Tuesday 31 August 2010

Nottingham UNITY 0 v Worksop Town U19 2 - Friendly

POST COPIED VERBATIM FROM THE
WORKSOP TOWN U19's INFORMATION WEBSITE
Half time entertainment
Comedian Bob Carolgyes telling jokes to the Worksop Players

Tuesday 31st August 2010
Nottingham Unity U19 (0) 0
Worksop Town U19 (0) 2 (Jack Morley penalty, Jason Ash)
at Gresham Sports Park, West Bridgford

We're indebted to Morris Samuels and his coaching staff at the Nottingham UNITY Project, Ritchie Hopkin and the people at Gresham Sports Park for putting this game together at such short notice.
The UNITY project has made great strides within the communities it represents and they do a very commendable job combating issues that go well beyond their football agenda, whilst producing some very talented young players into the bargain.
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/TV-films-Unity-football-team/article-332701-detail/article.html
We were anticipating our league programme starting this week, but despite some clubs having started their league campaigns already, were left without a fixture.
It was felt that we needed a game to keep the momentum going before our first competitive game in the 'North Notts derby' at Harworth next week so we sounded a few people out about arranging a fixture at short notice.
It was great to get a call from Morris Samuels who invited us to West Bridgford and sorted out the use of the floodlit 3G pitch at Gresham Park.
From the off the game was played at a very quick tempo with both teams playing a flowing, passing game and not showing any shyness whatsoever about demonstrating any flicks or tricks they had in their arsenal.
UNITY and the Tigers both had several chances to go ahead during the first half, but the stand in goalkeeper Jason Markell (usually a defender this pre season, who has scored a couple of goals when getting up for set pieces) for Worksop had a very good game.
In fact, there wasn't a player out on the pitch, for either team, who didn't put in a competent display tonight.

To be honest (no disrespect lads), I thought tonight would most likely be something of a steep learning curve for the young Tigers and UNITY were probably favourites to win, but the Worksop team more than held their own against the Nottingham side and scored twice in the second half.
The first came from a Jack Morley penalty after two players tangled in the box, there was nothing malicious about the trip, but the decision was the right one.
Jason Ash then neatly put Worksop ahead with a goal that the UNITY coaches sportingly applauded.
Danny Briggs nearly got a third for the Tigers late in the game but shot narrowly over having run into a good position to receive the ball right in front of the goal.
A fantastic advert for Under 19's football was enjoyed by everybody who turned out to see it, but most importantly of all it was enjoyed even more by all the guys who actually played in this pre season warm up game.
I doubt if WTFC U19 will come up against more polite, helpful and sporting opposition than they did tonight all season ... and I would thoroughly recommend to any team who needs a game to contact Morris about getting it together with his lads.

There are those within the game in the county of Nottinghamshire who sadly would've been reluctant to play a game like this, due to the 'Gangsta' reputation of a few of the lads the UNITY project have integrated into their football project ... and no doubt others with far more sinister reasons for not wanting to get involved with UNITY too.
That is their loss.
Tonight football was the real winner regardless of the result.

Monday 30 August 2010

Retford United 0 v Worksop Town 3 - Evo-Stik Premier

Retford United, home in yellow away kit.
Worksop Town, away at their rented home in blue away kit.

A local derby with so many stings in the tail/tale from both sides of the story of Bassetlaw non league football, I'd be up until midnight listing them all here ... and that's just the bits and pieces that are public knowledge.
The main thing is, that in spite of both clubs having a whole heap of off the field problems where they have come more perilously close to going to the wall than a lot of people probably realise at various points over the last year or so, Retford United and Worksop Town still live on, against all the odds ... and today Evo-Stik League points were at stake and all of that peripheral 'toing and froing' could be put aside while football took centre stage, for 90 minutes at least.
Ryan Hindley 'checks out' Jamie Jackson

Monday 30th August 2010 - Evo-Stik Premier

Retford United (0) 0
Worksop Town (2) 3 (Bettney 16, 76, Dan White OG 44)

Admission £9 (£2 discount for Worksop Town season ticket holders, a two way arrangement between the clubs, Retford United fans get a 25% discount on admission to Worksop Town games too), Programme £2, Attendance 501
Retford United:
Jeffries, Blake, Lill, White, Ellis, Mayman, Hindley (Davies), Stephenson, Booth (Vernon), Owens, Caudwell (McDonnell).
Subs: All Used.
Worksop Town:
Kennedy, Colliver, Wood, Camm, Shiels, Simpkins, Bettney (Simpson), Meikle, Knox, Jackson (Whittington), Mallon.
Subs Not Used: Bacon, Wankiewicz, Billard.
Chris Bettney, out of shot, opens the scoring

REPORT FROM RETFORD UNITED WEBSITE
The Badgers fell to three goals against Worksop Town at Cannon Park. A healthy Bank Holiday crowd of 501 saw Chris Bettney score two and make one, the first coming after 16 minutes, a mazy run through the Retford defence, finishing with his shot on target.
Worksop's second came a minute before the break, Bettney's free kick was headed by Dan White to clear, but his diving header was the wrong side of the post.
The third to kill off the game came on 76 minutes, a pile-driver into the net as Bettney met a cross from the left.
Retford, again, never gave up, and chances for Steve Owens, Craig Lill and Nicky Ellis were all off target, the result keeping Retford rooted to the bottom of the table.
Well, that's the first Evo-Stik local derby of the season out of the way, the main feature being a man of the match performance by Ex Badger (and previously Ex Tiger) Chris Bettney.
There are going to be plenty of twists and turns ahead this season for both clubs, so hold on to your seats and cross your fingers (if such a multi-tasking finger arrangement is physically possible) that everybody stays on board until the end of the season.
Many people feel that Retford United are going 'to do a Durham', but with the astute managerial pairing of Lioyd and Knapper at the helm I can't see that happening.
It won't be pretty at times but I reckon that come the end of April the Cannon Park club won't still be worrying about preserving their Evo-Stik Premier League status.
As for Worksop Town, nothing is ever straight forward, never has been, never will be, but with the squad they're putting together and a period of 'transition' now behind them ... things can only get better.
And they are :-)

Sunday 29 August 2010

Heart of Midlothian 1 v Dundee United 1 - Scottish Premier League

Season ticket and programme

Sunday 29th August 2010 - Scottish Premier League
at Tynecastle Stadium

Heart of Midlothian (1) 1 (Templeton 30)
Dundee United (0) 1 (Gomis 86)

Admission season ticket, Programme £3, attendance 12,898
An English goalkeeper called Banks practices taking penalties
Steve Banks, ex Hearts now on the books of Dundee United


Heart of Midlothian
  • 25 Kello
  • 05 Barr
  • 21 Ismael Bouzid
  • 24 Thomsonyellow card
  • 04 Jonsson
  • 07 Suso Santana (Obua 76)
  • 08 Black
  • 12 Templeton (Novikovas 80)
  • 16 Stevenson
  • 31 Mrowiec
  • 09 Kyle

Substitutes

  • 01 Balogh,
  • 02 Kucharski,
  • 13 Obua,
  • 17 McGowan,
  • 20 Thomson,
  • 18 Novikovas,
  • 27 Robinson

Dundee Utd

  • 01 Pernis
  • 02 Dillon
  • 17 Douglas
  • 18 Kenneth
  • 23 Watson (Gomis 67)
  • 06 Conway
  • 08 Robertsonyellow card (Shala 78 yellow card)
  • 14 Swanson (Robertson 4)
  • 15 Buaben
  • 09 Daly
  • 25 Goodwillie

Substitutes

  • 13 Banks,
  • 03 Dixon,
  • 05 Dods,
  • 12 Robertson,
  • 16 Gomis,
  • 20 Shala,
  • 21 Damian Casalinuovo
I made a mad dash from Cannon Park, Retford to Doncaster railway station yesterday tea time, just in time to catch the train to Edinburgh, affording me the chance of a night out in 'Auld Reekie', which, with no disrespect meant to my home town, is slightly more lively than Wetherspoons on Grove Street or the Cannon Square triangle.
In fact the Edinburgh night-life during Festival season is almost as lively as the Brick & Tile at the bottom of Moorgate Hill on a Saturday night, but only almost ;-)
Dundee United, resplendent in exactly the same tangerine orange Nike kit that Worksop Town wear, were put under the cosh from the off, but Hearts struggled to find the finishing touch to a succession of corners and the bulk of the play during the opening stages.
They were left to lament their lack of goalscoring prowess in the early stages later on in the game as the visitors staged a late rally.
Calum Eliot failed a late fitness test before kick off to leave Hearts a man down and then Lee Wallace pulled up during the pre match warm up to deplete the starting line up still further.
That set out the stall for a frustrating afternoon for the pride of Edinburgh.
Adrian Mrowiec almost put the home side ahead with an header that rattled the crossbar, but on 30 minutes David Templeton fired home the opening goal. A succession of left wing corners as the United goal came under siege for a long period of the first half, seemed to suggest more goals would be forthcoming, but it wasn't to be.
Craig Thomson, Hearts number 24 looked very busy and effective (he takes the corners) but his namesake Craig Thomson the SPL referee seemed to have decided that he was going to be the star of the show instead ... maybe he had a new whistle that he wanted to use as much as possible. It was never a dirty game, but his stop/start antics made this game painful to watch at times.
It's a goal!!!

In the second half Dundee United stepped up their game, but Marian Kello in the Hearts goal was equal to anything that 'The Arabs' could throw at him including a John Daly penalty.
But with just four minutes remaining Morgaro Gomis, on as a substitute, latched onto a half cleared David Robertson cross to smash home an unstoppable shot.
Now the home side were to rue not converting all of their first half chances into goals.
It nearly got worse for Hearts, but Kello blocked a late effort by Craig Conway to keep the score at 1-1 and salvage a point for the Jambos that could and should have been all three and a foregone conclusion before the end of the first forty five minutes.
Incidentally it is not politically incorrect to call Dundee United 'The Arabs', it's an old nickname that is still affectionately used by their own supporters that harks back to when they had an heavily sanded pitch at Tannadice ... their own fans forum linked to the official website is called Arab Zone.
Somebody asked me to review the food available at Tynecastle ... er, it's gash!
And there are hundreds (literally) of other places in the nearby vicinity that you can purchase better fare from at a fraction of the price.

Saturday 28 August 2010

Worksop Town 1 v Marine 2 - Evo-Stik Premier

Marine Stretch and tweak those muscles pre kick off

Saturday August 28th 2010 _ Evo-Stik Premier
at Cannon Park, Retford

Worksop Town (0) 1 (Bettney 51)
Marine (2) 2 (Hussey pen 8, Rainford 40)

Admission season ticket, Programme £2, Attendance 235
Luke and Lewis, the next generation

It's early days yet as the crowd figures creep back up given the logistical benefits of Worksop Town playing their 'home' games in Bassetlaw over the trek down the M1 to Ilkeston.
But what is soaring back up after a few unstable years is the expectation level of a large number of fans.
The realists are just glad that the club has managed to struggle on through some very lean times and is still a going concern, but others are already lusting after a belated return to the Blue Square North with a self righteous fervour.
The latter body of supporters would do well to remember that as recently as four months ago there was still talk of the club having to drop down two divisions in order to survive at all ... and through this period of readjustment people should adopt a slightly more humble overview to current events at WTFC covered in a liberal coat of counting their blessings.
All caged Tigers get a bit frisky and dizzy when they're let loose on the world again and if that applies to a large number of Worksop Tigers, well, you can't really blame them after all the trials and tribulations of the last few years.
And in spite of saying that, I'll be quite disappointed too if this team weren't pushing for at least a play off place by the end of the season.

Getting the formalities out of the way

There are a good number of very proficient teams in this league who stand between Worksop Town and any attempt to reach an higher level of football again.
And one of those clubs is Marine ... a tightly knit, well organised and hard to break down team, who work hard for each other all over the park and don't give the opposition a moment to settle on the ball.
With all due respect, they're not the most entertaining of sides to watch, but they're a team of grafters.
Marine visited Cannon Park with a game plan, stuck to it and took home all three points.
Marine's keeper Ryan McMahon had this one covered

On 8 minutes Luke Shiels mistimed a tackle on Steve Johnson and conceded a penalty.
Steve Hussey fired the visitors home from the spot kick.
Peter Knox nearly equalised but Ryan McMahon made a good save and then Marine had another goal ruled out for offside.
Five minutes before the break Jamie Rainford ran through after the ball had been knocked into his path by Jon Goulding, beat Michael Simpkins in a race for possession and fired home off the upright to give the Merseyside team a 2-0 half time lead.
Six minutes into the second half Jamie Jackson embarked on a lengthy, mazy run towards goal but was unceremoniously flattened on the edge of the box by Jon Goulding.
Chris Bettney smacked home the resultant free kick into the bottom corner of the Marine goal and it looked as if it was game on again.
But the second half was a fairly grim affair from then on in, with the strong wind making play difficult for both teams.
Deep into injury time Peter Knox beat Ryan McMahon all ends up and his goal bound effort had seemingly salvaged a point for the home side, but 'as if by magic' Marine's right back Shaun Callacher managed to get back and head the ball to safety ... and there was no coming back from that for the Tigers.
Callacher's last ditch saving header won his side the points just as much as either of their goals.

Match report from the Marine FC website:
http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/marine/?section=clubnews&news_id=167946

Thursday 26 August 2010

Scotter United 1 Worksop Town Under 19s 3 - Friendly

Stad de la Scotter - Northmoor Park

Thursday 26th August 2010 - Pre Season Friendly
at Northmoor Park, Scotter

Scotter United (1) 1
(Mathew Hunsley)
Worksop Town Under 19's (2) 3
(Jason Ash, Mitchell Kent, Danny Briggs)
WTFC Under 19's manager Kev Staniland (4th left)
Modelling black and amber socks without holes in them

Perry Cawthorne leaves his opponent for dead and evades
my camera with a neat back heel, step over and turn
Scotter United's keeper???

Slightly biased report and details from the WTFC U19 blogsite
http://tigersunder19.blogspot.com/2010/08/scotter-united-away-at-northmoor-park.html

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Worksop Town 5 v Whitby Town 0 - Evo-Stik Premier

Wednesday 25th August 2010. Evo-Stik Premier League
at Cannon Park, Retford

Worksop Town (0) 5
(Meikle 49, Knox 79, 82, 84, Jackson 86)
Whitby Town (0) 0

Admission season ticket, Programme £2, Attendance 245
£20 golden goal winning ticket holder ... me. Cheers Deon :-)
Contain yourselves ladies, he's spoken for.

Woo hoo!
That'll do nicely.
Whitby Town must be wondering what hit them tonight, for the first half they were probably looking like the side most likely to win this game, but the second half was a completely different story.
7.45pm

Even after Deon Meikle had put the Tigers ahead the visitors still looked to be in the ascendancy for spells, so Peter Rinkcavage changed things round and the Tigers seemed to be playing a lot deeper than they had in the first 45 minutes.
Not by way of negatively trying to preserve a 1-0 lead but to enforce Whitby's astute and experienced manager Harry Dunn to have to change things around.
The grass is smoking as Worksop turn up the heat in the 2nd half

Dunn's hand was forced and that change afforded Worksop the space through the channels they needed to launch a bombardment on the Whitby goal for the latter part of the game and four goals in 7 minutes speaks for itself. Peter Knox scored a quick fire hat trick and then Jamie Jackson put the finishing touch to the final score with a sublime and cheeky finish that demonstrated his confidence and willingness to entertain the crowd.
WTFC Secretary Keith Ilett and his new personal assistant

Of course there were still detractors and dissenters amongst the Tigers faithful who found a multitude of things to moan about ... such is life.

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Retford United Under 19's 5 v Worksop Town Under 19's 3 - Friendly

Both teams fled in terror as an army of giant shadows appeared on the touchline

Tuesday 24th August 2010 - Pre Season Friendly
at Oaklands Sports Ground

Retford United U19 (2) 5
(Jake Outram 2, Danny Siddal 2, Theo Ganderson)
Worksop Town (1) 3
(Jack Baines 2, Jack Morley)
It's nice to see Jake Outram is enjoying his football at Retford.
It would be even nicer if he didn't enjoy quite so much against Worksop in future.
Half time pep talk

Both teams included trialists this evening and the pitch was in desperate need of a lawnmower in places, but no excuses, Retford won this one fair and square and the young Tigers will have to write this one off as a bad day at the office.
Retford took the lead from a Jake Outram penalty, but Jack Baines pulled the scores level with a looping effort from out on the right that caught everybody by surprise.
Alas Retford were back in front again before half time.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half Worksop managed to put some decent moves together and equalised through Jack Baines again, before Jack Morley found the back of the net to put the visitors ahead.
But then it all went a bit pear shaped and Retford took control of the second half from then on in and fired home three further goals, with Danny Siddal putting in a really good display for them.
Oh well ... can't win 'em all.

Thursday 19 August 2010

Worksop Town Under 19's 3 v Maltby Main Under 19's 4 - Friendly

Thursday 19th August 2010
Worksop Town Under 19's (2) 3 v Maltby Main Under 19's (0) 4
Pre season friendly at Manton Athletic club

No photographs tonight, no way was I getting my new camera out in that sort of weather.
A completely different scenario this time, but for the second night in a row I saw Maltby Main come from behind to win 4-3 again tonight in the pouring rain at Manton.

The Tigers Under 19's were ahead inside the first minute when Jack Morley netted from a penalty conceded by the visitors goalkeeper.
Matthew Cooley cleverly lobbed the keeper on 25 minutes to score a goal that Fernando Torres would have been proud of, he's had a productive pre season but this is the one and only time I'm going to let him have any input into writing match reports.
On 52 minutes Josh Sweetnam got the final touch on a good move and headed home Worksop's third goal.
From then on in the visitors showed remarkable resilience and a real never say die attitude.
And on a miserable rainy night with darkness drawing in, they overhauled the Tigers three goal winning margin and scored four times in the second half to win this well contested friendly.
Credit where it is due, many teams would've given it up as a lost cause at 3-0 but Maltby kept going until the final whistle.
The Tigers Under 19's will have learnt a few valuable lessons tonight and that is what these pre-season friendly trial matches are all about.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Maltby Main 0 v Blackstones 0 - FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay - Maltby Main won after extra time and penalties

Wednesday 18th August 2010
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay
at Muglet Lane

Maltby Main 0
Blackstones 0
Maltby won 4-3 on penalties AET

Admission £5 inc. free 4 page programme
Attendance 110
A bonus FA Cup tie for me this week :-)
Blackstones and Maltby drew the first game one apiece on Saturday and needed to replay tonight.
The lack of goals, in both normal time and extra time, did not detract from the entertainment of this end to end, absorbing and intriguing cup tie.
Both goalkeepers saw plenty of the ball and neither team wanted to relinquish the prize money that was up for grabs for qualifying for the next round.
The shoot out
After two penalties apiece, Blackstones looked to have a big advantage over their South Yorkshire hosts with the score stood at 1-2.
But then a Blackstones player hit their third kick over the bar with so much power that it threatened to damage the cabbages in the allotments across the other side of of Muglet Lane.
Maltby had scored four of their five penalties when Blackstones spotted the ball up for their last kick.
If the visitors scored now the shoot out would go to instant death ... but Bailey, the Maltby Main goalkeeper and captain pulled off a fine safe to put his side through to the next round of the cup.
A really enjoyable game, plenty of drama and compelling stuff, literally to the very last kick of the game.
So Maltby Main march on and as for the Blackstones team, never mind eh!?
Many a tear has to fall, but it's all in the game, all in the wonderful game that we call ... football.

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Gainsborough Trinity 1 v Guiseley 3 - Blue Square North

Tuesday 17th August 2010. Blue Square North
at the Northolme

Gainsborough Trinity (1) 1 (Leon Mettam 17)
Guiseley (2) 3 (Liam Needham 27, Warren Peyton 41, 58)

Admission £10. Programme cover price £2. Free teamsheet
Attendance 400 (exactly)
"Not much matches Mansfield"

Trinity took the lead on 17 minutes when a well worked free kick routine out on the right, delivered by former Mansfield Town player Jamie Clarke, was headed over the diminutive visiting keeper Steve Drench by Leon Mettam.
The lead lasted ten minutes when Guiseley's Liam Needham (a very familiar face around these parts) netted a very similar goal after getting on the end of a long throw into the Blues penalty area.
Needham was one of three ex Trinity players in the visitors squad tonight.
Warren Peyton scored Guiseley's second before the break, it was a fine solo goal that found the net via the woodwork.
Right on the stroke of half time Gainsborough were nearly level but Lewis McMahon's blistering shot hit the post.
The width of a post can be the difference between success and failure and never more clearly was this illustrated than in the final few minutes of the first half at the Northolme tonight.
Peyton scored again for the visitors on 58 mins, when he pulled the Trinity defence all over the place before crashing the ball beyond the grasp of Gainsborough's keeper Phil Barnes.
I think a lot of people were under the impression that Guiseley were in the Blue Square North just to make the numbers up this season, but having seen them overtake everybody on the rails to win the UniBond Premier last term, I can testify that they're where they are on merit and will be more than holding their own when the spoils are shared out come May time.
Gavin Rothery hit the crossbar and very nearly added a fourth for the West Yorkshire side, but Trinity then got to grips with their lively visitors and went in search of a fight back, but they had left it too late.
Luke Beckett hit a thundering volley on target, but Steve Drench pulled off a great save, this wasn't going to be Trinity's night despite being the best side for both the first and last 15 minutes of the game ... it was the bit in between that was their undoing. ... with Guiseley's Luke Sharry causing them all sorts of problems linking the midfield and attack together.
Trinty's new look programme had sold out when I left the Blues Club ten minutes before kick off, so I'm very grateful to the person who found one laying about and gave it to me.
If you're the guy who handed it to me, many thanks. If you lost your programme and are the rightful owner, tough luck! You ought to take more care of things you've just bought in future :-P
Early signs are that the new programme editor is doing a great job.

Saturday 14 August 2010

Rossington Main 0 v Shirebrook Town 3 - FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Saturday 14th August 2010
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
at Oxford Street

Rossington Main (0) 0
Shirebrook Town (2) 3 (Simon Johnson 3 inc. 2 pens)

Admission £4, Programme £1.50, Attendance 75
A slice of home-made corn beef and potato pie.
I've found culinary heaven in south Yorkshire
"I bet you wish that camera had a zoom lens"

The road to Wembley starts here.
Just to the south of Doncaster to be precise, on a pleasant sunny afternoon on a ground tucked alongside the East Coast Mainline.
At the far end Simon Johnson puts Shirebrook 2-0 ahead from the spot.
I wish this camera had a zoom lens

On 8 minutes Shirebrook's Simon Johnson was fouled inside the Rossington penalty area.
He got up and converted the penalty kick himself.
3 minutes later he kept his cool and repeated the same trick.
At 2-0, the visitors took their foot off the gas a bit and instead of trying to kill the game off saw Main pushing forward in an attempt to draw level.
Rossington were very good at knocking the ball around but it all came unstuck in and around in the final third around the box.
Just before half time the home side had a good penalty call waved away, which would've seen them right back in the game.
In the second half, a shot beat Smith in the Shirebrook goal all ends up but hit the upright and went out of play.
The wake up call spurred the reds into action and Johnson completed his hat trick when he burst into on the right hand side of the penalty area and smashed home an angled shot to claim his hat trick.
The Shirebrook number 10 almost had a fourth too, but after he rounded the Rosso keeper and got his effort on target, a last ditch clearance from a defender at full stretch kept the score down to a more respectable looking 3-0.
I must give a special mention to the new facilities at the Oxford Street ground, over the summer a lot of hard work has gone into installing a spacious and comfortable club house area, it's nothing like the old tea hut where you worried about putting your feet through the rotting floorboards and it's the sort of thing that encourages a visitor to return as the cold winter nights draw in. Especially if they keep serving their delicious corned beef and potato pie.
It wouldn't be Rossington without the hold ups at the crossing