Wednesday 23rd October 2020
Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
at Olivers Mount, Handsworth
Handsworth (1) 5
Joel Parkin 2
Samuel Smith 53
Oscar Radford 64
Leon Howarth 68 pen, 88
Bottesford Town (0)
Dayle Hutson 49
Attendance: 167
Bottesford crashed to their seventh loss in eight league games this season, meaning that they remain just one place above bottom club Athersley Recreation (who have lost all eight of their opening fixtures), while Handsworth chalked up their third win in a row, with a convincing result that saw them climb five places in the table to fourth in the NCEL Premier Division, albeit that they have played more games than all of the other teams towards the top of the pile.
Tonight marked my twenty-fifth game of the season, but there is talk afoot that some fairly stringent local lockdown restrictions are about to be unhatched, as regards travelling to/from/within local(ish) Covid contamination zones as early as tomorrow, vis. the Sheffield & Hallamshire FA, while other areas close by are rumoured to be next in line to be upgraded (or downgraded as the impending measures could more accurately be called) by Monday afternoon.
I'm not particularly optimistic that the incoming announcements from several county FA's are going to be anything other than excessively ambiguous, un-nessercarilly complicated and worded in such a way that the fanciful jargon (as opposed using to straight forward and bullet proof English) will be open to interpretation... nor that there will be a great deal of good news contained therein either.
But as the Autumn and Winter nights start to draw in and the temperature begins to plummet like a great big boulder, with no Covid vaccine becoming available any time soon... it was always inevitable that the climate would provide fertile breeding conditions for all of the traditional ailments that people fall foul of at this time of the year, as well as new strains of illness that have blighted our lives this year.
But hey! Let's not despair or turn this match overview into a load of old doom and gloom spiel, because we were here tonight to witness another massive step in the right direction by Handsworth FC, where happy vibes permeate each and every nook and cranny of their Olivers Mount ground and even the manager, who had been banished to the stands tonight in lieu of him offering a match official some free advice towards of the end of last week's game, could raise a big cheerful grin, secure in the knowledge that Aiden Spowage and James Kay were deputising for him and both of them are well steeped in the fit, proper and traditional ways of the Ambers.
And to lighten the mood still further, there was even a turn on for the crowd to enjoy tonight, in the form of a circus clown tearing up and down the far touchline (socially distanced, away from the majority of spectators), who kept us in hysterics and amused all night with his slapstick flag-waving capers.
Kudos and respect is due in spades to Adam Warner and Gareth Hicks, who officiated the game very well while managing to ignore Mr Thomas' bizarre and somewhat distracting antics.
Amazingly the rather similar shirt colours (particularly from the rear view, where the numbering font was almost identical) didn't spoil the spectacle at all, as the players all stood out very clearly under the impressively high lux reading floodlights.
In spite of containing a couple of pages of imbecilic prose written by that irritant who puts together a long winded, self indulgent, bullshit blog, with added football content, that goes by the name of THE66POW, tonight's bumper edition of the programme retailing at a mere £1.50 (covering both tonight's game and the visit of Hemsworth Miners Welfare on Saturday), edited by the all round decent bloke: Ian Robinson, was well put together as per usual, with plenty of interesting reading material. While some clubs are abandoning producing match day programmes, the Ambers are bucking that trend and their in house publication goes from strength to strength. They're going to have to reprint some for the weekend too, because tonight's issue was a complete sell-out. But there was still an abundance of team sheets available for all of the latecomers.
What more could you tight-assed non-league hordes possibly need to tempt you to visit a rejuvenated Olivers Mount!?
"Good food! I hear you say"... well, get your belly's full of the pie, chips and peas... with a dash of the local delicacy: Henderson's Relish, that'll cost you next to 'nowt and wash it down with a couple of beers from the well stocked Ambers bar (non-alcoholic variants are also available) and you'll still not have to worry about how far you can make your money stretch on a night out at the football, in this tidy and bespoke corner of Sheffield.
In fact the food and drink is of such an exceptional quality, Darren Spowage was still stuffing his face when the Ambers took the lead inside the second minute. Never mind sharing your lad's big moment in the spotlight, you worry about stuffing your face instead pal... I won't tell anyone ;-)
After kicking off tonight's game, Bailey Hobson, tonight's programme cover star went close to opening the scoring as the home side broke forward from the word go, but his well struck shot from twelve yards was pushed around the post by Ryan Musslewhite. Richard Tootle rolled a short corner kick to Leon Howarth and upon receiving a return pass whipped in a cross towards the back stick that Tom Roebuck headed back across the face of the visitors goal towards Joel Parkin who smashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Ant Mackie was putting in a hell of a shift up and down the right flank and though Musselwhite fielded a couple of his crosses well, the Ambers number two had come out of the blocks flying.
Sam Smith and Andy Gasgoigne both went close to doubling the hosts lead, as numerous chances went begging for Handsworth and a succession of crosses amounted to nothing.
But Bottesford weren't just here to make up the numbers... well, not just yet anyway... and as the first half seemed to fly by given the non-stop action on offer, the Ambers keeper Ben Townsend thwarted the visitors with three top-drawer saves to keep: Joe Moloney, Tom Pearson and Dayle Hutson at bay, while Mason Ellender fizzed a curling free kick inches past the left hand upright.
Four minutes into the second-half, the visitors were on level terms, when Ellender's right wing cross glanced off of Mick Jones (what the effing hell was he doing up there!?), which took the ball a fraction beyond the reach of Townsend as Ellender slid to propel the ball into the back of the net. 1-1... game on!?
But the Poachers joy was short lived and pretty soon, the Ambers were back in front when Oscar Radford's long throw from out on the left flank caused a free for all in Musselwhite's goalmouth and amidst the thrill of it all, Sam Smith knocked the ball inside the right hand post.
Pearson's dipping cross from the right reached Hutson, who stooped to get his header on target, but planted the ball into Townsend's arms instead.
Gascoigne pick up a pass from Howarth in the middle of the park and powered forward before knocking the ball out right to Mackie whose cross sat up nicely for Radford, who having had his initial shot blocked, pounced on the rebound, before turning one way then the other to make himself the room to shoot, before pinging the ball past Musselwhite.
Bottesford, were still dashing around frantically, trying to get back into the game, but they were completely undone when Radford switched play from one flank to the other, with a searching pass to Mackie, who was tripped as he sped towards the visitors goal.
Howarth took the resulting spot kick and put it away emphatically after Musselwhite had shown his intentions by moving slightly to his left.
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| Steve Holmes and John Ward - Handsworth legends |
Kallum Nix drilled the ball into the side netting and moments his fellow substituted Kyle Jordan sliced a shot when well played. By the way, how much of a luxury must it be to have two decent options of that calibre to bring on from the bench?
Jack Cross who'd looked impressive going forward for Bottesford after coming on, did well to work himself into a good position, but totally miscued his effort, making things relatively easy for Townsend to deal with.
Another Ambers substitute, Callum Walton, had a goal chalked off for offside, when Gareth Thomas realised that he had a chance to get himself namechecked in the match reports by waving his flag. But Walton had the last laugh, when Townsend's long kick down the pitch released the Handsworth number sixteen on the left flank and he in turn spotted Howarth making a blind side run into the visitors area, and found him with an inch perfect knock that in-form young striker was never likely to miss the target from as he gratefully whacked the ball home.
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| I can't quite put my finger on it but these guys don't half look familiar from somewhere |
FT: Handsworth 5 v Bottesford Town 1
Right folks, prepare yourselves for a raft of postponements over the next few days and a whole load of games going ahead that you won't be allowed to travel to or watch. I had notifications tonight that the next two matches I was intending to be at have already vanished from the fixture lists.
Batten down the hatches, Winter is coming and things are likely to get a whole lot worse before they get any better. Stay safe and enjoy your football... if you can find any.
