Saturday 19th November 2013
at the Welfare Ground, Woodlands, Doncaster
Central Midlands League (North)
Brodsworth Welfare (3) 3
Shane Carver 9, 33, Mel Cotton 45
Harworth Colliery (1) 2
Tom Walker 11, Jordan Hardman 69
Admission £3, Programme £1, Attendance 37
Harworth Colliery captain James Woodward tweeted in the aftermath of defeat:
come on boys as a team we need to look at ourselves and take responsibility, not good enough and it's down to us not management
Brodsworth Welfare
Dominic Senior, Jake Starbuck, Gareth Dawson, Mark Vickerage (c), Andy Culshaw, James Hendry, Harry Chamberlain, Dan Smith, Mel Cotton (Dale Wood), Shane Carver, Lee Winterman
Unused subs - Wes Butler, Andy Abbott
Harworth Colliery
Steve Wibberley, Jordan Hardman, Josh Forbes (Simon Brewster), James Woodard (c), Martyn Gee, Greg Archer, Dean Bonser (Paul Burns), Jonathon Bownes, Gaz Sides (Ollie Chappell), Tom Walker. Arron Blakey
It would be fair to say, that Harworth have lost their way a bit after embarking on a seven game unbeaten run before losing by just a single goal, against a virtually full strength Frickley Athletic team, in the Sheffield & Hallamshire Cup earlier this month.
That said, Brodsworth were well up for this game and good value for their two goal lead at the break.
It's difficult to pinpoint why the Colliery aren't firing on all cylinders at the moment, but having given the matter a lot of thought this last week or so, I'll endeavour to list a few possible route causes behind their apparent malais a the present time.
Injuries and player unavailability:
The input of the pacey attacking trio of Chris Belshaw, Tom Pick and Lee Edmondson this season shouldn't be underestimated.
To lose just one of these players would've been a big blow, but for all three to be absent for various lengths of time ... well, the team has had to be altered (out of necessity) beyond all recognition.
For the time being at least.
The disruption created by the absence of the aforementioned trio, has seen several players having to be used out of their normal positions to plug gaps, where they are understandably not as effective as they are when their own strengths are being utilised for the good of the team.
Complacency:
Not a personal viewpoint I hasten to add.
But I did hear somebody say, immediately after the game, "We should be beating clubs like Broddy".
It would seem to be the case then, that some people have lost sight of the fact that Harworth Colliery are actually a club very much like Brodsworth Welfare.
But the good run of results and 'glamour' game the team recently enjoyed, may have raised the bar as regards a few people's expectation levels.
They need to remember it was hard work, application and fitness that got the team into that lofty position. You have to turn it on week in, week out and resting on your laurels never won anything.
Any team is only as good as their last game.
Which probably puts the Colliery side somewhere around mid table on today's showing, rather than aspiring to push for a top three finish and improvement on last season.
Anybody in this league can put one over on any opposition on their day and it would be foolish to walk out onto the pitch thinking all you had to do was turn up to put one over on a team 'like Brodsworth'.
The home side worked hard for each other today as they relentlessly took the game to a tired looking Harworth at times.
The Ryan Paczkowski factor:
Today 'Raz' was instinctively in the right place at the right time for Brigg Town, to net a deflected goal that helped to put Frickley Athletic out of the FA Trophy.
Since Paczkowski went back to Brigg, following some man sized performance in the orange and black of Harworth, his presence has been notably lacking and sorely missed.
Sure Harworth have a good number of players who will step up to the mantle and put in immense performances in their own right. But any team at this level would benefit from having a star player like Patch in their line up and would struggle as much as the Colliery are doing at this present time to replace him.
"It'll be just like starting over":
Harworth have the nucleus of a good side, a very good side actually and looking at the calibre of the recent signings and another newcomer who is hopefully going to get clearance prior to next Saturday's home game against Easington United, there will be no place for complacent performances any more, if indeed that is a problem with a few players.
Because the competition for places is hotting up all of the time now.
Once this side gels, they'll be picking up where they've seemingly left off ... and lets not forget a whole stream of available talent is knocking on the first team selection door via the Reserves too.
To my way of thinking, for what it is worth, the current blip in form stems from the fact that, so many important players are missing in action (for the time being) or gone altogether since those heady days of September, it is almost as though the team is having a second pre season right now, whereby they're having to learn new tricks and blend additions to the squad in, without the benefit of practice matches and friendlies to make introductions and tweak the system.
The current team are right in it at the deep end now, but my money is on them swimming, not sinking.
Don't panic, keep the faith.
It's going to come good any time soon.
It's not all doom and gloom and this season is far from over, by a long way.
So, eventually (you'll doubtless be relieved to hear), on with this afternoon's action.
At the outset, Tom Walker broke his personal best time and was pulled up for the first infringement of the game, after just 23 seconds.
Walker is a grafter, who lets his feet do the talking.
Sometimes he'll pull off a moment of quite breathtaking individual ingenuity, or bury the ball into the back of the net for fun. And others, well you just have to cringe and hope that the days referee realises that the CMFL is sometimes as much about a bit of rough and tumble as it is finesse.
Broddy had come out fired up. motivated and raring to go and it was almost as if they could sense that the visitors were struggling to find any cohesion at present and were probably short on a bit of confidence as a coincidence.
 |
| Tom Walker spots a chink in Broddy's armour ... 1-1 |
Mel Cotton cut in from the right but he blazed his shot narrowly wide of the left hand upright.
Gareth Dawson thumped a 25 yard free kick at the Harworth goal, but Steve Wibberley got across to put the ball round the post for a corner.
Shane Carver was all over the edge of the Colliery box like a rash, but the warning signs weren't heeded and he was given the time and space to fire the home side ahead on 9 minutes.
It was the wake up call that Harworth needed and within two minutes, the scores were level, when Walker ignored his team mates movements off the ball, waited for a small crack to appear in the Brodsworth defensive wall and belted the ball home from the edge of the D
Shortly afterwards Walker was in the book for a fairly innocuous challenge, a decision that was possibly a bi-product of having his card marked for going in heavily straight from kick off.
Shane Carver sent Lee Winterman away on a left wing charge down to the byline, but Mark Vickerage air kicked as the ball flew across the face of the Colliery goal.
Harworth attacked through Dean Bonser and Jonny Bownes, the latter played an inviting, dipping long pass towards Harworth debutant Arron Blakey, but the powerfully built striker headed narrowly wide.
On 33 minutes Dean Bonser was fouled half way inside his own half, but as the Harworth players came to a standstill, Brodsworth played to the whistle, or lack of whistle if you must and Carver charged forward and put the ball past the advancing Steve Wibberley, who'd been left stranded in no mans land by a curious refereeing decision.
For the record, I'm not being biased as regards the circumstances leading up to the goal, both benches were equally animated, infuriated and up in arms at several refereeing decisions that unfathomably went against them at various points throughout the afternoon.
Mr Rob Jackson is an affable man and a very capable referee, but in my humble opinion, he had a bit of a stinker today.
And I don't think you'd find many people associated with either side who would disagree with that statement.
A long ball over the Harworth defence caught them flat footed as Shane Carver raced into the box, there was a call for 'offside' but the Blues forward put the ball high and wide anyway, after James Woodward got across and put him off of his stride.
It was a bit of a let off for Harworth as Broddy kept pushing forward with a three pronged attack.
 |
| Whoops! That one would've been your hat trick Mr Carver. |
Brodsworth closed the half as they had started it ... on the attack. Their third goal, on 45 minutes was an opportunist one to say the least.
As Gareth Dawson long free kick landed in front of Mel Cotton on the edge of the area, with his back to goal, it took an awkward bounce and the Blues number 9 flicked it backwards with his head, over James Woodward and Steve Wibberley.
A quick split second decision by Cotton had put the home side in control as the teams left the pitch at half time and though Harworth were playing below par, you can't take anything away from the home side. They had attacked at will and deserved to be two goals in front.
HT - Brodsworth 1 v Harworth 1
Brodsworth started the second half on the front foot and Steve Wibberley was called on twice to keep Harworth in the game, first tipping over Lee Winterman's pile driver after Shane Carver had cued him up with a sideways pass and then keeping out a towering header from Gareth Dawson has he powered a Winterman corner towards the Colliery goal.
The introduction of Simon Brewster and Paul Burns from the bench, saw Harworth tighten things up a bit across the final third and actually start to push forward down the left flank a few times. But although the visitors saw a lot of the ball for a ten minute spell, there was no end product as Broddy closed ranks.
But on 69 minutes, Jordan Hardman tried his luck from 25 yards and his shot looped over Dominic Senior via a deflection from Andy Culshaw. 3-2, game on?
 |
| Andy Culshaw 'celebrates' Jordan Hardman's goal |
Burns, playing further forward than he is accustomed to, put over a couple of dangerous looking balls to Arron Blakey, but the first was headed away over his own bar by Dan Smith and Senior plucked the second from Blakey's head
Senior thwarted Burns again as the clock ran down, palming away a well struck effort.
Blakey took a knock and went down but play went on and Walker crossed into the home sides box, but the Broddy defence stood firm.
Both Blakey and the Harworth bench had beckoned Walker to play on, but the Brodsworth manager was on his feet and calling out that Harworth should have put the ball out, so the Colliery striker could receive treatment.
But it was all heat of the moment stuff and no offence was taken as a few choice words were exchanged by various parties.
With the clock running down and Harworth looking to mount a late challenge to salvage a point, Lee Winterman broke away for the Blues and had the chance to put the game to bed, but his stinging shot rattled back off the Harworth cross bar.
And that was that.
In conclusion, you would have to say, that in all honesty, both sides probably got what they deserved out of today's game.
I hate to say it, but hands up, Brodsworth looked like they wanted it more over the 90 minutes.
Harworth need to ask themselves questions after that display, they'll know they can play an whole lot better than they did today, but I shouldn't really point to their shortcomings this afternoon as the reason they lost. Brodsworth earned this result so credit where its due.
The Colliery need to regain their desire, I've highlighted a few underlying causes that have contributed to their slump in form, but they're more than capable of picking up where they left off and picking the momentum back up following their current transitional phase.
Lets be having you Harworth! Theres still a lot of football to be played this season and now is the time to grab yourself a piece of the action.
FT - Brodsworth 3 v Harworth 2
This report has been produced for use on the official
Harworth Colliery FC Website check it out.
