Westella & Willerby 4 v Glapwell 1 - CMFL North

Saturday 26th May 2012,
at Dene Park, home of Hall Road Rangers
Central Midlands League North
Westella & Willerby (2) 4
Mike Thompson 3,
Johnathan Slater 25, 84
Dave Clement 85
Glapwell (0) 1
Josh Goodhand 57
Admission £3
Programme £1 (mine was nicked while I went for a slash)
Attendance: 117
Westella & Willerby:
Rick Watson, Alex Knaggs, Andy Coverdale, Bobby Stevenson, Phil Winn, Tom Andrews, Tom Dent, Jonathan Slater, Matt Fyvie, Owen Mountain, Mike Thompson
Subs - Rob Petch, Mike Pecora, Dave Clement, Max Brentano, Brad Allcock (GK)
Glapwell:
Alex Watson, Matt Hirst, Rob Holland, Jamie Davies, Jason Truscott, Mark Robinson, Ben Carless, Ross Murcott, Josh Goodhand, Kye Martey
(Glapwell had 10 players, no substitutes)
This was going to be my second game of the day.
But, when I made the short journey to Edwinstowe, for the Thoresby Colliery v Newark Town reserves match this morning, I found, upon arriving 10 minutes before the scheduled kick off time, that the goals weren't even up and apart from yours truly and the cricket pitch groundsman, merrily trundling his roller up and down the wicket, the place was deserted.
Hmm, according to the Central Midlands Mitoo site, the game was scheduled as a 10.45pm kick off, at Thoresby's Fourth Avenue Sports Ground, in fact it still says that on there now.
However, it transpires that the two teams played out a 5-5 draw 'somewhere in Newark' (but not at Newark Town's ground in Collingham).
Thankfully, I hadn't travelled very far, so no harm done, eh!? Despite having missed ten goals.
Todays main event, the CMFL North 'Title Decider Part 2', had been switched from 'Ella's usual ground at Bishop Burton College to Hall Road Rangers' Dene Park, because the pitches at the college had already been reseeded, given that the 2011-12 football season was supposed to have finished several weeks ago.
There is a 4G pitch at Bishop Burton, that they could've used, but the 'home' side wanted to play on grass.
And why not?
A caged 'artificial' pitch with bugger all facilities, or Dene Park, a proper ground?
It's a no-brainer really.
A win for Westella this afternoon would see them crowned as champions, any other outcome and Thoresby Colliery Welfare would win the title instead.
Inside the opening three minutes, the 'home side' were already in front, when Mike Thompson scored from close range, via the underside of the crossbar.
It looked as though it was going to be a long, shadow chasing afternoon, in the strength sapping heat, for ten man Glapwell.
But, nobody had given the visitors that version of the script, had they!?
On 25 minutes, Tom Dent played the ball across the penalty area from out on the right wing, Andy Coverdale flicked the ball on and Jon Slater made it 2-0 from 15 yards out.
Glapwell, were putting up a dogged resistance against the champions elect and to their immense credit, had obviously travelled to Dunswell to make a game of it, in spite of their numerical disadvantage.
The score remained at 2-0 going in to the half time break.
Advantage Westella &; Willerby, who now had one hand on the CMFL North trophy.
Which, in essence, is a vindication for the clubs that operate out on a geographical limb in this division to persevere with their quest.
Although the ball spent a lot of time in and around the visitors goalmouth at the start of the second half, Glapwell were now combining some resolute defending, with a few dangerous looking forays up into the Westella half themselves.
Josh Goodhand thumped the ball home from 15 yards on 57 minutes, to half the deficit and it was game on.
The home side were still getting the ball forward plenty, but Glapwell defended in numbers, almost giving the impression at times, that this was an even numbers affair and not ten versus eleven at all.

Glapwell came close to equalising a couple of times, especially when Josh Goodhand broke into the area from the left and played a low cross across the six yard box, that Ben Carless couldn't quite get the final touch on, with the goal at his mercy, from just three yards out.
"Come on Glapwell, we've got these f***ers rattled now!" shouted out one of their fired up, lively, younger and more vocal players ... who I won't name here, because I know that his mother will be reading this.
With just six minutes remaining, Mike Pecora, one of the 'hosts' substitutes, fired the ball across the face of Glapwell's goal and Jon Slater was on hand to tap the ball home from close range. Within 40 seconds, another sub, Dave Clement rattled a header off the underside of the crossbar to add a fourth goal, for the (by now) newly crowned champions of the CMFL North.
On the balance of play, Westella & Willerby deserved the win, but the 4-1 margin was probably a bit flattering on the balance of play.
They had a full eleven out today and the luxury of substitutes to replace tired legs when in mattered.
Jason Truscott's Glapwell side, had to make do, mend and carry on in 'scorchio' conditions and couldn't quite push their momentum right up until the end, in spite of giving it one hell of a go... and they deserved the generous applause they got at the end from everyone present, including the opposition players.
All in all, a great advert for CMFL North.

Congratulations and well done to Westella & Willerby FC

CMFL North Champions 2011-12

AFC Bridgford Reserves 1 v Netherfield Town Colts 3 - Notts Saturday Minor Cup Final

The Notts Saturday Minor Cup

Wednesday 23rd May 2012, at Arnold Town FC
Nottinghamshire FA Saturday Minor Cup Final
AFC Bridgford Reserves (0) 1
Luke King 60
Netherfield Town Colts (2) 3
Felix Hogg 27, Leigh Helsdon 40, Nathan Ions 82
Admission £3 inc. Programme, Attendance 120 (ish)

AFC Bridgford
Eddie Dunn, Simon Cooper, Sean Burton, Phil Simpson, John Shaw, James Hart, Tom Edwards, Adam Blake, Luke Billson, Barry Matthews, Luke King
Subs - Tom WAkeham, Jon Smith, Glen Alexander, Michael Rainbow, Ashley Grove
Netherfield Town Colts
Chris Higton, Paul Handbury, Simon Helsdon, Eddie Draper, Adi Spires, Felix Hogg, Marc Green, Nicky Marshall, Jamie Bircumshaw, Leigh Helsdon, Nathan Kenny
Subs - Ryan Eaton, Jake Bircumshaw, Brett Hartshorn, Nathan Ions

Upon arrival, I noticed that the door to Arnold Town's larder

cum trophy room was ajar, so I had a sneaky look inside.

Does anybody know what they won the tub of Vaseline for?

AFC Bridgford have already won the Notts Amateur Alliance 1st Division title this season. Tonight, their reserve side, who play in the NAA 2nd Division were looking to bag themselves some silverware too, but they were thwarted by a very lively Netherfields Town Colts side, of the NAA 3rd Division, who thoroughly deserved their win over Jon Smith's side, despite AFC Bridgford's valiant second half fight back.
The Colts side are one of three sides from Netherfield who feature in the NAA.
The Others being Netherfield FC (AKA Seniors) and Neterfield Albion (reserves). Albion's first team compete in the Notts Senior League Division 1.
There is evidently a disproportionate amount of minor league footballers residing in this small town, that stands on the eastern border of Nottingham, not far from the River Trent.
I wasn't even going to a game tonight, because I had already made plans with my partner (who, for the record, is a former actress ... and a very famous one at that).
So, when the keeper of the keys to the On the Road 2011-12 blog, Malc Storer OBE (Order of the Bearded Empire), texted me to say he was heading to Arnold tonight for a Notts Minor Cup Final, I just thought 'Bugger, I'd forgotten all about that' and figured that my previous arrangement with Ursula (she played a very convincing sea witch in the Little Mermaid movie) was an unbreakable commitment, that I wouldn't be able to swerve.
However, she dropped it on me at the last minute, that something had cropped up and she'd been roped into babysitting a very cute, but extremely lively, 8 year old chatterbox, tonight.
Oh well, never mind, I'm sure I'll find something else to do instead ... and there's always tomorrow night.
I let them off for the 'inconvenience' they had caused me, left them to their 'girls night in' and was off down the A614 towards south Notts as quick as the 50mph average speed cameras would allow.
Some people seemed to be unaware about how this particular form of speed deterrent works, but I'm sure they'll all be getting an expensive, full explanation, in the post from the DVLA any day now.
Especially the imbecile in the black Shogun, if you're reading this, I hope you get a lengthy ban, dickhead!
Inside the first couple of minutes, AFC Bridgford had already rattled the Colts upright, but the Netherfield side then started to gain the initiative and had a couple of spells, where they enjoyed a bulk of the possession, in the final third of the field.
Having gone close twice, they took the lead on 27 minutes, when Felix Hogg chipped Eddie Dunn from 15 yards out as the Bridgford keeper came off his line.
The length of the grass seemed to be a stumbling block as Netherfield nearly grabbed a second goal just before the half hour mark (Yes! Grass on Arnold's pitch at this time of year), but before half time, Leigh Helsdon avoided any greenery interference, by keeping the ball off the ground, when he fired his side two goals in front, from roughly the same place that Hogg had opened the scoring from.
Half time - AFC Bridgford 0 v Netherfield Town Colts 2
AFC Bridgford were much improved in the second half and it was game on, when Luke King powered a looping header over Chris Higton to pull the score back to 2-1.
The Colts now had to absorb a lot of pressure, as AFC Bridgford pushed forward looking for the equaliser, that would force the tie into extra time.
But a combination of backs to the wall defending and minor football level finishing, meant that a second goal just wouldn't come for them.
On 82 minutes, the Colts countered attacked, when substitute Nathan Ions (incorrectly spelt as Irons on the team sheet), took the ball down on his chest, just inside the Bridgford half, used his muscular build to fend off the two defenders in his wake and then set off on a 40 yard run, that culminated in him burying the ball into the back of the net, to restore his sides two goal advantage.
In the very last minute of the game, with AFC Bridgford's keeper stranded up the field as his side put everything into fighting their way back into the game, Adi Spires got the ball just inside his own half and charged towards the now unguarded net.
As Chris Dunn sprinted back towards his goal, Spires had all the time and space in the world, to run on and pick his spot from 30 yards out or so, but he opted for a punt from long distance instead and hit the post ... the corner flag post!
Although his side were by now home and dry and the referee's final whistle was only moments away, I suspect that Adi won't be hearing the last of that one for a while.
Final score - AFC Bridgford 1 v Netherfield Town Colts 3
An enjoyable night out, in good company.
And Ursula had got her cauldron out and cooked me some supper, for when I got home, in lieu of ruining my plans for the night :-O All's well that ends well!
Congratulations to Netherfield Town Colts and hard luck to AFC Bridgford, who made a real go of it in the second half. But from a completely selfish point of view, I'm glad the final was decided inside 90 minutes. I'm up early in the morning.

Dronfield Town 0 v Westella & Willerby 1 - CMFL North

Saturday 19th May 2012, at Stonelow Road
Central Midlands League North
Dronfield Town (0) 0
Westella & Willerby (1) 1
Gareth Slater 26
Admission £3, Programme £1, Attendance 269
Dronfield Town:
Nick Siddons, Trev Roberts, Aidan Ashton, Stu Hill, Richard Mintoft, Mark Hemsley, Nick Tilly, Brett Gibbons, Nick Horsfield, John Doran, Kieran Gallagher.
Subs - Andy Gange, John Perkins, Steve Whitehead, Cal Mawby, Jonny Pugh
Westella & Willerby:
Rick Watson, Tom Dent, Alex Knaggs, Gareth Slater, Phil Winn, Tom Andrews, Jonny Slater, Bobby Stevenson, Matt Fyvie, Owen Mountain, Mike Thompson
Subs - Callum Stone, Dean Larvin
A 26th minute, deflected, goal bound (just about) strike by Gareth Slater, was all that separated the two sides today in this 'Championship Decider part 1'.
Though the visitors did have more of the play than their Derbyshire hosts, it was a fairly low key and lacklustre game, which was a surprise given how much was at stake.
Dronfield Town needed to win to clinch the CMFL North championship, but by virtue of losing today they will now finish either second or third in the table.
If Westella & Willerby win their last game next Saturday (v. Glapwell, who are second bottom) then they will be champions, but if they draw or lose, Thoresby Colliery Welfare will win the CMFL North league title instead.

The Central Midlands League ... sometimes it defies gravity

The Westella & Willerby v Glapwell game, was rescheduled for next Saturday, because Glapwell could only raise 5 players when the game was originally supposed to be played.
Hopefully the visitors can get a side together for next week, to prevent the CMFL season ending with Westella & Willerby being awarded the game and three points, because the opposition defaulted.
However, the word on the street today, is that Glapwell intend to send a full strength team to face Westella & Willerby next week. Which bodes well for the integrity of those involved and the reputation of the CMFL itself.
The game at Bishop Burton College, is probably a home banker, but football isn't always predictable ... and quite often, the end of season fixtures throw up a few curious results.
For the record, today's other CMFL North fixture, was called off, late in the day by all accounts, when FC05 Bilsthorpe couldn't raise a team to travel up to Yorkshire Main.
The home side were awarded 3 points as a consequence.
Hmm, the season's been extended until 26th May, yet still the powers that be, expected FC05 Bilsthorpe to raise a team on a Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. To my way of thinking, given that this is a step 7, grass roots and part time league, I feel the demands that put on FC05 are unreasonable.
Champions elect, Dronfield Town, never really got going today.
At times, there was almost a lethargic gait to their play and no sense of urgency about them at all.
Manager Craig Butler and his assistant Chris Millington, shouted themselves hoarse trying to put a rocket up their team.
But, for whatever reason, they never really got out of the blocks today.
Maybe they got stage fright in front of a decent sized crowd, which totalled only 7 less than the one that attended the 'CMFL Groundhop Bonanza Day' back in March, possibly they were affected by nervousness given the importance of getting a result today.

Dronfield Town FC, as viewed from the boundary of the Coal Aston v Barnsley

game, one of two cricket matches taking place at the Stonelow Road grounds

But the home side didn't play like a team, who knew the league title was within their grasp and just one more victory away.
Time wasting, messing about and delaying a corner you are taking, while your team needs to win and you're a goal down with just ten minutes to go, is quite frankly, crass and unfathomable ... and it totally warranted the string of verbal abuse that was forthcoming from the Dronfield bench.

The Dronfield keeper falls off a step ladder and gets his head stuck in a divot

The visitors opening strike after 26th minutes, was the first effort of note on goal by either side, on a grim, damp and cold afternoon weather-wise.
Bobby Stevenson almost doubled his sides lead on 32 minutes, but his dipping shot from outside the box, was thwarted by a fine one handed save from Nick Siddons in the Dronfield goal, who tipped the ball over the crossbar.
Nick Horsfield had a chance to make the score 1-1 on 37 minutes, but he headed across the face of goal and narrowly wide of the post.
Half time - Dronfield Town 0 v Westella & Willerby 1

With an hour gone, Dronfield were struggling to make any head way, with the visitors looking more likely to score again, through one of their sporadic bursts forward.
Though the home defence was more or less dealing with that threat, it was at times only a lightweight, token threat.
The game was becoming increasingly more scrappy and the referee never seemed to have his whistle away from his lips for very long.
On 69 minutes, Jonny Slater hit a speculative effort over the Dronfield bar, from out on the right, just outside the penalty box.
On 70 minutes, Mike Thompson hit a speculative effort over the bar, from out the left, just outside the penalty box.
Though this game may hae been lacking in several departments, it now had an element of symmetry about it to marvel at.
Yep! It was getting a tad difficult to find anything positive or remotely interesting to comment on by now.
On 72 minutes, Dronfield looked as if they might be waking up to the reality of the situation they were in, when Nick Horsfield, charged up the left wing and delivered a loe cross into the six yard box. But Rick Watson smothered the ball and cut out the danger.
Jonny Slater, with time and space to cue up a shot, fired the ball wide from twenty yards out as the visitors looked to make the game safe.
Owen Mountain, Gareth Slater and Jonny Slater, combined in a slick passing move as they raided the Dronfield box, Nick Siddons did well to block Jonny Slater's close range shot and Owen Mountain couldn't get a good contact on the rebound and the attack came to nothing.
The segment of action framed in the previous sentence, encapsulates the highlight of the game.
With five minutes remaining, Brett Gibbons, Dronfield's number 8, tried his luck, with a pop at goal from twenty yards out, but he was well off the mark.
Which kind of sums up the whole afternoon for Dronfield, who in the end, got what they deserved from the game.
This was only the home side's 3rd defeat, in their last 31 games - they also lost to Phoenix Sports & Social and next seasons champions in waiting, Harworth Colliery Institute (remember where you saw it first).
Although they've had a great season, that exceeded all expectations and the set up at Stonelow Road is coming along in leaps and bounds, Dronfield Town must be thoroughly disappointed with how it all ended this afternoon, where Westella & Willerby, didn't exactly bust a gut, but deserved the points more on the day.
Full time - Dronfield Town 0 v Westella & Willerby 1
Elsewhere:

Hibernian still haven't won the Scottish Cup since 1902, an absolutely shocking record given their apparent standing in Scottish football, because they were thrashed at Hampden Park this afternoon, by an embarrassing margin of 5 goals to 1, against the mighty Heart of Midlothian.
A brilliant result and I'm made up for the deserving couple of people I gave my ticket allocation for the game to ... you both deserved it, thanks for all that you've done :-)Footnote:
Added Sunday 20th May 2012.
Westella & Willerby v Glapwell, will go ahead at 3pm next Saturday, as scheduled, but the venue's been switched from Bishop Burton College, to Dene Park, the home of Hall Road Rangers FC

FC05 Bilsthorpe 0 v Thoresby CW 9 - CMFL North

Thursday 17th May 2012, at Eakring Road
Central Midlands League North
FC 05 Bilsthorpe (0) 0
Thoresby Colliery Welfare (5) 9
Gavin King 13, 18, 24, 49, Adam Scott 28, 44,
Jimmy Adcock 67, Ollie Chappell 83, 86
(All goal times are approximate)
Admission £3, Attendance 49 (Approx. headcount)
FC 05 Bilsthorpe:
Tom Smith, Michael Klimek, Matthew Bonsall, Tom Bryan, Steven Gill, Keiron Leeds, Tom Bray, Robbie Bowler, Tom Blanche, Aaron Wallis, Kenny Corbett
No substitutes available.
Thoresby Colliery Welfare:
Simon Smith, Ricky Shortt, Brandon Shaw, Ricky Chambers, Liam Mason, Gary Panting, Jimmy Adcock, Ollie Chappell, Gavin King, Adam Scott Chris Dyson
Subs - Rob Austin, James Scothern
Thanks to Wayne Savage of FC05 Bilsthorpre FC for the team line up details.
Tonight was Thoresby CW's final game of the season and they needed to win by a margin of 6 goals, to go to the top of the table.
The last time these two sides met, earlier this month, at Fourth Avenue in Edwinstowe, Thoresby recorded a 10-1 win.
The last time FC05 Bilsthorpe played, was just 24 hours ago, when they thrashed DFS Welbeck Welfare 9-0.
If 'goal whoring' is your thing, it would seem that Eakring Road, Bilsthorpe is just the place for you.
For the record, Tom Smith, in the FC05 Bilsthorpe goal, didn't actually have a bad game tonight. In actual fact, he made a string of great saves over the course of the evening, to keep the score down to single figures.
But, for much of the game, his defence were missing in action, though I would imagine you've already worked that one out, without me having to mention it.
By contrast, Simon Smith in the Thoresby goal, had just two saves to make.
The first one hit him straight in the midriff and can hardly be classed as an actual save, but on 75 minutes he was required to twist backwards and tip an effort over the bar from Kenny Corbett, so well done for not allowing your concentration to wander, when the ball spent so long at the far end of the pitch from you Simon.

Make do and mend time for Mick Klimek, as FCo5 had no substitutes

Ok, hold onto your seats folks:
Straight from the outset, Adam Scott danced through FC05's gossamer like defence and with a feather light touch, penetrated their rearguard with a teasing cross to Jimmy Adcock, who's shot was turned away by Tom Smith.
From the resultant corner Liam Mason crashed an header against the crossbar.

Minutes later, Steve Owens sent Gavin King clear in the box, but Tom Smith was alert again and tipped King's shot over.
0-1 - But finally on 13 minutes, Thoresby scored and the floodgates opened.
Tom Smith, who must by now have been wondering if his team mates were ever going to join in with him, got down to block Gavin King's initial effort, after Ollie Chappell had set up the Thoresby number 9, but King knocked the rebound home and the visitors were in front.
0-2 - 5 minutes later, King ghosted through the non existent home defence and lobbed the ball over Smith as he charged off his line to narrow the angle.
0-3 - On 24 minutes, Steve Owens whipped over a cross from the wing, it glanced off the top of Ollie Chappell's head as he narrowly failed to make a proper contact, but the ball carried through to Gavin King who was on hand to complete his hat trick inside just 11 minutes.

Adam Scott makes it 0-4. From this point onwards a comeback

for the home side, is starting to look highly unlikely

0-4 - 28 minutes gone and Tom Smith was blasting his outfield players "They're queueing up, this is too easy!" as Adam Scott got the ball 10 yards out and had all the time in the world, to pick his spot unchallenged.

0-5 - A minute before the break, Ollie Chappell cued the ball up for Adam Scott who scored again from close range.

Half time, FC05 Bilsthorpe 0 v Thoresby Colliery Welfare 5

0-6 - The second half was just 4 minutes old, when Bilsthorpe's defence mistimed moving out to spring an offside trap and Adam Scott's timely pass sent Gavin King away completely free, for an easy finish.
Thoresby now had the six goal lead they needed, but decided to push on anyway.
0-7 - Gavin King drilled the ball across the face of FC05's goal, to provide Jimmy Adcock, with the simplest of tap ins.
Then Simon Smith made a save from Kenny Corbett at the other end, woo hoo!
0-8 - Ollie Cappell, got the ball on the edge of the box, with his back to goal, feigned as if he was running away from the area, but turned and chipped the ball over a FC05 defender and their keeper instead. A quality strike.

0-9 - With the game almost over, Adam Scott advanced on goal, but instead of shooting, unselfishly pulled the ball back to Ollie Chappell, who scored a simple tap in this time instead.
Apologies for not mentioning all the near misses and other chances that Thoresby created, but I already had writers cramp from keeping up with the goals.

Keiron Leeds blocks Adam Scott's shot

FC05 Bilsthorpe, have conceded 113 league goals in 31 games this season and they still have an away game against Yorkshire Main to play on Saturday.
However, unless something quite remarkable happens in Edlington, they won't have the worse goals against total in the CMFL North this season, because that particular honour goes to DFS Welbeck Welfare, who have leaked a quite staggering 170 goals in 32 games, an average of over 5 goals per game.

CMFL North, Current table, top 4
Thoresby CW - Played 32, Points 73, Goal diff +66
Dronfield Town - Played 31, Points 72, Goal diff +62
Clipstone W - Played 32, Points 70, Goal diff +66
Westella & Willerby - Played 30, Points 69, Goal diff +55
Remaining fixtures -
Saturday 19th May
Dronfield Town v Westella & Willerby
Yorkshire Main v FC05 Bilsthorpe
Saturday 26th May
Westella & Willerby v Glapwell
Don't talk to me about Man City and Man Utd's Pr£mier League, last day drama.
The CMFL North is where it's at this weekend.
If Dronfield Town win on Saturday, they will be crowned CMFL North champions.
If Westella and Willerby win at Dronfield, it will all depend on the result in the last game of the season at home against Glapwell on 26th May, where a Westella & Willerby win, any win, by any result, would mean they would be champions.
If Saturday's game at Dronfield is drawn, then Thoresby will be champions, unless Westella & Willerby beat Glapwell by 11 goals in their last game, because then, they would be level on points and goal difference with Thoresby, but will win the title by virtue of having scored more goals over the course of the season.
An 11 goal victory v Glapwell may well sound unlikely, but last week, Easington United thrashed Glapwell 9-1, when the Derbyshire arrived on the Humberside Riviera with only 8 players.
Hmm, the mind boggles.

Newark Town 0 v Clifton FC 2 - CMFL South

Wednesday 16th May 2012,

at Station Road, Collingham
Central Midlands League, Southern Division
Newark Town (0) 0
Clifton FC (0) 2
Chris Atkins 55, Rob Gill 66
Admission £3, Programme £1
Tonight's programme was 28 pages, full colour, plenty to read and packed with CMFL and Newark Town information. Respect due to programme editor Richard Lane.
Cheers for the acknowledgement in the programme Richard, you made me blush.Newark Town:
Craig Rhodes, James Elwood, Mark Ellison, Martin Wilson, Ryan Stafford, Jamie Brooks, Ian Hillier, Sam Wilford, Ben Ginnelly, Chris Self, Dom Swingler
Subs - Ben Barnard, Daz Baldwin, Craig Roche, Daz Townsley
Clifton FC:
John Marriott, Will Heath, Michael Holtham, Stuart Robinson, Lee Torr, Jake Richardson, Chris Atkins, Craig Anderson, Rob Gill, Michael Evans, Andy Davies
Subs - Dorian Miller, Matt Turner
Thanks very much to David Hurstfield at NTFC for the team sheet details.The winner of tonight's CMFL South, was guaranteed to finish fourth in the table, behind the league champions Basford United and the other big hitters in the division this season, Pinxton and South Normanton.
Clifton 'All Whites', started life as Thistledown Rovers, and they've been well established, at the forefront of developing football talent in Nottingham and the surrounding since the 1960's.
A glance at the 'Former PLayers' section on their Wikipedia confirms what a phenomenal amount of talent has used the club as a springboard, to go on to bigger things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_F.C.
Previously this season, Clifton have already beaten Newark 2-1 in the league on the opening day of the season and knocked them out of the Notts Senior Cup in a pulsating 4-3 win, that can be found lurking somewhere in the archives of this very blog.

Mark Ellison ... camera shy?

Tonight Newark started promisingly and had the visitors on the back foot for long spells in the first half.
But 'the Blues' were having no luck at all with the final touch in front of goal and in spite of their best efforts, were making hard work of turning the screw on Clifton and getting any kind of tangiable reward for their effort and endeavour.
Towards the end of the first half, Clifton appealed for a penalty when Jake Richardson went over in the box, but the referee waved play on, ruling that the visitors number 6 had merely fallen over Craig Rhodes in the Newark goal, after the home defence had already cleared the danger Clifton posed from an attack.
Though Newark had definitely had the better of the first half, without having anything to show for it, after the break the All Whites came out pumped up and raring to go and had the lions share of the ball, especially going forward, for the remainder of the game.

Michael Evans, unlocked the Newark defence and went 1 on 1 with Craig Rhodes, but the Blues keeper saved well.
Shortly afterwards, Craig Anderson shot narrowly wide of the Newark goal.
On 55 minutes, Jake Richardson sent Chris Atkins clear with a great pass and he shot Clifton in front from 15 yards out.

Clifton really had the scent of victory in their nostrils now and seemed to be oozing with confience. Chris Atkins dribbled into the Newark box, beating a couple of challenges on his way. But Ryan Stafford blocked his run with a saving tackle at the expense of a corner.
Unfortunately Atkins took a knock and he was unable to carry on.
In fact, he needed to leave the pitch on a stretcher. There was no malice in Stafford's tackle and Atkins was just unlucky to have taken a knock, as the Clifton player himself acknowledged when he emerged limping from the dressing room later on.
Atkins injury, put a bit of a dampener on things, but Clifton found their rhythm again and on 66 minutes, Craig Anderson provided a slide rule pass from midfield, out to Will Heath on the right, who chipped the ball into the box for Rob Gill to double the visitors lead.
Despite all of their earlier possession and attempts on goal, Newark Town would be finishing their season, exactly how they had started it, with a defeat against Clifton FC.
Tonight, on the balance of play, much as I would've liked to have seen Newark finish on a high, I don't think anybody could dispute the fact, that in light of their second half performance, Clifton FC deserved all three points and fourth place in the table.
The injured Chris Atkins, of Clifton, smiling through the pain barrier.
Get well soon Chris.