Glasshoughton Welfare v Staveley Miners Welfare - ABANDONED 73 minutes

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

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

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

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

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

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

73 mins - Glasshoughton Welfare - Tuesday 18th March 2014