Wednesday 26th November 2009. UniBond League Challenge Cup 3rd RoundAt the New Manor Ground, Ilkeston
Worksop Town (1) 1 (Tomlinson 44)
Leek Town (1) 2 (Ward 21, Ashman 113)
HT 1-1, 90 minutes 1-1, AET 1-2
Admission £8, Programme 50p (makeshift 4 page issue, due to the programme printer going out of business yesterday)
Attendance 74 (seventy four)
A worried fan looks on as Dickie Bromley is zapped by a gamma ray from a passing UFO.Good shot little green man!!! ;-)
Dion Chambers, Worksop's new loan signing from Eastwood made his debut tonight and had his first attempt on goal within 60 seconds of the kick off, but like the rest of his team, started well then seemed to fade as the first half went on. To be honest, the Tigers looked knackered and could probably have done without yet another midweek cup game clogging up their schedule.
Worksop's last 'home' game had it's attendance effected by some major hold ups on the M1. Tonight, if anything, the section of the M1 a lot of Worksop Town use to get to Ilkeston was even worse than then following a chemical spillage and accident at the next junction south causing hold ups as far north as Junction 28.
And for the benefit of the players here are tonight's crowd line up changes
I had a message from one supporter who simply gave up trying to reach the New Manor Ground when he was still stranded between Junctions 27 & 28 after 8pm.
Though this was never going to be a fixture or competition to fire the imagine and attract an healthy turn out, I'm sure those who had to turn back would've at least pushed the crowd tonight into treble figures.
On 22 minutes the Leek fans who had turned out were rewarded with a headed goal from Nick Ward who got on the end of a free kick from the left wing by Matt Johnson.
Johnson's dead balls at set pieces were a feature of the first half, as Leek looked the side most likely to progress through to the next round for a spell.
Incidentally, Leek is actually closer to Ilkeston than Worksop is.
THE66POW, purveyors of space filling rubbish.
The Tigers finished the half as they had started it, on the attack.
Steve Hodgson charged out of his box, made no attempt to play the ball whatsoever and took out Chris Adam who had a clear run at goal impeded by the reckless foul. It was as blatant a red card offence as I've seen all season, but the referee bottled it for some odd reason and just showed the visitors keeper a yellow instead.
He (referee Mr S M Hutchinson) later explained that a Leek player out on the wing meant Adam wasn't the last man, though how he was ever going to defend the charge on goal from a position twenty yards away from the action is anyone's guess.
If at a later date it is proven that Leek have a full back with extendible telescopic legs, the I'll hold my hands up and admit I called it wrong, but until that happens I stand by my smack in line with the incident observation and say - that was bloody shocking referee!!!
The free kick saw some kind of redress for the Tigers, when Ben Tomlinson crashed home an equaliser with half time looming.
Worksop's last 'home' game had it's attendance effected by some major hold ups on the M1. Tonight, if anything, the section of the M1 a lot of Worksop Town use to get to Ilkeston was even worse than then following a chemical spillage and accident at the next junction south causing hold ups as far north as Junction 28.
And for the benefit of the players here are tonight's crowd line up changesThough this was never going to be a fixture or competition to fire the imagine and attract an healthy turn out, I'm sure those who had to turn back would've at least pushed the crowd tonight into treble figures.
On 22 minutes the Leek fans who had turned out were rewarded with a headed goal from Nick Ward who got on the end of a free kick from the left wing by Matt Johnson.
Johnson's dead balls at set pieces were a feature of the first half, as Leek looked the side most likely to progress through to the next round for a spell.
Incidentally, Leek is actually closer to Ilkeston than Worksop is.
THE66POW, purveyors of space filling rubbish.The Tigers finished the half as they had started it, on the attack.
Steve Hodgson charged out of his box, made no attempt to play the ball whatsoever and took out Chris Adam who had a clear run at goal impeded by the reckless foul. It was as blatant a red card offence as I've seen all season, but the referee bottled it for some odd reason and just showed the visitors keeper a yellow instead.
He (referee Mr S M Hutchinson) later explained that a Leek player out on the wing meant Adam wasn't the last man, though how he was ever going to defend the charge on goal from a position twenty yards away from the action is anyone's guess.
If at a later date it is proven that Leek have a full back with extendible telescopic legs, the I'll hold my hands up and admit I called it wrong, but until that happens I stand by my smack in line with the incident observation and say - that was bloody shocking referee!!!
The free kick saw some kind of redress for the Tigers, when Ben Tomlinson crashed home an equaliser with half time looming.
Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club (Norman Collier to the right)
In the second half the referee continued to mystify both sets of players, officials and supporters and at least one of his assistants with a string of curious decisions.
There were three players out there who must've thought there is a rule change in the Unibond League that states if you get hurt when an opponent fouls you, then you have committed an offence.
Worksop had a bit of a purple patch where they constantly threatened in and around the Leek area for around 10-15 minutes just after the hour, but despite their best efforts Hodgson held strong and wasn't going to let the fact he shouldn't still be on the pitch phase him at all.
Leek too, had periods of the game where they were in the ascendancy, as this game ebbed and flowed one way the the other.
Both teams had chances to clinch the result in the 90 minutes, in what had actually become quite an open game. But with the temperature starting to drop rapidly and home seeming even further way than it already was, normal time came and went and for the second consecutive night I was going to get real value for my money/have to endure at least another half hour (delete as apt).
There were three players out there who must've thought there is a rule change in the Unibond League that states if you get hurt when an opponent fouls you, then you have committed an offence.
Worksop had a bit of a purple patch where they constantly threatened in and around the Leek area for around 10-15 minutes just after the hour, but despite their best efforts Hodgson held strong and wasn't going to let the fact he shouldn't still be on the pitch phase him at all.
Leek too, had periods of the game where they were in the ascendancy, as this game ebbed and flowed one way the the other.
Both teams had chances to clinch the result in the 90 minutes, in what had actually become quite an open game. But with the temperature starting to drop rapidly and home seeming even further way than it already was, normal time came and went and for the second consecutive night I was going to get real value for my money/have to endure at least another half hour (delete as apt).
Pre extra time pep talks, ref to assistants (allegedly)"Don't worry I'll set up a late goal for Leek to avoid penalties"
The managers changed things around as both sides went for the result, but at the extra time interval there was still nothing separating both teams.
In the second spell, inevitably, the ref had a big say in the result. A Worksop clearance hit Hutchinson's feet, got tangled between them and spun to a Leek attacker from what looked like an inch perfect pass by the match official, Steve Brannan whipped in a cross and Leon Ashman was on hand to convert from close range.
Worksop had to push forward to chase the result which gave Leek more time and space to push up as well.
Andy White missed a good chance for the Tigers, but it was Leek who finished the strongest and just about shaded the balance of play in the end, even though Worksop had thrown everything they could at the visitors defence for a couple of spells earlier in the night.
In the second spell, inevitably, the ref had a big say in the result. A Worksop clearance hit Hutchinson's feet, got tangled between them and spun to a Leek attacker from what looked like an inch perfect pass by the match official, Steve Brannan whipped in a cross and Leon Ashman was on hand to convert from close range.
Worksop had to push forward to chase the result which gave Leek more time and space to push up as well.
Andy White missed a good chance for the Tigers, but it was Leek who finished the strongest and just about shaded the balance of play in the end, even though Worksop had thrown everything they could at the visitors defence for a couple of spells earlier in the night.
Gary Townsend about to launch one last assault on Leek's goal.One amusing incident that needs recording for posterity occurred when a Worksop fan, renowned for his distinguishing features, big booming gob and vulgar vocabulary (his name is Johnny Marsden if you need another clue) was lambasted by the visiting manager, who told him "Shut up you ****ing Walrus!" JM might have been mentioned unfavourably on this forum before, so in the interests of balance, here's a song I'll dedicate to him ...
... and if he doesn't like it, he can stick it up his jumper ;-)
the66pow
