Thursday 10 September 2015

Worksop Town 1 v Harworth Colliery 0 - HKL NMU19L

Thursday 10th September 2015
HKL North Midland Under 19 League
Worksop Town (0) 1
Ash Shannon 62
Harworth Colliery (0) 0
Admission £2. Programme 20p.
Worksop Town:
Barney Phillips, Louis Colley, Luke Haslam, Aaron Emmerson (Kane Wheeler 46), Aaron Pickersgill, Andrew White, Josh Hobson (Dylan Millington 80), Scott Wesley, Josh Allerton (Macauley Gibbons 76) Mason Gee, Ash Shannon
Unused sub - Jordan Moore, Tom Fisher
Harworth Colliery:
Josh Court, Morgan Rubie, Tom Hawkridge (Jack Ellis 72), George Agnew, Chad Jacobs, Ross Wicks, Ross Taylor (Peter Bassenger 72), Josh Dickinson, Jordan Camm, Marley Alder, Bailey Armstrong (Callum Hudson 80),
Unused subs - Alex Hawkridge, Kieran Hawkins
If it's entertainment you are after, then I would thoroughly recommend visiting any game of association football that is refereed by Wayne Davenport.
But I should advise you that you'll probably need a fairly warped sense of humour to appreciate his unique interpretation of the rules of the game.
But he's an amiable soul who means well, so I will digress from offending him by saying any more on the subject.
So then, a Bassetlaw derby, played just over the Derbyshire border, between two U19 sides I have worked with in the past.
I still have a lot of fond memories from one of those stints.
And I will always be grateful to Harworth Colliery FC, for rekindling my football mojo, when I had actually said: "Somebody please ****ing kill me, if I am ever stupid enough to get involved with a football club again!", shortly after my roles at Worksop Town became completely untenable.
The person I told that to, wrote the very biased report from this game that will be appearing on the Tigers website.
Thankfully though, he has no homicidal tendencies and I am happy to report that he ignored my wishes and spared me, because I have really enjoyed all of the work I have done for a couple of other clubs since then, including Harworth.
I salute you Paul Stacey, you're doing an excellent job at Worksop mate.
For the record, I sulked for days after the committee meeting at Scrooby Road where it was decided that Harworth's Under 19 side were being disbanded... but it was great news that they are back in the North Midland U19 League this season. The club is the heartbeat of the Bircotes and Harworth community and it is very fitting that they should be representing as many aspects of the village(s) as humanly possible.
Burn baby burn, disco inferno!
It is always good to see first team management personnel attending these fixtures, so kudos to both teams in that respect.
The Tigers had to work damn hard for the three points tonight, because Harworth were dictating the pattern and the pace of the game during the first half, when Barney Phillips played out of his skin to keep a clean sheet for the home side.
Bailey Armstrong and Marley Alder were both denied by Phillips, before Armstrong rushed an effort from 12 yards out, that ended up in the scrap yard next door to Shirebrook's ground, when he probablty had enough time to pick his spot.
Morgan Rubie ran 60 yards down the flank with the ball and as two Tigers defenders tried to block his run, Ross Taylor picked up possession and switch play from right to left, with a sublime long range pass to Armstrong, whose thumping angled drive forced the Worksop keeper into pulling off another great stop.
Josh Court
Josh Dickinson spotted that Phillips had strayed from his line and tried to lob him from 35 yards, but the Tigers keeper recovered and touch his catch well as he strode backwards.
The home sides main threat was coming down the left flank, via the impressive looking Mason Gee, but Ross Wicks and Morgan Rubie were covering each others backs well and closing off that supply line to the Worksop forwards.
Phillips finally put a foot wrong when he spilled Taylor's cross just before the break, but Aaron Pickersgill was on hand to whack the ball away to safety.
Worksop addressed the one way traffic they had encountered during the first half at the break and imposed themselves more on the game during the second half, which was much more of an even affair.
Straight from the restart, Aaron Emmerson set up Ash Shannon, who crashed a shot against the crossbar from outside the area, with Court at full stretch.
A rare shot of Bren Wilson. HCFC. Smiling and not moaning.
At the other end Josh Dickinson released Jordan Camm inside the Worksop area and the Harworth forward went to ground under a challenge, the referee waved play on, at least I think he did, he was so far away from the incident, I could just about make him out in the distance.
Harworth were left to rue not taking one of the numerous opportunities they had created in the first half, when Ash Shannon crashed the ball home from thirty yards, to bag a goal that was worthy of winning any game.
Worksop seemed to have weathered the first half storm and looked much tighter at the back now.
Still, Harworth almost equalised when Wicks headed narrowly wide of the left hand upright from Josh Dickinson's corner.
Louis Colley bundled Dickinson over out on the left flank, but Scott Wesley was back helping his defence and headed the free kick away to safety.
A succession of substitutions broke up the flow of the game and Worksop were working really hard to hang onto their lead and frustrate the visitors now.
Ironically when George Agnew found a gap in the Tigers rearguard, his shot from 20 yards rebounded off of a team mate who couldn't get out of the way.
FT: Worksop Town U19 1 v Harworth Colliery U19 0
In the end, the home side won the game because of their graft, rather than their guile (an observation, not a criticism), but they have enough quality in their ranks to pick up some momentum now they have that first win of the season under their belts. 
While the Colliery Under 19s impressed a lot of people with their commitment to attacking football and the way they bossed the first half in particular. If it hadn't have been for a great performance by Barney Phillips tonight, it could have been a much different story. 
It's good to have them back. 
And now I am looking forward to many more HKL NMU21l & NMU19L games this season.