Thursday 31 March 2011

Retford United 1 v Long Eaton United 1 - North Midlands U19 League Division 2

Yours truly behind bars.
Where most people would probably say I ought to be.

Tonight:
Sadly, the 10th anniversary of the passing away, far too early in life, of David 'Rocky' Rocastle. My mum's birthday.
My 100th game this season.

Thursday 31st March 2011, at Cannon Park, Leverton Road, Retford
North Midlands U19 League Division 2
Retford United (1) 1 (Theo Ganderson)
Long Eaton United (1) 1
Admission £2, Concessions £1,
Programme free, Attendance 45 I arrived at the ground early to have a couple of pints in my 'local' (Cannon Park is a very short distance, just over a couple of bridges from my house) and found the Retford manager was having to man the turnstiles, obviously he needed to be elsewhere, so as he's a mate I answered his S.O.S. and stood in.
Even at this end of the football food chain there are people who try it on at the turnstile to try and avoid paying to get in ... and my dear old pal Dickie Bromley at Worksop Town has taught me a trick or two about 'outing' such scurrilous individuals, even the ones who waited in the car park for twenty minutes to avoid paying once the coast was clear didn't get a freebie tonight.
FFS, Under 19's football teams need the money from the turnstile to pay for the match officials. £2 is hardly going to break anyone's bank, is it!?
Tonight Long Eaton needed a win to take the Division 2 title, any other result and Unity FP would be champions.
I get on well with both management teams present here tonight ... and also Alan, Morris and Ritchie at Unity, so this was a very intriguing contest for me personally.
Long Eaton took the lead after just a few minutes and had obviously turned up hell bent on making their mark.
But this young Retford side have a resilient spine and a couple of outstanding individuals, one of whom, namely Theo Ganderson smashed home a quite unstoppable equaliser and the teams went in level at the break one apiece.
It had been a lively 45 minutes with no quarter given, but the second half was an altogether scrappier affair, maybe the Long Eaton lads were feeling the pressure of the occasion a bit and lost some of the collective composure that has been their mainstay this season, but the over-riding reason the game lost its fluidity and went off the boil a bit was the stop/start regime the referee adopted.Certainly one or two of the players needed to learn to shut their rattle and cut down on the industrial language a bit, but the game just didn't seem to flow at all throughout the second half. Rules are rules and I don't envy any match official, but I prefer football as entertainment, not as some kind of hard won war of attrition strategy contest ... and this was definitely a game of two halves in that respect.
Right at the end, the Long Eaton keeper went up for a corner and was nearly the hero as he headed wide, but the score remained one apiece and Unity FP are 2nd Division champions as a consequence.
Congratulations to all involved and commiserations to Chris Hooley and his Long Eaton United team, who fished level on points at the top but came second by virtue of goal difference.
Good luck Alan Avery from Unity FP with whatever you decide to do in the future after this season.

Tuesday 29 March 2011

England 1 v Ghana 1 - International Match

Tuesday 29th March 2011, Wembley Stadium
International Match

England (1) 1 (Andy Carroll 43)
Ghana (0) 1 ) (Asamoah Gyan 90)
Admission £25, Programme £6, Attendance 80,102
Introducing the teams ... and flags
Andy Carroll and Co. celebrate his first international goal
The guys sat behind us seemed to enjoy the equaliser in injury time

Monday 28 March 2011

Staveley Miners Welfare 0 v Arnold Town 1 - North Midlands U19 League Division 1

Monday 28th March 2011 at Inkersall Road
North Midlands U19 League Division 1

Staveley Miners Welfare (0) 0
Arnold Town (0) 1 Alex England 72

Admission £2, Programme 50p,
Attendance fluctuated between 50 and 60
Knock me down with a feather ... clever Trevor
Local Non League legend
Staveley defend a first half corner
Arnold defend a second half corner

Sunday 27 March 2011

Bottesford Town 3 v Scotter United 1 - Lincolnshire Intermediate League

Sunday 27th March at Birch Park, Bottesford
Lincolnshire Intermediate League

Bottesford Town (1) 3 (R.Hughes, T.Cooke, L.Gash )
Scotter United (0) 1 (M.Watson)

Admission free, no programme, Attendance 32
Prior to kick off, Scotter United needed 2 points from their last three games to take the league title, oh well, they need 2 from their last two games to achieve that now.
Next up Brigg Town away.
Mikey Watson bangs home a late consolation goal for the visitors
latching on to the rebound after his penalty was saved


Footnote - A week after this game Scotter hammered Brigg 5-1 to take the title, congratulations to all concerned ;-)

Saturday 26 March 2011

Something for the weekend ...

A social behaviour pattern experiment, in four segments.
Conclusions, observations and some quite frightening discoveries to follow in due course.
A small sound bite preview ... Did you know there are actually such things as Guinea Pig competitions where prizes are awarded for the prettiest female and fastest lettuce eater ... this is a salad based competition not a lesbian rodent euphemism by the way.
My travel sidekick for the day owns the 'pigger' that won the funkiest hairdo category last week at the prestigious White Post Farm tournament.
You can see now why I turned down the chance to go to the Wales v England game to be here instead now can't you?
CAN'T YOU!!???

All aboard the Sunshine coach

Saturday 26th March 2011
Admission weekend ticket 5 games inc. programmes £15
Kiveton almost broke the deadlock but this one was disallowed
10.15am
At Phoenix Sports & Social Club, Pavilion Lane, Brinsworth
CMFL Black Dragon Premier Division
Phoenix FC (0) 0
Kiveton Park (0) 0
Attendance 227

Hucknall AFC have an inquest regarding "Who was picking him up?"
While Thoresby run away to celebrate in front of the crowd
1.40pm
at Fourth Avenue, Edwinstowe
CMFL Black Dragon Premier Division
Thoresby CW (1) 1 (Gavin King)
AFC Hucknall (0) 1 (Joel Goodacre)
Attendance 189

A bit of a rout at Parkhouse, but it could've been much worse for Sutton if it
hadn't have been for a few first class saves (like this one) from Dan Hatfield
5.00pm
Mill Lane Ground, Clay Cross
CMFL Buckingham Insurance Supreme Division
Parkhouse FC 5 (2) 5
(Scott Butterworth, Dave Chambers, Gary Morton, John Parsons, Matthew Shaw)
Sutton Town AFC (0) 0
Attendance 246 (and a few tight gits watching from the road outside)
FC05 clear their lines, a rare occurrence in the second half

8pm
Exchem Sports Ground, Lees Road, South Normanton
CMFL Black Dragon Premier Division
South Normanton Athletic (1) 6
(Rich Baker-Blakemore, Adam Nicholls 3, Dan Storer, Tom Yates)
FC05 Bilsthorpe (0) 1
(Michael Knight)
Attendance 223

DETAILS AND MORE PICS TO FOLLOW ASAP

Friday 25 March 2011

Kinsley Boys 1 v Harworth Colliery Institute 0 - Central Midlands League Supreme Division

Friday 25th March 2011
Central Midlands League Supreme Division
at Kinsley Playing Fields, Wakefield Road, Kinsley

Kinsley Boys (1) 1 (Mark Lafferty 41 pen)
Harworth Colliery Institute (0) 0

Admission weekend ticket 5 games inc. programmes £15
Attendance 237
Steak pie, peas, mint sauce, 10 out of 10
Diminuitive Harworth keeper Mark Latham tries to make himself
look bigger, but Mark Lafferty still scored from the spot

Harworth's Matty Bradley fires a right wing cross into the mix
Never mind the Lucozade Isotonic drinks.
Grass roots footballers prefer Strongbow

Thursday 24 March 2011

Worksop Town 2 v Northwich Victoria 0 - Evo-Stik Premier Division

Thursday 25th March - Evo-Stik Premier Division
at Cannon Park, Retford

Worksop Town (1) 2
(Martin McIntosh 11, Jamie Jackson 90)
Northwich Victoria (0) 0

Admission season ticket, Programme £2, Attendance 210
It's getting tiring enough watching Worksop Town playing every other day, so lord knows what it must be like for the players. Get an early night on Friday lads, the next game in your fixtures backlog kicks off on Saturday at 3pm v. Colwyn Bay, exactly the same time as the other Anglo-Welsh encounter in Cardiff ... COME ON ENGLAND!!!

"Coffee and Snickers!!!"

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Ossett Town 2 v Worksop Town 3 - Evo-Stik Premier Division

Tuesday 22nd March, at Ingfield
Evo-Stik Premier Division

Ossett Town (0) 2 (Kev Sanasy 65, Dan Sherrife 78)
Worksop Town 3 (Chris Wood 2, Ben Tomlinson 21,75)

Admission £8, Programme £2, Attendance 171

Monday 21 March 2011

Staveley Miners Welfare 0 v Mickleover Sports 1 - North Midlands Under 19 League Division 1

Left click to enlarge

Monday March 21st 2011 - at Inkersall Road
North Midlands U19 League Division 1
Staveley Miners Welfare (0) 0
Mickleover Sports (1) 1 Louis Mundin 41 (pen)
Admission £2, Programme £1
Very impressive, new for 2010-11, clubhouse and bar

New terracing at the Inkersall Road end of the ground.

Strange result ... Staveley completed dominated the game and on another night could have easily have won this pulsating game by a very large margin.
Andrew Topham in the home's side goal only had one thing to do all night, pick the visitors penalty out of the back of his net ... beyond that he was a spectator watching most of the game from the opposite end to where all the action was taking place.

There's a new covered terrace at the end of the ground where the turnstiles are, next to the impressive clubhouse that opened this season.
And at a later date, yet another new stand is going up behind the dug outs opposite the existing seated main stand.
It's boom time in sunny Staveley!

Saturday 19 March 2011

Mickleover Sports 0 v. Worksop Town 1 - Evo-Stik Premier

WTFC - Sandy Lane
(re) open for business 2011-12

Saturday 19th March - Evo-Stik Premier Division
at Station Road, Mickleover
Mickleover Sports (0) 0
Worksop Town (1) 1 (Luke Beckett 15)
Admission £7, Programme £1.50, Attendance 247
This afternoon, the action was peripheral to the main event.
In so much as, some fantastic news was confirmed.
After three desperately thin years in exile, at Hucknall, Ilkeston and Retford, Worksop Town were going home and playing back at their old ground.
OK, it's as tenants to Sheffield Parramore FC, who will become Worksop Parramore FC, now their owner Pete Whitehead (a man with the greater good of football at his heart if ever there was one) has purchased the lease to the Sandy Lane ground, but the two most important boxes that matter to the Tigers fans have been ticked.
Namely:
1) Worksop Town are going to be playing in the town of Worksop again.
2) Howard Raymond, one of the villains in the whole piece (the others will be outed in due course), is no longer connected to the ground in any way.
Ding dong the wicked witch is dead and all that.
There was a spontaneous and heartfelt round of applause in the Mickleover Sports club house when the Tigers chairman Jason Clark walked in before the game ... and rightly so.
Elsewhere, Mansfield Town held Luton to a draw at Kenilworth Road, in the second leg of the FA Trophy semi final, winning 2-1 on aggregate to book their place at Wembley.
For sure, the result is merely papering over a lot of cracks that need some serious attention over the summer, but ...
WEM-BER-LEE!
WEM-BER-LEE!
Of course it now remains to be seen if other people, besides Raymond, who must shoulder a chunk of the blame regarding how Worksop Town ended up going into exile in the first place, will now 'fess up and do the honourable thing, or if they'll just try covering their tracks while attempting to draw a veil over certain things that have happened.
Sadly, I suspect an unhealthy dose of self preserving historical revision is on the horizon, but fingers crossed that the truth will out, eh!?However, today isn't the right time for public outings, or finger pointing.
It's a great day for Nottinghamshire football; Mansfield Town at Wembley and Worksop Town going home.
Let the celebrations commence, in an unrestrained and monumental way (with the emphasis on mental) now!

Friday 18 March 2011

Chesterfield 5 v Rotherham United 0 - nPower League 2

A foray behind enemy lines
Friday 18th March 2011 - nPower League 2
at the b2net Stadium, Chesterfield
Chesterfield (3) 5
(Dean Holden 25, Craig Davies 30, Jack Lester 44, 80, 82)
Rotherham United (0) 0
Admission FREE, Programme £3 (purchased by my sidekick)
Attendance 10,089 (sold out - capacity crowd) 2072 away fans
Bad moon rising - for the Millers

I wouldn't have been able to visit all 92 league grounds in England for some time to come, because of my stubborn refusal to ever give Chesterfield FC a penny of my money, unless Mansfield Town, Heart of Midlothian or Worksop Town were actually playing there.
However, a compromise presented itself.
And due to the generosity of one of the b2net Stadium's sponsors (and his boss Lisa), who provided a pair of ex gratis tickets for myself and my good lady, I could leave all my moral baggage in the Rose & Crown pub across the road from the ground and make my first ever visit to the Spireites swanky new pad, with a completely clear conscience.
However it's still frequented by people from Chesterfield (I had a bath in Dettol when I got home), but the stadium itself is very impressive and there is room for further expansion too, if the home side progress higher up the Football League pyramid.
Against Rotherham, they took a massive step up in the right direction, towards the next level :-(
Their promotion is both inevitable and imminent.
Ouch!!!Tonight, in essence, was the Jack Lester show.
The Spireites striker is far too good to be plying his trade in the basement division. "He'll play you all night and make you look shite" sang the home fans around us.
Truth is, Andy Warrington in the Millers goal didn't play that badly, the scoreline reflects the home sides dominance rather than any flaws in his performance.
This thrashing marked the end of the line for Rotherham's manager Ronnie Moore, who relinquished his job in the aftermath of the game.
Moore has been a Rotherham United legend on so many levels over the years, this one sided humiliation was a real kick in the teeth for him as goodbyes go.
Away fans

After the game, as we walked backed to the little side street where I'd parked the car, we realised a largish group of fed up looking Rotherham fans were following us.
A taxi slowed down alongside us, the driver lowered his window and assuming we were at the front of the grim procession shouted "F*ck off back to Yorkshire you losers!"
The pedestrian crossing light ahead turned to red, the car in front of the taxi screeched to an abrupt halt, there was a near collision with the taxi and as we used the stoppage as an excuse to nip over the road, the taxi was surrounded by irate Yorkshire-men wanting to prolong their dialogue with the driver.
Ha ha, you reap what you sow!