v Mansfield Town BSBP fixture a miss.
There is more to life than football ... but only very (very) occasionally.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
See you all again in 2012

Easington United are back!

2011-12-29T11:59:00.003Z

In spite of all the rumours and speculation that have been doing the rounds on the CMFL circuit, I am happy to report that Easington United are back!
In actual fact, they hadn't even been away in the first place ... and at the current time they appear to be rebuilding and strengthening their squad for the future..
The club have NOT resigned from the CMFL North, or gone to the wall, or anything of the sort.
Reproduced here, is a truncated version of a message I received earlier today from Richard Lusmore at EUFC in response to what I wrote on this self indulgent, bullshit blog a couple of days ago, about certain stories I'd heard circulating on the CMFL gossip grapevine.
Just to quash the rumours, we have not resigned from the CML North and as yet have no intention of doing so.
As you state we've just picked up four ex-Hutton Cranswick lads and are in the process of signing three other lads in time for our return to action on 7 Jan.
So I'll look forrad to seeing you out on the Humber Riviera before the season's end.
All the best!

Thursday 29th December 2011 - Live at the Harworth Pavilion

2011-12-29T00:04:00.005Z

HARWORTH PAVILION PRESENTS ...
Music Quiz in The Pavilion Thursday 29th December 8pm start. £2 per person including food. There are cash prizes and the music quiz will followed by bingo.

All welcome, the Harworth Pavilion is on Scrooby Road, Bircotes, North Notts, DN11 8AD.
It's adjacent to Harworth Colliery Institute FC, a location that just might be (ever so slightly) familiar to regular readers of this humble blog, as I occasionally give HCIFC a small amount of completely unbiased coverage every now and then.

Glapwell 1 v Harworth Colliery Institute 3 - CMFL North

2011-12-28T22:25:00.009Z

Wednesday 28th December 2011, at Hall Corner

Central Midlands Football League North
Glapwell (1) 1
Jordan Johnson 21
Harworth Colliery Institute (0) 3
Kev Shelley 46, 73, Tom Pick 72
Admission £2.50 inc. programme

Attendance "Hmm, round about 60 or so", an estimate from a gentleman who is the authority on all things CMFL, so that'll do for me.

Glapwell

Weather report:
Strong winds, with occasional attempted rain showers.
However the rain did not amount to much because it was too damn windy.
Travel report:
Approach Glapwell via the more sheltered back roads.
A combination of strong gusts of wind and high sided vehicles have made things a bit dicey on the M1, to say the least.

Harworth CI

Harworth weathered some early pressure, as Glapwell started strongly with the wind behind their backs, but in spite of a few half chances, it was the visitors who had the first clear shot on goal when Tom Pick fired narrowly wide on 10 minutes.

The howling wind made keeping the ball down and playing passing football difficult at times.
Chris Belshaw's corner after 17 minutes, hung in the air for so long, the Glapwell keeper Craig Payne, had time to take two attempts to hold onto it.

Mark Latham did well to get down to a Josh Parfitt effort on 20 minutes and turned it away at the expense of a corner.
Richard Preston hit the resultant flag kick towards the back stick, where it went through to Jordan Johnson who fired the home side ahead.
The wind was dictating that all corner kicks would be destined for the far post.
On the balance of play, Glapwell were just about shading the game at this point.
The Harworth right back David Cornthwaite made a surging run down the flank on the half hour, but his pass through the channels towards Tom Pick and Kev Shelley, who had both timed their runs to beat the offside flag, was intercepted just in the nick of time and Glapwell cleared their lines.

With half time approaching, Glapwell's centre forward Josh Parfitt politely removed himself from the field of play, where he proceeded to, not to put too fine a point on it, chuck his ring up.
Possibly he was suffering from a bug and running about in the blustery conditions didn't agree with him, or he might just have over indulged just as much as the rest of us have over Xmas.
He returned to the fray just in time to see Kev Shelley hold off his marker, but have his shot on goal blocked at the other end of the pitch.
Half time - Glapwell 1 v Harworth CI 0

A minute in to the second half, the ball sat up nicely twenty yards out for Kev Shelley.
The prolific Harworth striker buried the ball past the despairing reach of Craig Payne, who didn't get anywhere near it.
Glapwell attacked again and Harworth conceded a free kick about thirty yards out, the home side continued to play and scored, but it was ruled out and the ball was brought back for the free kick.
Depending on which way your allegiances sway at this point (and I'm completely neutral ... sort of), either, i) the referee could've and maybe should've, played the advantage and in not doing so he denied Glapwell a goal, or ii) if the Harworth defence and keeper hadn't played to the whistle and stopped, they would still have been in a position to prevent a goal anyway.
In Rob Hornby's 'unbiased' blog report, see here:
http://aroundthegrounds2011-12.blogspot.com/2011/12/alls-well-for-harworth.html
he describes the incident as 'the turning point of the game'.
In my 'unbiased' blog report, I'm going to contradict him and say, half time was the turning point of the game, Harworth dominated the second half and the incident was a lesson for the home side about playing to the whistle.

Harworth secretary Simon Stones knocked out a few tunes
and entertained us in the bar before the game

That said, though Rob will always unintentionally be (slightly) less unbiased towards clubs based within his beloved Mansfield/Derbyshire border axis, the same allegation could also be levelled at me regarding clubs that frequent the infinitely superior North Notts/South Yorks corridor.
In Glapwell and Harworth, you'd be hard pushed to find two clubs who fit that borderline criteria any better, so we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one and in the spirit of reconciliation I offer Mr Hornby the following compromise ...
"Sit down and shut up man!
The referee is always right ... ALWAYS!"
And for the record, if you play on after the whistle has sounded, ignoring the referee and then stick the ball in the back of the net, it could, in the eyes of a less lenient official, applying the letter of the law, be construed as a bookable offence.
Yeah, Harworth got (very slightly) lucky and Glapwell have a (very slight) case for feeling aggrieved, but these things balance themselves out ;-)

Tom Pick had a chance to put the visitors in front, but after doing the hard work put his chance high and wide.
Play switched back towards the clubhouse end and Jordan Jackson very narrowly beat the offside trap (see how these things even out in the end!?), but Mark Latham saved well.
On 72 minutes Tom Pick completely miscued his shot in front of goal, as the ever worsening wind began to make any attempt to control the ball more and more difficult.
A benevolent defender had exactly the same problem mastering the conditions and miss-hit his attempted clearance straight back into the path of Pick, who found the target at the second time of asking.
Within a minute, Chris Belshaw had sent Kev Shelley free with a defence splitting pass and the Harworth marksman scored his second goal of the night.
Craig Anderson fired over as the visitors looked to finish the game off, but by now the ball resembled a balloon blowing about in the wind at times.

Glapwell Ultras

In the words of Rob Hornby, a person I never (even slightly) disagree with, the game was "a bit one sided this half."
But Glapwell staged a late rally; Ross Murcott shot wide from long range and right at the death Mark Statham pulled off a great one handed save from one of the Glapwell subs Michael Smy.
The final whistle sounded and from my completely neutral vantage point (I was honestly only wearing a Harworth scarf to keep the wind out), I think I can say, without fear of contradiction, that the mighty Harworth Colliery Institute were worthy winners by a mile and a half ;-)
OK, in fairness, well done to both sides for putting on such an intriguing and highly entertaining game on a night when it had looked as if the only winner was going to be the atrocious weather.
The final word (as anyone who's ever met the old chatterbox would expect) goes to Rob Hornby.
He's collecting for charity at the games he attends this season, so please give generously if you see him on your travels.
Here are the details of his fund-raising effort from his 'Around the grounds 2011-12' blog.
Good luck Rob :-)
For the season 2011-12, I have decided to sponsor myself 25p a goal, towards new equipment in the Neurology Department at the Queens Medicial Centre Hospital in Nottingham.
Dr Whiteley is a top Epilepsy Doctor and has cared for me for over 21 years and though there is no cure for me, as I have 3 Grand Mal Fits a week, I feel it is a worth while cause.
Anyone who would like to kindly make a donation can please contact me and I will put your name on the left side of the blog and I will be then handing the final cheque over around May 2012.

Catch up with Rob Hornby in the near future at:
7th Jan: Nottingham United v FC 05 Bilsthorpe
14th Jan: Clifton FC v Kimberley Town
21st Jan: Thoresby CW v Ollerton Town
28th Jan: Real United v Newark Town
... and don't forget to ask him about details of this years CMFL Groundhop Bonanza event.

Yorkshire Main 5 v Bentley Colliery 1 - CMFL North

2011-12-27T17:27:00.006Z

Yes, oh yes!
I treated my passengers to a Johnny Cash selection on the car stereo en route to Edlington ... those lucky swines don't know they're born!
Our select band of travellers today consisted of: two Mansfield Town supporters, one Frickley Athletic fan, a guy from Chesterfield (who hastens to add he just lives there, but isn't actually from that neck of the woods ... every few minutes) and a sad git who has a subscription to Guinea Pig fanciers magazine, it takes all sorts.
Tuesday 27th December 2011, at Edlington Lane
Central Midlands Football League North
Yorkshire Main (0) 5
Lee Isaac, Leon Osborne 2, Lee Atkinson 2
Bentley Colliery (0) 1
Brad Sykes
Admission £3 inc. programme
Attendance 50 (ish) it fluctuated from time to time
In the south west corner of Doncaster, deep in the heart of Edlington, Yorkshire Main, sat 3rd in the table prior to kick off, today welcomed ... from the north west quarter of 'Donny', just 6 miles away, 11th placed Bentley Colliery, from err, Bentley.Bentley showed (but only in sporadic bursts) what they are capable of during the first half.
But they were unable to sustain any kind of rhythm, while their hosts took control of the game and set about creating chance after chance.
For a while home side were camped in and around the visitors goal area and Bentley should be grateful that 'Main' seemed to be tripping over the tent pegs and guide ropes at critical moments, or maybe their vision was impaired, because their eyes were stinging from the smoke wafting across from the 'camp fire' over near the fence by the touch line on the right wing???
They certainly faired better after they changed ends at half time.
I couldn't quite put my finger on the aroma of whatever it was that was burning and creating the smoke cloud, but I was reliably informed during the course of the afternoon, that it was "fuggin' top grade skunk mate", by a very cheerful, red faced teenager who appeared to be wearing his clothes inside out and back to front ... maybe that's all the rage these days and I'm just an old codger who's not 'with it' any more. But he looked liked he'd got dressed in the dark or when he was stoned to me ... and he wasn't alone in that.
I like 'Edlo', but, being 'blunt', some of the locals have got a funny way of going about things ... they're all harmless and perpetually friendly enough though, for some reason.
Back on topic ... despite their dominance, Yorkshire Main had nothing to show for their efforts at the half way stage as both sides went in goalless at the break.
A couple of minutes after the restart, Lee Isaac finally broke the deadlock and 'Main' were ahead.
Initially it looked as though he was going to slip just as he was about to shoot, but he regained his balance and scored never the less ... perhaps it was a cunning ploy to wrong foot the visitors keeper all along.
Within 10 minutes Leon Osbourne had doubled that lead and on 70 minutes Atkinson finished neatly from 12 yards out to give the home side a three goal cushion.

On 75 minutes, Sykes pulled a goal back for Bentley, when a free kick from out on the right wing found him unmarked just to the left of the penalty spot and he drilled the ball home.
The home side almost found themselves hanging on for the three points, when another Bentley effort was cleared off the line ... but then 'Main' turned the screw and put the game out of the visitors reach.

With 7 minutes (approx) to go Leon Osbourne smashed the ball against the Bentley crossbar with so much force it's probably still rattling now the ground's been locked up and everybody has gone home ... but a couple of minutes later, he went for precision rather than power and lobbed the Bentley keeper in a one on one race for the ball on the edge of the box to make 4-1.
There was a goalmouth scramble in the visitors box in the last couple of minutes and Atkinson managed to get a touch on the ball and put it into the back of the net.
It wasn't as neat as his first goal, but they all count and it sealed the victory that keeps Yorkshire Main within one point of the league leaders Clipstone Welfare who also won today, 5-2 at home to FC05 Bilsthorpe.
Dronfield Town and Westella & Willerby, the other teams in the top four both drew their away games today, at Parkhouse and Kinsley Boys respectively.Transport complications permitting - i.e. if there are any local garages open over this festive lazy week - I'll be taking in some more Central Midlands Football League (North) action in the near future too.
I heard a rumour at Yorkshire Main today that Easington United have resigned from the CMFL (North), but as of yet I don't know if there is any truth in it, or if the so called 'well informed' sources who quite often circulate these kind of stories for whatever reason motivates them, have been on the Sherry over Xmas.
It seems a bit odd if there is anything in the rumours, because Easington have only recently signed four new players following the sad demise of Hutton Cranswick United.
I hope the 'East Enders' are staying on board because I'm looking forward to another trip out there soon.
Either way, best wishes to everybody at EUFC and I hope all is well at Low Farm.

Note, the players names in the above post were provided by reliable sources at Yorkshire Main FC and Bentley Colliery FC, the times however, are rough estimates that I got from a crap Ben Sherman watch that came to me via a very cheap and very unreliable source.
The A1 southbound was clear, a rarity if ever there was one and we got home in next to no time. On our way out, I could've sworn I saw these guys having a sing song in the Yorkshire Main Community Centre car park, though I could've been imagining it

Mansfield Town 1 v York City 1 - BSBP

2011-12-26T17:58:00.002Z

Monday 26th December 2011 - at Field Mill
Blue Square Bet Premier
Mansfield Town (1) 1 - Matt Green 11
York City (0) 1 - Liam Henderson 62
Admission FREE, Programme £3
Attendance 3551 (941 from York)
Mansfield Town
1 Marriott, 6 Riley, 16 O'Neill, 30 Freeman, 31 Dempster, 11 Murray, 21 Howell, 34 Aman, 10 Green (sub 7 Briscoe 53 minutes), 15 Dyer, 24 Meikle
Unused subs - 23 Redmond, 22 Day, 8 Stevenson, 33 Kelly
York City
24 Ingham, 3 Meredith, 5 McGurk, 6 Parslow, 2 Oyebanjo, 4 Smith, 8 Kerr, 16 Fyfield (sub 10 Chambers 46 minutes), 26 McLaughlin, 11 Henderson (sub 7 Reed 75 minutes), 17 Blair
Unused subs - 14 Potts, 15 Boucaud, 20 Challinor
Prior to kick off today, a minutes silence was held in memory of Carol Bowskill and Emma Stamp, two fine women and loyal Stags fans through and through, who have sadly passed away recently.
Both were well known to a large number of the Field Mill faithful and well liked.
Carol sat behind me, in my usual seat at Mansfield in the Quarry Lane End and used to check out the pictures I was taking for this blog over my shoulder.
Heartfelt condolences to the partners, family and many friends of Carol and Emma, my thoughts are with you all at this sad time.
A lot of the larger than usual away following from York, were still getting into the ground at 3pm, due to queues at the turnstiles. They deserve a special mention for immaculately observing the silent tribute as a mark of respect, while many of them were still gaining admission the ground and looking for seats.The free admission wasn't a universal thing today, usual match day prices applied across the board, but I, for once in my life, was given a freebie by a kindly soul who obviously thought I deserved one ... and I'm not arguing!
At times, Field Mill was no place for the faint hearted this afternoon, early on we'd commented that it didn't look as though this game was destined to finish with eleven players from each side still on the pitch.
But in the event there were only four bookings, one for Mansfield and three for York, over the course of 90 minutes (plus 4 minutes of stoppage time).
The Stags were ahead on 11 minutes when Matt Green latched onto an under-hit back pass from David McGurk, rounded the City keeper Michael Ingham and fired home.
Green took a knock as he shot ... and though he was able to carry on after treatment, he only lasted until the 53rd minute, when Paul Cox was forced to withdraw the striker and send on Louis Briscoe.

The home side were on top during the first half, with both Ross Dyer and Lindon Meikle coming close to extending their lead, whilst York, at the other end, only had a miss-hit effort by Matty Blair from 18 yards out to show for their somewhat lacklustre efforts at the start to the game.
The Stags came out looking to increase their lead in the second half and Green set up Dyer who came agonisingly close from ten yards out.
Alas, that was Green's last action before he was withdrawn.
Minutes later Ingram blocked another Dyer effort, but from then on in, York started to find their rhythm and began to show their promotion credentials and play the sort of football that had encouraged 941 of their fans to travel down from Yorkshire.
On 62 minutes, Lanre Oyebanjo wildly miscued a shot on the Stags goal from 25 yards out, but the ball fell into the path of Liam Henderson who's effort was far more accurate and the score was level.

With Matt Green out of the game, Mansfield looked a bit toothless and void of ideas in the final third as the game entered the last ten minutes.
Having squandered the chances that could've had this game won inside the first hour, the Stags found themselves hanging on for a point at the end.
And they can be grateful that Luke O'Neill made a well timed last ditch tackle on Matty Blair as he cued up a shot just inside the box ... and that Alan Marriott, at full stretch, managed to pull off a fine fingertip save from Jamie Reed's blistering shot.
Either team could've won this game, neither side shied away from a single tackle and it was no holds barred stuff at times.One criticism I would make of the Stags players today, was that they failed to complete far too high a percentage of the passes they attempted and in the end they were fortunate that didn't prove to be their undoing.
That said, after the recent wet weather, the pitch did look a bit heavy in places and was cutting up. So maybe that made carrying out even the most basic of tasks slightly more difficult than usual.
Hmm, or perhaps I'm just being outrageously generous because it is the season to be jolly, n' all that festive forgiveness kinda vibe.
Usual service will be resumed next week ... Grrr!!!!
Mansfield have been drawing far too many games, today was their 12th draw of the season (in all competitions).
Two of which have been goalless, while the rest all finished one apiece.
Consistent?
Yes.
Play off form?
Sadly not at present.
Prior to this afternoon's game, I said 4 points would be a great return for the Stags from the back to back holiday season fixtures against York City - today at Field Mill and New Years Day at Bootham Crescent - Well, I s'pose one could say they're still on target for that.
Aren't they Coxy!?

Whoops!

Footnote:
I see a lot of 'In John Radford We Trust' slogans around the Field Mill ground.
Well, I hope Mansfield Town aren't trusting the guy with producing the club calendar this year, or proof reading the programme ;-)

I'm flying in on a DC-10 tonight

2011-12-22T10:00:00.000Z

This blog is now closed until Boxing Day, when normal service will be resumed.
Weather permitting, of course.

Until then I bestow upon you all the gift of song:

John Graham Mellor (Joe Strummer)

21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002

BIG STEVE R.I.P.

2011-12-18T05:44:00.003Z

STEVE OXBY

REST IN PEACE BIG MAN

You are in our thoughts Linda (and all family & friends)

What an awesome guy, gone too soon, a terrible loss.

Retford United 4 v Liversedge 2 - Baris NCEL Premier Division

2011-12-17T17:16:00.002Z

Saturday 17th December 2011, at Cannon Park
Baris Northern Counties East League, Premier Division
Retford United (3) 4
Adam Scott 9, 16, Warren Hatfield 38, Barry Payne 89
Liversedge (1) 2
Dave Boardman 1, Corey Nightingale OG 78
Admission £5, Programme £1.50
Thanks to Annie Sm ... err, Knight for the team sheet
Free Roses chocolates for all inc. with admission :-)
Attendance 146
Man of the match - Adam Scott
Retford United secured the Xmas number 1 spot (sorry Cliff better luck next year) by putting four goals past Liversedge for the second week in a row.
But the visitors put up a spirited fight this afternoon, going ahead inside the first twenty seconds ... and the Badgers had their goalkeeper Jason Fisher to thank for keeping out a David Boardman penalty on 69 minutes.
Retford kicked off, but almost immediately lost possession and 'Sedge' attacked through the right hand channel.
A few United players seemed to stop in their tracks and looked towards the linesman hoping he was going to flag for a handball, but he didn't and Jamie Wasley, playing to the whistle, whipped the ball into the box where David Boardman was on hand to fire the visitors ahead before the Badgers had even got into their stride.
A double strike from Adam Scott, saw United pull level and then take the lead by the 16th minute, his second goal was a great solo effort after he'd powered into the box through the visitors defence.
On 27 minutes Chris Baugh almost extended Retford's lead, but his well struck shot from 12 yards out was well saved by James Waggett.
Baugh had a busy and industrious afternoon, marshalling his back line well and linking up with the midfield and attack. A solid captain's performance ... the former Ollerton Town player is obviously well worth £25 of anybody's sponsorship money.

"Look over their everybody ... Barry Oxby is standing on one leg!"

Liversedge were nearly level when Boardman thumped the ball against the post and then Carl Horsman miscued a shot in front of goal a minute later ... that'll be why he's a full back and not a striker then.
At the other end Warren Hatfield fired into the side netting, but a few minutes later had a chance to atone for his miss, when Adam Scott's deep cross from the right wing was headed back across the goal by Baugh into Hatfield's path, he made no mistake this time.
Retford finished the first half on top and could have gone into the break more than 3-1 ahead.
Liversedge came out looking for a way back into the game and started the second half strongly, but United packed out their rearguard and absorbed the pressure, waiting patiently to exploit the gaps the visitors were going to inevitably leave as they pushed forward in numbers.
Liam Pride, found himself in front of the Liversedge goal as Retford counter attacked, but fired his effort over ... once again, a case of a full back showing why he isn't a centre forward.With 69 minutes on the clock, it looked as though United's second half resilience had finally been breached ... and though there was more than a hint of good fortune in the visitors favour when they were awarded a penalty, nobody could dispute that 'Sedge' didn't deserve to be back in the game at this stage.
They were certainly letting Retford know they had been in a game.
A Liversedge shot from outside the box struck Rob Austin on the hand as he made a determined effort to block the ball.
From where I was sitting, I thought it was an unavoidable case of ball to hand, but the referee interpreted things differently.

Jason Fisher's got it covered

Dave Boardman hit his spot kick firmly and on target, but Jason Fisher in the Retford goal had anticipated the situation well and pulled off a fine save.
Ironically, when Liversedge did finally get the second goal that their efforts deserved, it went in off of one of the Retford defence who had worked so hard to preserve a two goal cushion, when Corey Nightingale diverted the ball past Fisher while trying to clear his lines.
With five minutes remaining, Liversedge's captain Darryl Leach smashed a free kick narrowly wide of the Badgers goal from 20 yards out.With full time rapidly approaching and everybody in the ground wondering if Retford were going to hold on, or if the visitors still had one last push in them, United took the ball down the left wing and deep into the 'Sedge' half, but rather than running the clock down in the corner, they opted for a 'best form of defence is attack' philosophy and moments later Barry Payne had the ball at his feet just a few yards out from goal ... it was a gilt edge change and he couldn't miss. Game over!
A very entertaining game that could've gone either way right until the very end finished 4-2.
Liversedge must be gutted that they were floored with such a late sucker punch after their exertions in the second half, but by the same token the Badgers could've been out of sight already by half time.

As I left the ground I received a text message from Haig Avenue, Southport - Mansfield playing really well, 90 minutes are up 1-1 - but by the time I'd travelled the few hundred yards home over the railway and canal bridges, the Stags had conceded two injury time goals and lost their game 3-1.
Bugger!
Don't you just hate it when that happens!?

Scunthorpe United 1 v Carlisle United 2 - npower League 1 (AKA Division 3)

2011-12-10T17:37:00.006Z

Saturday 10th December 2011, at Glanford Park
npower League 1
Scunthorpe United (1) 1
Andy Barcham 3
Carlisle United (0) 2
James Berrett 64, Francois Zoko 90+
Admission £10 (standing or seating), Programme £3
Attendance 3.624
Scunthorpe United:
Johnstone, Wright, Canavan, Shane Duffy, Nolan, Mark Duffy (Ryan 68), Togwell, O'Connor, Barcham, Thompson, Grant.
Unused Subs: Slocombe, Dagnall, Robertson, Palmer.Carlisle United:
Collin, Ribeiro, Michalik, Murphy, Robson, Noble, Thirlwell, Berrett, McGovern, Miller, Loy (Zoko 74).
Unused Subs: Gillespie, Livesey, Madden, Taiwo.There are probably worse things you could do at 2.50 on a Saturday afternoon, than dress up as a large lop eared rabbit called 'Scunny Bunny' and dance to 'Hi ho silver lining' all by yourself in the middle of a football pitch ... but right now, I can't think of a single one.
Without wanting to go all Sigmund Freud on you ... this afternoon Scunthorpe United suffered from a footballing equivalent of premature ejaculation.
They peaked too soon and when there was a need for some extra penetration and a few more thrusts, to take the game all the way towards a rewarding and satisfactory conclusion, they were found wanting.'Scunny' were all fingers and thumbs, whilst their Cumbrian visitors paced themselves and reached a spectacular nadir at precisely the right time.
Carlisle United's technique, delivery and prolonged pounding of the Iron's box, was triple X rated, well hung porn star class.
Welcome to 'Gland'ford Park!

Oh well, that ought to boost the66pow's ratings when people type certain phrases into their search engines when they're feeling lonesome tonight.

Welcome to Sunny Scunny

Anyway, enough of this smut.
Scunthorpe United can count three ex England captains amongst their former players.
I'll give you Kevin Keegan and Ray Clemence, but can you guess who the third one is?
There is a picture clue subtly and discreetly planted somewhere on this blog post for anyone who needs a bit of a helpful prompt.
Feel free to send me your answers on a postcard if you wish, but there are no prizes, it's just for fun.

I'll spare you all the boring gubbins about how I ended up being over the Trent in North Lincolnshire this afternoon, but £10 for a game in the Third Division of the Football League appeared, on the face of it, to be an absolute bargain ... and this sucker couldn't resist.

Inside four minutes the Iron were in front when Garry Thompson put an slide rule pass into the path of Andy Barcham, who curled the ball around the flat footed Carlisle keeper Andy Collin and his defence to score a cracking goal.

Andy Collin 'flat footed', the ball is that faint blur just to the left of step G

Within a minute of 'Scunny' going in front, Lee Miller had hit the post at the other end.
Then a couple of comedy caper escapades from the home side's defence, saw them fortunate not to concede a couple of own goals in quick succession, with the post coming to their rescue again on one occasion as Shane Duffy miscued a clearance.
Garry Thomson squandered a one on one against Andy Collin, hitting the ball straight at the Carlisle keeper's legs, but play switched back towards the terraced end of Glanford Park and Pete Murphy smashed an effort against the cross bar.
Despite the end to end opening spell, Scunthorpe lost their way a bit for the remainder of the first half and wilted a bit, while the visitors went from strength to strength, pushing and probing for an equaliser.
But half time came and went and more by luck then design, Alan Knill's side were still hanging on to their single goal advantage.

Eventually (and inevitably) Carlisle equalised on 64 minutes (though it had been on the cards for the last hour), when James Berrett added the finishing touch to a chance created by a Lee Miller flick on.
Of course, the former Hearts (and several other far lesser clubs) striker Lee Miller, used to be on the books of Scunthorpe United ... and it is actually the law that ex strikers always play well and/or score against their former clubs.
Miller certainly bust a gut to put the Iron to the sword today.Ironically, Berrett's goal put a bit of lead back into Scunthorpe's pencil and they perked up a bit when Jimmy Ryan came on as substitute ... but not quite enough to get them past the heavy petting stage and back into the glory hole.
But, it looked as though they had done enough to salvage an unlikely draw, having weathered a proper going over from the Cumbrians for sustained periods, especially in the first half.
Jimmy Ryan and Sam Togwell could've both snatched all three points for the Glanford Park side, but Ryan's shot was narrowly wide and Togwell's effort from eight yards out is probably still orbiting the circumference of planet earth right now it was so off target.
Carlisle threw their battering ram, that is Francois Zoko, on for the last few minutes ... the fluffers had done their bit, but now, for the grand finale, or climax if you've got a dirty mind, it was time to break out the big gun.
Lee Miller (who else) spotted Zoko's run and floated the ball over the Scunthorpe defence into the path of the former Ivory Coast Under 23 attacking midfielder (that Wikipedia is a mine of information) and he clipped the ball neatly over Sam Johnstone to score the winning goal deep into injury time.

Best programme I've seen anywhere this season

The home fans were gutted to have lost so late in the game, who wouldn't have been?
But on the balance of play and chances created, Carlisle United should have had this one wrapped up by half time anyway.
There are no pictures of Carlisle's goals, because just before the hour mark a steward very politely approached me and requested that I should stop taking photograph's because it was against the ground rules.
I s'pose the guy was only doing his job and wasn't his fault ... the git!
Elsewhere:
Worksop Town progressed into the 2nd round of the FA Trophy by beating Tamworth 1-0 at Sandy Lane, a result that made me smile, given a few incidents I won't incriminate myself by repeating here, that occurred the last time those two sides met.
Frickley Athletic were beaten at home by Bradford (Park Avenue), I'm truly saddened to hear about that Mr Shorts and MM ;-(
And Droylsden knocked Mansfield Town out the FA Trophy, FFFFS!Footnote:
Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, the visit to Glanford Park today marked my 100th game of the season.
I've obviously got too much time on my hands.

Harworth Colliery Institute U19 0 v Pinxton U19 2 - NMU19L

2011-12-07T21:54:00.003Z

Wednesday 7th December 2011, at Scrooby Road
Baris North Midlands U19 League Division 2
At Scrooby Road
Harworth Colliery Institute (0) 0
Pinxton (1) 2
Keiran Wells 38, Joe Wright 47
Admission £2 inc. programme, Attendance 27

Team sheets: Home yellow, Away pink(s) tone
Left click to enlarge

Apologies to Keiran Wells, the scorer of Pinxton's opening goal ... my camera got soaked earlier today, it's buggered and I didn't get the pictures you wanted.
Of course, it could be that all your images came out depicting you as a ginger blur because you are so damn fast, but I think we both know better than that mate ;-)
I've got a new (waterproof) model now and normal service will be resumed next time.
Good to see you again anyway ... now give over scoring against the teams I have an emotional attachment to, you poser ;-p
You took your chance very well, but stop it now ... please!
This result might mean that neither of these sides will be playing in the NMU19L Division 2 any more after this season, by virtue of them heading the opposite way to each other, i.e. Pinxton in an upwardly direction and Harworth, err ... the other way :-(
Pinxton are now 6 points behind the Division 2 leaders Radford, but have three games in hand over the Hyson Green based side.

Ryan Foster missed a great chance to put the home side ahead early on.

It set the tone for yet another night of 'if only' moments, hard luck and a few important 50/50 judgements by the match officials not going Harworth's way (again).
Sadly, it's an all too familiar story.
When you're an unfashionable club, struggling along at the wrong end of the table, it must feel sometimes, like the football fates were pre-determined against you before the season even started.

Talking of unfashionable!
Hasan Hussein :-)

The problems that have beset Harworth Colliery Institute FC as a whole this last year and some of the decisions that have gone against them, both on and off the pitch (not just the Under 19's), would've sunk a less resilient, dedicated and determined back-room team.
But this is a club that is the hub of it's community and they will survive, by the skin of their teeth maybe, but the reserves of character they have when dealing with adversity will see them through.
And lets face it, they've had more than enough practice at coping with getting the brown messy end of the stick just lately.When you're trudging off the pitch after a defeat like tonight's, on a sticky and difficult pitch, with an unrelenting and bitterly cold wind cutting right through you ... one or two of those involved must be starting to question their own sanity and the rationale behind getting involved in the first place.
Stick with it guys and don't stop believing.
Some people are in it (Under 19's football) purely for the egotistical posturing opportunities it affords them, but YOU KNOW you're there for the right reasons ... and for what it's worth, so do I!
After Harworth's opening flurry, Pinxton started making headway at the other end.
Keiran Wells crossed to Joe Wright, who headed narrowly wide.
And just before the half hour mark Jack Horton forced a great point blank save out of Zack Turner in the Harworth goal with a close range header.
The home side pushed forward again and Tom Sowden rattled the Pinxton crossbar ... if only his boot had connected with the ball instead of his shin, that one would've been a goal all the way.
On 38 minutes Keiran Wells drilled the ball past turner from the right hand corner of the six yard box.
He'd waited patiently for the right moment to score and was clinical when a clear cut chance finally came along.Though it pains me to say this, I will anyway ... chances were always going to be at a premium tonight, on a difficult surface with the wind playing havoc with the ball, so when and if a rare opportunity arose, Harworth needed to be focussed and ready to take it.
But their efforts were rushed and wasted.
A couple of opportunities were sat there, literally begging for a self assured good contact, or any kind of effort on target.
Alas it just wasn't to be.
Conditions like tonight are a nightmare for goalkeepers, with the ball moving about erratically,
but Harworth never really tested Gareth Jones in the Pinxton goal enough.

The referee waved away two penalty appeals in the first half for the home side, one of them was as blatant as they come.
It's often said that these things balance themselves out over the course of a season ... I don't think you would find anyone at Harworth who would subscribe to that theory during their current NMU19L campaign though.
That said, I might have been looking the other way momentarily in the second half, when a Pinxton player had his shirt held on the referee's blind side, thwarting a clear run on goal - ahem!Two minutes into the second half Joe Wright put the visitors two nil up.
Just after the hour Wright was through on goal again with just Turner to beat, but Jason Markell got back just in the nick of time and forced the Pinxton number 9 into rushing his shot, denying him the time to take his aim and the ball ended up in the adjacent BMX cum skateboard park.
Harworth, playing into the wind this half, struggled to get back into the game after the second goal, but didn't let their heads drop and kept plucking away.
Sadly, effort and tireless running don't win football matches.
Late in the game, Tom Padgett broke into the box and fired a powerful shot, low and hard towards the bottom right hand corner of the goal (like a couple of his team mates should've done a bit earlier), but Jones pulled off a great save down by his post.
Harworth have only one league game left to play now, away at bottom club Matlock Town on a date yet to be confirmed.
If it's two clubs down this season, they need to win that game at Causeway Lane and hope West Bridgford Colts lose their remaining three games.
Next up ... I'm planning a run over to Shirebrook tomorrow night, to watch Worksop Town v West Bridgford Colts in a NMU19L game, that now has a massive significance for the Scrooby Road team.
It wouldn't be right for me to comment further as to why I'm saying this, but come on Worksop, I think you owe Harworth one after recent events!

FOOTNOTE - Added 8/12/2011 - Worksop Town v West Bridgford Colts game is OFF - Waterlogged pitch.

Grimsby Town 0 v Mansfield Town 0 - BSBP

2011-12-06T23:07:00.008Z

She swore that she'd follow me to the end of the world.
Time to see if it's true then ;-)
I couldn't actually find Armageddon in my AA map book, but I know somewhere quite similar, out east at the end A46 route to Cleethorpes.
So we arrived on the edge of the Humber Estuary, on a cold December, midweek night, to take in a goalless draw at Blundell Park, between two ex Football League clubs.
And after thawing out on the way home, somewhere near the dual carriageway at Gringley, she turned to me, looked me straight in the eye ... and with all the sincerity she could muster, said three heartfelt little words to me ... "That was crap!"
As of yet, she hasn't expanded on what aspect of the night met with her disapproval.
In fact, she hasn't spoken to me at all again since then.Not even when I got the car airborne over the hump back bridge at Hayton and asked if she still got travel sickness sometimes.
I'm sure this settee will actually prove to be quite comfortable once I get used to it ... and I know she cares really, or she wouldn't have thrown this blanket at me before slamming the door and flouncing off upstairs to that luxury, warm as toast, king sized bed.
Oh well, at least her hideous snoring won't keep me awake tonight
You just wait and see what treat I've got planned for you tomorrow young lady!
Hmm, I wonder if it's too late to send her a text message asking if there's any chance of a bit of supper at this late hour?
Tuesday 6th December 2011, at Blundell Park
Grimsby Town 0
Mansfield Town 0
Admission £16 (booked in advance on-line, £18 otherwise) in the Findus Stand upper tier,
Programme £3, Attendance 2553 inc. 140 in away end and a few Stags fans up in the 'posh' seats
Grimsby Town
13 McKeown, 22 Townsend, 26 I'Anson, 28 Antwi, 8 Disley,
19 Wood, 23 Panther (21 Thanoj 77 mins), 25 McCartney,
7 Coulson, 10 Hearn, 39 Elding (12 Duffy 82 mins)
Unused Subs - 2 Silk, 15 Pearson, 11 Artus
Mansfield Town
1 Marriott, 5 Thompson, 17 Sutton, 30 Freeman, 31 Dempster,
8 Stevenson (7 Briscoe 72 mins), 11 Murray, 14 Bolland,
10 Green, 15 Dyer, 24 Meikle
Unused Subs - 23 Redmond, 16 O'Neill, 33 Kelly, 32 Rodney
The post match analysis shows that Grimsby Town and Mansfield Town had 13 attempts each on goal tonight and that half that total were on target (and as a consequence another 50% weren't).
But this wasn't the display of end to end goalmouth action such a statistic suggests, because a lot of those efforts didn't trouble either keeper very much at all.
It was a night of misplaced passes and badly executed moves, that for the best part (or worse part if you must) saw both teams bogged down in a bit of a stalemate, as they cancelled each other out.
I suppose you could dress it up and say that Mansfield have now gone 5 games unbeaten, or point to the worrying fact that they've dropped 8 of the last 15 available points, depending on whether you're an eternal optimist or a doom merchant.
The fact is, this was Grimsby's 9th consecutive game since their last defeat, they're an in form team, they put 7 past Stockport County last week ... and in real terms an away draw at Blundell Park at the moment is actually a good result, regardless of how scrappy and uninspiring it looked from the stands at times.
Whenever I visit Grimsby Town, I always use the upper tier seats, tonight was the first time I had ever encountered any problems.
I have made a note of my seat number and will make sure I'm sat somewhere else in future.
Tonight, the guy who plonked his arse down next to me just before kick off was only small, but bloody hell ... he needed the turning circle of one of the steady stream of car transporter vessels we watched heading out to sea during the frequent lulls in play, just to get something out of his pocket ... he had a lot of pockets.
He was all arms and legs.
Once upon a time, at a match in Northumberland, I ended up at next to an octopus wearing 4 pairs of boxing gloves, who had an epileptic seizure ... and that beasty didn't take up half as much space as this damn pest.
Despite a few subtle hints and a few blatant retaliatory strikes, I was a beaten man and if I stayed were I was I was going to end up black and blue ... I gave up, we moved!
For the record, octopuses, or octopi/octopodes if we are being plurally correct, don't actually suffer from epilepsy.
And it was more likely to be a squid I was actually sat next to anyway.
I was merely using the said sea creature for illustrative purposes ... or exaggerating again.The nearest either team came to breaking the deadlock was in the second half.
Michael Coulson, with a clear run at goal, had his shot well saved by the Stags keeper Alan Marriott.
Rob Duffy, who isn't ever so popular amongst the Mansfield faithful (he wasn't when he used to play for them either) should have scored late on, but his effort hit Marriott's outstretched leg and cleared the bar instead ... Duffy missing a sitter with the goalkeeper laying on the ground ... who'd have thought!?
And Louis Briscoe, fired over the bar then had another shot blocked well by James McKeown right at the death.
The fact that both Duffy and Briscoe were only introduced as late substitutes, speaks volumes about me fast forwarding past the earlier goal scoring chances.
Two unbeaten records intact, a point apiece when both teams could really have used three to help kick-start their respective seasons.
I was at the game when these two sides met at Blundell Park last season, on New Years Day, there were 9 goals that day ... the mighty Stags weighed in with 2 of them.
It was a slightly more open game than I witnessed tonight.Hmm, I wonder if she'll be talking again in time for me to secure some breakfast in the morning before I go to work.
Ah, she's a women, they can't keep quiet for very long.
Think I'll have bacon and eggs.

Next up - weather permitting, Wednesday night, Harworth Colliery Institute U19 v Pinxton U19.
Note, the U19 games at Hallam, Sheffield and Teversal are all OFF

Frickley Athletic 0 v Chasetown 1 - Evo-Stik Premier Division

2011-12-03T17:42:00.008Z

Saturday 3rd December 2011
at the Tech 5 Stadium, Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, Premier Division
Frickley Athletic (0) 0
Chasetown (1) 1
Gary Birch 20
Admission £8, Programme £1.50, Attendance 177
Prior to kick off, there was a presentation made to Danny Walsh, to mark the milestone of him having made 250 appearances for Frickley Athletic.
This is his sixth season at the club.
Pictured here are Danny Walsh, 'Barney' and the back of Steve Pennock's head.
Also before the game got under way, there was an immaculately observed minutes silence held in memory of Gary Speed.
Frickley Athletic:
Stephen Dickinson, David Cyrus, Ben Turner, Danny Walsh, Lincoln Adams, Stuart Ludlam, Grant Darley (Danny Smith 72min), James Ashmore, Brad Grayson, Ollie Ryan, Ryan Mallon
Unused subs, Mark Whitehouse, Karl Jones, Ben Saynor.

Chasetown:
Ryan Price, Jack Farmer, Mark Branch, Christopher Slater, James Turner, Richard Teesdale, Mark Hands, Darren Stride, Gary Birch, Dean Perrow (Daniel Smith 82min), David Bridgwater (Lee Wright 74min)
Unused subs, Andrew Westwood, Carl Edwards, John Birt

Lincoln Adams has a Maradona moment

I had it on very good authority from a trusted friend, that the way Frickley have been playing just lately, somebody was due to get a good hiding any time soon.
Hmm, my source must've meant some other time soon then, because this afternoon, his prediction was a bit off the mark.
Another trusted friend, the Blues manager Peter Rinkcavage, lamented in his programme notes for this afternoon, about his side conceding soft early goals and giving themselves too much to do. And how marrying that with missing chance after chance was a recipe for disaster.
Unfortunately for 'Rinky' those words just about summed up this afternoon's game.
Which must be very frustrating for you Peter.
By the way, congratulations on your new arrival this week Rachel and Peter Rinkcavage.
Didn't think you still had it in you mate ;-)
South Elmsall can be a bleak and austere place at the best of times, this afternoon with a biting wind whipping over the nearby former colliery slag heap site and sporadic heavy rain showers, it was no place for the nesh or faint hearted.
Football may well be the beautiful game, but today's encounter was the ugly runt of the litter.
As stop/start, uninspiring matches go, this one was, err ... stop/start and uninspiring, as both teams struggled to get to grips with the conditions and cancelled each other out all over the pitch.
A grim encounter played out to a backdrop of the wind battering the roof of the stand accompanied by the frequent sound of the referee's whistle, which much to the annoyance of the locals seemed to be going in the favour of the visitors more often than not.

One minute winter sunshine, the next torrential rain ...
this game had it all

Chasetown's Mark Branch pumped a lengthy pass cum cross into the Frickley box on twenty minutes, it dropped into the path of Gary Birch who was stood near the penalty spot, he took two steps forward and diverted the ball past Stephen Dickinson with his head.
Simple, effective, route one tactics, using the wind to full effect ... and a bloody soft goal to concede.
Rinky's programme notes now resembled a prophetic, all too accurate prediction.
On 37 minutes there was a massive, ironic cheer and round of applause, as the referee Paul Cook finally gave a decision the home team's way.
I'm sure he was doing everything by the letter of the law, but even through my neutral and unbiased eyes, Mr Cook did seem to be a bit of an 'awayer'.
And for the record ... I AM A NEUTRAL, when I watch the Blues play ... despite various offers to buy me a Frickley Athletic scarf for Xmas and allegations that I am now one of the Westfield Lane faithful.
I do attend games at South Elmsall quite regularly, but I appreciate the straight talking honesty of the people here and the camaraderie ... if anybody has 'owt to say to you, or about you, they do it to your face (or in your face even), there are certain other clubs within easy travelling distance of my humble abode, where that isn't always the case.
Shortly before half time there was a flurry of action when Grant Darley nearly equalised for the home side.
But then play switched to the other end and David Bridgwater, Chasetown's number 11, was unlucky to see his free kick from just outside the box rattle against both the crossbar and right hand upright before being cleared to safety. The second half was just a scrappy, but played out mostly in the Chasetown half, as Frickley tried to break down a packed defence but found all routes to goal blocked.
Ben Turner (twice) and Ollie Ryan came close for the Blues and I could've sworn I saw the goalkeeper Ryan Price touch the kitchen sink over the bar on 65 minutes, as the home side pushed forward in droves in search of an equaliser, but the 'Scholars' stood firm and were hell bent on grinding out a result, which even their own website match report refers to as 'winning ugly'.
But fair play to the visitors, they were resilient and dug deep to hang on to their well taken single goal advantage.On 71 minutes, Chasetown counter attacked and it was hearts in mouth time for the home fans as Dean Perrow was 'tackled' by Lincoln Adams as he squared up to shoot.
But the referee, much to everyone's surprise, given his performance thus far, said that Adams intervention was a fair challenge and waved play on.
The Chasetown bench were incensed by the decision, but I could list them half a dozen earlier incidents where the referee had been slightly kinder to them (to put it mildly), so I'm sure these things balance themselves out in the end guys ;-)James Ashmore smashed a long range shot narrowly wide on 75 minutes ... and last ditch tackles, blocks and clearances also thwarted Ollie Ryan, Brad Grayson and Danny Walsh in the late stages of the game.
It took a really determined effort for Chasetown to hold out for three points as the game reached it's grand finale, but credit where it's due, they kept on battling and toughed it out, right to the bitter end.
Frickley Athletic for their part, must be wondering what the hell they had to do to score today, they were camped in the visitors goal area for the last ten minutes, but somehow the Midlands side held on and took all three points home with them.
Chris Slater in particular, put in a great performance in defence for Chasetown today, the Frickley forward line won't be too fussed that they haven't got to face him again this season.
OK, request time.
I was asked by Craig, a Frickley Athletic die hard from Pontefract, to mention on this blog, that before the game, I had witnessed him putting an envelope into the hand of an unscrupulous and dodgy looking character going by the name of John ... and to remind the said recipient that it is customary to reciprocate such generosity in the run up to Xmas.
Amazingly, though the A1 southbound still had speed restrictions on and seasonal revenue raising cameras in place awaiting any poor sod who wants to get anywhere at more than a snail's pace, the roadworks between the M18 junction and Blyth services were temporarily suspended this evening :-)
I suspect the bollards may have all been blown away.

Apparently there is already snow trying to drop out of the sky, in them there hills just beyond Sheffield, so I'll have to wait and see if we're in for a repeat of last December's weather before deciding about venturing outdoors anywhere this week.

By the way ... if Frickley carry on creating chances like they did today, they're going to give somebody a good hiding any time soon.

RACE NIGHT - Saturday 3rd December 2011

2011-12-03T00:04:00.002Z

At Staveley Miners Welfare FC - Inkersall Road, Staveley, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S43 3JL.
For further details contact SMWFC Club Secretary E. Reaney - 07530055849

Kings Park Rangers v All Comers

2011-12-02T23:22:00.003Z

Friday 2nd December 2011, at Cannon Park
Retford United Pop Quiz 2011
Kings Park Rangers - 1st place and undisputed champions of the entire universe
All Comers - Better luck next year suckers!!!
Admission £10 (for a team of four)

Cannon Park

I'm not one to gloat.
BUT ...
OK, it was a very close run thing and very tight at the top of the table at the end of the night, but well done to my team for winning this years RUFC Pop Quiz.
The main aspects of the night were fund-raising for Retford United FC and having fun ... and to that end everybody was a winner.
We won the first round despite my team captain over ruling me on four correct answers and then plodded on blindly through the next three rounds, just about hanging on to our top of the table spot, by the skin of our teeth, having missed some absolute sitters.
The points we won in the first round just about saw us through in the end, because we were decidedly average (at best) from then on in.
Well done Ian Beech for organising the event and to Robin and Julie (AKA Mrs Beech) for doing all the hard work, while the big lad took all the plaudits.
Ta very much to the two young ladies who did a great job behind the bar too.
Here we see the diminutive but very lovely Annie Knight, club secretary of RUFC and pop quiz genius, clutching on to her spoils for the night, while a big clumsy ox from the winning team, Kings Park Rangers, collides with her on his way towards a midnight feast .. well, she's so tiny I didn't see her down there ;-)

I have put a photo of the winners trophy at the top of this post, so those of you who didn't get one could see what it looks like.
To be honest, we were stunned that we had actually won when the final scores were tallied up.
Nah, stuff that, this is no time for false modesty, the final table doesn't lie, we were awesome ...

Great fun, good company, roll on next year.

Reminder ... BEECHY'S POP QUIZ

2011-12-02T00:14:00.002Z

At Retford United

Cannon Park,
Leverton Road,
Retford,
Notts,
DN22 6QF

Announcement:

Friday 2nd December 2011

A fun night and fund-raiser for Retford United FC, hosted by local celebrity DJ-ing leg-end Ian Beech.
Management and players from the club will be competing at this event, but they won't be finishing in last place, because a team from this self indulgent, bullshit blog will be taking part too.
Your attendance will guarantee a marked improvement in your sex life and social standing, but if you don't show up, people will point at you in the street, laugh at you and mock you for being a socially inadequate tight arsed, miserable scrote.
Entry £10 per team of four.

Any cash prize won by THE66POW team, Kings Park Rangers, will go unclaimed and be given back towards the total proceeds raised from the night, which are ALL going to the football club.

The idyllic Kings Park in Retford, home to KPR

Mansfield Town U19 2 v Notts Schools U18 2 - Friendly

2011-12-01T21:37:00.005Z

Thursday 1st December 2011
at the Lido Ground, Clipstone Miners Welfare FC
Friendly
Mansfield Town U19 (0) 2
Matt Harris 47, 80 pen
Nottinghamshire Schools U18 (1) 2
Admission £2, No programme issued,
Attendance 78 (quick and probably inaccurate headcount)
Another Thursday night friendly work out for the Stags Under 19's, following on from their home victory over Fleetwood Town yesterday afternoon.
The Notts side gave Mansfield's lads a good run for their money and went in one goal ahead at the break, after Scott Rogers was lobbed from the edge of the box on 32 minutes having been exposed to the danger the Schools side presented, by a temporally absent defence.
Scott's growing in stature fast this season and it's good to hear him commanding and encouraging his defence well throughout matches ... though I'm not sure what he would've wanted to say to them after that lapse.

Former Stags youth team keeper Olly Medley at full
stretch as the ball narrowly clears his cross bar

Matt Harris put the game level right at the beginning of the second half but the Stags were behind again a minute later as their opponents attacked straight from the restart.

Matt Harris completes his brace with an 80th minute penalty

Olly Medley, the ex Mansfield Town keeper, playing in the Notts School side's goal tonight had been 'enjoying' some banter with the Stags followers behind his goal and was definitely giving as good as he was got.
He was visibly gutted when a clumsy challenge from one of his defence gave away a penalty right in front of his 'fan club' and his misery was compounded when Matt Harris drilled the ball home and passed a little comment of his own towards his former team mate.
Olly played really well, but he was a bit quieter after the penalty.

I'm having to miss a lot of the Mansfield Town U19's league games this season, because of their midweek 2pm kick off times, but I'm enjoying the Thursday night extras a lot ... keep them coming.

Winterton Rangers 2 v Staveley Miners Welfare 1 - Baris NCEL Premier Division

2011-11-30T22:28:00.007Z

Wednesday 30th November 2011, at West Street
Baris NCEL Premier Division
Winterton Rangers (2) 2
Gavin Cooper 3, Rob Sanderson 30
Staveley Miners Welfare (0) 1
Joe Thornton 75
Admission £5, Programme £1.20, Attendance 80
In August Winterton lost twice at Staveley in the space of a week, in both the League and League Cup.
Tonight Rangers turned the tables on their Derbyshire visitors and deservedly took the three points.
The home side's performance warranted the result, but at times, I'm sad to say, their discipline left a lot to be desired.
Which is a real shame, because they're obviously capable of playing decent, attacking, attractive, passing football.
A friend of mine had been checking out the West Street side a few times of late and had a lot of good things to say about them, so knowing how Staveley like to play the game, I figured West Street would be a safe bet for an entertaining game of football tonight.
Alas, any real quality only shone through for a few fleeting moments, whilst a strong cross wind blowing in from the clubhouse end of the ground and certain other aspects of the game dominated proceedings.

"Certain other aspects of the game"

Staveley have hit a bit of a blip in form of late and they were slow coming out of the blocks tonight.
Gavin Cooper received the ball six yards out on three minutes after Staveley had failed to deal with a ball in from the left.
He had the time and space to turn and pick his spot and Winterton were ahead.
With the strong wind behind them ... and mindful of the fact that Staveley would have the same advantage after the break ... Rangers put the visitors goal under pressure.
Ian Deakin did well to tip a Jake Stannard over the bar with one hand after the Winterton number 9 had tried lobbing him from the edge of the box.
Rob Sanderson doubled the home sides lead on 30 minutes.
Maybe the Staveley defence were guilty of ball watching as Sanderson headed home unmarked and unchallenged, but Winterton were playing well and to be fair it was the least they deserved.
But then the wheels came off a bit and the game descended into farce shortly before half time, when an unsightly and unnecessary punch up broke out.
It kicked off when Jake Stannard grabbed Staveley's Richard Patterson by the throat and threw him aside, right in front of the referee. He had to go ... and once calm was (just About) restored he was shown a red card.
Several other players were fortunate not to have joined him.
There was also a marked change in the sniping little clique of Winterton fans we were sat near, who had been very outspoken but quite amusing up to this point.
Their acerbic wit turned to unbridled hostility for a while and anybody within earshot was fair game.
Whenever I've been to West Street before, the 'banter' and pithy comment from the crowd have always provided me with a great source of entertainment, but tonight, I'm not sure what Staveley are supposed to have done to wind them up, but the vitriol and personal abuse aimed at some of those who had travelled over from Derbyshire, made for a different kind of atmosphere altogether.
Never mind hey!?
They had paid their money to get in and were entitled to an opinion.
And I'm sure their bark is a lot worse than their actual bite.
That said, can we have a bit more of the cutting humour and a bit less of the angry verbals next time we're down Winterton way please chaps?

In the second half, even against ten men and with 'benefit' of the wind assistance, Staveley struggled to find any kind of cohesion and rhythm, as Rangers put up a dogged and determined resistance.
Joe Thornton headed home Jordan Eagers cross on 75 minutes to make the score 2-1.
But then Winterton closed ranks and fought like demons to hang on to their lead as both Ferguson and Tahar came close to finding an equaliser.
The wind was really picking up now and the difficult conditions as much as anything else thwarted a couple of counter attacks the home side made in an attempt to make the game safe.
Winterton held on until the final whistle (which came after a lengthy period of stoppage time) and took all three points.
Hmm, who'd be a referee!?
Staveley seem to have gone off the boil a bit over their last few games and will be disappointed with tonight's result and performance.
But Rangers look capable of beating anybody if they play the way they did for the majority of the first half.
I think it would be fair to say, there are obviously people at Winterton who don't like Staveley very much, but I can't really comment on any of that because I don't know what the motivation is behind their 'rationale'.
But certain people clearly had issues with tonight's visitors.
That said, I look forward to seeing these two teams playing the football they're both capable of again any time soon.
Hopefully without the histrionics and high winds.

REMINDER - Worksop Town supporting Macmillan Cancer Support

2011-11-30T12:45:00.000Z

Worksop Town v Mickleover Sports

Evo-Stik League, Northern Premier Division

at the Winsor Food Services Stadium,

Sandy Lane, Babbage Way, Worksop, Notts, S80 1JU

Wednesday 30th November

FREE ADMISSION

Worksop Town will Donate £1.00 per supporter who attends the game to the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity

There will be a bucket collection during the game by a representative from Macmillan Cancer Support

Mansfield Town 1 v Gateshead 1 - BSBP

2011-11-29T22:22:00.004Z

Prior to kick off a couple of Mansfield players go over the pitch with fine
toothed combs looking for clues ... just where is that next win hiding?

Tuesday 29th November 2011, at Field Mill
Blue Square Bet Premier Division
Mansfield Town (1) 1
Ross Dyer 10
Gateshead (0) 1
Joe Shaw 68
Admission £15, Programme £3,
Attendance 1513 (inc. 34 from Gateshead)

Mansfield Town
1 Marriott, 5 Thompson, 17 Sutton, 30 Freeman, 31 Dempster, 8 Stevenson (Briscoe 73 minutes), Murray, Verma (Bolland 39 minutes), 10 Green, 15 Dyer, 24 Meikle
Unused subs - 23 Redmond, 16 O'Neill, 32 Rodney

Gateshead
24 Alnwick, 3 Rents, 5 Curtis, 6 Clark, 25 Henderson (Carruthers 83 minutes), 4 Gate, 8 Turnbull, 17 Marwood, 18 Nix, 9 Shaw, 19 Moore (Fisher 66 miutes)
Unused subs - 1 Deasy, 7 Brittain, 16 Gillies

Message to 8 year old family member:
Dear Bella,
Next time you're playing on the Nintendo Wii, don't nick the batteries out of my really nice camera for the remote controllers and nun chucks, because my phone takes rubbish pictures of football matches.
If it happens again I will be painting 'SANTA, DON'T STOP HERE' on the roof.
That is all!
Inevitable outcome tonight at Field Mill.
The home side missed a multitude of chances, both before and after Ross Dyer had scored the opening goal on 15 minutes following some neat build up play between Adam Murray and Aman Verma ... and the longer the score stayed at 1-0, the greater the likelihood became that a certain in form, ex Mansfield Town centre forward, would grab an equaliser.
It took until nearly the 70th minute in the end, but sure enough (Shaw enough?), when Sam Rents floated an inviting cross into the box, you know who was waiting to head the ball home from close range in front of Gateshead's small away following in the North Stand.
That's six games in a row without a win for the Stags, since they scraped that late comeback against 9 man Alfreton back on September 22nd.
Mansfield had enough decent chances to have been comfortably in front by the time Joe Shaw scored, but towards the end of the game were hanging on a bit as Gateshead staged a late rally.
This result leaves the Field Mill side six points off the last play off berth, with an all important game in hand ... the season needs resurrecting NOW as a matter of urgency.
Come on you Stags, surely you are better than the recent run of bad form suggests ... aren't you!?I must mention ...
REEEESPECT!
To Adam Soar, who bought his army of vocal Stags supporters with him, from up in Section G of the West Stand, into their new home tonight ... the centre of the Quarry Lane End.
Great atmosphere guys, keep it up!
You're more than welcome up in my regular chosen vantage point any time.
But I have to say, that beard is getting a bit unkempt mate ;-)

FC United of Manchester 2 v Altrincham 1 - FA Trophy

2011-11-27T18:55:00.006Z

Sunday 27th November 2011, at Gigg Lane, Bury FC
FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
FC United of Manchester (1) 2
Carlos Roca 45+, Mike Norton 78
Altrincham (0) 1
Jack Redshaw 52
Admission £8, Programme £2, Attendance 1,945
FC United of Manchester:
For line up see chalk board below.
Altrincham:
1) Stuart Coburn 2) Mark Lees 3) Ryan Brown 4) Anthony Danylyk 5) Rob Williams 6) Adam Flynn 7) Simon Richman 8) Shaun Densmore 9) Jack Redshaw 10) Damien Reeves 11) Nicky Clee
Subs - 12) Joe Coombs 14) Michael Twiss 15) James Lawrie 16) Duncan Watmore 18) Adam Reid (GK)

These two sides have only ever met each other in a couple of friendly matches prior to this afternoon.
A couple of firsts today then.
The inaugural 'Manchester derby' between these two sides and the only time FCUM have made it through to the 1st Round proper of the FA Trophy, by virtue of them winning this tie.
'Alty', having escaped relegation from the Conference by the skin of their teeth a couple of times, play in the Blue Square North these days, while FC United of Manchester/Moston are pushing for a play off spot in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League.

A view from the Manchester Road End

From the outset, it looked as though Altrincham would rise to the occasion and their 'higher calibre' of players would knock the ball around their hosts and cut them open at the back.
But their lively start fizzled out fairly soon.
A couple of early 'Alty' advances towards the Manchester Road end came to nothing ... and having weathered some early pressure, it was the home side who started to pick up some momentum.
Greg Stones was putting up a stubborn and determined rearguard action keeping the visitors attack in check, whilst Carlos Roca, an ex Altrincham player, was causing his former side all kinds of trouble down the left flank and Mick Norton was keeping the Robins goalkeeper Stuart Coburn on his toes.

It looked however, as if the first half was going to remain goalless, which reflected the actual amount of clear cut chances either side had actually created to be fair.
But Carlos Roca had other ideas.
Two minutes into stoppage time he unleashed an unstoppable shot from 25 yards out and Coburn was beaten all ends up.
Roca seems to score a spectacular goal every time I see him play, the most recent being against Frickley Athletic at Westfield Lane just over a month ago.

At half time we bumped into some FCUM fans we knew who were on their way to the bar, they invited us to join them, but once more I was the designated driver so I had to decline.
A shame really, because the last session I'd had with them was the stuff of legend by all accounts, not that any of those of us who participated can confirm that or even remember very much about the events of the day/night.
Thankfully, the 'future Mrs Waite' got me home in her car that night (by all accounts), cheers Linz, I owe you one ;-)
Altrincham won a right wing corner on 52 minutes, Nicky Clee floated it over and through a crowd of bodies Jack Redshaw got his head to it and equalised in front of the visiting supporters in the Cemetery Road End of the ground.
It was game on now and for a while the Blue Square North side looked like they were bucking their ideas up and were going to take the initiative, but FC United had other ideas and kept pushing the visitors back as they looked for another goal themselves.

On 65minutes it looked as though Kyle Jacobs had put the home side back in front, but there was a lot of back spin on his shot from ten yards out and it rattled back off the post.
With hindsigh,t he should've just belted the ball instead of trying to place it.
We were in the Manchester Road End to see what the atmosphere in there was like first hand and after Jacobs hit the post, the noise level rose.
Virtually everybody in the 'MRE' stands for the duration of the game and the section in the middle sing throughout, but now their team needed an extra lift to raise their game, the whole end of the ground joined in and there was also a lot of noise coming from the main stand.
On 78 minutes Roca sent Astley Mullholland (another ex Altrincham player) away on the right, his pin point cross was met by Micky Norton who powered home a header from the edge of the six yard box.I was walking across the front of the stand when Norton scored, my good lady had already put my camera in her bag, but I did get a blurred approximation of the goal being scored on my cheap and nasty mobile phone camera (above).
'Alty' struggled to get back into the game now, though it was a nail biting last few minutes for the home fans ... and after 4 minutes of stoppage time FCUM were through to the first round proper.
I was parked right on the road outside the ground and we were soon away, the home fans were still in the ground celebrating and we could hear the visitors singing 'You're not fit to wear the shirt' at their team.
A passing Altrincham fan was moaning to the young lad with him, about how Alty used to be the biggest Non League club in the area, but today's result marked a significant moment and it looks as if the balance of power was shifting.
A bit melodramatic maybe, but food for thought never the less.

My sidekick was asking loads of questions about FC United on the way home, but I don't have the answers or scope of insider knowledge to answer any of them.
I was just a complete neutral here to watch a cup tie ... and to that end I enjoyed my afternoon out.
To outsiders, there are more questions than answers to quite a lot of the issues surrounding this unique, one off club, but I'm only interested in the football, not politics ... and in Carlos Roca they have one of the best exponents of that noble art in the whole of the Non League game.
Altrincham must be kicking themselves for letting him go, but on today's showing they wouldn't hurt themselves, they'd probably miss!

Gainsborough Trinity 0 v Hinckley United 1 - FA Trophy

2011-11-26T17:09:00.011Z

Saturday 26th November 2011, at the Northolme
FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Gainsborough Trinity (0) 0
Hinckley United (1) 1 (Andre Gray 30)
Admission £10, Programme £2.50, Attendance 321

Trinity only have themselves to blame for the fact that they're not in the hat for Monday's FA Trophy draw.
Today, in my uneducated opinion, saw the home side collectively and simultaneously fail to get going from the very start of the game right through until the final whistle.
They seemed lacking in desire and purpose for most of the afternoon if truth be told.
I suppose one could say, if the players are going to have an off day then they might as well all get it out of the way at once ... but it made for a very tedious 90 minutes for those of us who had paid to get in to the Northolme to watch a game of football ... or at least something loosely resembling one.
I can't imagine the blustery conditions out on the park made ball control very easy, but football is a winter sport and the players should be used to adapting to such conditions.
Gainsborough certainly had the chances early in the game (and right at the end) to have won this Trophy tie comfortably.
But though one could say they didn't get the rub of the green at key moments, you could also say the final touch was always missing, the application in the final third was woeful and the cohesion between the attacking players non existent at times.
It was almost as if their players didn't believe they had it in them to win this game.
A defeatist mindset seems to be creeping in to a team who haven't won a game in their last six outings now, a barren run that consists of one draw and five defeats.
You can almost see the confidence draining out of one or two of the Trinity players.
Steve Housham must now be a psychologist, as well as a manager and re-instil some self belief to his charges, reminding them they are still the same team who recently went on a run of decent wins which culminated in a 6-1 away victory at Eastwood Town.
Hinckley never created a great deal of chances today, but when Kenny Arthur pushed Andy Gooding's free kick around the post on 19 minutes, it should have been a wake up call to the Blues, that if they didn't apply the advantage they should have had by then, they could come unstuck at the other end.
On the half hour mark, Kenny Arthur found his goal under attack from Jacob Joyce and Andre Gray.
Joyce was in possession so Arthur opted to cut out his route, but the visitors number 9 slipped the ball to his sidekick Gray, who fired the ball home for what turned out to be the only goal of the game.
Four minutes later the same pair repeated their two pronged surge into the box, but this time Gray passed the ball sideways to Joyce who took the ball a stride too far and Arthur was able to cut out the danger.
From then on in, Trinity did get the ball into the visitors box quite regularly (they even had goals ruled out for offside at the end of both halves), but the United defence were clearing their lines with consummate ease and repelled any minor threat the home side created without too much fuss.
And the longer this went on, the more frantic and less measured the Trinity became in their approach.
At times, they resorted to hitting long balls, which the Hinckley defence could've dealt with all afternoon if they needed to.
Amidst a goalmouth scramble, on 75 minutes the ball thumped against the inside of Hinckley's woodwork and was cleared off the line. If the ball wasn't going in from that sort of range, then it never was.
I heard a Trinity fan say on the way out that Hinckley's keeper had been given the afternoon off and hadn't had much to do. I'm not sure which game he had been watching, because Denham Hinds in the Knitters goal had made several saves in the first twenty minutes and a really good one right near the end of the game.
Though the ball had been kicked straight at him for a couple of those blocks, so maybe 'Angry of Ropery Road' hadn't counted them.
As a neutral, the game was disappointing and frustrating to watch in equal measure, so lord knows what this (non) performance must've been like from the perspective of my Trinity supporting friends who endured it.
This was the third defeat they've seen on home turf in the last eleven days.
Ouch!
Gainsborough now have a week off before their away trip to Corby Town, a team who are snapping at their heels, just a point behind them in the Blue Square North table.
They really need to start taking a bit of individual and collective responsibility on board, whilst getting a bit of a 'back to basics' kick up the backside in training.
It is worth remembering that Trinity are still fifth in the table, after a couple of disappointing league campaigns under their previous manager.
And the FA Trophy is probably a competition they weren't realistically likely to win anyway, so without the distraction of any fixture congesting cup run to work around, they can now get their their heads together, knuckle down and focus on finishing as high in the league table as possible.
This season is far from over yet and there is no time like the present for addressing the recent blip in form before it gets out of hand.

Note, though I've rambled on, I haven't actually written very much about the game itself ... well, that's because there wasn't a great deal to write about.

Gainsborough's ever increasing army of young fans

To be frank, but perfectly fair too, it was a chronic game.
Positives from today ... Hmm, home by five past five, it didn't rain, the beer (and clientèle) in the Blues club were very agreeable and I must mention the match day programme, which improves both layout and content wise, every time I visit the Northolme ... keep up the good work Jacob Marshall!

Something for the weekend ...

2011-11-25T21:18:00.007Z

This weekend I shall be pointing my motor conveyance towards the following ports of call and setting out in pursuit of two FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round matches ... see you all there.
Saturday 26th November, Gainsborough Trinity v Hinckley United, at the Northolme.
Sunday 27th November, FC United of Manchester v Altrincham, at Gigg Lane, Bury.
Advanced warning to all passengers ... my car, my choice of 'in flight' sounds :-)

Mansfield Town U19 3 v New College (Nottingham) 2 - Friendly

2011-11-24T21:12:00.006Z

Thursday 24th November 2011

at Kirklington Road, Rainworth Miners Welfare FC
Mansfield Town U19 (1) 3
Matt Harris, Jordan Jones, Danny Toto King Bisungu
New College (Nottingham) (1) 2
Admission £3, no programme, Attendance 35ish
Raffle winner - Me :-)
24 hours on from their 1-1 draw away to Boston United, the Stags Under 19's faced a Nottinghamshire representative side from the New College in Nottingham at Rainworth Miners Welfare ground on Kirklington Road.
The opposition gave Mansfield a good run out in what was a close fought game, with very little to choose between two well matched sides.
The 7pm kick off meant I only arrived shortly before the game ... lets just say, Ollerton Roundabout is barely adequate in dimensions to deal with an average sized Scalextric layout, let alone provide a focal point for North Notts busy 'rush hour' traffic flow.
It's been a while since I've been to Kirklington Road, I used to come here quite often.
I'll have to make a point of dropping in to see Rainworth MW play in the near future.
You have been warned ;-)
It was good to bump into Rainworth's Commercial Manager Steve Peat tonight, a good friend and old school Stags die-hard who I haven't seen in ages.
Looking around the ground it was apparent that the Wrens are getting the backing of some quite prestigious local sponsors, if you want to add your backing to that list, I'm sure the 'big lad' would only be too pleased to hear from you ...
Not one to miss a trick, Steve did suggest that I could donate my half time raffle prize back to the club (I had the choice between wine and chocolates, I chose the box of Quality Street), but I already had plans for them, so he asked if he could just have all the strawberry centres instead.
When I got home, I presented the 'gift' to my young lady who was laid on the sofa watching 'I'm a C list nearly famous person you've never heard of, get me out of the jungle, but leave Ant n' Dec here' (approximate title), but before I could claim I was indulging her with a romantic gesture, she looked up and said 'Woo hoo! Look who won the raffle!'
Hmpph! Sussed out ... and don't go putting the empty wrappers back in the box ;-)

Matt Harris put Mansfield ahead, but the Notts side weren't going to sit back and be on the end of a good hiding like certain other teams have been lately and they were on level terms before half time.
Jordan Jones, looking impressive for the Stags again, like he had when he turned out for the first team XI in a friendly at Eastwood last week, put the MTFC Academy side back in front, but once again the New College team were soon back in the game with a cracking goal from the edge of the box. I scribbled the goalscorers details down, but foolishly mislaid my scrap of paper with times and names on before I got home.
It took a touch of class to separate the two sides in the end, when Danny Toto King Bisungu, scored with a sublime finish from the edge of the box and then did a couple of cartwheels to celebrate.
Danny was on the books of a small Scottish club called Glasgow Celtic, but his career has taken a turn for the better since he joined Mansfield Town.
http://www.mansfieldtown.net/page/Youth/0,,10325~2509674,00.html
A decent enough game, arranged at short notice which explains why there were only a few dozen people present to see it.

Next up - On Saturday I'll be at Gainsborough Trinity v Hinckley United in the FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round.

England 2 v Serbia 0 - Euro 2013 Qualifier

2011-11-23T22:04:00.015Z

Wednesday 23rd November 2012
at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster Rovers FC
Women's Euro 2013 Qualifier
England (1) 2
Jess Clarke 41, Ellen White 51
Serbia (0) 0
Admission £5, Programme £3, Attendance 4112
England:
1 Karen Bardsley, 2 Alex Scott, 3 Rachel Unitt, 4 Jill Scott,
5 Sophie Bradley, 6 Casey Stoney(C), 7 Jess Clarke, 8 Fara Williams (Substituted 15 Steph Houghton 77 mins), 9 Ellen White (Substituted 18 Rachel Williams 87 mins), 10 Karen Carney,
11 Rachel Yankey (Substituted 12 Kelly Smith 70 mins)
Unused Subs- 13 Siobhan Chamberlain, 14 Laura Bassett,
16 Dunia Susi, 17 Fern Whelan
Serbia:
1 Milena Vukovic, 2 Danijela Trajkovic, 5 Lidija Stojkanovic(C),
7 Jovana Sretenovic (Substituted 6 Indira Ilic 65 mins),
8 Aleksandra Savanovic, 9 Danka Podovac, 10 Milena Pesic (Substituted 20 Marija Ilic 73 mins), 11 Vesna Smiljkovic,
15 Violeta Slovic, 16 Marija Radojicic, 18 Jovana Damnjanovic
Unused Subs - 3 Zorica Karadzic, 12 Ana Ivanov, 17 Olivera Markovic, 19 Nevena Damjanovic, 21 Kristina Krstic

A 'must win' game for Hope Powell's England Ladies side tonight in this Group 6, Euro 2013 Qualifier at Donny Rovers.
Doncaster is an absolute pain in the backside to get to at the moment.
On going roadworks on the A1 are causing a total gridlock that way ... and the delays were compounded tonight by a lorry crashing on the alternative Bawtry Road route.
This probably accounts for most of the crowd turning up at the last minute, or even after the scheduled 7.30PM kick off time.
Thankfully I used to work round these parts and I know a way in to town that circumnavigates the back of an industrial estate ... it was great fun to zoom along uninterrupted, around an empty access road, while just yards away hundreds of frustrated motorists, glumly sat in static queues of traffic, wondering if they would ever get home from work tonight.
UEFA had decreed that there would be no alcohol on sale in the ground tonight and the bars were all closed, so there wasn't really very much to do before the game.
There is alcohol on sale at every other bloody England game I go to, so why not tonight?
I was driving anyway, but a nice warm bar to sit in and read my programme would've been more fun than sitting in an empty stadium for almost a hour until everybody else turned up.
There were a group of pitiful free-loaders hanging around the players entrance seeing if they could blag any tickets that might be going spare, they were the same ones who usually do exactly the same when Rovers are at home.
That isn't an indictment of Doncaster football fans I hasten to add, every team has them, so called 'loyal never miss a game fans' who never actually put a penny into the clubs they claim to support.

Three Lionesses ... the pride of England :-O

And wherever you go you can spot these people a mile off, they're all cut from the identical trogdolyte cloth and are a spitting image of each other ... hideous and loathsome little creatures, merely put on this earth to generate dandruff, buy the clothes nobody else wants off the Tesco sale rail and utter but two words from their ugly misshapen faces, 'Any spares!?'
Tickets were only a fiver tonight anyway, half that for concessions and Rovers fans, yet still the drooling underbelly of society were clamouring for freebies.
Some people have no class and no shame.The 'England band' didn't have far to travel tonight (they're Wednesdayites) and unfortunately they came over South Yorkshire from Sheffield, with their bloody musical instruments in tow.
But thankfully they located themselves over in the far corner from us.
Opinion is divided about the band, amongst the Wembley regulars at England first team games.
Some people think they should 'bloody shut up' and that there is no place for trumpets and drums at football matches, others just don't like them being there and hate the racket they make, but I'm going to sit on the fence on this subject and say my own opinion falls in between those two 'opposing' schools of thought ;-)
Apparently the kids like them ... hmm, go and play in youth clubs then!

England started the liveliest and were obviously out to make amends for the injury time goal Vesla Smiljkovic scored, that had denied them three points in Serbia in Belgrade in September, when the two sides drew 2-2.
But after chances went begging from Ellen White and Karen Carney, Smiljkovic almost undid England again, when her pinpoint cross found Jovana Damnjanovic, but Karen Bardsley saved well.

Land of 'Hope' and glory

The near miss spurred England into action and Rachel Yankey, White, Carney and Jill Scott all went close.
Just before half time, England's always lively and hard working Jess Clarke, started and finished a move with White and Yankey and drilled the ball into the back of the net from 15 yards out.
Right on the stroke of half time the Serbia keeper Milena Vukovic got down well to turn a shot from Rachel Unitt round the post. Vukovic had pulled off a couple of top class reflex saves, but at other times her handling and positioning had looked a bit suspect and she was a bit fortunate that the half time score was only 1-0.

Six minutes after half time, England scored again. Yankey crossed into the box, was knocked back across the face of the goal by Clarke to Carney who's shot was saved by Vukovic, but White was on hand to knock the ball home from the rebound.
The game was now effectively over and as England pushed to try improving their goal difference in the group, Serbia lost their way even more in a game England were already dominating.
I can only recall the visitors having one attempt on goal in the second half, when Marija Radojicic blazed a speculative effort over the bar.

England's performance warranted a bigger margin of victory, but it was the three points that mattered more than anything, because England are now second in the group, two points behind Holland, who they still have to play on home soil in June, having already drawn 0-0 against the Dutch in Zwolle last month.

Current Group 6 table:
Holland - Played 4 Points 10
England - Played 4 Points 8
Serbia - Played 5 Points 7
Slovenia - Played 4 Points 1
Croatia - Played 3 Points 1

England remaining Group 6 fixtures:
All venues still to be confirmed
13th March - Croatia (A)
17th June - Holland (H)
21st June - Slovenia (A)
19th September - Croatia (H)

Frickley Athletic 1 v North Ferriby United 0 - Evo-Stik Premier Division

2011-11-22T22:40:00.004Z

Alex Callery watches on

Tuesday 22nd November 2011
at the Tech 5 Stadium, Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, Premier Division
Frickley Athletic (1) 1
James Ashmore 29 pen
North Ferriby United (0) 0
Admission £8, Programme £1.50, Attendance 222

Pantomime season arrived early in South Elmsall tonight, courtesy of some 'intriguing' decisions made by the match officials ... and I'm quite sure that there would be people connected to both teams who would agree with that sentiment.

On former manager Billy Heath's return to Westfield Lane, Frickley won by a solitary goal. A 29th minute penalty scored by James Ashmore, after Lincoln Adams had been flattened in the box.
Though they would have won by a far greater margin if only their finishing had been a bit more clinical.
The win saw Frickley Athletic climb into the top half of the table.
The challenge now is to sustain that position and keep their recent impressive run of form going.
Certainly if a few more of the chances they're creating can be converted into goals, there is no reason why the points they've got on the board so far, can't be a springboard for an even better second half to the season.
The Blues manager Peter Rinkcavage said in his post match interview:
“I thought it was a superb display almost from start to finish. North Ferriby are a very good side full of quality players but we created chances all the way through the game. I don’t think anyone would have begrudged us winning by a much bigger margin. We haven’t created as many chances as that in a game for a long time and the only disappointing aspect of the night is that we didn’t finish any of the chances we created.”
I couldn't have put it better myself Rinky ... so I won't! ;-)
When Nathan Peat was sent off for the visitors late in the game, somebody in a yellow shirt was heard to shout, in the direction of the referee and one of his assistants, "You're shit! Both of you!" Hmm, far be it from me to comment on that either.

Four Yorkshiremen ... Luxury!

Staveley MW U19 4 v Sheffield U19 3 - NMU19L Division 1

2011-11-21T22:12:00.005Z

Monday 21st November 2011, at Inkersall Road
Baris North Midlands Under 19 League Division 1
Staveley Miners Welfare (3) 4
Adam Houghton 2 (1 pen), Michael Cuckson,
Lee Anthony (pen)
Sheffield (0) 3
Adam Green, Sam Eckhardt (pen), Danny Rogers
Admission £2, Programme 50p,
Free team sheet (thanks Ele), Attendance 90+
And to think ... on Saturday at 4.50PM I'd almost given up on football as a form of entertainment.
But tonight, we were served up with a cracking game, which more than lived up to the reputation that recent matches between these two sides have deservedly earned.
The total crowd was probably in excess of 100, for an Under 19's game on a chilly November Monday night on the outskirts of Chesterfield, if you count those who were too nesh to come outside and watched through the windows, from inside the warmth and comfort of Staveley's impressive bar, when I was doing a quick headcount just before kick off time.
It was obvious from the outset, that defensive negativity is an anathema in both the People's Republic of Staveley and Sheffield (or Dronfield if we're splitting hairs), as both teams came out of the blocks reading from the same hymn sheet, titled 'the best form of defence is attack'.
Alas, for Sheffield, it might of been prudent for them to concentrate just a little more on preventing the home side from going for goals in the first half, because the Blues were rampant once Adam Houghton had rounded the unlikely named 'club' goalkeeper Lewis Barnsley in the 10th minute, to fire Staveley ahead.
A few minutes later Houghton broke into the box again and managed to get his shot in despite the attentions of a defender who wasn't just content with tugging on the Staveley captain's shirt but appeared to be actually undressing him.
But the referee let the apparent advantage go.
At the other end Adam Green played Adam Robinson through, but Ben Hardwick pulled off a great save to prevent his side from preventing a goal from a swift counter attack.
Staveley had the next three chances ... Michael Cuckson fired over the bar from close range, David Anthony's in-swinging cross was tipped over the bar by Lewis Barnsley, and Tristan Brown blazed an unstoppable effort over the crossbar too.
On 40 minutes Matt Langley was upended in the penalty area and Adam Houghton fired the resulting spot kick home.
The final action of the half saw Michael Cuckson nick a poachers goal in the six yard box after a right wing cross into the mix had caused a goalmouth scramble in the visitors box.
Staveley were good value for their 3-0 half time lead and though Sheffield had played some neat passing football at times, it would be fair to say that they had been under the cosh for long periods of the first 45 minutes.
Straight from the restart, Staveley attacked again, but Barnsley saved Houghton's effort well.
To the visitors credit, they then dug deep into their resources and found some steely determination to turn the tables on the Blues ... and all of a sudden the result didn't look as much of a foregone conclusion anymore.
On 48 minutes, Adam Green scored an identical goal to Adam Houghton's opening strike to make it 3-1 ... and the visitors were back in the hunt again.
A few minutes later Connon Flannery got away and found himself a yard of space in the Staveley box, but he pulled his effort across the face of the goal and wide of the left hand post.Cuckson attempted to restore his side's three goal cushion with a flicked on from header on 52 minutes, but Barnsley jumped and caught the ball that was heading just beneath his crossbar.
Just before the hour mark Sheffield were awarded a penalty and though Ben Hardwick managed to get a hand to it, Sam Eckhardt's spot kick had been struck so firmly the Staveley keeper had little hope of stopping it.
A few minutes later the visitors comeback was almost complete when James Hambling fired against the crossbar.
Then Danny Booth sent Sam Eckhardt on a run into the box, but the Sheffield number 9 fired wide.Adam Houghton had a couple of chances for the Blues but looked to be in pain, he was either suffering from severe cramp or had pulled a muscle.
Either way, he fired wide in the first instance and then had his next shot saved before going down and playing no further part in the game.
A minute after their penalty taker had gone off, Staveley, inevitably, won another spot kick.
But Adam Robinson was up to the task of taking it and in spite of Sheffield's spirited comeback in the second half, Staveley were now 4-2 ahead with just 10 minutes of normal time remaining.

Adam Robinson spots the ball before scoring Staveley's fourth goal

Staveley now showed that they could be just as resilient in holding on to an advantage doggedly right up until the last minute, as they had been relentless in amassing their first half advantage.
90 minutes came and went, then 95 ... and deep in stoppage time, too deep to make any difference now as it happened, substitute Danny Rogers got on the end of a right wing cross and netted a third goal for the visitors.
Final score 4-3, more of the same any time soon, please.
Now that was a high tempo, very entertaining, great advert for the North Midlands Under 19's League.
Well played Staveley and Sheffield who both contributed a lot to an excellent game, I've forgotten about Saturday's game at ... err, wherever it was, already :-)

AFC Telford United 0 v. Mansfield Town 0 - BSBP

2011-11-19T18:54:00.010Z

Saturday 19th November 2011, at the New Bucks Head
Blue Square Bet Premier
Mansfield Town (0) 0
AFC Telford United (0) 0
Admission £13, Programme £2.50, Attendance 2,203

Sir Stephe Roberts tan

AFC Telford United:
1. Ryan Young, 2. Will Salmon, 3. Sean Newton, 5. Stuart Whitehead, 6. Shane Killock (c), 19. Craig Farrell, 20. Richard Davies, 23. Ryan Valentine, 25. Chris Sharp, 27. Jay Smith, 28. Ashley Cain.
Substitutes: 11. Jon Adams (for Davies, 85 minutes), 16. Daniel Preston, 17. Craig King (for Sharp, 90 minutes), 29. Stephen Jones (for Farrell, 61 minutes), 32. Ryan Robinson (GK).
Mansfield Town:
1. Alan Marriott, 5. John Thompson, 10. Matt Green, 11. Adam Murray, 15. Ross Dyer, 16. Luke O’Neill, 17. Ritchie Sutton, 21. Anthony Howell, 24. Lindon Meikle, 29. Nick Hegarty, 30. Keiron Freeman.
Substitutes: 23. Shane Redmond (GK), 9. Paul Connor (for Hegarty, 46 minutes), 22. Rhys Day, 27. Louis Moult, 14. Paul Bolland.
Our pre match pint (or five) today in The Swan, a short walk from the New Bucks Head ground, was the Dogs Bollocks ... no seriously!

To quote Mansfield manager Paul Cox in his post match interview with BBC Radio Nottingham:
"We just lacked a cutting edge and an end product. The lads have worked hard but we didn't create.
"Our delivery in the box wasn't good, our end product was nothing today. That's sometimes down to a bit of quality in depth"
Last weekend, 19th placed Telford, lost 4-0 in the FA Cup to Blue Square Bet South side Chelmsford City, today they were playing to restore some pride.
The Stags Alan Marriott was the busiest of the two keepers, but it wouldn't be too unkind to the visitors today to say that was because, Ryan Young at the other end wasn't exactly overworked by the Mansfield front line, who didn't offer a great deal in the way of creativity.
There were only 8 goal attempts on target throughout this lacklustre game, 5 of which came from the home side.
Three players made their débuts for United today, namely Jay Smith, former Stags player Ashley Cain and substitute Steve Jones.
And despite the spirited effort the Bucks made sporadically, the game was, by and large, a fairly turgid affair.
With Telford sat just above the relegation places and the Stags looking to stay in tough with the play off chasing pack, one point apiece was neither here nor there for either team, though the home side did go above Lincoln City in the table on goal difference by virtue of David Holdsworth's Imps losing 2-0 at Wrexham.
The 6300 capacity New Bucks Head Stadium was only opened as recently as 2003, it has covered terracing at either end, a 2200 all seated stand along one side and open terracing on the opposite side behind the dug outs.
It is one of the smarter grounds the Stags will have to visit this season.
There were a few positives Mansfield Town could take out of the game.
John Thompson made his first league appearance of the season and he came through it with flying colours.
Today, his début in a 'competitive' fixture, was also his comeback game after he was injured in the infamous pre season 'friendly' at Ilkeston.
Richie Sutton was above average.
And Luke O'Neill put in a really good shift too, looking untroubled and comfortable on the ball all afternoon.
Besides that, it wasn't a game that will live in the memory for very long.

Handsworth 0 v Teversal 0 - NMU19L Division 1

2011-11-17T22:25:00.003Z

Thursday 17th November 2011, at Oliver's Mount
North Midlands U19 League Division One
Handsworth (0) 0
Teversal (0) 0
Admission £2, Programme £1.50 (£1.50!!!) Attendance 66

High tempo, end to end stuff at times.
Pretty much what you'd expect when second plays third in the NMU19L top flight.
Both teams had enough chances to rack up a few goals, but neither managed to break the deadlock tonight ... but it wasn't for the want of trying.

I was impressed with the skill quota on display and the attitude both teams had regarding playing open and attacking football.
From my position of complete neutrality, a draw was a fair result in the end.

"We are leads, we are leads, we are leads"

Retford United U19 2 v Radford U19 3 - NMU19L Division 2

2011-11-16T22:21:00.003Z

Wednesday 16th November 2011, at Cannon Park

North Midlands Under 19 League Division 2
Retford United (2) 2
Tom Bland pen 42, pen 44
Radford (2) 3
Anton Robinson 6, Dan Miller 27, 68
Admission £2 inc. programme, Attendance 37 (or so)

Retford United captain Alistair Plant sent off in second half stoppage time, second yellow card
NMU19L Division 2 league leaders Radford, beat second placed Retford United at Cannon Park tonight, in an incident packed game, full of twists, turns and sub plots. With a few heated and hectic moments chucked in along the way too.

Retford United U19 line up

I don't envy the match officials in the Under 19's game ... it is played at a frenetic pace with players crashing head on into each other all over the park ... and it can quite often be difficult to determine whether foul play and skulduggery is the motivating factor behind one or two of the more robust challenges from time to time, or if an accidental contact has been made borne out of a combination of over eagerness and inexperience.

Radford FC line up

It can be an unforgiving backdrop for any aspiring referee or assistant to learn their trade, with every single call, appeal and insult echoing into the crisp Autumn sky for everybody to hear.
Tonight's game needed a strong official to take charge of it.
Far be it from me to make a judgement on anyone's performance to that end ... but plenty of other people had quite a lot to say about them on the night.
On six minutes Radford won a corner out on the left wing, the in-swinging ball caused all sorts of problems for the Retford defence and when they failed to clear their lines Anton Robinson pounced to put the visitors ahead.

Radford's second goal also came from a dead ball situation.
A free kick was lofted into the Retford box from in front of the dug outs, Lewis Brealey got to the ball but opted to knock it away instead of holding on to it (a text book, coaching manual decision) and Dan Miller was on hand to put the loose ball past Brealey and into the back of the net.
On 42 minutes, Luke Walker broke away and homed in on the visitors goal, Jake Want charged from his line to block the angle and threw himself at Walker's feet.
Want didn't make any contact with the ball and the momentum of the challenge took Walker's legs away and he crashed to the ground in a heap.
Whichever way you look at it, a definite stonewall penalty.
But now it gets tricky.
Walker was the last man, it was a foul and it was a clear goal scoring opportunity, that a player of Luke Walker's calibre would definitely have put away.
The referee, correctly, awarded a penalty, he then yellow carded Want after talking to him.
There was quite a lot of rather heated dialogue over whether the keeper should've been red carded or not ... though if the same incident had occurred at the other end, both benches would've been saying the exact opposite to what they were saying now, in response to the incident in reverse ... c'mon, fess up guys, you would ;-)
And I'm addressing that to both benches btw.
With just about everybody else in the ground and on the pitch exchanging forthright views over what had just happened, Tom Bland kept his cool and fired the ball home.

Two minutes later, Want was wrong footed and a cross from the right of his box was heading just underneath the bar ... a definite 100% goal all the way ... until a Radford defender outstretched his arm and diverted the ball away for a corner with his hand.
I hate to see Under 19's players sent off, but ... I was surprised to see the referee show leniency for a second time.
Maybe for the first penalty, common sense had prevailed (maybe), but this time, a deliberate handball and an even clearer goal scoring chance probably merited a red card. After a consultation with the linesman to clarify the situation, the referee correctly awarded a penalty, but then pulled out his yellow card again.
Tom Bland scored, this time as an even louder 'discussion' was taking place all around him.
The half time break gave everybody a chance to 'cool their jets' and the second half was played out at a more discerning volume, for the most part.

A few weeks ago, I saw Retford United beat Harworth CI Under 19's by virtue of goals scored from corners, so the irony wasn't lost on me when Dan Miller headed home the visitors third goal from a left wing corner.
Retford battled to get back into the game, but Radford held on.

Towards the end of the game with the home side having to commit players forward, Brealey pulled off a great reflex save to keep his side in the game and Radford substitute Alex Shipley hit a scorching effort that cannoned off the Badgers cross bar.
Deep into injury time, the referee sent off Retford captain Alistair Plant for a second bookable offence ... and the decibel level rose yet again.
Like I said, nobody wants to see Under 19's players dismissed.
However, taking into account the offence happened so late in the game, out on the wing, in the half that Retford were defending, maybe a lecture would've sufficed, in lieu of how the two transgressions at the end of the first half had been dealt with.

These two sides play each other again on December 1st, that could be an interesting game, because although Radford are now ten points clear at the top of the table, Retford United have three games in hand over them.
For the record, if Pinxton win all of their games in hand, they could overtake both of tonight's teams to go top of the table.

Things are hotting up.
Thanks to Jon Knight for some of the photographs I've used from this game.
Elsewhere tonight:

In my absence (again) Harworth Colliery Institute won their second game on the bounce in the NMU19L Division 2 and will be fired up in anticipation of a third consecutive victory next week too.
See here for details --> http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/harworthcollieryinstitute/s/match-report-10481.html?official=1&fixture_id=404779
... and you thought I went on (and on ... and on), sorry Hasan, I couldn't resist mate.

Meanwhile at Field Mill, the Stags Under 19's hammered Newcastle Town 7-0

Next up ... Handsworth U19's v the Tevie Boys

England 1 v Sweden 0 - International Match

2011-11-15T22:21:00.011Z

Tuesday 15th November 2011, at Wembley Stadium
England (1) 1
A Barry cum Majstorovic OG combination 22 minutes
Sweden (0) 0
Admission £40, Programme £6, Attendance 48,876
England: Hart (Carson 46), Walker, Cahill, Terry, Baines, Rodwell (Milner 58), Jones, Barry, Walcott (Sturridge 58), Zamora (Bent 70), Downing.
Subs Not Used: Glen Johnson, Cole, Lescott, Parker, Lampard, Adam Johnson, Stockdale.
Sweden: Isaksson, Lustig (Wilhelmsson 54), Mellberg (Jonas Olsson 46), Majstorovic, Martin Olsson, Wernbloom, Kallstrom (Svensson 70), Larsson, Elmander, Elm (Bajrami 87), Ibrahimovic (Toivonen 46).
Subs Not Used: Wiland, Granqvist, Safari, Gerndt, Almeback, Holmen.Another pre Euro 2012 warm up game in preparation for the real thing, with even more emerging international players of the future being promoted up through the ranks.
Could it be that the bulk of the under achieving old guard are being dispensed with and Fabio Capello is prepared to put his trust in the next generation instead?
There are promising signs that he just might be.
Jack Rodwell and Kyle Walker both made exceptionally good début performances tonight, Phil Jones continues to impress in the hole between defence and midfield ... and although it is important to remember the two Wembley outings over the past four days weren't actually competitive games, I'm going to indulge myself a little and allow some cautious optimism to creep into my overview of the state of the England national team at this moment in time.
Of course, Capello could always just resort to the 'same old, same old' when he selects his squad to take to Poland and the Ukraine in June, but here's hoping he won't and that a brave new dawn is beginning to emerge over the not too distant horizon.
Of course, it's always a good fall back plan to take a couple of experienced old heads with you when embarking on a major tournament campaign, but there is still plenty of time for the more recent additions to the squad to get a few more games in and get some much needed experience themselves, before the 'real' stuff begins in earnest.
Two players I would definitely want on the plane to Poland would be Stewart Downing and Theo Walcott.The former excelled tonight and was the engine room of the team, whilst the link up with Kyle Walker seemed to untether the latter from other duties and with his new found freedom Theo gave the Swedish defence a real run-around at times ... they had to resort to kicking him in the end, because he was unplayable in spells.
There have been times in the past when Walcott hasn't really lived up to all the hype that surrounded him when he burst onto the international scene, but he's definitely coming into his prime now.
Maybe he was chucked in at the deep end a fraction too soon by previous England coaching staff? Either way, he wasn't found wanting against Sweden and might just be reaching his peak at exactly the right time.
The only position I have a real worry about, is that of the goalkeeper.
Joe Hart gets better and better and looks more comfortable every time he pulls on the England shirt and he's made the number 1 position his own.
But my concern is, who would fill his position if Hart was injured and unable to play?
There are back up keepers who are top class, but are they really international class?
Or anything resembling world class?
Those are rhetorical questions, I already know the answer to.
Fabio Capello gave Scott Carson 45 minutes after the break, evidently a similar scenario has crossed his mind too.
And although Carson had a comfortable outing and kept a clean sheet, Sweden didn't exactly test him too often.
Whereas England had absorbed a lot of pressure against Spain and then floored them with a sucker punch when Frank Lampard (either by accident or design) had popped up in the right place at the right time ... tonight they created chance upon chance and Sweden can count their blessings that they weren't on the end of a much bigger margin of defeat.
Wayne Rooney will miss the start of the 2012 tournament, but there are a far more solutions to that problem these days, than there ever was before in recent times. In fact, the various permutations that could be used are going to pose Capello with a real selection headache when he finalises his squad.
I wouldn't even rule out leaving Rooney behind altogether.
He might well be our best player (and he is), but football is a team game, it isn't about individuals.
We need Rooney for the group games, but there is only one person responsible for him not being available for them ... and that is Rooney himself.
That said, if England progress through from the opening group, he's one hell of an additional player to unleash in the knock out stages ... and then some.
That's called sitting on the fence, where I come from ;-)
Ironically, England's 2,000th ever goal was scored by a Swede, Daniel Majstorovic, who helped Gareth Barry's goal-bound effort on it's way into the back of the net ... a Celtic player scoring an own goal for England, never mind eh!?
On the way home, our pilot Stuart Eyre did a great job of circumnavigating the craziness of North London and had us back on the M1 in no time at all, while we listened to a radio phone in where England fans were being asked to select their first eleven to play at the opening game of Euro 2012.
I was mystified that not one of them even mentioned Joleon Lescott, because I reckon (hope even) that he's an England captain in the making.
Mind you, there are a lot of people in this country who make decisions without thinking things through first ... such as the people responsible for turning the M1 northbound into a single lane road for miles upon miles when we're all trying to get home. I know just the place you can stick one of those 11,678 traffic cones.Much was being made about the low attendance figure.
Low?
Almost 49,000, for a midweek fixture, a few days after Spain visited Wembley is hardly a disaster.
Is it?
I've seen much lower crowds than this at the old Wembley Stadium.
Not everybody can get the time off work to travel into London twice, or has the money to spare for two match tickets.
It did take a lot of organising to get around the logistics required ... and I did have a bloody good moan when I first heard they had arranged the extra Tuesday night game ... but in hindsight, two back to back games in such close proximity to each othe,r will have done the England team's preparations a power of good and the exercise has been a great success.
That said, I won't be travelling quite as far for the rest of this week.
Back to back wins and two clean sheets against the reigning champions of the world and a Scandanvian team England haven't beaten for 43 years ... I'll take that, thanks very much :-)

A parting shot, taken outside Tesco Express, while we
were stocking up for the journey home.

Next up: Either Harworth Colliery Institute U19's v Matlock Town, or Retford United U19's v Radford, tomorrow night, depending on whether I get the wiring fault on my car sorted or not.
BTW Stuart, the pussy is on the mend, thanks for your concern ;-)

Eastwood Town 1 v Mansfield Town 2 - Friendly

2011-11-14T22:18:00.006Z

Monday 14th November 2011, at Coronation Park
Friendly
Eastwood Town (1) 1
Mansfield Town (0) 2
Anthony Howell 65, Lee Stevenson 80
Admission £5, Free team sheets ... no programme issued

Simon says ... bend down and touch your toes

There were plenty of free team sheets for all tonight, but they weren't much help when it came to identifying the visiting team, because they played in their all navy away strip tonight, without any numbers on the back of the shirts.
The Stags dark kit meant there was a bit of a colour clash with the match officials, a problem that was overcome when the referee put a fluorescent green training vest on over his black shirt, during a break in play early in the first half.

Simon says ... change your studs

Eastwood took the lead midway through the first half, it was a scrappy goal from close range that the Stags defence really ought to have cleared, but it wasn't the end of the world ... because on the back of behind closed doors friendlies against Nottingham Forest and Northampton Town over the past week, this game was purely a run out to help ascertain the fitness of several Mansfield players and to give a number of fringe players an outing alongside a few first team regulars.

Paul Cox's former side obviously know more about the rules of engagement and protocol of friendly games than their old rivals Ilkeston do ... 'nuff said.
In the second half, Anthony Howell equalised when he lobbed the advancing Eastwood keeper Jake Want from 25 yards out, right in line with where I was stood, just moments after I'd put my camera away ... typical!
Former Eastwood player Lee Stevenson, got on the end of a series of quick passes that wrong footed the Badgers defence and smashed the ball into the roof of the net from just outside the six yard box ... and it was game,'sett' and match to the Stags.
Not exactly a frenetic, no holds barred game of football, played at breakneck pace, but it will have done the likes of John Thompson and Rhys Day no end of good, to get another game under their belts.
And Eastwood will be happy with the half decent attendance and increased bar takings on a Monday night.
Oh ... and for the record, Jordan Jones had a really good game for the Stags tonight :-)

Back on familiar ground

Next up:
Tomorrow night I'm back at Wembley Stadium to watch England v Sweden ... don't wait up for me!

Left click to enlarge

England 1 v Spain 0 - International Match

2011-11-12T23:19:00.018Z

A view from the coach a few hours before kick off

Saturday 12th November 2011, at Wembley Stadium
England (0) 1
Lampard 49
Spain (0) 0
Ticket £40, Programme £6
Attendance 87,189
England:
Hart, Glen Johnson, Lescott, Jagielka, Cole, Walcott
(Downing 46), Jones (Rodwell 56), Parker (Walker 85), Milner (Adam Johnson 76), Lampard (Barry 56), Bent (Welbeck 63).
Subs Not Used: Carson, Baines, Cahill, Terry, Zamora, Sturridge, Stockdale.
Spain:
Casillas (Reina 46), Arbeloa, Pique, Sergio Ramos (Puyol 74), Jordi Alba, Busquets (Torres 64), Alonso, Xavi (Fabregas 46), Iniesta (Santi Cazorla 74), Silva (Mata 46), Villa.
Subs Not Used: Valdes, Albiol, Monreal, Llorente, Jesus Navas.

Prior to the game, if they were being honest, I think most England fans would've thought that anything less than three nil to Spain, combined with a bit of fight and commitment from Fabio Capello's side, would've been considered a respectable enough score line.
Y'know anything that wasn't too embarrassing.
But bloody hell ... a win!
Against the champions of Europe, the world and most probably the entire known universe, at Wembley, in front of over 87,000 people ... now that is what you call a result.

Granted, it was friendly international and England rode their luck a few times during several periods of the game when the Spaniards dominated possession, but take nothing away from the England side today.

They don't have the guile and mouthwatering ball control skills that Spain possess ... and they were never going to get a result if they tried to play that way.
But, by playing to their strengths as an organised unit, keeping their shape and composure at critical times, by closing down space and getting in the oppositions faces, on their toes and not allowing them to knock the ball around at will, England wore the 'Campeones' down and ground out a massive result.

At one point, I had to pinch myself and stared at the Wembley scoreboard in disbelief, but it was true ... Fabio Capello's England side were actually beating the might of Spain.Had England scored too soon? Some people wondered.
Was the fact that there was nearly the entire second half left to go for Spain to make amends a genuine reason for concern?
Hmm, quite possibly!
But, the 'football lesson' Spain were apparently going to give England today never unfolded ... and instead the relatively young and inexperienced home side, showed they were ready to step up to the mark and gave the visitors a class in dogged determination and resilience instead.
Sure there were a few scares along the way, Spain did have their chances, but unlike Frank Lampard who reacted more quickly than anybody else when Darren Bent's initial effort came back off the post, they didn't take them.
If I was England manager (perish the thought, eh!?), Joleon Lescott would've been the mainstay of my defence a long time ago.
It was a master-stroke by Capello to push Phil Jones up into midfield alongside this afternoon's man of the match Scott Parker.
The established players who were either on the bench, or unavailable today, must be wondering where or even if they will fit in with the England side in the not too distant future.
After the last World Cup, there were one or two (maybe more) underachieving and non performing 'star' names I would already have axed ... and I don't need to name names do I?
It looks as if their replacements are ready to take over any time soon.
There's no time like the present.
Of course, this kind of team spirit and well drilled performance, must now be built upon and applied in a real tournament situation and the manager needs to show that he has the courage to put his trust in some of the younger players who are chomping at the bit to become the new flag bearers for the nation.
Will he?
Who knows!?
Certainly not me :-/

A view from the coach after the match

But what I do know is, England (warts n' all) have already qualified for Euro 2012 and today they made a cracking start to the games they're playing in preparation for that competition.
I still don't believe that England will actually win another major tournament in my lifetime, but I've not left Wembley feeling as uplifted by a team performance and result as I did today for a very long time.
Let all the English national team's detractors have their say now about how 'it's only a friendly' and 'Spain weren't really trying', or how 'I bet they still lose on Tuesday against the Swedes', because frankly, I'm not bloody well listening, I don't give a flying **** about your opinions and I'm off out to savour this result and celebrate ... CHEERS!Respect is also due to Stuart of the North Notts England fans, for reorganising the transport to this game for everybody after the original plans went awry, and also the driver from Johnsons Bros. Tours of Worksop, who circumnavigated the roads around the North Circular to get us back up the M1 in double quick time after the Wembley car park stewards had been their usual unhelpful and useless selves.
See you again on Tuesday lads.

11-11-11 WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM

2011-11-11T05:31:00.002Z