DFS Welbeck Welfare 0 v Harworth Colliery Institute 9 - CMFL North

Saturday 8th September 2012, at Elkesley Road, Meden Vale
Central Midlands League NorthDFS Welbeck Welfare (0) 0Harworth Colliery Institute (0) 9
Tom Pick 50, 82, 86,
Gareth Mason OG 61,
Chris Belshaw 65, 79, 90 (pen),
Matt Dent 77
Gaz Sides 85
Admission £3, Programme £1, Attendance 31
When we got to Meden Vale, it was slightly worrying to see that such a shortage of visiting players had actually arrived at the Elkesley Road facility.
However, it soon transpired that Brendan Wilson needs somebody to buy him a compass for Christmas and the team's mini bus had gone to the Church Warsop Welfare ground, by mistake.
That is where Welbeck Welfare had been playing before they returned home recently, but it's only a couple of miles away in the wrong direction, so they managed to get to the right destination eventually.
Mind you, the dressing room's at Church Warsop probably aren't that much further away from the pitch than the one's at Elkesley Road are.
DFS Welbeck Welfare:
Wayne Barton, Jamie Roberts, Gareth Mason, Dan Childs, Craig Gibbons, Richard Dixon, Nathan Downs, Ashley Bettany, Kieran Roberts, Dan Pressman, Keron Clements
Subs - Thomas Edwards, Luke Collier, Steven Phillips, Brain Birch (I hope that one is a misspelling on the Welbeck team sheet), Cal Brook
Harworth Colliery Institute:
Mark Latham, Jordan Hardman, Stewart Needham, Shay Dunning, James Woodward, Chris Belshaw, David Reeve, Craig Anderson, Lee Edmondson, Gareth Sides, Tom Pick
Subs - Matt Dent, David Cornthwaite, Tony Garner, Simon Brewster
It was great to see my old pal Mark Thorpe again this afternoon, he is Welbeck's new manager.
I'm sure Mark'll bring a bit of stability the Meden Vale based team once he settles in, otherwise, they are in grave danger of becoming the CMFL North's whipping boys this season.
I must say, it's much quieter when Mark's adorable, charming and lovely wife Michelle isn't around ;-)
The visitors had slightly the better of the first half, but Welbeck created a couple of half decent chances of their own too.
Gaz Sides looked to have opened the scoring for the visitors, but he crashed the ball against the upright after latching onto a miss hit clearance from Wayne Barton.
Jordan Hardman's right wing cross, bounced up awkwardly off the 'less than ideal' pitch and hit Tom Pick on the shoulder before he put the ball into the net, so the referee chalked the opening goal off.
These things balance themselves out over the course of a campaign, as I seem to recall saying previously this season and will actually be repeating again by the time I've written up this overview of this afternoon's game.
Jordan Hardman broke into the box and found himself one on one with Wayne Barton, but he was thwarted by the bumpy pitch as he squared up to shoot and put the ball wide.
It will be good news for visiting teams and Welbeck Welfare alike, when they move onto the new pitches we walked across to get to the old one that the game was played on today.
The new facilities are taking shape nicely, but the existing pitch has obviously been neglected for quite a while and it can't be much fun having to play all of your home games on a surface like that.
At the other end, Welbeck mounted an attack and Dan Pressman rounded Mark Latham as he came to the edge of his box to narrow the angles, but as Pressman knocked the ball goal bound, it slowed down in the grass and gave Shay Dunning time to get across and clear the danger with a last ditch clearance.
A goalless first half on a tricky pitch, didn't provide anybody present with any clues whatsoever as to what Harworth had up their sleeves for after the break.

Half time. By the time they reached the dressing room it was time to come back.

Nobody in their right mind would've predicted the final outcome when the teams left the pitch and went for a nature ramble to the distant dressing rooms at half time.
But upon their return, Harworth had well and truly devised a way of mastering the conditions and rediscovered the kind of form that had seen them pick up maximum points from their opening five games.
Almost from the restart, Jordan Hardman launched a long free kick from out on the right flank into the six yard box, which found James Woodward in space, but the visitors centre half headed narrowly wide. But the opening goal wasn't long in coming and on fifty minutes, Tom Pick took the ball round Wayne Barton on the edge of the Welbeck area and knocked the ball into an unguarded net. 0-1.
Chris Belshaw outpaced the Welbeck left back and took the ball to the dead ball line; his cross found David Reeve, but the Harworth skipper's header skimmed wide of the right hand post.
Tom Dick sent Lee Edmondson clear, but he was hauled down just outside the area. with what I believe is called a 'professional foul'.
Tom Pick took the resultant free kick and it deflected wide off the home side's defensive wall, although it appears to have gone in on the photo below.
Welbeck cleared the ball from the corner, where it fell to Stewart Needham.
The Harworth full back decided to try his luck from distance, but Wayne Barton held on to the ball fairly easily.

With an hour gone and in spite of a spell of non stop Harworth pressure since half time, the score still stood at 0-1.
But then the wheels came off for Welbeck.
Shay Dunning knocked a great through ball into the path of Tom Dick, who had been played onside by young Gareth Mason. Mason tried to intercept the danger but could only knock the ball past his own keeper to double Harworth's lead. 0-2.
Wayne Barton pulled off a great save from James Woodward's goal bound header and Craig Anderson couldn't quite put the rebound home.
But on 65 minutes things went from bad to worse for Welbeck, as Chris Belshaw coolly slotted a Gaz Sides through ball home ... and then the floodgates opened. 0-3.
Barton again denied Tom Dick, turning the ball round the post and Edmundson headed over from the corner.

With all three points now looking comfortably in the bag and with one eye on the fact Harworth have a game on Tuesday, the visitors management made a triple substitution on 70 minutes, to give some players a rest from the rigours of playing on uneven terrain, on a very warm afternoon and to let a few others have a chance to show what they can do.
And what they (the substitutes) did, was stake their claim for a place in the starting line up in three days time.
Chris Belshaw had the ball in the Welbeck net again, but this time it was ruled out because of an off the ball infringement.
On 77 minutes, one of the three subs, Matt Dent played a neat one-two with Tom Pick and fired the ball home from 18 yards out to make it 0-4.
One of the Welbeck team turned to the Harworth bench, pointed to Pick and shouted "You should've taken him off!"
Within two minutes, Chris Belshaw had made the score 0-5, after David Cornthwaite, another of the Harworth substitutes had played him in on goal.

Contrary to rumour, Harworth Colliery's keeper Mark Latham
did actually touch the ball in the second half

The visitors were six in front, when David Cornthwaite (once again), played the ball through to Tom Pick who ran the ball past Wayne Barton before finishing the job off from 18 yards out. 0-6.
However, there did seem to be a suspicion on handball/ball to hand* (delete as apt) when Pick controlled the ball in the build up to the goal the ball.
These things balance themselves out over, err ... well y'know ;-)
David Reeve sent over a precision corner kick to Gaz Sides, who topped off an afternoon of tireless, non stop running with a goal to his name, to make the score 0-7

Tom Pick added his third and Harworth's eighth on 86 minutes after Gaz Sides picked him out with a great pass. 0-8.
Cornthwaite, who was was popping up all over since he came on, found Craig Anderson in the box with a defence splitting pass.
Anderson knocked the ball sideways to Gaz Sides, but his shot flew narrowly over.
In the final minute Craig Anderson got on the end of a David Reeve corner but crashed the ball against the bar; Welbeck tried clearing their lines, but the ball fell to the feet of Reeve out on the left of the box, who whipped over in-swinging cross, which Gareth Mason punched away from just underneath the crossbar.
Nobody in the ground wanted to see Mason dismissed so late in the game, especially with the score already reading 0-8 and even the Harworth management were appealing to the referee for leniency.
Thankfully Mason wasn't red carded, which would've been rubbing salt into his wounds after the kind of afternoon he'd had.
Belshaw buried the spot kick and the final whistle sounded to hail a final scoreline of DFS Welbeck Welfare 0 v Harworth Colliery Institute 9.
Somebody pinch me!

DFS Welbeck Welfare v Harworth Colliery 'Institure'?

So Harworth are back to winning ways, with a vengeance, after picking up just one point out of six from their last two home games.
Hopefully , they're back on track now, to keep up the challenge for a top six finish this season, after a couple of set backs of late.
Elsewhere in the CMFL North ... AFC Mansfield beat Bentley Colliery 10-0, Cross Town won 6-2 at Brodsworth Welfare, Dronfield Town beat Kiveton Park 2-1 and Glapwell forced their way into the chasing pack with a 5-0 win over Thoresby Colliery.
In the CMFL North match of the day, Ollerton Town kept up their 100% record, with a narrow 3-2 win at Easington United, in a game where sadly, Easington's Sam McLaughlin sustained a broken wrist.
Hopefully you're on the mend soon Sam.
Westella Hanson (formerly Westella & Willerby), last year's champions, beat Yorkshire Main 9-1 today too. When you take into account how well the Edlington side were playing, while sweeping aside anyone in their path, just a little over a year ago, it's mystifying to me, how 'Main' are now slipping towards the wrong end of the table.

How we used to live:

A view of Welbeck Welfare's ground when I was there a couple of years ago, before the Colliery was removed from the landscape.

Next up:
I'll be at the Proact Stadium on Monday night, to watch England Under 21's v Norway Under 21's.
Advice for anybody else who's going ... don't leave your car in the nearby Tesco car park, or you'll get a parking ticket.