THE66POW

Tuesday 26th April 2016
Toolstation NCEL Division 1 Play Off Semi Final
at the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground
AFC Emley (0) 1
Kieran Ryan 87
Penistone Church (0) 0
Admission £4.50. Programme £1.50. Attendance 463

463 people made their way along the narrow winding lanes, to this picturesque rural location (Emley has a population of just 1,867) up in 'them there hills', to see AFC Emley and Penistone Church go head to head for a place in this weekend's NCEL Division 1 play off final, against either Bottesford Town or Hallam, who play each other tomorrow night in their semi final.
With so much at stake, the game had a nervy edge to it at times, but nonetheless, both sides put on a great spectacle for all of those who'd turned out at the Pewits three sided ground, that they share with Emley Clarence Cricket Club.
The game was as tight as the final scoreline suggests and seemed to be heading for extra time, until the home side scored the only goal of the night inside the final three minutes.
The visitors had shaded the first half of the game possession wise and by virtue of their slightly higher goal scoring opportunities count, but Emley turned those statistics on their head after the break as the pendulum swung marginally towards the Upper Lane based team.

The respective managers of these two sides: Darren Hepworth and Ian Richards have a very similar approach to playing the game in the correct manner, in fact I would go as far as to say that 'Church' blew me away with quick movement and attacking prowess when I last saw them play at Rossington Main earlier in the season. But there were times tonight, when both clubs, with their similar strengths, cancelled each other out as they locked horns.
Of course, Emley have the mindbogglingly prolific strike Ash Flynn in their ranks, who went into tonight's game with a quite staggering total of 73 goals under his belt for the season, but tonight Tom Cadzow made a real fist of keeping a watchful on him, most of the time.
Ollie Fearon came close to opening the scoring (twice) for Penistone, with his second attempt, a header from Ash Ellis' right wing cross dropping agonizingly close to the left hand upright of Adam Lawlor's goal.

Kieran Ryan picked out Flynn with a delivery into the area, but the Church doors were closed quickly by the ever attentive Cadzow who headed the ball away to safety.
Tom Brennan proved to be a tower of strength at the other end as he intercepted the ball as Fearon attacked the Emley goal in tandem with Steve Kenworthy.
The home side regrouped and Ryan played the ball into the path of Jordan Townsend, who tried to lob Adam Rhodes from fifteen yards, but cleared the crossbar with his effort.
The game continued in it's end to end vein as Fearon broke clear in the goal area, but as he lined up his shot, Sam Jerome arrived just in the nick of time to whack the ball away from the danger zone.

Ryan slipped the ball to Craig Billington on the left hand side of Penistone's eighteen yard box, but when his ball into the mix found its way through to Townsend, he was forced into rushing his shot by the close attention of Brennan and he scuffed his effort off target.
Michael Tunnacliffe, the Pewits captain, tried to release Flynn with a long pass down the middle, but Rhodes punched the ball clear from off of the well marshaled strikers head before he could get a touch.
The crowd held their collective breath as Iwan Heeley delivered a teasing free kick deep into the Penistone area that Billington flicked into the path of Flynn, who with the goal at his mercy skied it over the bar and into the car park.
The visitors pushed forward again and it was squeaky bum time for Emley, as Jerome made a real mess of trying to clear a bouncing ball that dropped into the path of Kenworthy, but as the Church striker tried to bring it under control, Lawlor raced from his line and held on for grim life and the heart fluttering moment had gone.
HT: AFC Emley 0 v Penistone Church 0

At half time as our Mansfield Alliance party, made up of a delegation from both AFC Mansfield and the Stags, wrapped up against the elements; with the sun plummeting behind the stand and temperature dropping rapidly, I spotted a local wearing shorts and a t-shirt, kinnel!
I made a mental note not to make eye contact with him. Hard as nails or what!?
The tempo of the game picked up after the interval, but the players were probably running about more to try and keep warm.
Billington found himself unmarked early in the second half, but nodded the ball wide and Penistone were relieved to see the ball clear their crossbar twice in the space of a few minutes, when Rhodes turned Flynn's effort over and Jerome powered a header over with the Church keeper beaten all ends up.
Ash Ellis was unlucky to see the ball roll past the post after he'd picked up a cross from Danny Joynes and seen off a tackle.
Heeley pushed up from his right back berth and when Ryan met his cross with a thumping header it looked as though the deadlock had been broken, but the ball crashed back off the crossbar and Billington's close range strike from the rebound hit a Church defender on the line.

"Me and my shadow!"

Fearon, who put in a indefatigable night's work for the Church cause, hit a blistering long range drive that Lawlor did well to reach and tip away from the top corner of his goal.
Joynes and Fearon were battling to get into the home side's area from out on the left flank as the clock ticked down and an extra thirty minutes looked to be on the cards.
But then, Jordan Coduri adopted the guise of a shock troop and sprinted down the left flank. His pace took him past three Penistone players and his cross from the dead ball line found Ryan, who turned and cracked a great finish past Rhodes to give Emley the lead.
The late strike set up a grandstand finish and Penistone were unlucky when Sam Jerome cleared Lewis Dickinson's angled shot off the line and the visitors misery was compounded when Joynes netted what he thought was a dramatic late equaliser from Dickinson's cross, inside the final minute, but the goal was ruled out for offside... ouch!
FT: AFC Emley 1 v Penistone Church 0

All told, a great advert for NCEL Division 1 football, that could have gone either way.

It was a real shame that either side had to lose.

Both teams left the pitch in turn to thoroughly warranted generous applause.

Penistone Church will be gutted... but they also should be very proud of their efforts.

AFC Emley will now await the outcome of tomorrow night's second semi final at Birch Park to see who they will face in Saturday's make or break grand finale.

See you all at Bottesford in 24 hours time :-)

Wednesday 27th April 2016
Toolstation NCEL Division 1 Play Off Semi Final
at Birch Park, Ontario Road, Bottesford
Bottesford Town (0) 2
Wayne Graves 72, 85
Hallam FC (0) 0
Admission £5. Programme £1. Attendance 275
According to the club's records in the programme, the highest ever attendance at Bottesford was 204, who attended a game v Scarborough in September 2008.
Which doubtless means that the Poachers will now smash that record twice this week.

Bottesford Town:
Leigh Herrick, Danny Gibbons, Jack Cross, Lee Ridley, Tom Johnson, Terry Barwick, Tom Spall, Martin Pembleton, Danny Boulton, Josh Nichol, Wayne Graves
Subs - Craig Bridge, Luke Robinson, Steve Ridley, Ryan Short, Matt Steeper
Hallam FC:
Dave Darwent, Elliott Simpson, Micah Bishop, Simon Mirfin, Scott Lowe, Tim Whittaker, James Reed, James Lipka, Michael Blythen, Steve Brammer, Ted Phillips
Subs - Max Pemberton, Tom Nolan, Harry Bamforth, Danny Mulooly, Connor Chappell

Bottesford Town set up a play off final on their home pitch v AFC Emley in three days time, by virtue of a brace of second half goals from Wayne Graves which he netted shortly an outstanding save by Leigh Herrick had kept Michael Blythen's well struck free kick from going in by the foot of the post, at a point in the game when Hallam had been getting on top of things for a while.
The Poachers had finished the season two days ago, in third place, ten points clear of Ryan Hindley's side, but that kind of thing goes out of the window in these one off winner takes all games.

Personally, although people have mixed opinions on the merits of a couple of play off games deciding the outcome of nine whole months of sweat and toil, I personally think they are a good thing by virtue of creating sustaining interest until the very end of the season, while generating a much needed cash boost for the competing clubs, who would otherwise get no money coming in through the turnstiles for three whole months.

Prior to kick off, there was an immaculately observed minutes silence for Josh Catterall, a twenty year old who worked with Bottesford Town's Under 16 team, before he tragically lost his life on Friday.

Rest in peace Josh

Michael Blythen had the first chance of the game, but he uncharacteristically drilled his shot well wide of the target.
Wayne Graves got the better of Tim Whittaker and laid the ball sideways across the face of the Hallam goal, but Dave Darwent pounced and smothered the ball at Danny Boulton's feet.
Blythen had the ball in the net for the visitors as he tangled with Jack Cross, nudged the ball forward and finished from just inside the area, but the referee decreed that Cross had been fouled and the goal was ruled out.
It was one of those 50/50 decisions that would be viewed completely differently by the respective followers of each club, but from my position of complete neutrality, I can categorically say, without fear of contradiction, that it was definitely one that I wouldn't have wanted to call.

Steve Brammer cut into the Poachers area from out on the right flank and his cross cum shot deflected wide of the goal and Leigh Herrick did well to keep the ball from going out for a corner.
Brammer was penalised for a hand ball as he jumped to clear the ball away from outside the Hallam goal area, but Terry Barwick drilled the ball straight at the visitors defensive wall.
The Countrymen attacked again through Brammer who picked out James Lipka whose shot was saved and Ted Phillips cleared Herrick's crossbar from the rebound.
The game moved back into Hallam's half from Herrick's goal kick and Josh Nichol tried his luck from 25 yards, but he hit his speculative effort way too high and the ball disappeared harmlessly into the car park.

Whittaker stopped Boulton in full flow with an excellently timed slide tackle... somebody was bound to try one on the sticky wicket, that had suffered a real downpour of rain, sleat and snow in the build up to the game. Luckily we'd checked the forecast and watched a 'four seasons in one day' demonstration of rapidly changing weather conditions, through the window of the nearby Dolphin public house, while waiting for the clubs to confirm that the late pitch inspection had been successfully passed.
Brammer was having a personal one versus one with Danny Gibbons, who battled to clear the ball from the Hallam playmaker and finally got it away at the third attempt.
On the stroke of half time, Simon Mirfin conceded a corner, which Cross swung dangerously into the visitors goalmouth, but as the ball took an awkward bounce, Darwent clutched it to his chest, with Nichol homing in.
HT: Bottesford Town 0 v Hallam FC 0

Hallam came flying out of the blocks at the start of the second half, using Phillips as an outlet on the left wing.
The visitors wide man was thwarted by Gibbons, but moments later he was back and beat the defender, forcing Herrick to advance from his goal to salvage the situation.
Micah Bishop's left wing cross found Whittaker, but he headed over from close range.
Herrick was in the thick of the action, when Mirfin shot straight at him and shortly afterwards the experienced keeper had to intercept a through ball from Lipka that had left Bottesford's defence flat footed.
It's a good job that these railway welders don't do anything all day and conserve their energy for playing in goal at night, isn't it!?

Terry Barwick (who'd have thought it!?), conceded a free kick 15 yards from the Poachers goal.
Herrick was slightly off centre to the left of his goal, when Blythen delivered a perfectly flighted free kick towards the opposite bottom corner, but Herrick covered the ground in a flash and pulled off a worldly to keep the ball out. James Reed tried to steer the loose ball back across the face of goal, but it was cleared for a corner. Had Blythen's free kick have gone in, with Bottesford weathering a bit of a storm, tonight's final income could've have been very different. Well. slightly different anyway, given that there were only two options, but you get my drift. That particular save was just as important as either goal.
Bottesford were stung into action by their close call and snatched the lesad from their next attack, when Tom Spall broke away on the right and drilled a low cross into the Hallam goalmouth, from which Boulton took a slight touch to divert it to Wayne Graves who buried the ball past Darwent with an emphatic shot.

Hallam tried opening up the Bottesford defence with a long ball, straight down the middle that was flicked on by the evergreen Scott Lowe, but Herrick was in no mood to surrender his clean sheet and he puched the ball away to safety.
Graves came close to grabbing a second goal for the home side, but Drwent was alert to his threat and grabbed the ball out of the air.
But in the 82nd minute, nobody was aware of what Graves was about to attempt, when he thumped an out of the blue long range shot, that found it's way into the back of the net via Darwent's outstretched gloves.
I heard somebody say "Goalkeeper error!" but that was disingenuous to both players, one had scored a great goal out of nothing, the other had bust a gut to prevent it.

In stoppage time, Graves could've claimed his hat trick but he leaned back and propelled his shot over thefence and onto the adjacent junior training pitches.
The referee blew for full time and Bottesford had turned a backs to the wall opening 20 minutes or so of the second half, when they'd had their keeper to thank for keeping them in the game, into a winning formula.
FT: Bottesford Town 2 v Hallam 0
So, the Poachers will now face AFC Emley at Birch Park on Saturday, in the play off final, while Hallam can take consolation from the fact that they have obviously got enough quality players in their ranks to have another tilt at promotion next season.
Final word must go to the Hallam Ultras, a young body of fans who vocally got behind the south Yorkshire side all night and were magnanimous enough to give the victors a great reception at the end of the night too.

Saturday 30th April 2016

Football League Youth Alliance - North East

at Cheapside, Waltham

Grimsby Town (0) 0

Mansfield Town (1) 2
Kieran Harrison 36, Zayn Hakeem 72

A result that means Mansfield Town U18 are FLYA (NE) champions
Click HERE for Flickr photo gallery from this game

Mariners:

Corey Briggs, Adam Lanis, Mikey Davis, Myles Lawman, Joe Crowther, Cameron Hough, Max Wright, Tom Sawyer, Bilal Sessay, Callum Jennings (C), Jamie Gooddard

Subs - Joey Finnigan, Jack Pearson, Ben Sibbick, Ryan Evans, Charlie Lofts

Stags:

Adam Bishop, Teddy Bloor, Louis Danquah, Cain Smith, Morgan Ratcliffe (C), Kieran Harrison, Tyler Johal, Cameron Healey, Tyler Blake (Tom Marriott 87), Alistair Smith (Devante Reittie 84), Zayn Hakeem (Nyle Blake 79)

Unused subs - Sam Wilson, Kane Baldwin

The real beauty of this championship clinching performance, is that all but a couple of this Stags side are still first years, who are still eligible to play at this age level next season, it's a mouthwatering prospect and bodes very well for the future progress and development of the youngsters, who were actually light of two players who they could have selected today (including a 16 year old), because they were away on first team duty at Leyton Orient.

A good number of this years successful Under 16 crop of players will also be available to join John Dempster and Mark Peters side next season too.

Exciting times ahead then.

Although their fate was in their own hands and a win would secure the league title regardless of how Scunthorpe United fared today, the Stags knew they were going to have to work hard against a young Mariners side who had proved to be tough opposition in both league and cup competitions already this season.

Mansfield came out all guns blazing and Tyler Blake chased down Corey Brigg and forced him into a save inside the first minute and the Grimsby keeper was called into action again moments later when he had to sprint out of his area, to nick the ball away from Zayn Hakeem, who had dispossessed Joe Crowther in the middle of the park before charging toward's the home side's goal.

Kieran Harrison broke up an attack and switched play into the host team's half with a quick pass to Cain Smith whose wide ball to the ever willing Tyler Johal, was whacked out of play by Adam Lanis as he raced back to prevent a cross into his goal area.

Bilal Sassey broke free down the right flank, but Grimsby's first attack was thwarted when Teddy Bloor stooped to head the Grimsby number 9's cross away.

The Stags right back is a real box to box player and within minutes of tidying things up at one end, he was involved at the other, providing the ammunition for Johal at the other end,with a throw in that Crowther failed to deal with and Briggs was called on again to thwart the Stags as he grabbed at Johal's shot.

Briggs' long clearance bounced deep inside the Mansfield half but as Tom Sawyer raced after the ball, Adam Bishop had spotted the danger and came off his line to collect, with Joe Harper screaming at the Mariners number 8 to get the ball out wide to Huckleberry Finn, who had made an crafty blind side run. OK, I made that last bit up to see if the Stags website admin were paying attention or not ;-)

Ali Smith was excelling the role as a foil to his fellow attackers and was unlucky when his measured ball through to Tyler Blake came to nothing when the assistant referee's flag went up late.

But as Grimsby conceded possession quite quickly from the resulting free kick, Ali Smith struck again and released Tyler Johal through into the penalty area, but with only Briggs to beat, the ball sat up awkwardly and Johal shot over the bar from 10 yards out.

Sessay got forward for the home side, but as his pace got him in behind the Stags defence, Bishop reacted quickly and smothered the ball at the Mariners striker's feet.

Though this game was being billed as the day the Stags clinched the title, the home side were ignoring that script and the visitors were relieved to see Callum Jennings shoot over the bar from 12 yards after Max Wright had picked him out with a great pass.

Bloor's cross was fumbled by Briggs and fell to Johal whose goal bound strike was blocked by Crowther and ricocheted into the path of Cain Smith and his crashing shot through the crowded goalmouth was deflected wide of the right hand post.

It was quite fitting that when the Stags finally did beat the deadlock it was through a combination of two of their most consistent performers over the course of the season... when Louis Danquah's corner kick, was met by Kieran Harrison who headed the ball firmly into the back of the Mariners net.

Tyler Blake slipped the ball through the Grimsby back four who were defending high up the pitch, but the Stags were frustrated again by another late flag after Hakeen had seemed to time his run to perfection.

Tyler Blake appeared to be tripped in the Grimsby area but the ref waved play on, Cameron Hough, Grimsby's centre half nudged the ball to his keeper, but Hakeem burst in to plant the ball past Briggs. But, once again, the linesman endeared himself to the local supporters and raised his flag, to signal an offside infringement to the referee who chalked Hakeem's strike off.

The Stags captain Morgan Ratcliffe, delivered a long ball towards Tyler Blake, but Briggs came off his line a caught it, in spite of his defence having temporarily gone AWOL

HT: Mariners Youth 0 v Stags Youth 1

Tyler Blake drew a defender out of position as he slowed down his run towards the edge of Briggs' penalty area and rolled the ball into the space he had created for Hakeem to run onto, but, with so much at stake, the first team fringe player was too eager to get his shot away quickly and he sliced the ball wide of the target.

Another goal always looked to be on the cards as the visitors upped things a notch and put Grimsby under a sustained spell of pressure.

Jennings was marshaling his Mariners team mates well, as they battled hard to clear their lines, but they had Briggs to thank for clawing the ball away from the visitors forwards, when Ratcliffe headed Danquah's right wing free kick back across the front of the goal.

Hakeem burst past Hough and advanced on Briggs goal, but the Grimsby defender pulled him back and they crashed to the floor together.
Once again the match officials saw no wrong in a clumsy Mariners challenge and the home side got away with what had looked like a stonewall penalty to the parents and supporters from Mansfield who were stood directly in line with the incident.

A bit of niggardliness began to creep into the game, as the visiting players felt they weren't getting the rub of the green, while the hosts seemed to be getting away with far too many indiscretions.

The Stags won a corner when Adam Lanis lost a tussle for the ball with Tyler Blake. Bloor floated the ball beyond the back post, Cameron Healey nodded it back across the face of Grimsby's goal and Morgan Ratcliffe glanced a header against the upright.

Tenuous decisions apparently balance themselves out over the course of a season, but the Stags were denied what looked like another definite penalty, when Ali Smith forced his way past two defenders and sprinted into the Grimsby area, Crowther caught him with an outstretched leg, there was a cracking noise as their boots came together and the Stags number 10, with goal at his mercy was tripped. The only decisions that seemingly needed to be made was whether the foul had occurred inside the area or out, and how the Mariners captain would be dealt with, given that Alistair was the last man. The crowd held their breath and waited to see what the referee was going to do... he did nothing... apart from wave play on.

The young Stags weren't going to let the way things were panning out knock them out of their stride however and fortunately Ratcliffe was still focused enough to realise that Grimsby had broken forward on the counter attack and was on hand to clear Bilal Sessay's goal bound strike off the line.

It was apparent that with just the one goal cushion, the Stags would need to score again while they were pushing forward and vulnerable to a counter attack, but they must have wondered if the fates were against them when Bloor hooked a cross in and Tyler Blake directed his header out of the reach of Briggs, but the ball cannoned back off the left hand post.

But in the 72nd minute the Stags were nearly home and dry, when Ali Smith and Tyler Blake homed in on the Mariners keeper in tandem and he had to push the ball away to his left where Hakeem was arriving at just the right moment to roll the ball over the goal line and all but claim the victory and the league championship for the Mansfield Town.

Hakeem had two more chances to increase the lead, but Briggs turned one around the upright and the Mansfield frontman who had given his all chasing everything and anything today, headed the other over the bar, before he hobbled off with cramp to be replaced by Nyle Blake, a product of the Stags Under 16 side, who looks to be comfortably taking the step up a level.

Briggs turned a header from Nyle Blake onto the bar, when Johal put found him with a telling cross... and the Stags substitute came close again when Briggs saved from John Dempster's youngest youngster, when he shot from 12 yards despite being held back.

Blake junior was running amok in the Mariners area as the clock ticked down and when he rolled the ball back from the dead ball line to Johal, the former Ilkeston player was only inches away from scoring as his shot cleared the bar.

The last action of the second half, saw Cain Smith drill the ball narrowly wide from outside the area, but mattered not, the final whistle sounded and the celebrations began... we are the champions my friends!

FT: Grimsby Town U18 0 v Mansfield Town U18 2

Footnote to a great season:

Of course, football at this level is all about nurturing talent and helping to bring out the best in developing young footballer; essentially, nobody likes to lose, but results should never take precedence.
The enjoyment, camaraderie and bonding associated with this young Stags side this season is the most important thing, even though it is very nice to finish the season off at the top of the pile, in a league where the majority of opposition sides boast stronger and older squads of players.
The management, players, coaches, support staff, the families and supporters who have turned out to support this Under 18 adventure over the season, not forgetting the directors who oversee the development side of things at Mansfield Town, have had a great time together, it is a real shame that the season is now over, but the party isn't going to be and the friendships and links we've formed as we all gelled as a group aren't going to go away, as everyone moves on to the next phase.
I have worked with and met some truly awesome people this season, thank you for your time, effort and support... it has been my most enjoyable season ever and I feel privileged to have rubbed shoulders with you all.
But, everything else aside, well done lads! It is all about you.
You've got the future at your feet now, enjoy yourselves!

Saturday 30th April 2016

Toolstation NCEL Division 1 Play Off Final

Bottesford Town (0) 1

Terry Barwick 90+ Pen

AFC Emley (0) 1

Michael Tunnacliffe 74

Admission £5. Programme £1. Attendance 280

Full time 1-1. AET 1-1. Bottesford won 4-3 on penalties

Bottesford Town:
Leigh Herrick, Danny Gibbons, Steve Ridley, Lee Ridley (C), Tom Johnson, Terry Barwick, Tom Spall, Martin Pembleton, Danny Boulton, Josh Nichol, Wayne Graves
Subs - Craig Bridge, Aaron Busby, Ollie Donald, Ryan Short, Luke Robinson
AFC Emley
Paul Day, Iwan Heeley, Jordan Coduri, Robbie Graham, Sam Jerome, Tom Brennan, Michael Tunnacliffe (C), Jordan Townend, Ash Flynn, Kieran Ryan, Ruben Jerome
Subs - Dominic Noteman, Alex Slack, Craig Billington, Alex Hallam, Paul Sykes

Leigh Herrick, Bottesford's experienced goalkeeper, bid farewell to his playing career today and signed off in style, turning Sam Jerome's spot kick away, to claim a 4-3 victory for his side in the penalty shoot out that determined which of these sides would be promoted to the NCEL Premier Division.
Personally I think it's great that Leigh went out with a bang, while recognising the fact that AFC Emley were desperately unlucky not to have won this winner takes all, end of season lottery, in normal time.
Tom Brennan was the visitors man of the match, in the centre of their defence, where he didn't miss a header all afternoon and prowled his domain authoritatively with a single minded "they shalt not pass" determination that marked him out above all others.

It was ironic that it was Brennan who conceded the injury time penalty, when he tripped Wayne Greaves whilst trying to clear what must surely have been the Poachers last throw of the dice, that let the home side back into the game, when, if the Pewits hadn't been guilty of some spectacularly profligate finishing and Herrick hadn't been so determined to give his side a massive parting gift, the game should've been over as a contest, long before the visitors captain Mike Tunnacliffe had headed home the opening goal on 74 minutes.
But deep into stoppage time, Terry Barwick made light work of dealing with the pressure he must surely have been under and drilled the ball past Paul Day to set up an 30 minutes of play, which in the event, still wasn't long enough to separate these two promotion hopefuls and the shoot out was required.

Obviously, Leigh Herrick is the obvious choice as Bottesford's man of the match, although the referee, Martin Chester (from Lincolnshire) probably ran the Poachers custodian close to nicking that particular accolade on a number of occasions.

Everybody makes mistakes... and though their is no doubt that Mr Chester was guilty of several complete howlers over the course of the game, the eventual losers wouldn't have needed to claim that the decisions that went against them cost them the game, if the league's top scorer, Ash Flynn, with 73 (seventy three) goals to his name this season, prior to today, hadn't completely fluffed his lines several times, when it was his turn to call the shots.
He'll be back stronger for the experience next season, as will his team. I'm sure that Darren Hepworth's plans for another tilt at the title are already at a very advanced stage in preparation for next term. I wouldn't bet against them.

Flynn had an off day in the Pewits biggest game of the season... mind you I would imagine that it requires a lot of effort to project a sphere into the top corner of the goal, when you are stood just inside the area with your back to it, while two opposition players are simultaneously kicking your legs from under you and grappling with your upper torso.
But hey! The referee was better placed than me to make a decision as regards that particular episode, even if his reading of the incident was unique compared to everyone else in the grounds take on things.
And let's not forget, although the referee is a resident of Lincolshire, both of his assistants are Yorkshireman, not that I am doubting anybody's complete neutrality at this this juncture you understand.

Leastways, you can't blame the officials for everything I did count four separate occasions, when (in chronological order) Jordan Coduri, Kieran Ryan, Michael Tunnacliffe and Ruben Jerome all drilled the ball across the face of the Bottesford goal, that all only needed to faintest of touches from the Pewits number 9 to increase their goal tally, but despite Flynn having made all of the right runs, he failed to get any purchase on any of them, if indeed he managed to touch the ball at all. But, let's be serious here for a moment, he probably knew that Herrick was always more likely to come out on top anyway.

Terry Barwick makes it 1-1 in the ninety somethingth minute

Mr Craggs of the parish of Mansfield said to me as I was giving him a running commentary of the notes I was jotting down, asked if I was doing a match report or writing a testimonial brochure for the Poachers goalkeeper (they are welcome to borrow my fan boy scrap book in the occurrence of such an event, as long as I get it back), after two plus hours of open play and thirteen previous spot kicks had failed to find a winner between these two sides, somebody had to step up to the mantle and claim the day for his team... and to that end Leigh Herrick underlined, with a thick red marking pen, why I had every faith in him to go out on a high this afternoon.
FT: 1-1 Bottesford Town win on penalties

Game over courtesy of Lee Herrick

No doubt there will be far more detailed accounts of today's events elsewhere, given how many proper scribes, bloggers, reporters and real photographers were present, with their fancy equipment, apps, laptops and stonking great big phallically bulging camera lens' to utilise.
This is my humble and truncated guide to what went on, detailing the input (or lack of it) of the pivotal characters.
No offence intended or 'owt, some people will know they could have done better and will be relishing the opportunity to put matters right after the summer.

Well done and good luck in the NCEL Premier Division next season Bottesford Town.

Commiserations to AFC Emley, you deserved to win the game over the course of 90 minutes, let this be a springboard for next season now.

And last but not least, best wishes with your post football playing life Leigh Herrick, you're going to miss it like hell pal and the local non league circuit is going to miss your massive presence too, even if, right now, AFC Emley must be wishing you'd retired in the week leading up to the play offs.

Monday 2nd May 2016
FA Women's Super League
at Meadow Lane, Nottingham
Notts County (2) 3
Ellen White 13, 59
Jess Clarke 34
Liverpool (0) 2
Katie Zelem 85 pen, 87
Admission £6. Programme £2. Attendance 1407

Ladies Academy poster opposite NCFC entrance with NFFC in background

Notts County:

Telford; Buet, Bradley-Auckland (Krantz 46), F Whelan, Turner; Clarke, Bassett, James, Crichton; White, Yankey (Luik 74). Subs not used: Walsh, A Whelan, Hassall, O'Neill.

Liverpool:

Chamberlain; Harding, Bonner, van den Berg, Pacheco (Greenwood 64); Coombs, Ingle; Zelem; van de Sanden, Weir (Longhurst 74), White (Lundh 64). Subs not used: Gibbons, Hodson, Murray.

Surprisingly this was County's first win in their opening four games.

I say surprisingly, because with players of the calibre of Jess Clarke and Rachel Yankey (currently on loan from Arsenal), terrorising opposition defences down both flanks, while providing a consistent service of quality openings for England striker Ellen White, they're not going to finish many games without having scored like they did at Manchester City in March.

Prior to kick off their was a minutes applause held, by way of a tribute to the Liverpool fans who have fought for justice since April 1989, for the supporters who died as a consequence of the Hillsborough disaster.

At half time, with the 'Lady Pies', as they call themselves, looking good for all three points and sitting on a very comfortable 2-0 lead and seemingly in control of the game, nobody could have predicted the kind of second half that actually unfolded, when Liverpool had a delayed real go at salvaging a point... and they very nearly did too, as Notts were made to hang on for dear life towards the end of the game.

Liverpool started well enough, with Rosie White going close twice, with Carly Telford needing to sprint out of her area to clear the ball when the visitors number 13 chased after a long pass that had caught the Magpies defence flat footed, while at the other end Sophie Ingle was on hand to hook Clarke's cross away from in front of Siobhan Chamberlain's goal, after the tricky winger had swapped flanks momentarily and got in behind the Reds defence.

The home side took the lead on 13 minutes through Ellen White, when Rachel Yankey put the ball on a plate for her with a great delivery from out on the left hand side of the field.

With the bit between their teeth, Notts upped the ante and Leanne Chrichton shot over, after Liverpool had made hard work of clearing a through ball from Clarke and at the third attempt, could only hook it as far away as Chrichton.

Yankey played a short pass down the left flank to Fern Whelan, who dragged two defenders out of position before knocking a return ball back to Yankee, who dropped a teasing cross towards the back stick, where Clarke couldn't quite get a clean contact and she scuffed her shot off target.

But Clarke atoned for her miss in the 34th minute, when she won the ball from Mandy van den Berg on the right hand side of the area, skipped past her and curled a great left footed shot into the opposite top corner of the goal.

Liverpool's captain Gemma Bonner realised that this game was slipping away and as County took their places in anticipation of the restart, she summoned her entire team to the middle of pitch, where they held a group huddle and refocusing session.

The crowd were whipping up an atmosphere, but remind me not to sit in front of the guy with a drum when I'm here with Birmingham City Ladies next week... and both sets of fans sang the "Justice for the 96" song in unison.

Sophie Bradley- Auckland collided with the left hand post as she arrived a split second after Chamberlain had caught another cross into the six yard box from Yankey, but thankfully she was able to play on... and in first half stoppage time she was back in defence, blocking Emma Lundh's shot from Shanice van de Sanden's left wing cross.

HT: Notts County 2 v Liverpool 0

Liverpool were thrown a lifeline when Amy Turner fouled van de Sanden inside the Pies area, but Caroline Weir thumped the resulting spot kick well over, while Notts increased their lead from their very next attack, when Ellen White raced through a gap in the visitors back four and clipped home an angled shot.

So, 3-0 up at home after a hour, the opposition have just missed a penalty and despite the rain, it was turning out to be a very pleasant afternoon for County's Ladies... or so you'd have thought.

But the Liver Birds (I'm damn sure that they don't actually call themselves that), weren't prepared to chuck the towel in and though they were probably only playing for pride now, they had plenty of it as they set about finding some kind of consolation.

Amy Turner tripped Emma Lundh as she moved in on the Lady Pies goal and in doing so conceded another penalty, which Katie Zelem dispatched without any fuss, before claiming a second goal just two minutes later, to set up a nervy finish for Notts.

This certainly hadn't been on the cards only a short while ago.

But try as they might, Liverpool couldn't force a third goal as County held on to take all three points, from an highly entertaining game. Nobody could say that they hadn't had their money's worth this afternoon.

FT: Notts County Ladies 3 v Liverpool Ladies 2

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
Retford United (1) 1
Brad Johnson 9
Liversedge (1) 2
Rob Thomas 37
Joseph Walton 90
Admission £5. Programme £1.50. Attendance 94

Liversedge were without the Under 19 players who have been supplementing their line up as they overcame a fixtures backlog, while finishing the season with a six game unbeaten run, in which time they've escaped from the drop zone and leapfrogged Retford United tonight to finish the season in a very respectable 14th place, which bodes well for next season if they can avoid the problems they suffered because of the OTT rainfall that Cleckheaton suffered from this winter and beyond.

For the record, the Sedge U19 team, who've impressed me no end when I've watched them this season, beat Thackley 7-0 tonight.
The Badgers finished this campaign with more than twice the points tally they limped over the finishing line with last season, which, if you were to take on board the macabre theatre that has provided a backdrop to the past nine months, is actually a bigger achievement that it might seem in the fianl reckoning. Respect to everyone who steadied the ship and kept it moving forward at a sensible and just about sustainable pace.

Elsewhere tonight, relegation issues were settled when Pontefract Collieries suffered a 6-1 reversal against Handsworth Parramore, which was the perfect response to the doubters who had said Micky Godber's side wouldn't be trying now that they had nothing left to play for, with both Jonathan Froggatt and Keiran Wells hitting the total of 40 goals apiece for the season.
The Amber Parras win spared Armthorpe Welfare from the drop, as Ponte joined the other relegated sides Brigg Town and Nostell Miners Welfare in Division 1 next season.
Cleethorpes Town won 1-0 at Bridlington Town, whilst Tadcaster Albion saw off Albion Sports 2-1, in the NCEL League Cup semi finals... the final will be played at Garforth Town on Saturday 14th May, see you all there!

Jermaine Gordon tries scaring Joseph Walton
with some plastic fangs he got from a Xmas cracker

But back to Cannon Park, or the Jones & Co. Solicitors Stadium, to give the Badgers home it's full and proper name, where two sides who are both already clear of the relegation places, went head to head with the players they have available, on a pitch that was in severe need of a haircut.
Obviously, the surface wasn't ever going to allow either team to create beautiful geometrical patterns, or weave a rich tapestry of artistry for the purists to savour, but credit to both sides for giving it their all in the hard graft and full on commitment stakes as Liversedge proved to have just that little bit extra in reserve, right at the end, to grind out a result.
The Badgers pressed from the off, cut struggled to find the final touch inside the opening exchanges, while Joseph Walton, leading the line for Sedge, settled into the night's one against one 90 minute personal dual against Jermaine Gordon

Jon Rimmington, captured in a rare moment of tranquility

Retford took the lead after 9 minutes, when their captain got to the ball first as the visitors tried to clear lines and spanked it past Christian Thewlis via the right hand upright.
At the other end Gordon fouled Walton just outside the area and Brandon Kane's free kick was cleared behind at the expense of a right wing corner, which found it's way through to Kane on the edge of the area, but he shot over from 12 yards out.
Walton and Kane advanced towartds the Badgers goal, but United's defence closed ranks in front of them and Gordon put his foot through the ball to clear the danger.

Thewlis got a lucky break when he battled with Reece Hands and Christian Savage for a loose ball at the foot of his left hand post, but amidst the struggle the ball went out for a goal kick.
Kane and Walton sprung up in the Badgers penalty area again, but in spite of them having two bites at the cherry, the home side cleared the ball away again.
Marc Lumb saw a gap ahead of him and covered forty yards down the left flank, before delivering a pin point cross into Jamie Davies six yard box, but James Finnegan and moved in from his left back berth to clear the ball away.
The clearance gave Retford the opportunity to push forward again, but although Johnson impressively cut a swathe right through the middle of the visitors defence, his final shot let him down.

The visitors were level on 37 minutes, when Kane delayed his run to stay onside, before surging forward with Rob Thomas to his right, who he rolled the ball in front of to finish from ten yards out.
The home side had a half chance to regain the lead just before the break, but Savage could only hit his shot straight at Thewlis.
HT: 1-1
The second half wasn't massively entertaining as it became congested in the midfield that both teams were having to share with a tribe of Pygmies who had made their summer camp in the long grass.
Gordon hacked a long punt out of the rough for James Binney to run onto, but Thewlis came quickly off his line and got their first.
Thomas took flight and weaved his way through the Retford back line in a manner akin to John Barnes at his best, when he scored a 'wonder goal' against Brazil back in the day, but the Badgers were always better at the back than the Samba boys and he was snuffed out before he could get his shot away.

Jamie Davies

Craig Tonkinson was unlucky to see his free kick from just outside the Retford area (below) dip over the crossbar at the last moment. Several people thought Davies had got a touch to keep the ball out, but the referee didn't and there were no appeals as the referee awarded a goal kick.
In their eagerness to keep Liversedge out, United conceded another free kick outside their area, but Kane struck the dead ball straight at Davies who saved it with ease.

The Badgers seemed to be in or around the last third, around the visitors penalty area for the final five minutes, but their efforts to break the deadlock were somewhat lacklustre... in fact I will bring this report to a close by repeating verbatim exactly what I scribbled down in my notebook:

"Retford spent the closing stages fannying around with the ball too much in front of the Liversedge goal, but they lacked any real penetration, which allowed the visitors to break quickly in the very last minute, in a direct but very effective manner, cutting out the leg work on this grassy pitch, which gave Walton the opportunity to squeeze home the winning goal from a tight angle ,on the left hand side of the Badgers area"

So there you have it.

An away win for Liversedge on the night that an intriguing league season came to an end.

FT: Retford United 1 v Liversedge 2

Safe journey home Milly and Co.

Well done for keeping RUFC afloat and proving all of the doubters wrong to everyone involved.

Wednesday 4th May 2016
Ebac Northern League Division 2
at the Calvert Stadium, Northallerton

Northallerton Town (0) 0
South Shields (0) 1
Stephen Ramsey 78

Admission £5. Programme £1
Attendance 185
Final league table 2015-16: Ebac Northern League Div 2 HERE
More photographs from this game HERE

85 miles, straight up the A1 as the crow flies, separate the Calvert Stadium from my swanky abode in the sprawling metropolis of East Retford upon Idle, which isn't an unreasonable distance for a midweek outing, now that the weather has finally improved after four months of virtually non stop rain, ice and grey skies.
The A1 northbound had everything you could ever wish for tonight; if your wildest dreams are akin to a post watershed screening of Mad Max meets The Hills Have Eyes, co starring a lot of blind drivers and coffin sized pot holes.
Evidently, it would seem that there is a shop somewhere in North Yorkshire where you can buy Christmas Crackers that contain driving licenses.
But, more by luck than anything else, I arrived in the Calvert Stadium's spacious car park around 40 minutes before kick off completely unscathed, physically at least, and paid my five English pounds to enter Northallerton's fine arena, which like many other Northern League grounds is a bit rough around the edges, but all the better for it and oozing with charm and character, in every nook and cranny.

The Town's recently revamped clubhouse is a spacious and welcoming beer drinkers haven, with a tidy area of tables sectioned off for eating the obviously very popular range of no nonsense food available and a back room that doubles up as a lounge for diners and a hospitality room, for the prawn sandwich element and club officials to enjoy a touch of luxurious separation away from the commoners.
As I entered the clubhouse somebody shouted out "Aston Villa have won on the scratchcard. Tufty, collect your money at the bar!" Finally, a bit of success for Aston Villa, who'd have thought it!?
Northallerton beat tonight's visitors 3-2 in the opening game of the season, in the reverse fixture at Mariners Park, but in the interim South Shields have run away with championship and finished their highly successful campaign on 107 points, a whole 32 points ahead of tonight's hosts, who came in, in a very respectable eighth place in the final reckoning.

Although the visitors enjoyed their eighth win in a row tonight, they were made to work had by Northallerton, who were in high spirits after winning the Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup on Monday, when they beat Ryhope Colliery Welfare in the final... and let's be honest, nobody needs any motivation to raise their game when they've got a chance to put one over on the league champions on home turf.
The game kicked off to a backdrop of noise from the Northallerton Ultras, a singing section of youngster who stand behind the visiting goalkeeper 'noising him up' for the duration, letting the world know that their locality was wonderful because it was full of 'tits, fanny and beer', though I suspect that some of them are still to young to have actually sampled any of the above just yet.
Aaron Ramsbottom was chopped down during the opening exchanges as Dan Carson got an early one in to assert his authority, but Andrew Ramsbottom shot wide from the resulting free kick.

At the other end Josh Keogh upended Martyn Coleman,who brushed himself down and was on hand to forced a save out of Matt Calvert, with a stooping header from Rob Briggs dead ball kick.
Calvert saved from Robert Briggs but Leepaul Scroggins latched onto the the rebound and thought he had scored from close range, but an offside flag dictated otherwise.
Michael Turner went in heavily on Jack Dalton and received a yellow card for his actions, although several locals nearby were demanding a red. Dalton couldn't continue and Damon Reaks, sporting a shock of blond hair that Lady Gaga would've nben proud of, came on in his place.
Calvert was keeping the visitors at bay, in particular Coleman, who could've had a first half hat trick on any other given day.
HT: 0-0

From the opposite side of the pitch, the bar sounded to be getting very lively, as the young Northallerton fans turned up en masse to chant songs about the relative merits of Yorkshiremen and Geordies, but it was more of a case of high jinx than anything sinister.
Calvert seemed to have something against Coleman personally, as he continued to deny the visitors striker with a string of saves, while at the other Danny Jones needed to be on his guard when Deaks latched onto his miss hit clearance and almost broke the deadlock.

Trying to stay focused while the lads behind the goal are
singing: "He's having a shit! He's having a shit!"

Darryl Hall, possibly the tallest man in the ground tonight, looked solid at the back as he thwarted several Northallerton attacks as they forced a couple of corners.
And Ben Riding was fortunate not to open the scoring at the wrong end as he deflected Andy Ramsbottom's stinging shot just wide of his own goal.
Keogh cleared as Briggs threatened to open the scoring and it began to look as though, in spite of me having travelled due north to watch a very entertaining game, it was possibly end up being a goalless one nevertheless.

But on 78 minutes, Stephen Ramsey scored what was an outrageously confident goal, if he'd meant it to go in, or a rather fortunate one, from out of 'they all count anyway' annuls if he didn't, when he looped a long throw from Riding into the area and towards the six yard box and it ended up in the back of the net.
Aaron Ramsden had to rush his shot with Danny Carson closing him down and the ball ran wide of the upright.
Warren Byrne looked to have doubled South Shield lead in the closing moments, but his header from Coleman's right wing delivery crashed back off the crossbar.

In stoppage time, Reaks saw off two challenges as he darted across the front of the Mariners area, before slipping a measured pass into the path of Stuart Owens who was caught in two minds, whether to shoot or nudge the ball to Danny McClachlan... he should have gone for goal, because the assistant referee's flag went up as he rolled the ball to McClachlan and the chance was gone, there were to be no further opportunities as the referee blew up for full time.
FT: Northallerton Town 0 v South Shields 1
The A1 and it's usual Kamikaze ensemble, behaved as good as gold on the way home, which was unusual, but it made a nice change.
Both teams couldn't be faulted for effort and application tonight, especially as their was nothing at stake apart from pride... and the locals I met made a good impression on me too.
It's a decent club Northallerton Town. I'd recommend all of you football travellers to get there ASAP if you haven't been before. I've earmarked them for a revisit next season.

Thursday 6th May 2016
Football League Youth Alliance (North East)
at Mumby Hall Sports Ground, Appleby Frodingham FC
Scunthorpe United (0) 0
Doncaster Rovers (0) 1
Reece Fielding 83
FLYA (NE) Table and stats HERE
More pictures HERE

Scunthorpe United:
Joe Parker, Lewis McMichael, Kane Bartholemew, Jack Turnbull, Lewis Butroid, Leslie Sackey, George Hornshaw, James Dean Atkinson, Jack Dyche, Fortunate Sitole, Ewan Train
Subs - Harvey Ablett, Adam Kelsey, Ryan Noon, Alex Knox
Doncaster Rovers:
Louis JOnes, Keegan Townrow, Danny Amos, Lewis Hillam, Kane Bingley, Reece Fielding, Lloyd Henderson, Matt Parkin,Lewis Scattergood, Matt Overton, Cory Pride
Subs - Morgan James, James Leveraton, Jack Harrison, Brandon Horton, Cameron Barnett

Doncaster Rovers still have an away game to play at Grimsby Town on Saturday, where, if they win, they can leapfrog over Scunthorpe into second place, by virtue of nicking three points off of the Iron tonight.

There is also one final fixture between Hartlepool United and Bradford City to complete, that could see Pools take second place instead.

But even if Rovers and Hartlepool both win their outstanding fixtures, they will still finish three points clear of FLYA (NE) champions Mansfield Town, who made sure that the title was theirs by winning comfortably at Grimsby Town on Saturday.

Overall, it's been a very close, nip and tuck league campaign this season, with not very much to choose between the majority of the sides in this division.

Of course, development football is, as the name suggests, about the nurturing of young talent, but the next step up for the lads who make the grade at this stage of their steep learning curve id the Football League, so it is also just as important that they grasp the importance of developing winning habits, in what is, in essence, a results based industry. Because lets face facts, any chairman who says he isn't bothered about results as long as his team are playing the beautiful game in the right manner, will soon be punting any manager who fulfills the tippy-tappy football criteria, but whose team is getting turned over every week.
The secret is to get the balance right and tonight's two teams are a good example of how you go about creating the correct mix.

Joe Parker

I've written a lot of notes over the course of tonight, that would possibly be of no relevance, or even the slightest bit of interest to the majority of people who read this blog, as part of a lengthy essay I'm supposed to be completing any time soon, as part of a coursework project I'm undertaking, but I'll skip all of the jargon and theory and cut to the chase for purposes of presenting the truncated facts and salient points.

'Scunny' had enough chances over the course of ninety minutes to have comfortably won this game, but 'Donny' kept plucking away and upped their game in the last twenty minutes, which ultimately led to Reece Fielding netting the only goal of the game from a back post header after Matt Parkin had dropped a left wing corner into the six yard box.

The Iron keeper did all he possibly could to turn the ball away from his goal, but in spite of his valiant efforts efforts it ended up in the roof of the net.

Scunthorpe's main target man Jack Dyche took a knock as he challenged Rovers keeper Louis Jones for a high ball midway through the opening forty minutes and he was still limping at half time, when he was replaced by Harvey Ablett.
Leslie Sackey, a forward by trade, had put in a great first half in the middle of United's defence, but he was moved up front after the break, where he linked up well with the ever industrious Fortunate Sitole.
Rovers Lewis Hillam looked to be a threat, getting forward from midfield in support of his attackers, along with Keegan Townrow who got down the wing from his right back berth and provided a decent supply of crosses to Lewis Scattergood and Matt Overton.

Reece Fielding

Even in stoppage time the home side were peppering the Rovers goal with the ball, but it just wasn't going to go in for them tonight and the final action of the game, that saw Matt Parkin nudged the ball just inches wide of the upright typified Scunthorpe's night.

That's football for you and another lesson learned the hard way.

Rovers kept things simple against a team who they knew would pose a real threat and did all the simple and basic stuff right, which turned out to be a winning game plan.

Cory Prior had shown some good touches for the visitors and is prepared to run at and take on defenders, but in the end it was a good old fashioned, tried and tested, back post corner towards an incoming centre half that won the day.

Well done to both sides who've impressed me this season when I've seen them in action.

This academy league, with players joining clubs on a two year cycle, is reaping rewards for the clubs, players and coaches who are taking part in it... building upwards is the future.

FT: SCunthorpe United U18 0 v Doncaster Rovers U18 1

The aliens have landed in 'Sunny Scunny'

Friday 6th May 2016
Precision Nottinghamshire Senior League
at Walesby Sports & Social Club, Forest Lane
Sandhurst (1) 1
Will Cox 16
Cotgrave (3) 8
Adam Gray 15, 45,87 Adam Sinnott 34 Adam Bradford OG 51
Doug Mills 56 Luke Buck 74 Gaz Tye OG 90
Admission Free. Programme £1
Notts Senior League table and stats: HERE

Congratulations to Lee Clarke on his
Notts Senior League refereeing debut

An emphatic away win for Cotgrave, could've seen Sandhurst defeated by well into double figures, had it not been for a combination of the efforts their keeper Simon Griffiths and the visitors number 9 Adam Sinnott turning up disguised as his alter ego Mister Sitter.

The home had already survived the seven goal scoring opportunities that Cotgrave had failed to covert in the opening fifteen minutes, before Adam Gray collected the ball from Luke Buck thirty yards from goal, flicked it in the air and struck a sweet shot into the top corner.

But the home side were on level terms inside a minute, when they attacked straight from the restart and Lewis Batchelor threaded the ball into the path of Will Cox, who slotted the ball past Adam Heard.

Undeterred by conceding an equaliser so quickly, Cotgrave resumed their bombardment of the Sandhurst goal and Luke Buck (twice including a 20 yard free kick that skimmed the woodwork), Gray and Sinnott all went close to restoring their lead, before Sinnott took a return pass from Buck and rolled the ball jut inside the left hand post to on 34 minutes, to claim his only goal in a game where he could and should have had at least three or four.

Black drilled the ball across the face of Sandhurst's goal and Griffiths couldn't hold onto the ball and diverted it into the path of Ryan Thorpe, who, with a wide open goal in front of him, turned the ball over the crossbar from all of three feet.

Griffiths saved from Sinnott, before Adam Flint's angled shot went from Thorpe's cross went wide of the post.

Gray saw off a challenge and hit the outside of the upright as Cotgrave threatened to run riot.

But two minutes before half time, completely against the run of play in a game that had been played almost exclusively up the gradient in the pitch towards the 'Retford End', Sandhurst broke away and

Eddie Masterton caught James Hurt high with a late challenge that gave the debutant referee Lee Clarke no option but to blow up and point to the spot.

So the scene was set; if Sandhurst scored from this penalty, they would be on level terms by half time and could regroup and get back into a game that the visitors had dominated thus far. Up stepped Cox and... err, it's a good job Sandhurst had more than one ball, because I don't have a clue where that one ended up! The Carpenters Arms car park maybe?

Anyway, the home side didn't finish the first half with an unlikely scoreline of two apiece, in fact things got worse them as Dougie Mills lashed a shot against the upright and Gray added a third for the visitors, when he recieved the ball with his back to goal, flicked it and struck a great shot on the turn to give his side a two goal cushion on the stroke of half time.

HT: Sandhurst 1 v Cotgrave 3

And the visitors would be playing down the slope after the break.

Gaz Tye entered the fray at half time, replacing Steve Taylor who'd taken a knock and the vastly experienced substitute had an almost immediate impact on the game, when he won the ball in midfield and passed to Nathan Matthews who played a through ball for Cox who went to ground under the close attentions of a Cotgrave defender, but Lee Clarke had a good view of the incident, as did his assistant Graham Mitchell and neither of them saw anything amiss and play carried on.

Six minutes after the restart Adam Flint played a sideways pass to Masterton who hooked a cross into the Sandhurst area, that looped into the goal beyond the reach of Griffiths off of centre half Adam Bradford's head.

Cotgrave were quickly on the attack again and Sinnott missed a sitter under pressure from Bradford.

Dougie Mills added a fifth goal for the visitors, from Sinnott's neat angled pass into the home side's goal area. A comeback for Sandhurst was beginning to look highly unlikely now.

Sandhurst lost possession straight from the kick off and Sinnott rolled a pass into the path of Buck who had arrived on the edge of the home side's box with an impressive sprint, that deserved a better finish than the up and under thumping shot that Black skied somewhere on Forest Lane.

Griffiths saved well from Gray, but the ball rebounded to Buck who nudged the ball into the net from close range, to hit Sandhurst for six, on the boundary of Walesby's cricket pitch.

Wes Kitchen almost pulled one back for the home side, but it wasn't to be as his long distance shot flew inches wide of the upright.

Sinnott's shot from close range was well saved by Griffiths, but as the loose ball dropped kindly for the Cotgrave striker, with the home side keeper still on the deck, he crashed a shot against the bar.

Moments later Sinnott did get the ball in the net again, but he had strayed offside.

'Mister Sitter' delivered a great cross into Cotgrave's six yard box, the bounce beat Griffiths and Graham Lynn only needed to touch it to claim a goal, but he somehow contrived to put the ball over from on the goal line.

With the clock ticking down, Ian Donaldson teed a great chance up for Sinnott, who must've even seen the funny side of it himself as he scuffed his shot and missed the target yet again.

in the 87th minute, Gray claimed his hat trick when he squeezed the ball home, just inside the left hand upright from a tight angle.

Black very nearly scored again, but he curled the ball wide of the post, having made himself the time and space to shoot from 12 yards.

Right on the final whistle, which Sandhurst will have been mightily relieved to hear, Gaz Tye scored... but their was very little he could do about it as he diverted a left wing corner past his own keeper.

FT: Sandhurst 1 v Cotgrave 6

I only live around six miles from Sandhurt's Forest Lane ground in Walesby, I really should make the effort to get along to watch games here more often.

Hi to Rob, Hazel, Hannah, Sean, Ken, Steve, Ian and the Cooky who I had the pressure, whoops... I meant pleasure, of spending the evening with, it was good to see you all again.

And finally a big well done to Lee Clarke on the occasion of his first refereeing appointment in the Notts Senior League, top lad, you'll go far!

Saturday 7th May 2016
SkyBet League 2
at Field Mill/One Call Stadium
Mansfield Town (0) 0
Cambridge United (0) 0
Nah, I don't know why people put the half time scores in brackets when it was a 0-0 draw either.
Attendance: 3,548, inc. 564 away fans

Mansfield Town:
Scott Shearer, Malvind Benning, Ryan Tafazolli (James Baxendale 46’), Krystian Pearce, Lee Collins, Mitchell Rose, Adam Chapman, Chris Clements, Matty Blair, Emmanuel Dieseruvwe (Zayn Hakeem 56’), Matt Green (Adi Yussuf 83’)
Unused subs - Brian Jensen, Reggie Lambe, Jamie McGuire, Jason Law
Cambridge United:
Will Norris, Leon Legge, Berry (Max Clark 62’), Harrison Dunk, Josh Coulson (Mark Roberts 46’), James Dunne, Zeli Ismail, Jimmy Spencer, Ben Williamson (Ryan Donaldson 85’), Rayn Ledson, Darnell Furlong
Unused subs - Sam Beasant, Elliot Omozusi, Shane O'Neill, Dylan Williams

Prior to kick off, the old North Stand clock was unveiled on top of the Bishop Street Stand, where it has been carefully restored by way of a lasting memorial to Kim, club director for youth development's Steve Hymas' 26 year old daughter, who tragically passed away in June, having only recently become a mother herself.
I can't imagine what Steve has been through during what must have been a completely awful twelve months for him, I certainly couldn't have held things together and conducted myself with the kind of composure and dignity that my good friend Steve has done. Respect mate.

It's not always the first place you'd ever look for spiritual enlightenment, nor is it an eternal source of positivity and upbeat vibes... and even though there are several regular participants whose considered input raises the intelligence quota above the speculative knee jerk reactionary bar that others have seemingly settled for, the Stags fans forum still leaves a hell of a lot to be desired at times.
However, I feel compelled to draw the attention of the outside world to this internet chatroom and here are a couple of links that lead to two currently active threads on Stagsnet, pertaining to the Mansfield Town Under 18 team: Zayn Hakeem and Under 18s parade trophy today
I was invited to go onto the pitch with the triumphant youth team for their presentation, but I declined, ever so politely.
Sure, there is far more than anybody could ever realise going on behind the scenes at any given time and I'm happy to weigh in with whatever may need doing, but today's fifteen minutes of fame was for the young Stags players and they've well and truly earned it.
It was all about them... not me.
It was a fantastic gesture for Adam Murray to line up the first team players to form a guard of honour for the youngsters as they came out to parade their trophy this after, top man!

So another season has come and gone at Field Mill.
Was it a good one?
Yes, is surely the correct answer, on so many levels, because the bigger picture makes for very optimistic viewing, in my humble opinion, based on what I'm seeing and hearing from on the periphery.
I'd predicted a mid table finish and said before the season started that such a final placing in League 2, would surely be considered as progression in the grand scheme of things, compared to the recent years, where the Stags haven't exactly hit the ground running since they were promoted back into the Football League.
'Mid table mediocrity' is how some people will view it, but I would suggest that the pros are far outweighing the cons and things are moving in the right direction.
Overnight instant success isn't an option for a club like Mansfield Town and those who are pining about getting the apparently good times back would do well to remember that the 'glory years' encompassed just one season outside the bottom two divisions back in 1977-78.

Of course we'd all love to see the Stags strutting their stuff at a higher level, or 'Doing a Doncaster' as somebody put it, but check out which division Rovers will be playing in next season.
The club has to grow from within and do so at a sustainable rate; and to that end, the introduction of an Under 21 side next season, who will compete in the reserve league, is a step, if not a massive stride, in the right direction.
Of course, there is a tinge of disappointment, seeing that the Stags flirted with a top three place at one point and wasn't very far off of a play off place for the vast majority of the season, but shoot me down in flames if you must for thinking this way... but, if Mansfield Town had taken the step up through the end of term play off lottery, are they ready to compete at a higher level yet?
The pragmatic realist in me says 'not quite', but I'm sure they will be in twelve months time.
And I am full of optimism for the 2016-17 season (though reading the above you might not think so) and looking forward to watching the progression of a few of the clubs youngsters as they step up through the ranks
Talking of which...

Heeere's Zayn!!!

To be brutally honest, this afternoon's end of season, going through the motions, nothing to play for, goalless draw took on the persona of a practice match and an opportunity for some of the people who were (just about) involved to top up their tans before they jet off for a couple of weeks in the sun.
I did have my suspicions when I saw a few beach towels laid out on the pitch prior to kick off and the referee chastising several players for wearing flip flops.
Cambridge's manager Shaun Derry put the lacklustre down to the fear factor, with neither team wanting to lose on the last day of the season, hmm... a likely story!
Lee Collins put in a decent shifty, both in his own role and when he moved across to fill in for Ryan Tafazolli at hlaf time.
Matt Green did score via the underside of the crossbar just before half time, after Tafazolli had flicked on Chapman's free kick, but the Stags front man had strayed offside.
Tafazolli didn't come back out for the second half, having sustained a broken wrist. If rumours are to be believed, thos opening 45 minutes will be the last time that the popular centre half, who made a clean sweep of all the first team player of the season awards prior to kick off, will be turning out in the Stags colours., with that horrible club from the other side of the M1 apparently being his most likely destination. He has served Mansfield Town well, he deserves much better than a move to there, so fingers crossed, if he is on his way, it will be to a bigger and better club than the Spireites.

Although football is essentially a team game, it was nice to see Tyler Blake picking up the prestigious Jack Retter Trophy as young player of the year.
Knowing Jack as well as I did, I can safely say that he would have wholly approved of this particular award going to such a player, who is earmarked as having a great future at the One Call Stadium.
Tomorrow night, John Dempster, the manager of the Under 18 side will also be receiving an achievement award for this season's efforts... and rightly so.
Although today's game was regarded as a non event to many of those present, it was a BIG milestone in one 17 year old footballers life, when Zayn Hakeem came off of the subs bench in the 56th minute to make his Football League debut, which is a testament to the unstinting support of his wonderful family, his friends and everyone involved with the youth team set up... and of course the efforts of Zayn himself.
In the case of both Zayn and Tyler, you can say Nottingham Forest's loss is most definitely Mansfield Town's gain, because they let this pair slip through their academy network... don't you just love a happy ending!?

Zayn, along with fellow second half substitute James Baxendale, injected a bit of life into the game and were well received by the Stags faithful.

Hakeem very nearly created an opening from his very first run with the ball and his raw eagerness was a joy to behold.

Obviously the youngsters at the club will be filtered into the squad rotation process that first team games revolve around as a slow trickle, rather than a flood and the really hard work starts now, but when their call comes, just like young Mr Hakeem, they'll be ready to go and won't let anybody down.

So there you go, a positive note to end the season on... and I'm already enthused about next years campaign and can't wait for it to start.

The future's bright, the future's amber and blue.

Come on you Stags!

FT: Mansfield Town 0 v Cambridge United 0

Sunday 8th May 2016
FA Women's Super League
at Meadow Lane, Nottingham
Notts County (0) 0
Birmingham City (0) 1
Emily Westwood 69
Admission £6. Programme £2. Attendance 923
For Flickr photo gallery from this game, click HERE

In the sweltering mid day sun, County 'warmed up' by playing fast paced, small sided games across the middle of the pitch, in strength sapping conditions, while Dave Parker's Blues practiced their running drills in the shade of the main stand along the touch line... just saying.
The referee Thomas Bramall encouraged the players to take water breaks whenever there was a break in the action, on what must have been an uncomfortable afternoon on the sun trap of the pitch.
Blues had the heroics of 19 year old Sophie Baggaley to thank for keeping the score at 0-0 during the first half, but after the break, the visitors effectively bossed the game, as Remi Allen and Jo Potter impressively took control of the midfield, while the 'Lady Pies' three pronged attack force of England internationals: Rachel Yankey, Jess Clarke and Ellen White, backed up by Leanne Crichton, barely got a look in, as they were so well marshaled by the Birmingham defence.

It was the seventh minute before either keeper got a meaningful touch of the ball when Carly Telford cut out Melissa Lawley's knock back across the face of her goal from Jo Potter's right wing corner.
At the other end Lawley tried making some headway down the right flank, with Jessica Carter and Abbey-Leigh Stringer in support, but Amy Turner was in an uncompromising mood covering the left back berth for the home side.

Sophie Bradley-Auckland battled gamely for Notts in defence, heading clear from Lawley's left wing free kick and intercepting the danger by getting across to thwart Charlie Wellings, after some neat interplay between Emily Westwood and Freda Ayisi had opened up a gap on the edge of the Pies area.

Telford tipped Potter's left wing corner around the back post with Emily Eastwood looking favourite to reach the ball first, but from Potter's resulting flag kick from the left, Stringer was pulled up for a foul on Turner.

Notts almost opened up Blues defence when White chased a long clearance from Bradley-Auckland straight down the middle, but she stumbled and lost her footing giving Westwood plenty of time to clear the danger away.
Moments later, County were on the attack again when Yankey rolled the ball forward into the path of White, twelve yards from goal, and Westwood needed to get a touch to cut out a cross to Clark in the six yard box.
Birmingham cleared the corner ball out of their goalmouth, but it fell nicely for Bradley-Auckland twenty yards from goal and she shot first time, only to be thwarted by Baggaley had had anticipated the situation well and got across to make a save.

Yankey was unceremoniously upended by Aoife Mannion just outside the area and the on loan Arsenal and England legend took the free kick herself deep into Blues goalmouth, where the visitors scrambled the ball away to where Angharad James unleashed a shot that looked destined for the top left hand corner, until Baggaley somehow got her fingertips to it and tipped the ball away round the post.

There was no let up for Baggaley, when the ball fell to Yankey and she aimed it towards Dani Buet who stabbed it towards the goal but the visitors keeper scooped it away from just inside the post and had to recover in an instant to block two more shots in quick succession from both White and Clark.

The Notts fans were on their feet waiting to proclaim an opening goal, but it was the Blues Ladies supporters who jumped from their seats now, to roar their approval of their young keepers agility and determination. The girl done good!

Remi Allen, whon't showing any side effects from a knock she took early in the game, kept plugging away in the hole between the visitors midfield and attack and unlocked the Pies defence with a well weighted pass for Freda Ayisi to run onto, but Telford dashed from her line and went down to save the ball at the Blues number 7's feet.
Baggaley's prowess between the posts seemed to have given Birmingham a boost and they finished the first half strongly. Potter won the ball on the halfway line as James hesitated and ran forward unchallenged before trying her luck from 25 yards, but her effort was stopped by Telford.
County's captain Laura Bassett lost the ball to Charlie Wellings twenty yards from her own goal, but even with Ayisi and Lawley up alongside her, Blues couldn't find the final touch.
HT: 0-0

The visitors looked the better of the two sides after the interval, while County seemed to lose their way a bit in the heat.
Carter hooked a great pass out to Lawley on the left wing, which Notts cleared at the second attempt, but Jo Potter latched onto the loose ball and fizzed a shot just past the post.
Yankey
Ayisi was getting into the game more and more, causing County all sorts of problems through the left channel and making herself available on the end of set pieces and she was close to finding the opening goal when she got her head onto the end of Carter's long throw, but couldn't quite direct the ball on target.

County tried to regain their first half momentum, but Blues defence were comfortably dealing with everything and anything their hosts could throw at them. And as if to demonstrate how well the Birmingham backline were playing, Notts manager Rick Passmoor withdrew Yankey and Crichton, two integral players in the home sides attacking diamond formation and sent on Alvi Luik and Aileen Whelan.

But as the home side were looking to reshuffle their pack, Potter played a long free kick towards Allen on the edge of the County area, but instead of challenging for the ball allowed it it bounce on towards Westwood, who looped a header over the advancing Telford from above the penalty spot on 69 minutes.

The 'Black and white army' as they call themselves, have a well earned reputation for getting behind the 'Lady Pies', but right now, all you could hear in the cavernous main stand at Meadow Lane, was the strains of Brummie accents booming out the time honoured classic of 'Keep right on'

Notts looked dispirited for a while, but their fans raised the tempo again when White beat Baggaley to the ball and Westwood had to clear it off of the line, with Whelan homing in.

As the clock ticked down, the home side had to commit players forward and defend with the minimum amount of players, which is always a risky option, but the visitors had worked hard for their deserved one goal lead and regardless of how tired and weary they must have been, but with big stout hearts, they dug in for a cause most dear to them.
Even though they survived a scare right at the death, when Luik delivered a telling cross to White, but Baggaley had positioned herself well again and grasped the ball tightly.
The away fans broke into song again, signalling to their team that they had just about kept right on 'til the end of the road and the full time whistle was imminent.
Tommy Bramall added three minutes of stoppage time, but County had nothing left to give and Blues held out to claim the three points.
FT: Lady Pies 0 v Blues Ladies 1

Today's win sees Birmingham City Ladies climb to fourth place in the FAWSL table.

Blues entertain Notts in the reverse fixture at Solihull Moors ground on Sunday May 22nd, on the same afternoon that I'll be driving across the Pennines, to watch Roy Hodgson's England team play Turkey at Manchester City's ground.

No doubt there will be those among you who'll say that I'd see a better game at Damson Park and that I'd be better off going there instead... and you would probably be right too, but I have followed England long enough to know what I'm getting myself into.

Each to their own, innit!?

Thursday 12th May 2016
Central Midlands League (South)
The ATB Civil Engineering Ground, Mill Lane
Clay Cross Town (1) 1
Ant Lynam 9
Collingham (2) 3
George Asplin 21, Adam Stone 34, 60
Admission £3 Programme £1

Clay Cross Town:

Ryan Skidmore, Ryan Booker, Ryan Ordidge (C) (Rob Holland 79), Ryan Bates, George Slack, Charlie Oglesby, Ben Townsend, Greg Fitzpatrick, Josh Burrow (Joe Harris 65), Ant Lynam, Adam Plant

Unused subs - Aiden Ordidge, James Gee-Pembleton, Andy Thornton

Collingham:

Ben Tonks, Sam Biggs (Jack Wilkinson 67), Matt Ward, Sidnei Costa, Jackson Buckthorp, Jonjo McGovern, Marlon Grundy, Sam Greenwood, Adam Stone (Jake Newton 79), Jonny Drabble, George Asplin (C)

Mad Lizzy and Ellie

Prior to tonight, just two points separated these sides, who had both won a dozen games apiece in the league this season.
Pinxton provided the most recent opposition for Clay Cross Town on Tuesday and Collingham at the weekend too, and beat both of them: 5-0 and 3-0 respectively, so it would be safe to have assumed that tonight's game was going to be a close run thing, even though Collingham had already beaten the Millers 3-1 back in January.
In the event, the visitors leapfrogged their hosts in the table tonight, after repeating the score line from their previous encounter at Station Road and are now a solitary point in front of Clay Cross, with just one game remaining each left to play this coming weekend.
For remaining CMFL (South) fixtures click HERE

A lot of clubs would be envious of Clay Cross Town's playing surface at the outset of the football season, let alone at the tail end of a nine month campaign, so credit where it's due and big round of applause for their award winning groundsman (and gate man) Lee Watson.
The last time I saw the match referee Rob Rees in action, he'd been running the line at particularly bad tempered game and had handled one or two 'delicate' situations very well.
Tonight I only spotted one small thing over the entire 90 minutes that he missed, but justice will be done when I grass the perpetrator up later in this report*.
After a slightly delayed kick off, due to Collingham having been delayed en route to Mill Lane; the Millers slipped to what they have called (on Facebook) a 'clumsy' defeat in their final home game of the season.

Clay Cross took the lead early on, with an opportunist shot from Ant Lynam that would best be described as a 'bit of a bobbler' as his slightly miscued effort scudded along the ground past Ben Tonks and ended up in the back of the net.
They all count!
The visitors were almost back on level terms immediately, but Greg Fitzpatrick threw himself in front of Adam Stone's thumping shot and cleared the danger.
Ryan Bates delivered a great ball into the visitors six yard box, but Marlon Grundy scrambled it away to safety, with Lynam breathing down his neck.
The Collingham captain, George Asplin, came very close to netting the equaliser shortly afterwards when he curled the ball just wide of the post from outside the Millers area.
But the visitors got a goal back on 21 minutes... and it had been looking inevitable, when Ryan Skidmore blocked Stone's shot but could only turn the ball directly into the path of Asplin, who planted the ball firmly into the unguarded net.

The Millers went for an immediate response to Asplin's goal, but when Ryan Ordidge delivered a long free kick from out on the left wing to Ben Townsend at the back post he could only direct his header straight at Tonks.

Greg Fitzpatrick is a real live wire and battler in the middle of the park, some might even say he is unpredictable and impetuous; though I personally would argue that those are attributes and his natural ability combined with occasional improvisation, are what gives him the edge over whoever is marking him.

However Jonny Drabble isn't concerned with that sort of player by player analysis of individual strengths and weaknesses and as 'Fizz' set of towards the Collingham goal from just outside the centre circle, the visitors number 10, he clattered into him and conceded a free kick, which George Slack delivered into the goal area, where it was cleared away for a corner. It's the first time I have seen Slack play for several months and I'm happy to report, that on tonight's showing, he's come on in leaps and bounds, and from being a raw but very promising centre half, he looks far more calm and assured and instills confidence in those around him.

Meanwhile, Drabble, Asplin and Stone, were proving to be a proper handful for the home side and on 34 minutes, the former instinctively knew that the latter would be making a well timed run through the left channel and dropped an inch perfect pass into his path from from forty yards out and Stone side footed the ball past Skidmore from just inside the area, to give Collingham the lead

Drabble and Stone came straight back at Clay Cross after regaining possession from the restart and Charlie Oglesby needed to get his foot in and make a timely interception.

Ben Townsend was tripped as he tried pushing forward from midfield, but Mr Rees sensibly waved play on because Fitzpatrick had the ball and the momentum and only a good save from Tonks prevented the Millers youngster from restoring parity.

Skidmore did well to get down to his right and turn a thumping long range free kick from Drabble round the post.

Asplin managed to turn Oglesby, but Slack got across quickly to cover and blocked a goal bound shot.
Collingham were upping the tempo as half time approached and Stone slipped the ball through to Grundy, but as he was about to shoot from close range, Slack cleared up the potential damage again.
Right on the stroke of half time, Sam Townsend tried his luck from thirty yards out, but he shot straight at Skidmore.
HT: Clay Cross Town 1 v Collingham 2
I recognised a lot of the Collingham players as they left the field at half time, no doubt I'll be seeing them again soon, at next Tuesday's North Midland Under 19 League Mini Shield Final at Sheffield FC, against the all conquering Handsworth Parramore.
Clay Cross went on the offensive straight from the restart and when Plant crossed to Lynam, Sonei Costa nicked a touch on the Millers' goalscorers shot as it went wide. It was a very timely interception, but the referee, who was positioned behind Plant and Lynam, never saw it*
Sorry Robert Rees but I'm marking you down a couple of points for that one ;-)

Both sides provided a couple of comedy touches for the spectators, who seemed to be mainly huddled behind the goal nearest to where the Tunnel Cafe was serving hot drinks, as the temperature began to plummet and wee all nostalgically yearned for the 56 hours of Summer that came and went again earlier in the week.
Clay Cross went first, when Ryan Ordidge whipped the ball across the face of the Collingham goal where it only needed the slightest of touches from Josh Burrow, but he couldn't connect and Collingham had a let off, countered attacked and watched on in disbelief as Asplin's shot was saved from point blank range by Sedgewick, but ricocheted back to the visitors number 11, who launched the ball away into the darkening night sky with an open goal at his mercy.
Bates cut in from the right flank and his cross cum shot almost wrong footed Tonks as he advanced from his line, but he recovered well to hang on.

Right on cue, as one of the learned elders on the touchline exclaimed to nobody in particular, "The next goal is a vital one!", Stone lashed the ball past Skidmore, to claim the 'vital' strike on the hour, after the Clay Cross players in the area collectively decided to abdicate responsibility of getting the ball away to each other, instead of putting a foot through it just to make sure.
Lynam tried opening the Collingham defence by flicking the ball on to Plant, who collided with Sam Biggs as he got to the ball first and cleared it. It was purely accidental, but hurt Biggs enough that he had to limp out of the game a few minutes later.
Clay Cross must've know that it wasn't going to be their night, when Plant's shot struck a defender and rebounded to Lynam whose initial shot was pushed away by Tonks back to the Millers striker who got to the loose ball first but put his shot over the bar.
Skidmore kept the game alive when he tipped Grundy's dipping free kick over with ten minutes left to go.
Fitpatrick combined with Rob Holland down the left flank and tried to put Lynam through on goal, but Collingham knew that all they had to do now, was keep the ball away from their goal and let the clock tick down.

With Clay Cross committing players forward, Greenwood took advantage of the space and forced a save out of Skidmore, while Asplin almost added a forth goal for the visitors, when his shot on the turn narrowly cleared the crossbar.
In the 89th minute, with the game all but won, Costa talked himself into an unnecessary yellow card, by voicing his opinion in an unacceptable manner to the match officials. As moments of untimely head loss go, that was right up there.
In stoppage time, Bates rolled a short corner to Fitzpatrick who dropped an ambitious effort just wide of the left hand post and Lynam blazed a long distance shot wide of the target.
FT: Clay Cross Town 1 v Collingham FC 3
The full time whistle sounded and Clay Cross disappointingly finished their home campaign off by recording a seventh straight game in a row without a win, since they beat Holbrook St. Michael 5-0 on 12th April.
They'll want to finish on a high at mid table Swanwick Pentrich Road at the weekend, while Collingham will have been very pleased with their efforts and the result tonight. They travel to 15th placed (in an 18 team league) Mickleover Royal British Legion on Saturday.

It was great to catch up with quite a few familiar faces from the Derbyshire non league circuit tonight and I'm always made to feel very welcome whenever I roll up at Mill Lane, which is greatly appreciated.

Both of tonight's teams are capable of making a better go of things in the CMFL South next season than they have this time around and I genuinely hope they do and wish them well to that end.

Saturday 14th May 2016
Central Midlands League (North)
at Low Farm, Beck Street, Easington
Easington United (0) 0
Appleby Frodingham (0) 2
Joe Moloney 68, Connor Couch 90
Admission and programme £2
Attendance 22
Flickr photo gallery HERE

Easington United:
Charlie Holden, Craig Smalley, Anthony Barnett, Kris Fitzpatrick, Jamie Houlton, Andy Graham, Karl Fitzpatrick, Brad Bowden (Kai Ormsby, 84), Paul Wilkinson (Stu Campbell, 78), Danny Barron (Cam Maplebeck, 75), Craig Havercroft

Appleby Frodingham:

Pat Shaw, Chris Johnson, Andy Williamson, Liam Wright, Ryan Oates, Stephen McCarron, Richard Golland, Joe Moloney, Dayle Hutson, Connor Couch, Jamie Ture
Unused subs - Dan Ellerby, Phil Doyle

A sad afternoon for the CMFL (North) in my opinion, as Easington United move on to pastures new, after 'enjoying' (for want of a better word) seven seasons of being involved with the league.
It worries me that the Central Midlands League is in danger of becoming a glorified reserve league where NCEL and Evo-Stik League sides can give their stiffs a run out, at the expense of unique and colourful clubs like 'Ezzie', with their multitude of great characters and bags of camaraderie.
Upon arrival on the Hull Riviera, it was a bright and very breezy afternoon (as it tends to be round these parts) and United's reserve team were just warming up for their final game of the season v Longhill Ravens on the top pitch, in an East Riding County Senior League Division 3 game, that was kicking off an hour before the first team game.

As if losing 6-1 against Longhill wasn't bad enough for the 'rezzies', when their game finished, three of them were drafted in as substitutes for the first team game.
When players complain about too many games, they ought to spare a thought for the lads at the grassroots end of football's food chain.
Regardless of how things have gone for the Eastenders during their spell in the CMFL, whenever I have seen them in action, they have generally gone about their business in the right manner and with a smile on their faces. But an air of sadness hung over today's game, as the inevitability and resignation that their adventure in the step 7 league was coming to an end sank in.
Frod's Joe Moloney and Richard Golland both delivered decent crosses into the home side's area during the opening exchanges, but Andy Graham dealt with one while Charlie Holden plucked the other out of the air.

Craig Smalley's tenacity combined with Karl Fitzpatrick's speed and close control, were helping "the flagship of Holderness football" to ride the tide down the right flank, but Jamie Ture was proving to be a difficult stumbling block, as he put in a 'combatitive' display for the visitors, in what would best be described as a Left half back position.
Easington's first opening saw Tony Barnett knock back Jamie Houlton's long free kick into the path of Charlie Havercroft, just outside the left hand edge of the area, but his curling shot held up in the stiff cross field wind and went wide of the far post.
The Scunthorpe based visitors cleared their lines from Barnett's corner, but he soon got the ball back when Graham rolled a pass to him down the wing, from which he picked out Paul Wilkinson, who's dipping header cleared the crossbar.
Easington went close again, when Danny Barron smashed a shot past the upright from 12 yards out.

But having been put on the back foot for a while, the Steelmen began to live up to their nickname and Holden had to race from his line to grab the ball as Connor Couch ran forward in chase of a long pass.
Hutson and Couch were causing the home side no end of problems in and around their goal area and were keeping Houlton and Graham very busy.
One half cleared effort fell to Golland just outside the Easington area and his first time shot was only inches away from breaking the deadlock.
Moloney held off a challenge and rolled the ball across the goalmouth to Couch, whose return pass was turned over the bar by Frod's tricky number 17.
The home side threatened again when Kris Fitzpatrick held off a challenge from Chris Johnson and squared the ball to Danny Barron, but he didn't get enough power behind his shot to trouble Pat Shaw.

Couch took the ball across the Eastenders 18 yard line and unleashed a left footed shot, that Holden got down well to his left to save.
Right on the stroke of half time, Holden saved his side again, when Johnson's quick throw in to Golland was squeezed through the defence to Dayle Hutson, who found the 'Ezzie' keeper blocking his path and he was denied from close range.
HT: 0-0
'Frod' made a very determined start to the second half, with Couch crashing a shot just wide of the post, Holden intercepting a long pass into the path of Couch and then Johnson skimmed a shot over the bar after Golland had chested Moloney's shot down in front of him... and that was all inside the opening three minutes.
Barron left a free kick for Wilkinson to take from 20 yards out, but he put the ball narrowly wide of the right hand post, with what was to be Easington's closest effort of the afternoon.

Graham and Golland chased neck and neck for the ball on the edge of the home side's penalty area and became embroiled in a tangle, which the 'Ezzie' defender finally won at the third attempt, in a moment that typified his team's 'never say die' ethos that has enhanced their reputation for chasing even the best hidden of lost causes.
Johnson's free kick was cleared by Kris Fitzpatrick who played the ball wide to Smalley and the home side moved forward deep into 'Appleby Frod' territory.
Karl Fitzpatrick was fouled by Ture on the right flank and the referee, had no hesitation in awarding Easington a free kick.
Alas, Barron crossed the dead ball straight to the feet of the Steelmen's right back Johnson, who wasted no time whatsoever in getting the ball forward as quickly as possible. Golland charged towards Holden with the ball at his feet, flanked by Moloney to his left and he nudged the ball sideways as the Easington keeper reached him, to where his running partner rolled an angled strike into the now unguarded net.
Ultimately, goalkeepers are a last resort, last line of defence and you can't blame them for this sort of thing, when they have been left both exposed and outnumbered.

There was to be no fairy tale ending to Easington United's tenure in the CMFL, as the visitors closed ranks and to be fair, looked like a team who were finishing the season in a top four place.
Barron dispossessed Ture 20 yards from the Steelmen's goal and hit his shot on target, but Shaw held onto the ball at the second attempt.
From then on in only some resolute 'backs to the wall' stuff from the home side's defence and two good stops from Holden, prevented 'Frod' from ending the season on a real high.
But fate still had one last slap in the face to deal out to the home side, when Couch timed a run to perfection on the left flank, at the same time that the Easington defence moved up and Moloney hit a pin point pass out wide to his hard working team mate, who might not ever get any acting work as a stunt double for Twiggy, but who'd grafted his 'nads off and bossed things in the final third this afternoon.
Holden, exposed and akll alone once again, raced out to the right hand edge of his area, but Couch punted the ball past him and netted from the most unlikely of angles to double the lead inside the final minute.
FT: Easington United 0 v Appleby Frodingham 2

Truth be told, the final score was probably a fair reflection of how the game had gone, or thereabouts.

Though it would be hard not to feel a big slab of sympathy for Easington United (and I was definitely feeling glum for them as I headed home), this isn't the sort of team would ever want people to feel sorry for them... and they won't stay down in the dumps for long either.

They've got a bond of togetherness and a fighting spirit, rarely seen elsewhere, that has seen them come through far worse times than this, when they have lost some pivotal and inspirational characters at the club and steered very close to going to the wall a couple of times.

Wherever they end up... and the Humber Senior League is looking like their most likely next port of call, this resilient lot won't ever give up battling for what they all clearly still believe in.

Keep the faith and keep on, keeping on!

Tuesday 17th May 2016
North Midland Under 19 League Mini Shield Final
at the Coach & Horses Ground, Sheffield FC
Collingham (2) 3
Simon Biggs 23
Sidnei Costa 45
Marlon Grundy 90+4
Handsworth Parramore (1) 2
Tiago Bravo 44
Ben Rooth 85
Admission £2. No programme produced

Collingham:
Ben Tonks, Sam Biggs, Simon Biggs, Roy Bescoby, Ryan Atwell, Sidnei Costa, Jack Wilkinson, Marlon Grundy, Kieron Helsdown, Jackson Buckthorp (C)
Subs - Carlos Vagarosa, Adam Stone, Callum Barnes
Handsworth Parramore:
Jake Lancini, Tom Cropper, Ellis Moore, Harry Bamforth, Ollie Beaumont, Ged Phillips (C), Danny Beighton, Juninho Blake, Tiago Bravo, Jacob Mason, Ash Cooper
Subs - Danny Bent, Harry Groombridge, Ben Rooth, James Hastings

Handsworth were on target for a treble tonight, having already won the NMU19L North title and League Cup, by virtue of having beaten Collingham 3-0 in the final, at Inkersall Road, with goals from Harry Bamforth, Tiago Bravo and Mitch Dunne.

But Collingham, already Champions of the NMU19L South, fancied a double haul for themselves and as a consequence tonight's crowd were treated to a high tempo, end to end game, that could've gone either way, but was ultimately decided when Collingham took advantage of a couple of uncharacteristic defensive errors.

Providing a steep learning curve for young players is what that these sort of leagues are all about; a final step up in their footballing development, between youth football and the men's game, where being punished for mistakes and having to deal with the consequences of losing concentration at vital moments, is infinitely more educational than steamrollering your way to dominant wins each and every week and the old adage that: "it is all about development and not results" carries no small amount of clout, but one needs to strike a balance between the learning process and results... and whatever anybody says, losing at any game of football is crap; getting hit with a 94th minute sucker punch of a goal, in a cup final that you have just forced your way back into inside the final five minutes, must be sickening.

In a few days time however, once the disappointment has dissipated a little, tonight's runners up will be able to take stock and savour the fact that winning ALL of their league games this season along with lifting the League Cup, topped off by the counting the impressive amount of youngsters that first team manager Micky Godber is giving an opportunity to show their mettle, says to me that this season has proved to be as highly successful as the last one and the seeds are already sown for the next campaign too.
And the same can be said about Collingham too, who from what I have seen of them, play to a fairly similar system most weeks, but who have the players withing their ranks who can interchange positions and are comfortable in a number of roles.

Sidnei Costa, who deservedly won man of the match, has a great football brain (and I don't mean his cranium is made up of stitched leather panels with Mitre stamped on it), whereby he seemingly vanishes from the game altogether and then makes a killer run on the blind side of defence to arrive in his own personal vacuum of space. It must be a complete nightmare to try man marking Costa, because when he has 'ghosted' into a space on his markers blind side, he has the ability and foresight to use the ball cleverly and immediately before anyone can get near him and combines these attributes with pace and power.
At set pieces out wide on the flanks, as his team mates square up to deliver the ball into the middle, Costa will be stood barely inside the opposition half and they strike the ball an instant after he starts his run. As was demonstrated by his goal just before half time tonight.

Man of the match Sid Costa, Collingham

If 'Sid' isn't playing at a higher level in the game within three years, I will present Match of the Day wearing just Gary Lineker's underpants.
Be afraid... be very, very afraid!
On the night, Handsworth definitely had the better of the opening twenty minutes or so, with Ellis Moore, Ash Cooper and Danny Beighton linking up with Juninho Blake, Tiago Bravo and Jacob Mason... Ged Phillips and Harry Bamforth weighed in with a few excellent balls forward, while Ollie Beaumont and Tom Cropper held the fort at the back; when all Collingham had to show for their efforts was two over hit crosses... and, ever so slightly against the run of play, a goal after 23 minutes.
Handsworth made a complete mess of clearing a routine situation on the edge of their area, Jake Lancini was caught in two minds whether to come out of his six yard box or not and Simon Biggs gratefully rolled the loose ball into the back of the net via the right hand post, as the Ambers keeper struggled to recover the situation and could only get the slightest of touches as Biggs shot bobbled past him.

Handsworth brushed themselves down and pushed forward in search of an equalier and came very close when Tiago Bravo directed a header narrowly wide of the upright.
Ash Cooper was stopped in his tracks out on the left flank by Ryan Atwell's heavy challenge, but Beaumont's free kick went wide of the right hand post without any of his team mates having got a touch.
With just a minute of the first half remaining, Bravo darted between two hesitant defenders and placed a low shot past Ben Tonks to level things up.
But in stoppage time, Costa timed his run well to meet Biggs left wing corner and restored Collingham's lead.
A stoppage time goal. Take notes Handsworth, there are a few questions to be answered right at the end of the game.
HT: Collingham 2 v Handsworth Parramore 1

Harry Groombridge added a few decent touches to the Parras build up play after the break and Tonks was kept very busy as he put up a great one man stand against a Handsworth side who were fighting tooth and nail to get a goal back.

Beaumont got around the back of Collingham's defence and was a whisker away from netting when Harry Bamforth picked him out with a free kick from thirtty yards out.

The Ambers keeper Lancini, did well to keep[ out Vagarosa's shot on the turn as the game continued to ebb and flow one way then the other.

Tonks pulled off a brillaint save from Blake and Moore hit a speculative long shot that dipped inches over the crossbar, while Danny

Collingham had a chance to give themselves a two goal cushion, but when rolled a sideways pass to Adam Stone, he rushed his shot with the goal at his mercy and cleared the stand behind the goal with his shot from the edge of the area.

With just five minutes remaining and both sides still committing themselves to a high tempo, attacking and quick passing brand of football, Bamforth chipped a well weighted ball over the Collingham defence to Ben Rooth, who gleefully drilled the ball, first time, past Tonks.
2-2 and extra time beckoned... I don't think there would've been a single person watching who wasn't relishing another 30 minutes of this pulsating entertainment.
Tonks pulled off four saves in added time as Handsworth tried to claim an hard won victory before the final whistle, but they were undone by another moment of hesitancy and communication breakdown in the 94th minute... Marlon Grundy had gambled on the Ambers not clearing their lines and nicked the ball away, took two steps forward and thumped the ball just inside the post.
There was no way back for Handsworth now and as the referee Ed Cook sounded his whistle, virtually from the restart, the west Notts side had forced the result right at the death.
FT: Collingham 3 v Handsworth Parramore 2
A great game all told, a real credit to both sides and the Development League that they play in.
Congratulations Collingham!
And don't get too down about tonight Handsworth, it's been another excellent season.

Friday 20th May 2016

The Dawson & Burgess Doncaster & District FA,

Challenge Cup Final

at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster Rovers FC

Houghton Main (0) 0

Swinton Athletic (0) 1

Ash Emmett OG 63

Admission £4. Programme inc. raffle £2

Houghton Main:
Damon Watson, Danny Burkinshaw, Jake Ward, Liam Graham, Aaron Tate, Danny South, Ashley Emett, Adam Stead, Sam Garforth, Kieran Hurst, Jake Simon
Subs - Scott James, Jordan Watson, Ben Day, Ryan Beadling, Nicky Harper
Swinton Athletic:
Ryan Morton, Craig Mitchell, Drew Sawdon, Shawn Mitchell, Curt Wilkinson, Jon Billups, Enzo Guarini, Mark Clare, Ryan Doxey, Alex Wilkinson, Justin Greenwood
Subs - Matt Beevers, Hayden Barnett, Scott Snodgrass, Jordan Beardsley, Joe Dungworth

Both sides had recorded big wins in their respective semi finals, with Houghton having seen off South Elmsall United Services by 5 goals to 1, while Swinton beat Denaby Main 4-1; to set up this 31st Chalenge Cup showpiece final, between two clubs who had never previously won this prestigious local tournament.
Alas, in spite of the two teams approaching the game with an emphasis on attacking football, tonight's finale to the season, was decided by a solitary goal and a rather scrappy one at that, when Houghton's Ash Emmett turned the ball into his own net in the 63rd minute, while vaingloriously trying to make a last ditch clearance, under pressure from both Curt Wilkinson and Justin Greenwood, the latter of who may well have had a good claim of his own, as to who actually scored of the winning goal.
I'm sure Emmett won't really want the credit.

Houghton started the game on the front foot, with Sam Garforth shooting just wide from a solo run inside the opening two minutes. Meanwhile Swinton had to clear a goal bound header from Danny South and saw their defence split open with a precision pass from Emmett for Kieran Hurst to run onto, but having got into a good position, he couldn't keep his shot on target.
Enzo Guarini and Drew Sawden tried to get Swinton going down the left flank, with some neat interplay on the halfway line, but Aaron Tate intercepted the ball.
But Athletic were back again moments later, when Ryan Doxey threaded the ball through to Guarini who cut in through the left channel before curling a shot towards the right hand side of Damon Watson's goal, but South managed to reach the ball and headed it out of the area, where it fell to Curt Wilkinson, whose thumping shot was blocked.

On 16 minutes, Justin Greenwood picked up the ball just inside his own half, out to the right, but before he could weigh up his options and play a pass, Garforth clattered into him, with a rash challenge, that earned him a straight red card.
As Houghton regrouped to offset their numerical disadvantage, Athletic carved an opening on the left with Guarini picking out Shawn Wilkinson who in turn slipped the ball to Sawdon on the overlap and as the defence opened to track the Swinton left back he nudged a pass into the resulting gap for Greenwood to run on to, but he slightly overran the ball over the dead ball line before getting his cross in.
Jake Ward broke down the left for for Houghton, but Ryan Morton smothered the ball before any of the Main players could reach it and Swinton moved forward again, almost taking the lead into the bargain, as Doxey chipped the ball over the defence to Greenwood who'd timed his run well, but Watson was alert and advanced from his line to gather it.

Watson was in the thick of the action again, when he turned away Mark Clare's shot after Doxey had set up a goal scoring opportunity inside the Houghton area.
Clare came close again from Alex Wilkinson's through ball, but having beat Watson the ball dropped narrowly wide of the upright.
In spite of the handicap that Garforth's red card had given his side, they kept plugging away and Kieran Hurst saw off a challenge as he muscled his way towards Morton's goal, but he put his shot past the outside of the post.
As half time approached, Greenwood tested Watson again, but the Main keeper held onto his shot.
Swinton had slightly the better of the first half possession wise andHoughton were obviously missing their centre forward since his sending off, but at half time the sides were still level pegging.
HT: Houghton Main 0 v Swinton Athletic 0

The decent sized crowd, who were all housed in the West Stand, were obviously enjoying themselves as the noise they were creating reverberated around the Keepmoat Stadium, with the Swinton following in particular entertaining themselves with a vast array of partisan songs, most of which contained words that would be wholly inappropriate to repeat on a website with a family audience; but they were amusing nevertheless and fell into the 'good humoured banter' category, rather than anything you would actually call hostile.

After the interval, the flow of the game was broken somewhat as a steady flow of substitutions for both teams kept the fourth official on his toes.

Jake Ward broke down the wing from his left back berth and impressively left two Swinton players in his wake as he powered forward, but having done the hard part he made a real mess of delivering his cross, which was met by acrescendo of ironic cheers and a few choice comments from the Swinton contingent... I hope his mother never heard any of them!

Guarini got in behind the Houghton defence on the left and crossed to Clare, but Liam Graham had read the situation well and intercepted the ball before clearing the danger.
Graham had been doing a great job of helping to steady the ship for Houghton since Garforth's dismissal, but he was destined not to finish the game on the pitch.
Guarini broke into the Houghton area from the left flank and shot past Watson as he advanced from his line to narrow the angle, but Graham threw his body behind the line of the ball, in an attempt to block it on the line; but as a a clear goal scoring opportunity (the ball was destined for the back of the net) struck Watson on the arm, the match referee, Michael Leneghan, had no option but to show the influential Main player a red card and point to the penalty spot.

I had no idea that Brian Blessed is a football manager

But the nine men of Houghton were given a psychological boost, when Watson got across to pull off a great save from Alex Wilkinson's well struck spot kick.
Swinton forced a couple of corners as Clare and Doxey tried to put the overstretched Houghton defence to the sword, but Hurst came close at the other end as he dragged a shot across the face of the goal and wide of the upright from Nicky Harper's through ball.
In the 63rd minute, Swinton took the lead, when the ball ended up in the back of the net via Houghton's Ash Emmett, who had the misfortune of getting the last touch in a crowded goalmouth scramble.

Although Harper was making a telling contribution to the final stages of the game, Houghton were struggling to cover the amount of ground that being two players light was leaving for Swinton to enjoy the luxury of knocking the ball around in. And it is testament to the tenacity shown by Terry Simon's side that they dug in and didn't get overrun now.
With the clock ticking down, Harper shot over from South's knock down and Swinton attacked from the resulting goal kick and Curt Wilkinson came close to doubling their lead from Matt Beevers sideways pass.
Right at the death, Harper broke through the left channel deep into stoppage time, but his shot fizzed past the left hand upright and nestled into the side netting.
FT: Houghton Main 0 v Swinton Athletic 1
All in all, a very competitive game, played in a lively atmosphere... and well worth the drive up to 'Donny' to watch.
Congratulations to Swinton Athletic... and kudos to the Houghton Main players who held the fort after they went down to ten men so early in the game

Saturday 21st May 2016
Doncaster & District FA Senior League, Division 1
at Edlington Road
Yorkshire Main (3) 5
Aaron Harrison 13, Adam Butler 25
Danny Bell 33, Dean Platts 51, 62
Doncaster Deaf (0) 4
Sykes 70,
Gareth Denmead 83, 84
Ash Hunter 88

Thanks to Marc Smith of Yorkshire Main FC for kindly writing me out a copy of their team sheet.
Ta also to the Donny Deaf Trust manager (apologies I didn't catch your name) for scribbling me a list of his players down too, that I managed to work out and amend once the game got going.
My plan today was to take in this Donacster Senior League game, then drive the short distance to watch the 6.30pm kick off between Donny Belles v Arsenal Ladies.
Alas, upon arrival at the Keepmoat Stadium, as I took my seat and skimmed through the programme, the heavens opened and it rained so bad, that the pitch flooded in places and the game was postponed about ten minutes before it's scheduled kick off time.

Oh well, it was a damn inconvenience, but at least it afforded me the opportunity to get home and catch up with this weeks episodes of Hollyoaks that I had recorded... and wow! What a dramatic seven days it has been on the only TV soap opera that is worth watching, since Brookside vanished from our screens.
Elsewhere, it's FA Cup Final day and once upon a time, I would sit glued to the telly all day (except for when I actually attended several Wembley finals), feasting on Cup Final Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Grandstand and World of Sport, while flicking between channels (which in those days meant actually getting up and walking over to the television to press a button) to peruse all of the latest news, interviews and pre-match build up, "Ooh, just look at the Southampton captain Peter Rodrigues enjoying a plate full of Marmite soldiers, before he leads his own troops into battle as the the Saints go marching in"

Later in the day, after Bobby Stokes had scored the only goal of the game as the second division side beat Tommy Docherty's Manchester United, Rodriques himself said ""Our bus hit a spectator on our way to Wembley and everybody was very concerned as we went into the dressing room,
"Lawrie quickly went back to check on this guy who was hit, he had just stumbled off the kerb and the boss came back and reassured us that he was all right, then we began our preparations"
You just don't get the same kind of intimacy any more... nor players like Rodriques and Stokes, which is why, I think, that so many people cling on to the non-league game like some kind of security blanket for the over forties.
Cup Final Day, was the one Saturday of the year, when I didn't sulk if I couldn't watch the wrestling, compered by Kent Walton, which actually became crap when Big Daddy split from his tag partner in crime Giant Haystacks, stopped being an 'orrible baddy and marketed himself as a good guy and housewives choice instead.

To this day, I can still never find anything nice to say about Mick McManus... and it didn't surprise me a few years back, possibly even a whole decade ago, that a friend of mine who worked in a old folks home in Knaresborough, complained that McManus was a complete bastard to all of his appointed carers.

My grandmother's favourite wrestler was Jackie 'TV' Pallo, but she also listened to Liberace a lot, so there is no accounting for taste.
I genuinely hope it wasn't all stage manged back then, like it is nowadays and that Pallo actually suffered no small amount of pain and distress when Johnny Kwango headbutted him.
Ah, nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
But I'm going off on one, again, this is a football related blog, not a wrestling fanboy's cathartic diary, although Yorkshire Main's Ricky Caldwell seemingly struggles to make the distinction between association rules and the grappling code... and as for the FA Cup circa 2016; well to be perfectly honest, I can barely raise a flicker of interest for the greatest cup competition in world any more, once it reaches the later rounds.
Of course, the Scottish Cup Final was being shown live and theirs still kicks off at the traditional time of 3pm. But Hibs v Rangers? Really!
You'd have to be desperate for a low grade fix of football to watch that shit.

Yorkshire Main:
Steve Smith, Ricky Caldwell, Grant Johnson, Lee Bell, Marc Smith, Dean Platts, Aiden Ford, Zak Boiston, Aaron Harrison, Danny Bell, Adam Butler
Subs - Dan Buzza, Jason Blackburn
Doncaster Deaf Trust;
John Atkinson, Paul Allen, Seon Anderson, Jan Cresswell, Gareth Denmead, Daniel Holdsworth, Ashley Hunter, Mark Sinclair, Taljinder Singh, Darrell Sykes, Peter Wood
No subs

It saddens me to see Yorkshire Main languishing in the Doncaster and District League Division One (not even the Premier Division), such a short time after they were one of the most forward looking and successful local grassroots clubs in the area.
Their games were well attended and they attracted some of the most colourful characters you could possibly ever imagine when they were strutting their stuff in the upper reaches of the Central Midlands League.
Alas, if this afternoon is anything to go by, even the dozen or so harmless binge drinking pot-heads who used to congregate on the uncovered bank of terrace opposite the entrance to the ground have deserted their post and taken their witty banter and 'blissed out' demeanour elsewhere.

Edlington Road, a ground that used to stage local cup finals under the lights, is still potentially a cracking little arena, if only somebody had the time and money to invest in a very modest amount of TLC into a bit of maintenance; but the place has a neglected aura akin to the land that time forgot.
Rumour has it that the club will struggle to carry on after this season, if they can't get a few more people on board... and to me that would be criminal, given the prime location and setting of Yorkshire Main FC and it's adjacent Cricket club and Welfare bar. Locals take note, use it or lose it n' all that.
But anyway, after such a lengthy introduction, lets (finally) get down to the nitty gritty of this afternoon's nine goal thriller.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: a warts and all account of life in the First Division of the Donny League.

It would be fair to say that the home side completely dominated the first hour or so of the game and were good value for the 5-0 lead they had cruised into by that time.
In actual fact, the only surprising aspect of the first half, was that it took the Edlington based side a whole 13 minutes before Aaron Harrison opened the scoring after some good work from Ricky Caldwell who carried the ball from right to left across of the Deaf defence before slotting the ball towards the goal with a thumping left foot shot, that Aaron Harrison helped over the line so it wouldn't get held up in the grass, which didn't look as if it had seen a mower this side of Xmas.
Adam Butler doubled Main's lead with a well taken angled shot after 25 minutes and shortly afterwards Danny Bell added a third when Dan Buzza squeezed the ball through to put him through in a one against one shootout with John Atkinson, the visitors goalkeeper.
Just before the break Butler had two further opportunities, but was thwarted by Atkinson twice, the first was a good save, the second was a blatant handball outside the area... but the referee had a neck tattoo, so nobody argued the toss with him.
HT: Yorkshire Main 3 v Doncaster Deaf 0

The visitors were on the back foot again straight after the restart, when Dean Platts broke clear but shot high and wide of the goal, while Aiden Ford was denied Seon Anderson's clearance off of the line, but 6 minutes after the interval Platts sneaked the ball in at the near post from an improbable tight angle to the left hand side of Doncaster's goal... and the game looked to be effectively over.
But having had a free kick decision go against him in the middle of the pitch, Caldwell became so animated, angry and abusive towards the referee, that he was booked. But that didn't calm his tantrum down at all and he began to aim even more vitriol at the referee, while wrestling with his team mates who were dragging him away and trying to calm the situation down. Caldwell was dismissed, but after getting dressed came out of the changing room and continued with his 'potty mouthed' tantrum at his team mates, from behind a mesh fence. Almost universally they called back at him to "***k off home and don't come back!" and I never saw the fiery red head after that again. Seriously, it is a shame that he is prone to this kind of thing, because he ain't half bad at playing in the right back berth.

L to R: Ricky Caldwell, Ash Hunter

Once normality, after a fashion, was restored, Ford and Butler combined down the left for the home side and Platts made it 5-0 with a superb fish from just outside the left hand edge of the penalty area,
With 20 minutes remaining Pete Wood drilled a right wing cross into the Yorkshire Main six yard box and Darrel Sykes finished from close range to pull a goal back.
Zak Boiston set Ford up for what should've been his sides sixth goal but Atkinson saved and Butler placed a shot narrowly wide as the clock ticked down and a comfortable home win seemed to be inevitable.
But with Mark Sinclair directing his side (and abusing me with sign language on the touchline because he thought I was involved with Yorkshire Main in some capacity... I'll assume he understood my rudimentary hand gesture reply), Gareth Denmead tipped the game on it's head when he scored twice for Doncaster inside the space of a minute and came very close to claiming his hat trick, when he headed wide from Jan Creswell's in swinging cross.

Inside the last two minutes Ash Hunter muscled his way into the area and beat Steve Smith from ten yards.
5-0 to 5-4 and still two minutes plus stoppage time to go. Those of you who deride the standard of this league really don't understand the level of entertainment that you are missing.
A ground hopper from Wealdstone, who'd travelled up to watch the same two games as me today, was certainly enjoying himself (and when the next game on the menu was called off so late in the day, my disappointment was tempered somewhat by the fact that he'd had such an arduous semi-wasted journey, while I was only twenty minutes from home), but Yorkshire Main held on by the skin of their teeth to a win that had 'dead cert' written all over it until the closing twenty minutes, when they went AWOL.
FT: Yorkshire Main 5 v Doncaster Deaf 4
It has to be said, that one way or another, it is never anything but entertaining at Yorkshire Main.
Hopefully they'll still be around in some shape or form next season.

Sunday 22nd May 2016
International Match
at the Ethiad Stadium
England (1) 2
Harry Kane 3, Jamie Vardy 83
Turkey (1) 1
Hakan Calhanoglu 13
Attendance 44,866

Starting line ups:

Roy Hodgson is now the sixth England manager to have reached 50 games in charge of the national team, a total previously amassed by Walter Winterbottom, Alf Ramsey, Ron Greenwood, Bobby Robson and Sven-Göran Eriksson.

In spite of the 100% win record in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, the England manager still has his doubters and detractors, but the underlying crux of a lot of that unfathomable criticism seems to stem from the fact that he doesn't come across as some chirpy, publicly consumable wide boy type, with a top heavy sound bite quota of witty quips (which, thankfully, also means he isn't Harry Redknapp), or that he hasn't picked player X, Y or Z who plays for some moaning chuff piece's favourite team.

The problem with the national side, is that everybody thinks they are an expert.

But, I'm happy to keep schtum and leave it all in Roy's capable hands, he knows what he is doing and he is the best man for the job.

He knows the strengths of the players at his disposal. And... probably more importantly, he knows the limitations and weaknesses of his squad too. Give me realism and solid foundations over flamboyancy any day.

The chief belting out the national anthem

Talent alone will win nothing, team work, hard graft and resilience are required too, the England team is heading in the right direction and Hodgson deserves a lot of credit for charting it's course.

Isn't it time the country got behind Hodgson's side and grew out of the negative mindset that prevails every time England qualify for a major tournament?
Northern Ireland and Wales won't win Euro 2016, but I don't see any of their fans getting into a state about it.
Embrace the positives, wise up to the vast amount of progress that is being made, enjoy the growth that is flourishing from the seeds that are being sown for future generations... and shut the fuck up moaning!

No doubt the attendance figure at the Ethiad Stadium, was affected by the game being played on a Sunday evening, when staying at home and watching the game on TV would mean avoiding the logistics of getting home from the north west for a lot of supporters.

The FA had also staged both the Vase and Trophy finals at Wembley Stadium earlier today in front of 46,781 non league fans, which is an impressive number, even when you consider that Hereford, Halifax Town and Grimsby Town will have had decent followings there.

Regardless of what a few knee jerk reactionary types were mithering on about on Twitter, I have very serious doubts that either of today's football events would have had impacted on the crowd figure at the other one.

Personally I have attended numerous Vase and Trophy finals (and not all of them were contested at Wembley Stadium), but if England didn't have a fixture today, I would have gone to Newcastle, for the Rugby League 'magic weekend' at St James' Park instead, which, in the event, was attended by a record attendance of 68,276 this tear.

The Ethiad Stadium is a brisk 20 minute walk from Manchester Piccadilly railway station, though it does take a little while longer if your dearly beloved is suffering from severe back pain and needs to take things a bit more leisurely.
I treated her to a bus ride on the way back into the city centre, which cheered her up no end, until she saw the ridiculous amount of people that First Trans Pennine Express were attempting to cram into our two unit locomotive for the eastbound trip home via Sheffield.

The ensuing forty five minutes were akin to getting shoved head first into an unpleasantly hot (no air con) cross between the traditional annual Shrovetide Tuesday fixture in Ashbourne and a mass (and very sweaty) version of Extreme Twister, played out to a backdrop of cringe-worthy songs from: "Now that's what I call Tourette's" (think Black Lace with Chubby Brown on vocals, you get the picture) and the puke worthy stench of beery farts.

When. Not if. But definitely when... somebody gets seriously hurt due to OTT overcrowding on a train, the operating companies will eventually get around to rectifying the situation.
Who could ever have imagined, that the sight of Sheffield Midland Station coming into view could ever pre-empt such a massive outpouring of raucous cheer and goodly vibes?
Who was it that used to say: "Let the train take the strain" on those TV adverts?
Oh yeah, I remember... Jimmy Saville!!!!

Oh... and while I remember; there was a game of football being played at Manchester City's new(ish) ground today too.
Turkey have been on a roll of late and were unbeaten in 13 straight games, over the past 18 month, prior to today.
England were without anybody who took part in yesterday's FA Cup Final and Turkey had a few pivotal players missing from their ranks too.
Harry Kane opened the scoring on three minutes, but the lively Turks equalised after 13, through Hakan Calhanoglu.
Kane missed a second half penalty, but Jamie Vardy netted the winning goal with 7 minutes left to go.
Mr Hodgson tried out different tactical formations in each half, Raheem Sterling didn't seem particularly effective as part of either system that was employed.

Vardy looks more comfortable playing centrally than wide... and there are dozens of match reports elsewhere on line, written by real reporters, who all have a better vocabulary than me and do this kind of thing for a living. They can describe all the fleshy parts between the skeletal overview that I have provided. So if you need to know 'owt else... go and seek out what they've got to say about the game, because I'm having the rest of the night off.
In the mean time, here are a few more photographs that I took this evening.
No doubt I'll see some of you at Eastwood Community FC's Coronation Park ground for tomorrow night's Notts Senior Cup Final between Basford United and Clipstone, which kicks off at 7.30pm.

FT: England 2 v Turkey 1

Cautious optimism is pumping within my heart, for the long term development of the England team.

Onwards!

Monday 23rd May 2016
Notts FA Senior Cup Final
at Coronation Park, Eastwood Community Football Club
Basford United 2
Rob Darkin 90+3, 96
Clipstone 2
Andrew Fox 44, Somes 118
45 minutes 0-1 90 minutes 1-1
105 minutes 2-1 120 minutes 2-2
Basford won 3-2 in penalty shoot out
Admission £5 inc. programme. Attendance 230

Basford United:
Deeney, Darkin, Bennett, Grayson (Griffiths Junior 81), Rowley, Meikle, Hollis (Bopp 68), Smith (Hendrie 68), Wiggins-Thomas, Grantham, Dixon.
Unused subs - J Duffy, Fogg.

Clipstone:
Francis, Royles, Randle, Salt, Magee, Ashmore (c), Wall (Holmes 83), Finlaw, Ryan (Somes 87), Fox, Walker (Dacre 90)
Unused sub - Littlejohn

A monsoon descended over Mansfield on Tuesday 10th May, when approximately six months worth of precipitation fell from the skies in the space of just a couple of hours during the afternoon, that rendered the original cup final pitch at the Stags One Call Stadium/Field Mill completely unplayable.
Mansfield Town's pitch renewal for next season is now well underway, meaning the Notts FA needed to find an alternative ground for tonight's re-arranged cup final; and Coronation Park, with it's brand new artificial surface, that has only been laid this last week, got the thumbs up.
A repeat of last years final, which Basford had won 5-3, was ultimately decided via the lottery of a penalty shoot out, which went the way of the Nottingham based side, while Clipstone now know how Ollerton Town must've felt when they knocked them out of the competition by virtue of spot kicks at the outset of their cup run.

A crowd of 230 were treated to an uptempo and fast paced game (in which the new surface at Eastwood more than played it's part), that had more twists and turns along the way than the 'Wild Mouse', big dipper ride at Skeggy Fair.
Andy Francis deputised in goal for Clipstone, in the absence of Steve Hernandez, who had been involved in a road traffic accident yesterday; while Damo Magee made his first start for three months in the Cobras defence, having been unavailable due to injury.
Magee is one player who is guaranteed to put in 100% effort and commitment for the cause, but it was evident, that once the game went into extra time, he was running on empty and will definitely be feeling a few aches and pains tomorrow morning as a consequence.

Clipstone were billed ass the underdogs against their Evo-Stik League opponents, but were more than a match for Martin Carruthers side in the opening forty five minutes and though Basford created a couple of good opportunities, most notably for Ash Grayson and Jermain Hollis, neither of whom could keep their efforts on target, although Grayson did hit the foot of the post with a header from Fabian Smith's free kick; the Cobras had the better of things in front of goal, with Oli Ryan turning Sam Finlaw's cross over the bar, while Nicky Walker flashed a shot narrowly wide of the upright from Ellis Wall's pass.

Clipstone opened the scoring on 44 minutes, with a move that started in their own half with Chris Salt on the right hand side of midfield, who switched flanks with a great knock to Luke Randle on the left flank and he fed the ball forward to Walker, who in turn delivered a pinpoint cross to Andrew Fox inside United's six yard box and he nudged the ball past Saul Deeney and Billy Bennett, the latter of who scooped the ball back into play, after it had already crossed the line, as was confirmed by the referee's assistant Kenwyn Hughes, who was well placed, level with the incident... as you'd expect from the Notts FA Referee of the Year.

Having deservedly taken the lead, the Cobras almost scored again when Oli Ryan played a sideways pass to Ellis Wall, who thumping drive deflected back towards Ryan, but the angles were all wrong for him and he put the ball high and wide of the goal.
HT: Basford United 0 v Clipstone 1
Deeney did well to get both hands behind Sam Finlaw's shot and turn it away, but as the second half unfolded, although 'Clipo' always looked good on the counter attack, Basford were beginning to get to grips inside the opposition's half and put together Smith, Hollis and Kyle Dixon all adopted a 'shoot on sight' policy, as the traffic around Clipstone's goal area began to get really busy, Chris Salt cleared from Ruben Wiggins Thomas with a saving tackle and Dixon saw his goal bound effort deflected around the post.

Curiously, or so it seemed to me, whenever Clipstone broke forward, they seemed intent on playing sideways passes in front of the Basford goal, when peppering Deeney with first time shots might have reaped greater rewards. That's an observation, not a criticism.

That said, Ryan had a shot saved and Dion Meikle denied Ellis Wall the opportunity to give his side a two goal cushion, with a timely block. While Finlaw tested Deeney with a free kick from a well rehearsed routine with James Ashmore.

Meikle was also on hand to thwart Walker, as the ball reached him in the Basford area via Finlaw and Wall.

Stuart Hendrie had two opportunities to pull Basford level, but Francis and Magee took turns to keep him at bay.

Clipstone had run themselves into the ground and late in the day, Billy Fox introduced Brad Holmes, Adam Somes and Josh Dacre to provide some fresh legs and impetus to see the game out.

But deep into stoppage time, Anthony Griffiths Junior edged the ball across Clipstone's six yard box and Rob Darkin forced a late equaliser over the line from close range. Some of the Cobras players appealed and claimed that there had been a handball in the build up, but the referee Declan Bourne thought otherwise... and having already completed a grueling shift, both sides were now going to have to put in an extra 30 minutes overtime.
90+3 minutes: Basford United 1 v Clipstone 1
Six minutes into extra time, Darkin struck again, stooping to nod the ball past Francis from a corner.
Chris Salt came close to leveling things up at the other end and that man Darkin was on hand again to block a shot from Brad Holmes... but then Clipstone were forced to defend with all their might against a string of openings from the Evo-Stik League side.

Ruben Wiggins-Thomas saw his shot dip over the goal as Magee got in a blocking tackle and was a whisker away from connecting with a great cross from Courey Grantham. And then Eugen Bopp slashed a shot narrowly wide and forced a save out of Francis just moments later.
Clipstone had been unfortunate to concede an equaliser in stoppage time, but they gave Basford a spoonful of their own medicine inside the last two minutes of extra time, when Somes latched onto a great pass from Holmes and slotted the ball past Deeney from ten yards out, with an assured calmness that belied the timing and urgency of the situation.
AET: 2-2

So the game went to penalties, with Clipstone kicking first.

Deeney saved two of Clipstone's from Royles and Somes and Ashmore struck the woodwork with his kick, while Fox and Salt both converted from the spot for the Cobras.

Kyle Dixon, Eugen Bopp and Deon Meikle all netted for Basford United, Griffiths Junior missed his go and there was no need for a fifth Basford kick because Clipstone had only scored two from their five attempts.

Basford United won 3-2 on penalties AET.

An absorbing game, befitting of a cup final, in which both teams shared the starring role.

Congratulations and well done Basford and well done to Clipstone too, you were bloody unlucky tonight.

From my neutral vantage point, I would also have to say that the match officials: Declan Bourne, Kenwyn Hughes and Scott Mason (plus fourth official Andrew Dallison) all contributed greatly to tonight's entertainment and the pitch at Eastwood Community Football Club was excellent.

It was great to catch up with so many stalwarts of the local non-league scene tonight whose first rate company made for a great night too.

Friday 27th May 2016
International Match
at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland AFC
England (1) 2
Marcus Rashford 3
Wayne Rooney 55
Australia (0) 1
Eric Dier OG 75
Attendance 46,595

A sell out crowd converged on the Stadium Light for this second in a series of three Euro 2016 warm up games, which culminates with Portugal's visit to Wembley on Thursday night.
Apparently, using different stadiums and taking the England team out on the road, is all part of Roy Hodgson's planning strategy, as he tries to create a 'tournament feel' to this final dress rehearsal run of practice matches, whilst remaining on home soil.

Having won three and drawn two of their previous encounters in Antipodean climes against Australia, England were embarrassingly turned over at Upton Park by three goals to one on the only occasion prior to tonight that the two sides have faced each other on English soil, back in February 2003. It was 'Evertonian' Wayne Rooney's first team international debut.
I still wake up in the middle of the night sweating, to this day, disturbed by the fact that I was silly enough to spend £45 on a ticket for that game at West Ham United's ground.

If I ever bumped into Sven Goran Eriksson (and I only missed him by a couple of minutes in Nottingham a few years ago), I would still happily give him a bloody nose for the way he allowed that night in the East End to descend into a circus... and I'd probably break his glasses too, in lieu of a crap performance in Belfast too.
Deep breaths, thinking pure thoughts... and moving swiftly on.

Mind your fingers pal!

Jordan Henderson was a ball boy the last time England played a game in Sunderland, there are those amongs my cirle of 'football friends' who say he would still be better deployed in that role. But the local lad made good got a rousing reception from his home crowd tonight, while Andros Townend, currently strutting his stuff for relegated Newcastle United, most certainly didn't, in spite of him injecting dome fresh impetus into the later stages of the game.
In the not so distant past, when the question on everyone's lips seemed to be: "Gerrard or Lampard?", my reaction would always be: "Either, as long as they've got Jordan Henderson to do their running and fetching for them".

The vast majority of his work is understated and goes unnoticed a lot of the time, but the calibre of managers who have selected and signed Henderson, does suggest that he must bring something to the table and that they're paying attention and not swayed by any hype.
Digressing slightly for a moment, the other correct answer to the Gerrard/Lampard conundrum is: "Paul Scholes". But that goes without saying really.
Of course, both Lampard and Gerrard were quality players, but the big guns soon run out of ammunition without the grafters and powder monkeys keeping them topped up.
That would also explain James Milner's international career to the untrained eye.

The atmosphere at tonight's game put that at last week's Ethiad Stadium fixture to shame and the Australian contingent in the tier above us certainly played their part.

The ambiance was helped along still further by the cheery and laid back approach to stewarding at the Stadium of Light, which made a refreshing change to some of the wannabe thug-boy 'robocops' you get at some grounds, with no man management capabilities or social skills, whose sole purpose on planet earth, seems to be fulfilling a lifetime's ambition to be a knee jerk reactionary spoilsport.

So credit where it's due and well done to the SAFC stewards and staff.

I must confess, that despite them having been crowned 'Champions of Asia' last year, I had only ever heard of one of the Australian side tonight... and that was Tomas Rojic, who is on the radar of several top European sides; which must be nice for him, given that he currently plies his trade in the Scottish Premier League, with a bit part Glaswegian side called Celtic.
So the team from 'down under' were something of an unknown quantity to me... and I should imagine the vast majority of other people in the ground, including a good number of the England players.

As it turned out, they were a quick footed, pressing side, who exposed a few frailties in Roy Hodgson's sides defence, but while they did well as regards making all of the right runs in critical areas, they lack any quality in front of goal and couldn't put the finishing touches to all of their movement and guile, but Eric Dier gave them a hand in that department.
But in mitigation and support of Dier, at least he was in the thick of it, trying to defend England's goal, when he headed Milek Degenek's right wing cross past Fraser Forster to half England's lead.
It was a blip in an otherwise accomplished season for the Tottenham midfielder... and hopefully he won't be hung out to dry and vilified for his error, like players of the ilk of Tony Adams have been in the past.

Dier would be in my starting eleven when the Euro 16 tournament kicks off for real... but not as a defender.
Although I do fully understand Hodgson's apparent experimentation of trying out certain players out of position, inasmuch as: he already knows what they are capable of in their own roles; obviously that is why he selected them in the first place, but he needs to know can provide cover if and when there is a genuine need for change during a match situation. It's a belt and braces policy... and people would do well to recognise this experimentation for what it really is and adopt the mindset that this is one of the reasons why these sort of warm-up, practice games are arranged in the first place. It's no good finding out who can/can't adapt once the team arrive in France and start their Euro 2016 campaign in earnest.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail, as the saying goes.

After withstanding a scare in the first minute, when the Brisbane Roar strike Jamie Maclaren, forced Forster into an error and almost took advantage on his international debut, Marcus Rashford showed him how it was done at the other end, when he drilled the ball past Matt Ryan inside the third minute, thus beating Tommy Lawton's record, that has stood for 77 years, for being the youngest player to ever score in a first team England international.

Just 92 days after making his first team debut at Manchester United, Rashford has crashed onto the scene with a cataclysmic bang... and he is still only 18 years old.

Obviously, he has a big future in the game and it's been proven time and time again, that if you're good enough, you're old enough.

THE66POW... EXCLUSIVE!
Deeply Dippy!
'Right Said Fred' spotted out together in Wearside,
sparking reunion tour rumours.

Rashford was also involved to the build up, providing the pass to Raheem Sterling (who actually played very well tonight), for him to lay the ball into the path of Wayne Rooney who crashed an unstoppable 18 yard net bulging shot past Ryan, but will Hodgson tether the youngster and unleash him on unsuspecting opposition defences in France?

It's a rhetorical question by the way, I'm not going to answer it... and, although the viewing figures for this self indulgent, bullshit blog, with added football content, are going off the scale of late... I doubt very much if Mr Hodgson, Ray Lewington and the other members of national team's advisory body give ever actually read THE66POW.

And I don't blame them either!

When he was switched to operate from a wider position tonight, Rashford wasn't anywhere near as effective as he is in front of goal... and this would explain why he looked out of sorts, when I saw him playing in a similar role against Canada in an Under 20 international at Doncaster Rovers Keepmoat Stadium, seven weeks ago, because the development teams have been adopting the same DNA as the first team since Hodgson's appointment to the England hot seat in 2012.
But this demonstrates that he must be very much in the national team mangers thinking.

One player who did disappoint me tonight, particularly after giving putting in his best performance in an England shirt against Turkey last week, was Jack Wilshere, who never really got going before Hodgson substituted him at half time, along with Lallana, who was covering every blade of grass in the opening 45 minutes.

Although England still have one more game to fine tune things in, on Thursday against Portugal at Wembley, this 'friendly' at the Stadium of Light, was actually the last chance for anybody to force the issue vis the final squad selection, because the tournament 23, thinned down from 26, needs to be submitted to the regulating body by Tuesday.

Doubtless, their are millions of people with an opinion regarding who should make the final cut and why... and it might be worth turning all of your social media apps if you don't want your phone to go into meltdown mode.

There is an old saying, that goes something along the lines of: You can please some of the people, some of the time, but you'll never please all of the people all of the time. At this juncture you could probably add a line and say: And if you're the England manager you'll never please anyone, ever.

Roy Hodgson gets paid well for what he does; but in my humble opinion, regardless of how the national side fare in France, where they could be dark horses and pleasantly surprise us all, but, of course, there is always the risk that they won't, Hodgson has done a quite remarkable job of transforming the national team set up and deserves a massive amount of credit for salvaging the England squad and pointing them in the right direction.
There will be no silky Samba skills, no total football and no technical robotic efficiency... because this England side don't try to be anything they're not, or copy how other countries style themselves.
'Roy' knows his players strengths and weaknesses and has invented a way of playing around both of those factors.
I've enjoyed his reign in charge, even when the team has ground out results in a horses for course fashion, like tonight for example... and I'm very grateful that he has pulled the team that represents this nation back from the edge of an impending complete fall from grace.
FT: England 2 v Australia 1

AFC Emley 1 v Penistone Church 0 - NCEL Div 1 Play Off SF

Bottesford Town 2 v Hallam FC 0 - NCEL Div 1 Play Off SF

FORTHCOMING GAMES - THE66POW UPDATED TOUR SCHEDULE 2015-16

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Houghton Main 0 v Swinton Athletic 1 - Doncaster & District FA Cup Final

Yorkshire Main 5 v Doncaster Deaf Trust 4 - Doncaster Senior League Div 1

England 2 v Turkey 1 - International Match

Basford United 2 v Clipstone 2 AET - Basford won on penalties - Notts Senior Cup Final

England 2 v Australia 1 - International Match