Retford United U19 2 v Staveley MW U19 2 - NMU19L Div 1

Thursday 31st January 2013,
at the Jones & Co. Solicitors Stadium (Cannon Park)
North Midland U19 League Division 1
Retford United U19 (0) 2
Sam Hutchinson 55, Brett Lucas 86
Staveley Miners Welfare U19 (1) 2
Steve Mansell 3, Sam Finlaw 57
Admission £2, Programme £1, Attendance 87

RETFORD UNITED:
R McCracken, S Nesbitt, J Swannack, S Downey, B Lucas,
B Capsticks, A Colton, B Johnson, D Bacon, R Thompson,
S Hutchinson
Subs - M Mitchell, K Dennett, A Ellis, K Blow, K Patel, A Tittcomb
STAVELEY MINERS WELFARE:
D Whetton, D Plant, B Meadley, B Jones, L Hayward, S Finlaw,
K Morley, J Fields, J Smith, S Mansell, R Walters
Subs - O Byne, R Bates, L Walker, C Lambert

The referee man marking Sam Finlaw

It's difficult to say anything about Staveley Miners Welfare FC at the moment, without alluding to the difficulties that the club currently find themselves in.
However, certain things I was told in confidence, at the beginning of the week, when I was at Inkersall Road, will remain in confidence and anybody else who is privy to the facts about the situation the club (and well respect individuals connected to SMWFC) are facing, should keep counsel too; until at least after Staveley have had the opportunity to try dealing with the immediate fall out themselves and have made some kind of official statement ... which I'm sure they will in the near future.
Good luck to all concerned, see you soon.

87 people braved an awful chill wind to watch tonight's game.
Obviously, word is spreading about the ever improving quality and standard of games in the North Midland Under 19 League.
Staveley weren't at full strength for this championship chasing head to head, but they still sent a very useful looking side to the Jones & Co. Solicitors Stadium tonight, including several players who will doubtless be thrust into first team action any time soon.
Retford, on the other hand, had a full hand to choose from, including Bobby Johnson, who's injury lay off was, thankfully, not as long as people originally feared it might be.
These sides recently contested a well fought draw at Staveley, where the Blues snatched a point deep into injury time, with a (very) late equaliser from Sam Finlaw.
The Badgers had just about done enough to warrant a victory that night, but Carl Vickers team showed a lot of resilience in chasing the game right until the final whistle.

Tonight, it was Retford's turn to snatch a point with a late equaliser, but the script was completely different from when these two sides drew 3-3 back in December.
Danny Whetton, the Staveley keeper pulled off a string of great saves and the visitors defence hardly had any respite from a lively and attacking home side all night, as United plugged away, but couldn't quite find that last killer blow in front of goal, to break Staveley's stubborn and often last ditch resistance.
Sam Downey, Retford's new midfield signing, combined well with Bobby Johnson to tie the midfield up, releasing their attackers, for a relentless assault on Staveley's rearguard, which United sustained for long periods of the game.
The visitors stand out players were, in the main, all defenders, with their keeper Danny Whetton deserving special praise.
If the young Badgers could've put this much application and desire into their recent cup defeat against Matlock Town, then they would still be in the hunt for more silverware.
That particular defeat saw their entire team, with the exception of Brett Lucas, collectively misfiring (and I'm sure they don't need me to tell them that). Tonight, they had regained their togetherness and cohesion, but just weren't getting the rub of the green.

The stiff wind was a big factor in Staveley's opening goal, blowing Alex Colton's back pass off course, which gave Steve Mansell the opportunity to pounce and roll the ball into the net, while the home side's keeper, Rory McCracken was stranded in no man's land, after just three minutes.
Jake Smith nearly increased Staveley's lead, from inside United's crowded penalty area, but McCracken saved well to keep the score down to 0-1.
Retford, then came to life and took the game to Staveley, pretty much for the remainder of the first half.
Goal line clearances, numerous close calls and quality saves from an overworked keeper, were order of the day up until the interval ... and mostly at one end of the pitch too.
But somehow as the half time whistle went, Staveley were still hanging on to their single goal advantage.
One moment in particular, that typified the first half, was when Sam Hutchinson, possibly having the best game I've ever seen him play for the Badgers U19s, found Reece Thompson with a defence splitting cross, only for his usually prolific strike partner to head the ball agonisingly wide of the post.
HT - Retford 0 v Staveley 1 ... *slightly* against the run of play.

It was ten minutes into the second half, before the home side finally got the goal that had been on the cards for quite a while, when Sam Hutchinson knocked the ball home after Danny Whetton had parried a shot away from Dec Bacon ... it was the very least that Hutchinson deserved tonight.
But just as everybody present seemed to be thinking that Retford would now build on their equaliser, Staveley went straight up the other end and Sam Finlaw, who makes a habit of scoring against Rich William's side, carved out a route to goal through the Badgers defence and put the visitors ahead again.
Unsurprisingly, Finlaw is in the first team squad for Staveley's trip to Pickering Town in the NCEL Premier Division.

As per the first half, United rolled up their sleeves and went back on the offensive ... but with the wind behind them now. Time after time, chances either went begging, or the Staveley back line fought tooth and nail to get the ball away to safety.
One effort from another Retford débutant Keiran Patel, reminded me why I always put my motor conveyance to one side of the RUFC car park since the Evo-Stik League made them take the safety net behind the Leverton Road End goal down.
But lets give Keiran the benefit of the doubt and call the distance he achieved 'wind assisted' ;-)
Former Retford striker Luke Walker, came on for Staveley, as they looked to alter things round and push for a two goal cushion, but his ex team mates seemed to be relishing the prospect of keeping Luke shackled and Brett Lucas and Shaun Nesbitt were enjoying that particular reunion.
Walker is already proven at this level and will do a good job at Staveley, just like he did at Retford.
Having been hit by the sucker punch second goal, Retford now shut up shop at the back, while the Johnson/Downey combination in the middle of the park, grew in stature as the game went on.
However, despite United having had the lions share of the attacking play, it looked as though the visitors were about to hold on and take all three points.

There is no doubting that the Blues (resplendent tonight, in yellow with blue trim) rode their luck a few times and had taken two (rare) chances well when it mattered. But I don't think anybody would've begrudged Staveley a bit of good fortune given the kind of week the club's been having.
However, the facts of the matter are, Retford United, who were now chasing the game, should have been home and dry, long before they embarked on a late salvage mission.
With four minutes left on the clock, Shaun Nesbitt was fouled, out on the right, 25 yards away from the Staveley goal.
Brett Lucas stepped forward and scored with sublime free kick to make the score 2-2.
Deep into stoppage time, Staveley denied Retford in 'Fergietime' yet again; when Danny Whetton pulled off an awesome save to prevent Adam Ellis from heading an Alex Colton cross into the top corner of the visitors net.
The moment is captured for posterity amongst Jon Knight's excellent photographs from tonight's intriguing game.
The home side could have and should have won, but Staveley held on.
THE66POW Man of the match: Danny Whetton.
FT - Retford 1 v Staveley 1
 
Next up: I'm at Denaby United v Harworth Colliery on Saturday, it's a friendly game, which kicks off at 2pm.

Rotherham United 1 v Bristol Rovers 3 - npower League 2 (Division 4)

The New York Stadium, may seem like an odd sounding moniker for the Millers 12,000 capacity stadium, given that Rotherham town centre is hardly up-town Manhattan (though it can resemble the Bronx most weekends at around closing time). However, the rationale and reasoning behind the new(ish) ground's name is ... next door to the recently built stadium, stands the Guest and Chrimes factory site, a company that is  famous for its steelwork, who created the first of the iconic New York fire hydrants, that were exported from South Yorkshire, to the US of A.

As a consequence, that area of Rotherham was, so legend as it, nicknamed 'New York' by the town's inhabitants.
New York, New York, so good they named it twice n' all that.
But, some (in actual fact, a lot of) locals, say it was just called Don Street and named after the nearby river.

Hey y'all! Look what happened when I typed
 'pictures of cocks' into my search engine.

But lets not allow mardy bummed cynicism get in the way of such a romantic tale.
Rotherham United have, of course, been playing at the Don Valley Stadium since their enforced move out of Millmoor in May 2008.
The former is, not to put too fine a point on it, a nice athletics stadium facility, but it's completely crap for watching football at.
While the latter, which, like the New York Stadium, stands in the centre of Rotherham, was always one of my favourite away grounds.

Ironically, while on the subject of local industrial history; the Don Valley Stadium itself, stands close to the site of the Forge-masters Steelworks plant in Sheffield, which is even more famous for it's export production output.
But hey! I'm sure that everybody involved in that episode would be grateful, if I didn't mention the illegal arms trade, or the Iran-Iraq war at this juncture and would prefer it if that particular 'unfortunate' misunderstanding was swept back under the carpet instead.
It really does make a nice change, for a new stadium not to be built on the outskirts of a town, miles from the train station and transport links, local population and public houses.
And Rotherham United deserve all of the plaudits they get, for their choice of location.

Post match view taken from outside Millmoor

Saturday 26th January 2013, at the New York Stadium
npower League 2

Rotherham United  (0) 1

David Noble 73

Bristol Rovers  (1) 3

Lee Brown 42 pen, 

Ellis Harrison 52,

Joe Anyinsah 61

Admission £18, Programme £3, 

Attendance: 6,582 (inc. 418 Bristol Rovers fans)

Thankfully, the pre match entertainment, in the form of a bagpipe band, took place at the opposite end of the ground to us and we could barely hear them.

Rotherham United:
Andy Warrington, Dale Tonge, Johnny Mullins, Claude Davis, Liam Ridehalgh, Ben Pringle, Kari Arnason, Lee Frecklington (David Noble, 72), Michael O’Connor, Alex Revell (Kayode Odejayi, 60), Daniel Nardiello (Courtney Cameron, 46)
Unused Substitutes - Tony Thompson, Adam Morgan, Kieran Agard, Daniel Kearns

Bristol Rovers:
Steve Mildenhall, Michael Smith, Mark McChrystal, Tom Parkes, Lee Brown, John-Joe O’Toole, Seanan Clucas, Ollie Norburn, Joe Anyinsah (David Clarkson, 72), Ryan Brunt (Danny Woodards, 82), Eliot Richards (Ellis Harrison, 50)
Unused Substitutes - Conor Gough, Fabian Broghammer, Tom Hitchcock, Clayton McDonald.

So here I finally am, after several false starts, my first visit to watch a football match at the New York Stadium.
Pre season, I missed the Rotherham v Hearts game, that I had every intention of being present at, because my employer was offering silly money to anybody who was available to work that day.
That one 'greedy' action, now means my 2013 holiday is booked and paid for, while my already healthy games attended total for 2012-13, is minus one non competitive warm up game in July.
I reckon my conscience can deal with it.
And I'm fairly confident that I will reach my new target figure of 120 games by the end of the season.
My first impression of the new arena, was a very positive one.
Maybe to combat one match day element that is somewhat lacking, the Millers fans could organise themselves a section of the ground where their younger, boisterous element could gather to create a bit more of an atmosphere (today the visiting fans taunted them with "Ooh -arr, it's a library!"), but I'm sure that will come in time, once territorial preferences have been established.
The pavements and subways on the approaches to the New York Stadium were treacherous this afternoon, but that wasn't the fault of the football club ... and Rotherham council isn't the only local authority who don't care about such things.

This afternoon's result, was one that those who belong the betting fraternity, would refer to, as a coupon buster. 

Promotion chasing Rotherham United v 92nd in the whole league, Bristol Rovers.

It had home banker stamped all over it.

But that is why football is such a great game ... it is never 100% predictable.

And while the 1-3 away victory, could hardly be described as a giant killing, or shock result, given the comparative status of both clubs, it certainly wasn't on the cards, as the two sides took to the field of play.

In today's match programme, Rotherham's ever popular manager Steve Evans, wrote about how costly individual errors had been, in his sides recent defeats against two other sides from the bottom six of the npower League 2 table.

After today's reversal, he trotted out the same line again.

However, from my vantage point (all the sight lines in the New York Stadium are excellent), I would suggest that one person in particular, deserved more than any other, the accolade of the being outed as the biggest 'erroneous individual' culprit in the Millers downfall ... and that was Evans himself.

For Sure, the visitors deserved all three points today and it would be wrong, very wrong even, to take that away from them. 

But time after time, the Millers high balls, from open play and set pieces alike, were plucked out of the sky with ease, or punched to safety by the Rovers keeper Steve Mildenhall. As United's game plan lacked any serious penetration in the final third.

The 'Pirates' won fair and square, but the Millers contributed to their own downfall along the way too. The home side weren't actually playing hit and hope long ball stuff, but the kind of crosses they were providing for their forwards, were creating very little, or no real kind of threat for the majority of the afternoon and a large percentage of the home side's possession was wasted in the final third.

Again, credit where it is due, the visitors defended well and their keeper had an assured presence about him, but when a system isn't working, then it is up to the manager to sort things out. 

Evans didn't.

I'm not jumping on the bandwagon of popular opinion, by criticising the Rotherham manager, because I've met the guy and found him to be a complete contradiction of his pantomime baddie persona.
He was actually very unassuming, down to earth and amusing, without even a slight hint of the air of arrogance, that his critics claim he's supposed to have.
But this afternoon, well ... it spoke volumes for his teams performance and handling of the worsening situation, that when the away fans chanted "Steve Evans is a w@nker!", the Millers season ticket holders in the family stand stood up and applauded them.
A lot of money has been invested in Rotherham United, both on and off the pitch.
Possibly their current malaise is just temporary, but they seem to be falling some way short, of living up to all of their pre season hype and expectation.

Of course, with this being a (much) bigger stage than the majority of grounds/roped off pitches and bleak wind ravaged fields, that I've visited this season, there are plenty of full match reports available all over the national and local media, club websites and various other internet sources, that will get down to the nitty gritty and finite details of the game, far better than I ever could hope to, so I didn't scribble copious amounts of notes down today.
Never the less I will recall the salient points, mostly from memory, so forgive me if a few names and credits aren't overly accurate.
I try my best, but know there is always room for improvement and that I could do a lot better.

Rotherham started the game in a lively fashion, but once Rovers got some momentum going, it was difficult to work out why there are so many league positions, between Evans top six side and John Ward's strugglers.
The visitors took the lead shortly before half time.
A John-Joe O'Toole free kick split the United defence and found Ryan Brunt in a clear goal scoring position, Rotherham defender Claude Davis, making his début after signing from Crawley, shoved Brunt in the back and the referee, David Webb, pointed to the penalty spot without hesitation
Davis was walking a tightrope, because he'd already been booked for fouling Brunt earlier in the game, but he avoided been shown a red card in this instance.

Lee Brown stepped forward, Andy Warrington went the wrong way ... and the away end reverberated to the strains of 'Goodnight Irene' as the Gas Heads celebrated breaking the deadlock.
In stoppage time, Claude Davis topped off a first appearance for his new club, that he'll want to forget, when he hauled down Eliot Richards as he broke forward towards the Rotherham goal area.
Davis, not surprisingly, was dismissed and Rotherham were now going to have to stage a fightback, against a buoyant Rovers side, with just ten men.

Seven minutes into the second half, Rovers substitute Ellis Harrison made an immediate impact on the game, when he burst forward down the left flank, leaving the Rotherham midfield for dead, slipped the ball past right back Dale Tonge, who promptly fell on his arse and fired the ball home from an angle past the evergreen Andy Warrington.

Dale Tonge hoping the ground will swallow him up.

It was a great strike and Rotherham were now well and truly on the ropes, without a gum shield, or a plan B to resort to, to turn the game around.

Evan's side were now completely disjointed and Joe Anyinsah took advantage of some AWOL defending, swapped passes with Michael Smith and hit a rasping shot from inside the box that Warrington couldn't keep out despite his best efforts. It was another quality strike by the visitors.
3-0 to Rovers ... cue a mass exodus from some parts of the ground, while the visiting supporters serenaded those leaving early (there was still around half an hour left) to the strains of "Is there a fire drill!?"
My theory was that the fans who'd worked so hard to clear all the snow off the pitch earlier in the day so that the game could go ahead, were just nipping out to retrieve their shovels, so they could chuck it all back on the pitch again in a bid to get the game abandoned ... it was Rotherham United's only hope of avoiding defeat now.
In the event, the snow shifters all buggered off home early instead.
They deserved more reward for their efforts. Rotherham United didn't deserve anything for theirs.

Lee Frecklington almost reduced the arrears, when he forced a great save out of Steve Mildenhall, but any kind of Rotherham comeback was looking ever more unlikely by the minute.

David Noble, who apparently used to play for another Bristol team, (so much for the "There's only one team in Bristol!" songs in the away end, ;-) ahem), thumped home a consolation goal for the Millers on 73 minutes from 20 yards out after latching onto a clearance. 

But it didn't spark any kind of revival and Bristol Rovers deservedly held onto their 3-1 lead until the final whistle.

FT - Rotherham United 1 v Bristol Rovers 3

There is *always* one uncooperative and miserable steward.

Rotherham United surprised me today. 

I didn't think, especially given their league position, that they could be as poor as some of the people who I've heard calling in to BBC Radio Sheffield's 'Praise or Grumble' programme, were making them out to be. 

But, I can only go on what I saw today. 

And though it would probably be unfair to form an opinion, after seeing their first team in action, one solitary time all season, I'd have to say ... Christ! They were shocking.

Bristol Rovers (pleasantly) surprised me too.
The quality of the finishing for two of their goals was quite outstanding, they thoroughly deserved their win and their supporters made a right racket throughout the game and deserve special praise too.
I doubt if it will even be scant consolation to any of the 6,100+ Millers fans present today, but I really enjoyed my first ever visit to the New York Stadium.

Harworth Colliery FC Race Night

Sponsors required.
It will cost you:
£25 to sponsor a race
£5 to own a horse
£2 to sponsor a jockey
8 Races are available to sponsor in advance, plus there will be an auction race at the end of the night, that I've already sponsored..
All 8 winning horse owners will get a bottle of spirits each and all 8 winning jockeys will get a bottle of wine apiece.
Many thanks to Beechy, Robin and the adorable young ladies who will be accompanying them, for putting on this event for Harworth Colliery FC.
For those of you who don't know, they're the people behind staging many a successful fund raising event for Retford United Football Club.
Their generosity in offering their services (free of charge) to help out a neighbouring club, is absolutely brilliant and quite humbling

Harworth Colliery are an ambitious Central Midlands League (North) club with some big plans for expansion and ground redevelopment in place.
They have recently invested in solar panels at the Scrooby Road, Recreation Ground, which required a considerable outlay.
But they're seen as a long term investment, to help with the cost of providing electricity for both the football club and the other sports facilities at the Bircotes based complex, that are used by the wider community as a whole.
We have a forward looking and hard working committee, who are ready and willing to seize the moment and push the club up the non league pyramid, back towards to dizzy heights of the Baris NCEL (where they used to play in the not so distant past).

Alan Carr laughs out loud at the joker in the Jonny Wilson mask

To that end, we are arranging a series of fund raising events, not only to help  to fulfil those ambitions, but to enable the football club to sustain themselves financially, when the time arrives to take a step up.
And it will.
Be it at the end of the current season, or at some point in the (hopefully) not too distant future.
On the pitch, the first team are achieving some incredible results this season.
In all competitions, they've just chalked up nine wins and a draw from their last ten games.
Off the pitch, a lot of work has been put into getting the club into the position it is now in, but everybody on the committee realises that the really hard work is about to begin in 2013 and I'm happy to report, that each and every one of us is pulling in the same direction.
So, it's time to get those sleeves rolled up and lets get on with it.
There is no time like the present.
Please support our fund raising events in any way you can.
Thanks in anticipation :-)

As regards the race night on February 8th, we're looking for people to either own a horse at £5 a time, or sponsor a jockey for £2.
So don't be shy, contact me if you want to get involved, you will be helping a good cause and there are 16 prizes up for grab.
Even if you don't win, it'll give you a nice warm inner glow, knowing that you did your bit.
However small and insignificant any donation might seem, it all adds up.
So go on!
What have you got to lose?
If you are interested in sponsoring a race, but don't want the hassle of chasing up owners and jockeys, then we'll look for ways of filling the vacant berths for you.
Likewise, if you sponsor a race but only have a few runners and riders, any vacant slots will be available to people in attendance at the Welfare Hall on the race night (all welcome to attend, even if you aren't a sponsor), so please don't let that put you off.

The best Harworth Colliery Under 19s team ever. The first team players of the future and a very important part of the club's infrastructure.

Contact me ASAP if you want one of the horses and jockeys we've got available, for one of the races that are taking place over the course of the night.

Any sponsorship (and input) will be gratefully received and will go towards, what we hope, is a good total raised towards the clubs funds from this event.
ALL funds raised will go directly to Harworth Colliery FC.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
A HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR, TO YOU ALL.

Reposted from 30th December 2012

FOOTNOTE 14th January 2013
All 8 races, plus the auction race, now have sponsors, but a number of horses and jockeys are still available.
Ta very much to the following race sponsors:
Race 1 - Clay Lane Construction
Race 2 - Retford United Supporters
Race 3 - Sassy
Race 4 - GJ Photography
Race 5 - Hasan Hussein Ltd
Race 6 - JMN Property Solutions
Race 7 - GD Joinery
Race 8 - The Unicorn Hunters
Race 9 - Auction Race - THE66POW

Thorne Colliery 0 v Harworth Colliery 5 - CMFL North

Saturday 12th January 2013,
at the Welfare Ground, Grange Road, Moorends
Central Midlands League (North)
Thorne Colliery  (0) 0
Harworth Colliery  (4) 5
Chris Belshaw 20,
Gareth Sides 24,
Lee Edmondson 25,
Tom Walker 37,
Shay Dunning 72
Admission £3, Programme £1

Thorne Colliery:
Rob Chester, Jonny Lugton, Andy Gillatt, Mark Sneap, Craig Holloway, Trevor Hindson, Brett Thomas, Neil Sheppard (Lee Mills), Darren Fell, Scott Rhodes (Glenn Hookway), Callum McCormack
Subs - Ross Ebbage, Lee Dixon
Harworth Colliery:
Mark Latham, Jordan Hardman, Paul Burns, James Woodward, Si Brewster, Chris Belshaw, Tom Padgett (Jack Baines 63 mins), Tom Walker, Lee Edmondson (Tom Pick 63 mins), Gaz Sides (Shay Dunning 63 mins), Matt Smith
Subs - All used

Look busy lads, Jonny finally turned up ;-)

Thankfully, Harworth don't have any claustrophobic players, because there was barely room for them to stand, let alone sit, inside changing room number 1, in the building that is also shared with the local rugby club, who were also at home today.
I used to replace stolen copper cable for a living, so I know Moorends and the surrounding area quite well. Not that I'm meaning to sound disparaging about the place, needs must when times are hard and all that.
There was one enforced change to today's Harworth starting line up, because they had a player absent because he was attending a birthing class. And good on Craig Anderson for getting his priorities right too.

Thorne kicked off and got the game under way, on a bright and deceptively cold afternoon. But Harworth had the first attack, when Chris Belshaw broke forward from midfield, but Mark Sneap tidied things up at the back for Thorne and intercepted Belshaw's cross before it could reach Tom Walker.
And then, on four minutes, completely against the run of play, the home side tore off down the other end of the pitch and scored.
But the linesman had his flag raised for an offside infringement and it didn't count.

Paul Burns, Chris Belshaw and Gaz Sides combined down the left wing and this time their cross did find Tom Walker, who beat Rob Chester, the Thorne keeper, but shot narrowly wide of the target.
Matt Smith competed well for the ball and dispossessed Mark Sneap, before battling on into the six yard box, but his progress towards goal was blocked out by the close attentions of several defenders.

After quarter of an hour, with the Thorne defence all anticipating a regulation high, in-swinging ball into the box, Chris Belshaw played the ball along the ground to Simon Bewster who'd arrived late on the edge of the box, but Brew spanked the ball wide.
The visitors took the lead on 20 minutes, when Tom Walker flicked on a Jordan Hardman throw in and Chris Belshaw was on hand to put the ball into the net.
Harworth switched off momentarily and the home side were nearly level within a minute, but Neil Sheppard headed over from Callum McCormack's cross.

Gaz Sides was then involved in two goals in just over a minute, claiming one for himself and setting up the other for Lee Edmondson.
And it was going to be an uphill battle for Thorne now.
When I arrived at the ground, I was sat in my car keeping warm, when a very tall, bearded man, walked past and nodded in my direction by way of a 'hello'.
I responded with a friendly wave, but kept then my head down, thinking that he looked quite scary as he took a seat on the wall a few yards away.

When the teams emerged from the dressing room block a while later, I saw the tall, bearded, scary looking dude again.
Apparently he'd taken the afternoon off from filming the sequel to 'The Hills Have Eyes' to wear the home side's number 7 shirt.
As the game unfolded, it became apparent that he, Brett Thomas, was quite a useful player too.
Just after the half hour mark, he swapped passes with Darren Fell and then took aim at Mark Latham's goal, but his shot flew over the bar ... it was probably still in his line of sight though.
On 37 minutes, it was 4-0 to Harworth, when Tom Walker stepped forward and belted a twenty yard free kick, just inside the right hand post ...

... that took a slight deflection off of a Thorne defenders head, en route, but not quite enough of one to warrant calling it an own goal.

Tom Walker was fouled, as the visitors finished the half on a high. Chris Belshaw dropped the resulting free kick into the six yard box, where Matt Smith got to it first, but headed just over.
Increasingly, as the game went on, Smith was coming in for quite a lot of close attention.
But he stuck to the task in hand and didn't let it faze him unduly.
HT - Thorne Colliery 0 v Harworth Colliery 4

On 48 minutes, Thorne won a penalty.
I said to Harworth's goalkeepers mother, "Right, I'm going to get a photo of your Mark saving this".
But, in the event, all I got was a picture of a three anguished Thorne players, as Darren Fell's spot kick, flew high over the bar and out of shot.
Doubtless, Mark Latham had psyched Fell out during his run up though.

Chris Belshaw, once again, unlocked Thorne's defence with a well measured cross in from the left flank and Tom Padgett forced a double save out of Rob Chester.
On the hour, Lee Edmondson, hooked the ball into Matt Smith's path, down the right channel and the Harworth striker sprinted after it, while Rob Chester, who had been left short handed by a couple of AWOL defenders, charged out of his box in a chase to get to the ball first.
But he collided with Matt before he got anywhere near the ball and the pair of them crashed to the floor.
Obviously, Matt would've been goal side of the defence and in with a chance of scoring ... and deliberately, or otherwise, he'd been impeded.

After the referee had consulted his assistant, Thorne's goalkeeper, who had already been booked, was dismissed from the pitch and Thorne's right back, Jonny Lugton, had to take over between the sticks.
I have spoken privately to the match officials and Thorne's manager about the incident, since the final whistle, but it would be wholly inappropriate to divulge what was actually said on a self indulgent, bullshit blog, with added football content. So I won't.
Suffice to say though, the discussion was conducted in a respectful and amicable manner.

With Thorne down to ten men and Harworth sitting comfortably a four goal cushion, Brendan Wilson made a triple substitution, with Gaz Sides, Tom Padgett and Lee Edmondson, making way for, Shay Dunning, Tom Pick and new signing Jack Baines, who looks kind of familiar from somewhere.

Welcome to Harworth!

As often happens when a team are reduced to ten men, Thorne stepped up their game for a while and Mark Latham was forced into making a great stop from Craig Hookway.
While Callum McCormack knocked the ball wide of Harworth's goal after Darren Fell had set him up shortly afterwards.
In the 72nd minute, Shay Dunning knocked home a Tom Pick cross with his midriff.
Hence, Harworth's first goal of the afternoon had been scored by Belly and their last was scored via Shay Dunning's belly.
Dunning was involved again, when he won the ball in midfield and knocked it to Walker, who's final ball into the box for Smith was cleared by the Thorne defence.

Baines pass sent Smith away on a run towards Thorne's goal, but he was flattened by Brett Thomas.
Matt was receiving even more 'man marking' than ever now and he only had to wait another minute or so before Mark Sneap barged him in the back too.
The CMFL is a steep learning curve for players Matt's age, but he came through his battering with flying colours today, getting up and dusting himself down, time after time, while never showing a glimmer of retaliation towards anybody who fouled him, or caught him with a 'fair but firm' or 'slightly mistimed' challenge.
With injury time looming, Brett Thomas and Darren Fell combined out on the right flank, but Jack Baines intercepted the ball to stop them getting a cross in.
FT - Thorne Colliery 0 v Harworth Colliery 5

Thorne man of the match - Brett Thomas
Harworth man of the match - Chris Belshaw
Hopefully the weather forecast is wrong, or I won't be going very far over the next few days.