Retford United U19 3 v Handsworth U19 0 - NMU19L Div 1

Thursday 28th February 2013,
at the Jones & Co. Solicitors Stadium (Cannon Park)
Retford United U19 (1) 3
Bobby Johnson 15
Sam Downey 66
Reece Thompson 74
Handsworth U19 (0) 0
Admission £2, Programme £1, Attendance 72 

Retford United:
McCracken, Armitage, Swannack, Munn, Lucas, Dennett, Colton (Hutchinson 76), Downey, Thompson (Bacon 76), Johnson, Ellis (Hall 67)
Unused subs - Snape, Blow, Tittcomb, Aldred.
Handsworth:
Jones, Ledger (Robinson 64), Watts, Ingram, Spowage, O'Callaghan, Hudson, Bland, Williams, Edwards (Duckenfield 33), Wilson-Bland (Dawes 51)
Unused Subs - Holden, Morley

A Derbyshire football hooligan running amok on the touchline

Just about as straight forward a home win for the Badgers as they'll get all season, against a Handsworth side who weren't really in it at all tonight, especially after the break.
Retford's class, saw to it that their fellow title chasers never got a foothold and when you're not on top of your game against a front pairing like Reece Thompson and Bobby Johnson, well ... it's just asking for trouble.
The two combined for the Badgers opener after a quarter of an hour, with Johnson providing the finishing touch from the edge of the area.
The midfield was congested at times as the battle for the middle of the park took centre stage, for much of the first 45 minutes. But with Retford having the one goal advantage, it was up to Handsworth to take the initiative and go looking for an equaliser. But on the few occasions that they tried to, they were soon shut down by United's central defensive pairing.
Alex Colton should've added a second goal for the home side, but I won't be critical of him, it was a cold and wet night out there and not exactly the right sort of climate for silky samba skills.
HT - Retford 1 v Handsworth 0

Handsworth were sent outside to spend half time getting wet

Obviously, the Handsworth management didn't think their lads fancied it on such a miserable night and felt they weren't pulling their weight. So he sent them back out for most of the half time interval, to give them something to think about. Fair play to them if they felt a point had to be made, but it was hardly ideal preparation for the second half against a team who are challenging you for the title you are currently the holders of.

After the break, Retford's goalkeeper, Rory McCracken, could've taken a book out onto the pitch with him, because he had little all else of note to do.
Man of the match contender Sam Downey, beat Jones the Handsworth keeper to the ball in a one on one shoot out and slotted home Retford's second after Bobby Johnson had carved the opening for him with a clever pass.

Hmm ... and how am I supposed to mark this one!?

Reece Thompson added Retford's third, when Handsworth failed to deal with Johnson's attempted cross and the ball fell perfectly for Reece to pick his spot.
There was no stopping that one.
Thompson had a couple more decent attempts on goal before he was withdrawn, which must've been a real sickener for the visitors who now knew United had the game sewn up and were so confident of victory that they were resting their top scorer.
I believe this was a case, of what is covered in the UEFA Coaches Handbook, under the heading of 'Rubbing it in'.
Rory McCracken did finally get his shirt dirty, when Adam Robinson abandoned the rest of his Handsworth team and set off on a solo run to goal, leaving several United players in his wake before pulling a great stop out of the Badger's keeper. It's the mark of a good keeper, keeping himself focussed and prepared when he hasn't had a lot to do for a while.
Elsewhere tonight, Sheffield lost to Arnold Town, which means, once again, that Retford United are back at the top of Division 1.
FT - Champions Elect 3 v Reigning Champions 0

Next up: Saturday 2nd March 2013 - CMFL North - Harworth Colliery v Yorkshire Main

Glapwell 0 v Harworth Colliery 2 - CMFL North Floodlit Cup SF

Tuesday 26th February 2013, at Hall Corner
Central Midlands League (North) Floodlit Cup Semi Final
Glapwell FC  (0) 0
Harworth Colliery   (1) 2
James Woodward 28
Gareth Sides 79
Admission £3, Programme £1
Alas, most floodlights in the CMFL don't agree with my camera

Glapwell

Awesome, awesomeness of the most awesome kind, as Harworth deservedly progressed through to the CMFL (North) Floodlit Cup Final.
They'll have to wait to see who they face in the Final, because tonight's other Semi was abandoned after 107 minutes, when the floodlights went off, with Westella Hanson leading 1-0, at home, in extra time, against AFC Mansfield, who had (by all accounts) been reduced to 9 men because of two dismissals.
OK, there's no Wembley show-piece game in this competition, not even when the winners of the North and South competitions meet in the overall final ... but all things being relative, the achievement of reaching the (CMFL North) Final, really is a big deal, for this unfashionable 'little' village team (don't believe the hype!), from the North Notts/South Yorkshire border corridor.
So tonight, lets savour the moment and use it as a platform towards fulfilling the ambitions we have to take the club onwards and upwards.
To that end, it's already been a successful season on many levels. But it's not over yet, not by a long way.
Thanks to Glapwell, for their humility, good grace and best wishes after the game ... much appreciated.

Harworth Colliery

Glapwell started with a spring in their step but their early momentum soon fizzled out.
Chris Belshaw worked the ball through to Lee Edmondson, who's shot was blocked for a corner as Harworth began to impose themselves on the game.
There was never going to be much in it between these sides tonight, but Harworth seemed to be more fired up for the task in hand.
On 20 minutes, Belshaw's free kick, from out on the left wing, dropped perfectly for the unmarked James Woodward, but his header went agonisingly wide.
After 28 minutes, Woodward's long free kick into the box was cleared by Glapwell at the expense of a corner.
The home side had already had a taste of what was likely to happen a few minutes earlier, but they were powerless to stop Woodward heading home from Belshaw's corner on 28 minutes, to give Harworth the lead.
Lloyd Wilkinson didn't finish the first half, after he took a heavy knock that he couldn't run off, which was a shame, because he was busying himself and putting in a good shift up to that point, on the ground where he'd netted a '37 yard wonder goal' earlier in the season.
HT - One nil to the Colliery ... with everything still to play for.

Lee Edmondson, who played exceptionally well for Harworth tonight, broke towards the Glapwell box from out on the left flank, running 30 yards before shooting narrowly wide.
Mark Latham was alert to the danger posed by a right wing cross from Craig Newton and punched the ball away comfortably from under the bar, just like all the best continental goalkeepers do these days ... catching crosses is just so blasé in this day and age, don't you know!?
Gareth Sides was running himself to a standstill down the right flank, David Cornthwaite was battling gamely in the left back slot, Jordan Hardman, James Woodward and Si Brewster were nipping any threat Glapwell might pose quickly in the bud, Tom Padgett battled for each and every ball ... in fact without singling any player out, the whole Harworth side were working their arses off, to stay on top of this semi final clash, the effort was greatly appreciated by the slightly larger than usual following of away supporters.

Lee Edmondson broke into the Glapwell box from the right flank this time round and his shot across the face of goal was inches away from making the score 0-2 as it went wide of the left hand upright.
Glapwell tried to get themselves back into the game and as the visitors took three attempts to get the ball away, Ross Murcott shot narrowly wide.
Josh Goodhand put a dangerous cross into the mix from out on the right wing, but Mark Latham got down quickly to smother the ball.He was obviously on a mission to keep a clean sheet tonight.
Jordan Hardman's searching ball into the Glapwell box, caused chaos for the home side before they scrambled the ball away and Lee Edmondson, popped up in the middle of the box(he covered every blade of grass tonight) and came very close to scoring, yet again.
At the other end, Kye Marty got away and found himself one on one with Mark Latham, who didn't hesitate for a second as he bravely saved at the Glapwell number 10's feet.

You have a good pick Corny, nobody's watching.

David Cornthwaite was fouled, but the referee either missed it or ignored it, then pulled up Craig Anderson up seconds later for an infringement. I
t was his second yellow card, following a caution in the fifth minute and he had to walk, meaning Harworth were going to have to play out the last quarter of a hour on a sticky, strength sapping pitch, with ten men.
But they rose to the challenge.
On 79 minutes, Chris Belshaw put a low a right wing corner into the path of Gaz Sides who turned the ball past Ryan Hopkins from 12 yards out.
It was all over now bar the shouting and Harworth were on their way to the final.
In injury time Josh Goodhand was through on goal, but James Woodward put in a last ditch tackle to kill of any hopes Glapwell had of a late revival.

FT - Glapwell 0 v Harworth Colliery 2

Ah, 10pm and Harworth were still in the cup, hey Paul Hepworth!? ;-)

Man of the match, there were a few stand out performances tonight, but it was a great all round team effort, so it wouldn't be right to single anybody out.

Get in!!!

Basford United U19 0 v Matlock Town U19 2 - NMU19L Div 2

Monday 25th February 2013,
at Mill Street Playing Field, Greenwich Avenue, Basford
North Midland U19 League Division 2
Basford United U19 (0) 0
Matlock Town U19 (0) 2
Adam Clarke 67
Alex Bradshaw 81
Attendance £2 inc. programme

Alas, it's true ... Smartphones take crap photographs

No Kyle Keetley or Luke Hodson, in Basford's line up tonight, but their prolific top scorer Dan Jackson was on duty, clocking up his 6th game in ten days (he also plays for their first team) as the fixtures come thick and fast for the Greenwich Avenue club.
They're away at Maltby Main on in two days time too ... and it's no wonder they're starting to look a bit knackered, if truth be told.
League leaders Basford, took a season long unbeaten run into this game and were sitting on an impressive goal difference of plus 34, whilst Matlock, who have a mountainous fixture backlog to get through now, having had 'time out' to pursue an impressive run in the FA Youth Cup, before the weather decimated the NMU19L fixture list, arrived in Nottingham, having won three of the seven league games they have played, off the back of the defeat at Harworth Colliery last Wednesday, a game that is featured on this very blog.
The first half was a fairly subdued affair, for the most part, although Matlock did ride their luck a couple of times as Basford had a number of promising efforts go narrowly wide of the mark.

A betting man would have studied these two teams respective current form and had this one down as a home banker, but Matlock were having none of that ... and having played a deep formation in an attempt to contain the home side thus far, they began to venture forward themselves and be a bit more adventurous. The longer the game went on without the usually attack minded Basford scoring, the more Matlock visibly started to fancy their chances of getting a result here.
On 67 minutes, Jordan Holland swung a high corner over from the left, to the far post, that was knocked back across Basford's goal to Adam Clarke, who rose above everybody to powerfully head the visitors in front.
On 81 minutes, the Gladiators were in the driving seat, after Jordan Holland cleverly released Matt Wilkinson through the left hand channel and he screwed the ball back from the bye line, into the path of Alex Bradshaw, who thumped the ball into the back of the Basford net.
A great result for Matlock, that makes things very interesting at the top of the table.
My companions for the night, were moaning about how cold it was. but snugly mummified in layers of wind stopper clothing that make me look even more like the Michelin Man than I usually do, I was blissfully unaware of the discomfort they were suffering < insert sniggering like Muttley emoticon >.
FT - Basford United U19 0 v Matlock Town U19 2 

Gainsborough Trinity v Wrexham - FA Trophy Semi Final 2nd Leg

Saturday 23rd February 2013, at the Northolme
FA Trophy Semi Final Second leg
Gainsborough Trinity (1) 2
Terry Hawkridge 26
Michael Leary 79
Wrexham (1) 1
Danny Wright 21
Admission £11 (all ticket), Programme £2.50
Attendance 2307 (inc. 844 Wrexham fans)
Match details to follow ASAP
FOR MORE PHOTGRAPHS FROM THIS GAME CLICK HERE
Left click images for larger versions

Wow!
Current Blue Square Premier leaders Wrexham (but watch out for Mansfield Town, galloping up the rails) knew they had been in a game today.
Their keeper, Chris Maxwell, can probably sympathise with exactly how Davy Crockett felt, when he was defending the Alamo against the unrelenting efforts of General Santa Anna's Mexican forces.

Trailing 3-1 from the first leg, Trinity had a hill to climb this afternoon and that ascent became all the steeper when Wrexham grabbed the all important first goal through Danny Hill on 21 minutes, with a blinding effort from 25 yards out.
But, the goal acted as a bugle call, for the home side to attack and then attack some more ... and with nothing to lose now, they rolled up their sleeves and scrapped every inch of the way

The 'Holy Blues' know what their strengths are and well rehearsed tried and tested set piece plays and going direct were exactly what the situation called for now and pretty soon Terry Hawkridge, Triniy's dead ball specialist levelled the score on the afternoon.
Darryn Stamp, as good a target man as you're ever going to get in your hour of need, flicked Dominic Roma's long free kick on to Josh Wilde who helped it on it's way to Hawkridge, who took a touch and lashed the ball past Chris Maxwell.

The hopes we had were much too high
Way out of reach but we have to try
No need to hide no need to run
'Cause all the answers come one by one
The game will never be over
Because we're keeping the dream alive ... as somebody once said

In last season's play off final, the enormity of the game seemed to faze and unsettle Trinity, who never really got into their stride that day, obviously they had learnt their lesson well from that experience ... and this afternoon, they were determined to move any mountain, or at least go down giving it their damnedest.
Hawkridges pinpoint corner undid the Wrexham defence, but Stamp powered his header narrowly wide.
The home crowd could sense that it was now 'game on' and they upped the tempo a notch too.
Craig Nelthorpe almost put Trinity ahead, but Chris Westwood, who was a rock for the Welsh side all afternoon managed to head the ball off the line.
The visitors player manager tried to force the issue at the other end, but he was wide of the mark and will have been very grateful to get his players off at the break, for a regroup and some respite from Trinity's determined push.
HT - Gainsborough Trinity 1 v Wrexham 1

Trinity's second half tactical switch, was pushing Wrexham's rearguard to breaking point and it looked as if they had finally got a golden opportunity to take the lead, when Chris Maxwell brought Bradley Barraclough down in the box. Whether the referee was unsighted or being mentored by Andy Morrell at this point is open to conjecture, but either way, he didn't give a spot kick and the visitors kept eleven players on the pitch.
But Gainsborough didn't make a big fuss about things, they just kept their focus and carried in battering away at an overworked defence who surely couldn't hold out much longer.

Ironically, when Trinity got the second goal that their efforts warranted, it was via a slightly fortunate deflection, but you make your own luck and Michael Leary's 18 yard shot under pressure, found it's way into the back of the net, after a fashion ... and the light at the end of the tunnel was suddenly a big glowing orb, warming up a freezing cold afternoon.

Thereafter, followed ten minutes of aerial bombardment that must've seemed to have lasted an eternity for Wrexham's army of fans, as the prospect of extra time loomed ever closer.

It was all hands to the pumps for the visitors now and the air raid siren that the Trinity fans use to generate some atmosphere at the Northolme had never been more apt. 

Last ditch clearances and near misses galore punctuated the closing stages of the game as Trinity camped out in the Wrexham half.

Deep into added on time, a trademark Trinity move saw Darryn Stamp nod the ball across the six yard box where he found Paul Connor, who headed powerfully towards goal from close range ... time stood still, surely this was the one!? 

But Chris Maxwell, somehow twisted and got to the ball and turned it over the bar.

The full time whistle sounded as Terry Hawkridge was about to put in the corner for one last effort ... and Wrexham were heading to a Wembley final against Grimsby Town.

Gainsborough did themselves proud and couldn't have given any more than they had done today.

A brilliant effort. 

Well played Trinity!

Coming soon to a self indulgent, bullshit blog with added football content.

This week, the Ant Hill Mob and myself, will be jumping in the 'Roaring Plenty' AKA 'Chugga-Boom', listening to Pixies songs en route and rescuing Penelope from the Hooded Claw at the following pit-stops:
Saturday 23rd February - Gainsborough Trinity v Wrexham - FA Trophy SF 2nd leg
Monday 25th February - Basford United v Matlock Town - NMU19L Div 2
Tuesday 26th February - Glapwell v Harworth Colliery - CMFL Floodlit Cup SF
Thursday 28th February - Retford United v Handsworth - NMU19L Div 1
We've got your card marked Sylvester Sneekly!

Harworth Colliery U19 4 v Matlock Town U19 0 - NMU19L Div 2

Wednesday 20th February 2013
at the Recreation Ground, Scrooby Road, Bircotes
Harworth Colliery U19  (2) 4
Connor Gresham 17
Danny Siddall 27
Enzo Guarini 46
Ben Thompson 69
Matlock Town U19  (0) 0
Admission £2, Programme £1, Attendance 37

Football is a beautiful game, but the behind the scenes politics at clubs ... all clubs from time to time, are as ugly as sin.
This week, it was the turn of the good ship Harworth Colliery FC to hit turbulent waters and regrettably, the Under 19's popular manager, Glenn McPherson, ended up being the man who took a tumble (or dignified jump) overboard.
Obviously, it's time to close ranks, keep schtum and to avoid hanging dirty laundry in public, because the show must go on.
But personally, I'm gutted that Glenn's gone.
We all are.
The work he's done since taking over at the helm of the team and the progress they've made in that time, should not be under estimated or go without some kind of grateful recognition from the club, that Glenn also used to play in goal for, with far more aplomb than his hero Artur Borac ever did, for that horrible Glaswegian football club he supports.
THANKS GLENN!

It's not my place to comment on events, because that wouldn't help anything.
Hopefully at some point, in the (very) near future, things can be resolved, but in the mean time, those of us who are still on board, will just have to roll our sleeves up and try to keep Harworth Colliery Under 19's momentum going for the remainder of the season.
Tonight, short handed in staff numbers and under a cloud of despondency and uncertainty, the players responded brilliantly ... and Glenn's sidekick and friend, Hasan Hussein, who has stepped up from the role of assistant to oversee the team for the foreseeable future, did a great job on several levels, in so much as: his tactics and team selection worked perfectly, his homework on Matlock was detailed to the nth degree and he kept the players focussed on the job in hand, by playing down a week of internal turmoil at the club.
Hassy deserves a big pat on the back, for keeping his own feelings on recent events to himself and for keeping the team's ambitions for the remainder of season on course.

"Are you lonesome tonight!?"

Tonight was a great all round team performance by Harworth Colliery Under 19s and the 4-0 win was thoroughly deserved.
They are, once again, top of Division 2 of the NMU19L, on goal difference ... for the time being at least and though actually winning Division 2 looks slightly out of their reach now, they must keep on keeping on and leave the other clubs at the business end of the table to worry about winning their games in hand, while they strive to finish as high in the table as possible.
My phone battery took a bit of a hammering over the course of the night, because *somebody* wanted keeping up to date with the action every few minutes. It's much better actually being there in the flesh to see how well the team you helped to build are performing with your own eyes G**** McP****** ;-) But, joking aside, it meant a lot that you still care as much as you do.
Inside the first two minutes, Enzo Guarini put Connor Gresham through on goal but the Matlock defence scrambled the ball away to safety. It was a good indicator of how the game was about to go.
Connor Gresham again, swung a dangerous looking free kick towards the visitors goal a few minutes later and a Matlock defender had to head the ball over his own bar to avert a goal.
On 17 minutes Connor finally got the goal his efforts deserved, to open the scoring for Harworth, when the ball came to him on the corner of the six yard box, after the Matlock keeper Harry Westnedge had tipped away a right wing cross cum shot from Enzo Guarini. Gresham steadied himself and drilled the ball home right footed (or right footbed according to another match report I've seen published on the interweb).
Jordan Hardman knocked a great through ball into the path of Gresham, who was running his marker ragged and making himself available all across the Matlock back line ... this time it took a combination of two defenders and the keeper to thwart him, in a three onto one smothering exercise.

Matlock team sheet, very neatly presented.

Connor Gresham was involved again in the build up to Harworth's second goal, when he battled for the ball out on the left wing and got his cross in at the third attempt to Daine McGrain, who controlled the ball and struck an overhead kick towards Matlock's goal, quick as a flash Danny Siddall spotted that it was going to fall a foot or so short of it's intended target and with Harry Westnedge shaping up to to dive onto the ball, he nipped in to knock the ball home just inside the left hand post.
Danny showed good strikers instincts and it's great to see him getting stuck in, in such a fearless way now that he's fully recovered from his pre season injury.
The game was almost as good as over on 35 minutes, when Siddall and Gresham combined well through the left channel and Connor let fly with a shot from ten yards out, but Westnedge, who was having a busy night, got down to keep the ball out by the left hand post.
I remember in pre season, telling somebody who watches a lot of Under 19s football to watch Connor Gresham closely because he's going to come good this year.
Ta Connor, it's not very often that I'm proven right.
Inside the final five minutes of the first half, Ben Harrison warmed Tom Hogg's hands with a shot from just outside the box, that the Harworth keeper palmed away for a corner.
The final action of the first half saw Daine McGrain shooting over the Matlock goal from 25 yards out.
HT - Team Hussein 2 v Matlock Town 0

Harworth team sheet, scruffy handwriting, must try harder.

The second half was less than two minutes old when good work by Danny Siddall sent Enzo Guarini tearing off towards the right hand side of Matlock's area, with their defence trying to force Enzo wide, he whipped across one his trademark cross cum shot specialities, that dipped under the crossbar and caught everybody out as he put Harworth three goals in front.
On 56 minutes, Ben Thompson came on in place of Connor Gresham, he'd done his fair share of damage already tonight and then some.
I'm reliably informed that Ben Thompson scored Harworth's fourth on 69 minutes, when he was set up by another of the Colliery's subs on the night, Lewis Francis. Alas I didn't see it ... occasionally your humble Matchday Secretary will miss a few moments of the game, while he nips off to the dressing room, or pavilion, or Asda, to sort other apparently pressing matters out.
I shall say this only once ... It was the first Harworth goal I've missed at any game I've been too all season and I would like to make it known, categorically, that however urgent or important *anybody else* might think *anything else* might be, away from the field of play, there is *nothing whatsover* that can't wait until after the final whistle has sounded to be dealt with, for the remainder of the season.

Got that everybody!?

Lewis Francis had a goal chalked off for straying offside and for upsetting the linesman, by forgetting to bring any sweets this week (it is worth remembering that he's the replacement referee next Wednesday Lewis) ... and he was unlucky not to score when he went through one on one with Harry Westnedge too.
Westnedge kept the score down to a respectable looking total, with a string of saves tonight, including a double stop from Enzo and a well held take from a Ben Thompson free kick inside the last couple of minutes.
At the end of the game, I had a quick chat with Hasan about who the man of the match was.
If Connor had been on the pitch for a whole 90 minutes, he would've got it, but instead the honour goes to Chris Higgins, who took care of business at the back and through the spine of the team, with a tireless performance all night.
Well done Chris, even though you possibly got the nod by default after Connor went off :-P
That said, it's not just the eye catching front players who win games, the whole team worked their backsides off tonight, including those who didn't actually got a mention.
FT - 'Our' team 4 v Matlock Town 0
Next Wednesday, Harworth Under 19s entertain West Bridgford Colts (who held Dunkirk to a draw this week) at Scrooby Road. Kick off is at 7.45pm and entertainment and goals are guaranteed, for a token admission cost of just £2.
I won't be there because of a court date in Nottingham, but rest assured, I'll be back for the remainder of the season.
If you're going to be there G**** McP******, could you please keep me up to date with the score? Cheers mate.

Next up: Saturday 23rd February - FA Trophy Semi Final 2nd Leg - Gainsborough Trinity v Wrexham

Worksop Parramore 1 v Maltby Main 1 - Baris NCEL Prem

Tuesday 19th February 2013
at the Windsor Food Service Stadium, Worksop
Baris Northern Counties East League
Worksop Parramore (0) 1
Lee Whittington, 65 pen
Maltby Main (0) 1
Brian Cusworth 66
Admission £5, Programme £1.50, Attendance 39

Worksop Parramore:
Steve Hernandez, Lee Thompson, Chris Fawcus, Scott Lowe, Ashley Foyle, Richard Patterson, Jordan Hatton, Matt Thorpe, Simon Barraclough, Lee Whittington, Will McGhie
Subs - Darryl Winter, Louis Axcell, Richard Tootle, Danny McKenzie, Adam Fretwell
Maltby Main:
Andrew Carney, Sam Foulds, Joseph Austin, Matt Outram, Matt Plant, Reece Wesley, Craig Gladwin, Mark Stuart, Brian Cusworth, Ollver Graham, Rob Branagan
Subs - Ben Langford, Michael Cookson, Greg Mason, Luke Gregg

Parramore's games at the WFSS are always good to watch, but in truth it was Maltby who took the honours tonight for entertainment value,with a performance that ought to have seen them return to South Yorkshire with all three points in the bag.
Inside the first 20 minutes, Worksop's keeper Steve Fernandez was kept busy, when he'd tipped a Sam Foulds effort around the corner at full stretch and had been forced into making a double save from Ollie Graham to keep a lively looking Main side at bay.
Grham broke again, having muscled Matty Thorpe out of the way, but he miscued his shot so badly it ended up nearer to the corner flag than the goal.
The home side hit back, when Will McGhie sent Thorpe away down the left channel, but Joe Austin was on hand to head the ball off the line.
Lee Whittington hit a snap shot narrowly wide of the left hand upright, but Maltby picked up the momentum again and right at the end of the first half, Matt Outram warmed Hernandez's hand with a blistering shot from 30 yards out.
HT - Worksop 0 v Maltby 0

As the second half got underway, you could hear the players studs rattling on the pitch, as the frost set in on a bitterly cold night, especially along the touch line the shadow of the main stand, that hadn't had any sun light all day.
Lee Whittington had a shot blocked by Adam Carney and Simon Barraclough, one of the players who jumped ship at Staveley and switched to Parramore recently, put the rebound over.
But the second half then carried on in the same vein as the first with Maltby looking the most likely to break the deadlock.
Ollie Graham smashed the ball against the crossbar, Rob Branagan reacted quickest to get to the rebound, but saw his knock go agonisingly wide.
Mark Stuart made a yard for himself and thumped a shot into the net ... unfortunately, it was the big net behind the stand at the Glassworks End that keeps the ball in the ground.
Matt Outram tried his luck from 20 yards out, but Steve Hernandez was well placed to deal with it.
Parramore were awarded a penalty, when the ball hit Sam Foulds' hand.
It was more of a ball to hand than a deliberate offence, but that didn't trouble Lee Whittington too much as he slotted home the spot kick to give the home side the lead.

The noisy contingent of Maltby fans, vented their complaints at the linesman on their side of the pitch, which must've made a nice change from having to listen to Scott Lowe bending his ear for him all night.
But the visitors were soon in good spirits again, when Brian Cusworth equalised within a minute, with a bravely taken headed goal. Maltby didn't deserve to be a goal behind in the first place.
Maltby finished the game in the ascendancy, with Hernandez having to keep efforts from both Mark Stuart and Ollie Graham out, but when the final whistle sounded, they had to be content with a point. Parramore can thank Steve Hernandez for preserving theirs.
FT - Worksop Parramore 1 v Maltby Main 1
   
Next up: Wednesday 21st February 2013 - Harworth Colliery U19 v Matlock Town U19

Basford United U19 4 v Ollerton Town U19 1 - NMU19L Div 2

Wednesday 18th February 2013
at Mill Street Playing Field, Greenwich Avenue, Basford
North Midland U19 League, Division 2
Basford United (2) 4
Dan Jackson 15 pen, 65
Jack Smith 21,
Tom Teece 82 
Ollerton Town (0) 1
Chas Taylor 63
Admission £2 inc. programme
Details to follow presently

A most excellent summary of this game, written by Mr Malcolm Storer, of the parish of Hucknall, for his thoroughly entertaining blog "On The Road 2012-13" can be unearthed by clicking this link.

The visitors were incensed when Basford were awarded a penalty after a quarter of a hour ... and so they 'blooming well' should've been.
As they defended a Jack Smith corner, the referee blew up and pointed the spot after spotting a deliberate handball.
Thing is, it was clearly Basford's Luke McKeag who committed the offence, not an Ollerton player.
Chas Taylor was booked for protesting too vociferously, before Dan Jackson stepped forward, ignored the injustice of it all and smacked the ball home from the spot.
Referees are only human and we're all prone to making mistakes.
But 'kinnel!
That was a bad one. 

Six minutes later, Joe Fletcher was picking the ball out of his net again, when Dan Jackson's defence splitting pass put Jack Smith through on goal and he knocked it into the net from eight yards and 7 inches ;-)
Time keeping, time and motion and weights and measures are an under rated branch of science and one must strive to report things as accurately as is humanly possible.
Before the interval, Joe Fletcher kept Dan Jackson at bay with an excellent double save.
HT - United 2 v Town 0

Chas Taylor almost got a goal back for the visitors, but his header from Rob Doolan's free kick was tipped over the bar by Basford's keeper.
From the resultant corner however, Taylor rose above the Basford defence and powerfully headed home from the edge of the six yard box to make the score 2-1.
Donnie, in the Basford goal might have had good reason to feel aggrieved, that referee didn't spot the fact that he was being manhandled and obstructed when Ollerton scored, but these things balance themselves out over the course of a game and they certainly just had done ... ask Chas Taylor!
Ollerton's revival only lasted a few minutes, before Dan Jackson restored Basford's two goal cushion, when he drilled the ball past Joe Fletcher from an angle..

Ollerton kept plucking away and Brad Middlekoop was unlucky to see his goal bound effort tipped over on 70 minutes.
He was also unlucky when Jack Smith nutmegged him with a backheel a minute later. A sublime piece of skill from a player who isn't one of the star turns of this impressive Basford side, but he is most definitely their engine room.
Smith created United's fourth goal, with a precision pass across the face of Ollerton's goal on 82 minutes.
It looked as though Jack Hodson had got the final touch, but the goal was actually credited to Tom Teece ... discuss amongst yourselves.
A good game all told and though Basford warranted a win, Ollerton didn't deserve to leak four goals, especially seeing as the first one was 'a bit iffy', to say the very least.
An enjoyable night, spent in lively and entertaining company, but by heck, it was bloody cold!

Sheffield United Ladies 1 v Nottingham Forest Ladies 5 - Women's FA Cup

Sunday 17th February 2013, at Retford United FC
Women's FA Cup
Sheffield United (1) 1
Nottingham Forest (2) 5
Admission £2

The Blades were in front after just four minutes, but Forest (with Woman's Super League ambitions), just about dominated the remainder of the game ... and to be frank, United were fortunate to hold onto their single goal advantage until the 37th minute.

Forest Ladies now face Gillingham in the next round of the cup.

Linby Colliery Welfare 2 v Clipstone Welfare 1 - Notts FA Senior Cup

Thursday 14th February, at the Lido Ground, Clipstone
Notts FA Senior Cup
Linby Colliery Welfare (0) 2
Matt Murphy 48, Baz Payne 57
Clipstone Welfare (1) 1
Steve Carty 45
Admission £3 inc. programme and raffle. Attendance 98
Technically, a home game for Linby, but they couldn't play it at their Church Lane ground, due to them not having floodlights there.
So this 3rd Round cup tie was switched to Watnall Road, the home of Linby's neighbours Hucknall Town.
Earlier today Hucknall's pitch was declared unfit for use tonight, so at short notice the game was switched to Clipstone's Lido Ground.

 Clipo only have themselves to blame, that they were just a solitary goal to the good at the interval, after they spurned a whole host of chances during the first half.
Right on the stroke of half time, Steve Carty fired them ahead, from an angle, to the right of Linby's goal.
And it looked, to all intents and purposes, as though the away side, playing at their home ground, would now build on that lead and comfortably see their way through in the Notts Senior Cup.

But Linby had other ideas and after the break they took the game to their NCEL opponents, knocking the ball around well and keeping possession for long spells, through playing a simple, but very effective, passing game.
The second half was only 3 minutes old when Matt Murphy equalised from close range after Clipstone's defence had made hard work of clearing their lines.
Just before the hour, Linby were in front, when Baz Payne added a second, from almost exactly the same spot that Steve Carty had opened the scoring from just before the break.

Clipstone had their moments in the second half, where they could've forced the game into extra time, but Linby stuck to their game plan and deserved their victory tonight.
 
Next up: Goole AFC v Ossett Town on Saturday.

Frickley Athletic 2 v FC United of Manchester 4 - Evo-Stik NPL

Tuesday 12th February 2013, at Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, Premier Division
Frickley Athletic (0) 2
Jake Picton 54, Chris Wood 67 pen
FC United of Manchester (3) 4
Lee Neville 12, Matthew Wolfenden 15,
Michael Norton 35, Tom Greaves 48
Admission £9, Programme £1.50, Attendance 428

Frickley Athletic 
1 Jamie Green, 2 Joe Wilcox, 3 Chris Fisher, 4 Jake Picton,
5 Micah Bleau, 6 Patrece Liburd (15 David Buck 63 mins),
7 Terry Barwick (12 Chris Howarth 82 mins), 8 Matty Bloor (c),
9 Luke Hinsley (14 Liam Hardy 63 mins), 10 Chris Wood,
11 Jimmy Ghaichem.
Unused subs - Jason Yates, Zack Levers
FC United of Manchester
1 James Spencer, 2 Kyle Jacobs (c), 3 Lee Neville, 4 Matthew Tierney, 5 Adam Jones (12 Greg Daniels 55 mins), 6 Dean Stott, 7 Matthew Wolfenden, 8 Jake Cottrell, 9 Mike Norton (15 Rhodri Giggs 71 mins), 10 Jerome Wright, 11 Tom Greaves (16 Cedric Krou 89 mins).
Unused Subs - Greg Daniels, Scott Cheetham

It's always going to be difficult, to win any game of football, when you stand off and give your promotion chasing opponents (on their way to a seventh successive win tonight), a four goal start.
Okay, maybe I'm being a slightly unflattering to FCUM, to say that Frickley actually gave them all four. But two headed goals when the Blues defence should've done (much) better, one goal where their keeper Jamie Green's positioning was all over the place and a fourth that was put on a plate by Green, when he made a hash of dealing with a back pass and allowed Tom Greaves to take the ball round him to score ... well, it looked like a combination of forced errors and contributory negligence to me.

On a bitterly cold night in South Elmsall, the visitors were ahead on 12 minutes, when the unmarked Lee Neville, got onto the end of a left wing corner and powered a header into the back of the Blues net.
Three minutes later, 'FC' doubled their lead, when, with Jamie Green AWOL from his goal, Jerome Wright charged into the left hand side of the Frickley box, before teeing up Matthew Wolfenden, who scored with the simplest of chances.
Things went from bad to worse for Frickley on 35 minutes, when they failed to deal with a throw in, into their area, which was flicked on and found it's way to Mike Norton, who headed home the visitors third from close range.
As the first half came to a close, the Blues should've got a goal back, but Luke Hinsley shot wide with just the 'United' keeper James Spencer to beat.
As the whistle went for half time, I think I can safely say, without any fear of contradiction whatsoever, that although the visitors deserved their three goal cushion, that was one of the worst ever 45 minute performances I've ever seen from a Frickley side ... and that's coming from someone who saw a Chris Waddle inspired Worksop Town thrash them 12-0, with 6 goals in each half , back in September 2000.
HT - Frickley 0 v FCUM 3

The second half was a stark contrast to the first, though it certainly seemed as if it was going to carry on in the same vein, when just three minutes after the restart, Jamie Green got caught in two minds when Micah Bleau played a back pass to him and the nervy keeper's hesitation gave Tom Greaves the chance to steal the ball and put the visitors four goals in front.
At this point some Frickley fans gave up and left.
I joked with one of them that he'd be kicking himself when he got home and it had finished four apiece.
He responded, by pointing to the sky and said "Watch them flying pigs don't shit on your car mate!"

Hmm, will the real Frickley Athletic please stand up?
What a turn around everybody who was still present then saw.
The home side, from then on in, were virtually camped out in FCUM's half for the remainder of the second half.
And though a comeback was never really on the cards, nobody had thought to let the Frickley players know that and out of nowhere, they tapped into a rich seam of self belief and started to build up a head of steam.
Jimmy Ghaichem and Chris Wood both came close to scoring, before  Jake Picton headed home a Terry Barwick cross to make it 1-4.
A group of youngsters behind the goal celebrated like Frickley had just won the FA Cup, while there was a barely audible murmur of approval from the remainder of the home fans. And up in the end of the grandstand that the main body of the FCUM fans had occupied, Picton's goal didn't even knock them out of their stride as they carried on singing regardless.

With 67 minutes on the clock, my 4-4, tongue in cheek, half time prediction, suddenly started to look possible, if still not probable, when Matthew Tierney pushed Liam Hardy in the back, inside the visitors box. As the Frickley sub Hardy, hit the deck, the referee pointed to the spot, before showing Tierney a yellow card. He had been a bit card happy prior to that foul, in what was never a dirty game, so he now had no choice but to caution the 'FC' number 4.
Chris wood sent James Spencer the wrong way and the Blues were back in the hunt at 2-4.
Spencer pulled off a great save from Ghaichem, with Hardy firing the rebound narrowly wide. If Frickley could've played this well in the first half, they certainly wouldn't need to be chasing the game now.
Spencer again, was on hand to turn Micah Bleau's header away at the expense of a corner.
On 90 minutes, FCUM were down to ten men when Tierney was dismissed for a second yellow card offence.
In the dying moments, James Spencer denied Jake Picton twice as the home side kept plugging away at the 'United' goal, but the visitors held onto their three points, in spite of Frickley giving it their all, for the final 40 minutes.
FT - Frickley 2 v FCUM 4
See the official Frickley Athletic website for video footage.