THE66POW

Tuesday 18th October 2016
Toolstation NCEL League Cup 3rd Round
at the Jones & Co. Stadium, Cannon Park
Retford United (0) 1
Danny Murray 89
Penistone Church (2) 2
Andrew Ring 2, 16
Admission £5

On Saturday, while Penistone Church were cementing their spot at the top of the NCEL Division 1 table (with four games in hand over second placed Winterton Rangers) with a 3-2 win at Yorkshire Amateur, Retford United were slumping to a 10-0 (ten-nil) defeat at Cleethorpes Town, who they will be facing again on home turf this coming weekend. The Owls have made a really impressive signing, capturing Liam Davis from Gainsborough Trinity and he scored a first half hat trick against the Badgers at the weekend. I don't imagine the reverse fixture on Saturday will be a goalless affair.
Penistone Church have a braek from league action on Saturday, when they welcome Mansfield Woodhouse's finest: Sherwood Colliery, in the FA Vase First Round.

Talking to Paul is always highly illuminating

The result, a narrow away win for Penistone, only tells half the story.
Tonight's game, having originally been rescheduled to 8PM, finally got underway at 8.12PM, due to a number of the home players getting held up in traffic en route to Cannon Park.
The even later arrivals had to go onto the subs bench, and while several of the Badgers team were forced to play out position, two players who probably shouldn't even have started tonight, because they are still recovering from injury and aren't actually ready for 90 minutes of NCEL football yet; took to the field at the start of the game as well... and in both cases had to leave the pitch during the game, having aggravated the knocks that they are carrying and supposed to be returning to action from in two or three weeks time.
Enforced changes and injuries could be pointed to as contributing factors to Retford's downfall, if the Church hadn't also got a couple of first choice picks unavailable too. In fact, the visitors had to play striker Lewis Dickinson in goal for the entire second half after Adam Rhodes had to e withdrawn because of an injured shoulder.

With just two minutes on the clock, Andy Ring put the visitors ahead, when he drilled the ball past Sam Jepson as Scott Whittington's shot came back off the crossbar.
United were almost immediately on level terms when Danny Murray's long range shot was parried by Jepson and as he clawed at the ball to retrieve it Niall Sultan intercepted, went round the keeper and rolled a close range effort over the line... but the 'goal' was disallowed after it was decided, correctly or otherwise, that the ball had originally been kicked by Sultan, while Jepson had it under control with his hands.
Luke Walker, one of the Badgers walking wounded, playing out of position at left back, had already made two interceptions in spite of the fact he was obviously struggling; but after 16 minutes, he couldn't quite complete a headed clearance and Jack Moore got to the loose ball took it forward a few yards and delivered a perfect cross to double Penistone's lead.
Jack Walters and Ash Shannon were both battling to make in roads towards the visitors go, but the heavy pitch wasn't suiting either their pace nor close control.

Walker didn't even last long enough to see the first half out.
You've just got to hope that the unexpected start hasn't put his recovery back.
One of the linesmen also went down injured just before the break, after going over heavily on his ankle. But he reappeared after the break, probably after taking into consideration that the game had slowed down to a snails pace and he'd be able to keep up.
I attempted to update the score on Twitter, but discovered, quite back accident that if you type in Penistone Church too slowly you get taken to a feed called 'Celebrity Penis'. Surely to God the Peter Andre on has been photo-shopped on!? Err... moving swiftly on.
Three minutes into the second half, with Retford already having made all of their substitutions, Sultan stretched for the ball and aggravated his hamstring injury. His departure to the dressing room saw the home side reduced to ten men.

Walters shot across the face of the visitors goal, but the ball went wide of the left hand post.

Sam Jepson, who I was semi-reliably informed had travelled all the way from Catterick to play in goal for United, held on well to James Young's cross, after Luke Johnson and half time substitute Danny Joynes had set an attacking move in progress.

Johnson was actually doing very well in the middle of the Church midfield and coping admirably with the tacky pitch, while Cameron Dear, playing in an unfamiliar role put in a creditable performance for the Badgers across the middle of the park.

It was Dear who sent Walters clear through the left channel, but his shot was well saved by the deputising keeper Wilkinson.

Image result for retford united the66pow

In the main, the game was being played out around the centre circle, the pitch was cutting up like buggery and the saving grace of the night was that due to Penistone's two goal cushion, it was highly unlikely that we'd need to sit through an extra thirty minutes of extra time.

But the home side nearly forced the issue, when Wilkinson air kicked at Dillan O'Connor's long ball towards his goal, which allowed Danny Murray to chase the ball and roll it into an empty and unguarded net.

In stoppage time O'Conner created another chance from a deep free kick, but Keith Melvin diverted the ball just wide of the post. Phew!

FT: Retford United 1 v Penistone Church 2

I usually enjoy watching Penistone in action, because they play some aesthetically lovely football at times, but tonight, they did what they had to on a glue pot pitch that looked like it had just staged the horse of the year show... so it was really a genuine case of horses for courses n' all that!

I guess Retford United can count their blessings that Cleethorpes Town won't be able to pass the ball around as much as they would like too this coming Saturday on the rutted and bobbly surface at Cannon Park.

It's going to be a long old season for the Badgers faithful.

Wednesday 19th October 2016

Toolstation NCEL League Cup 3rd Round
Maltby Main (0) 1
Ryan Carroll 48
Staveley MW (3) 5
Tyla Bell 8, 27
Tom Ellis 32
Adam Lee 84 pen, 90
Attendance 56

Dan Reilly. He makes a great half time brew.

Maltby Main:

Louis Jones, Craig Mitchell Callam Cheetham 70), Liam Flint, Nicky Darker, Dan Reilly (Reece Wesley 12), Derrelle Goodison, Jordan Poole, Shawn Mitchell, Josh Schofield, Ryan Carroll, Jordan Snodin (Ollie Lawrence 52)

Unused subs - John Stancliffe, Jack Greeves

Staveley MW:

Lewis Naylor, Ryan Duffy, Tom Ellis, Matt Robinson, Craig Getliff, Shaun Nesbitt (Jamie Coulson 83), Ash Rawson, Adam Le, Tyla Bell, Steve Carty (Kurt Morley HT)

Unused subs - Liam Nelthorpe, Luke Rafferty

Nicky Darker

"Maltby!?" Exclaimed a disgruntled Retfordian at Cannon Park last night, having read on this here blog, that I have been helping 'the Miners' out a bit of late; "How long does it take you to get there, instead of offering to work here!?"
Well I can't give you an exact time, but I turned on my Eight Track Cartridge Player on when I left home tonight and had listened to 'Silver Machine', 'The Cat Crept In', 'See My Baby Jive' and half of 'Sugar Baby Love' by the time that I pulled into the car park at Muglet Lane, so it's obviously a lot closer than a lot of people realise.
It's been fun getting involved at Maltby recently, albeit just a flying visit, to help out a couple of really down to earth local football stalwarts, who I hold in very high regard.
I tweeted at the weekend: Proper club Maltby, all straight talkers... no pretenders, egos and sneaky ****s. I reckon that pretty much sums the situation up.

Liam Flint

The visitors pretty much had the game sewn up by half time.
Playing a fairly direct game, though to be fair, the infamous Muglet Lane pitch cum orienteering course doesn't exactly lend itself to tippy tappy football, the Chesterfield based side defended with two deep rows of players strung across the pitch in a primitive, but effective 4-4-2 system and tried to get the ball forward quickly to Adam Lee, Steve Carty or Tyla Bell.
Possession wise there wasn't really a great deal in it, but whereas Maltby came unstuck trying to pick their way through a crowded defence, the Trojans weren't afraid to shoot from around the fringes of Louis Jones area and they stormed into a three goal lead, just after the half hour mark, by virtue of a trio of very well taken goals.

Reece Wesley

Adam Lee created the first when he flicked the ball in Tyla Bell's path and he beat Jones with a dipping shot that Maltby could've have defended if they had a man covering each post.
Maltby's cause was hampered when their only recognised central defender, Dan Reilly twisted his knee and had to be replaced.
Shaun Nesbitt launched a long ball into the area that found it'sway through to Ash Rawson, who missed an absolute sitter. But on 27 minutes, Bell picked up the ball twenty five yards out and smashed it past Jones.
The visitors forced a couple of corners; the first one came to nothing because Jones was fouled, but the second found it's way to the edge of the area and Tom Ellis rifled the ball into the roof of the net.
Nesbitt chased another lengthy punt towards the Maltby area, but Jones ran thirty yards off of his line to head the ball away.
HT: Miners 0 v Trojans 3

Louis Jones

A half time reshuffle by Spencer Fearn and his cohorts, saw Maltby playing a more rigid 4-3-3 and that seemed to quell any hopes that Staveley had of continuing with their shoot on sight tactics.

Three minutes after the interval, the Miners captain Nicky Darker launched a long throw across the visitors six yard box from out on the right wing and some sloppy defending allowed the ball to reach Ryan Carroll, a few yards from the back stick and he beat Lewis Naylor with a rasping shot that found the net having crossed the line by the left hand post.

The goal lifted the home side and Naylor had to move quickly to keep out Shawn Mitchell's shot, while Reece Wesley went close when he diverted a header over the bar from another long and accurate throw in by darker.

Jordan Snodin unleashed a stinging shot from twelve yards that beat Naylor but he shaved a layer of paint off of the right hand post as the ball whistled narrowly wide.

Shawn Mitchell

Sadly, just as the Miners were starting to look as though a second half comeback might be on the cards, Snodin had to limp out of the game.What a player he's going to be for Maltby when he's back to full fitness.

Maltby knew that the fates had decreed they weren't going to progress to the fourth round, when Jordan Poole was just inches, nee centimetres away from connection with the ball a couple of feet away from the goal line after Cheetham had spotted him in space.

In the 84th minute, Bell fed the ball into Kurt Morley's path and he sprinted forward on the left before crossing towards a scrum of players on the edge of the box and the referee, Andrew Dallison blew his whistle for a penalty, having spotted an obstruction just inside the area. Technically, an obstruction offence just inside the area, should actually be punished by awarding an indirect free kick.

But it wasn't going to make the slightest bit of difference to the final outcome now either way and Adam Lee picked his spot well and made it 1-4 with his penalty kick, to put a bit of gloss on the score for the visitors.

Bell showed good feet before threading a pass to Lee in the first minute of stoppage time and he swept the ball past Jones to claim a fifth... I used to like you Adam Lee!

FT: Maltby Main 1 v Staveley Miners Welfare 5

Was the four goal winning margin flattering for the visitors? Definitely if you only took the balance of play in the second half into consideration, but the quality of the visitors finishing before the break just about warranted the result.

I did get a quote from the Maltby manager Spencer Fearn at full time, but this is a family orientated football blog, so although I agreed with him 110%, I shall keep a discreet counsel and spare you all the potty mouth stuff.

It wouldn't be right of me to say too much about other people's personal business; but today, somebody at the football club's wife was given the all clear from having breast cancer.

Maltby lost a game of football tonight, but so what!? There was only really one result we were all more concerned about today.

Maltby Main are back in league action at the weekend, away at Harrogate Railway Athletic. And I'm going to be back doing my bit with Mansfield Town's development teams, but I'm already looking forward to seeing all my pals at Muglet Lane again very soon. It's been a blast!

Friday 21st October 2016
SkyBet EFL Championship
at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton upon Trent
Burton Albion (1) 2
Lloyd Dyer 32, Jamie Ward 62
Birmingham City (0) 0
Admission £20. Programme £3
Attendance 5,818 (inc. 1,754 in sold out away fans sections)

Team sheet picture courtesy of Simon Matters.
I didn't take any photos apart from the signs.

The police advice that Blues fans should not travel without tickets was heeded by the majority of away fans who couldn't get hold of a brief for the away end, but it would seem that reserving a standing ticket in the home end and then collecting it from the ticket office on the night of the game wasn't exactly logistically difficult for a good number of Birmingham fans who were dotted around the West Stand.
City manager Gary Rowett, was in charge at Burton for two seasons before taking over the reigns from Lee Clark at St Andrews, having overseen a successful two-year spell at the Pirelli Stadium. Although technically he actually followed on from the caretaker duo of Richard Beale and Malcolm Crosby who held the fort for two games, a 1-0 away defeat at Blackburn Rovers and a 8-0 reversal at home to Bournemouth.

After two top-six finishes with the Brewers, when Rowett left to take up the City job on 27th October 2014, Albion were sitting proudly at the top of SkyBet League Two and they went on to secure that position and promotion at the end of the season, under the tenure of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
When Hasselbaink was headhunted by QPR in December of last year, Nigel Clough, who had previously managed at Burton between 1998 and 2009, returned to take up his old job at the Pirelli Stadium, following stints in the hot seat at both Derby County and Sheffield United.
Tonight's game marked the first ever competitive fixture between these two sides, although Birmingham provided the opposition for a pre-season game at Burton in 2015.

Blues started with good intentions, pushing forward from the off, particularly down the right flank, while it took twelve minutes before Albion even got the ball into the visitors area, where it was headed away by Jacques Maghoma, the Democratic Republic of Congo international who scored 26 goals in 155 games during his spell at Burton, before he arrived at City, via a stay with Sheffield Wednesday. But the home side did eventually have the first actual shot on goal when Jamie Ward shot just wide of the left hand upright from outside the area after a quality cross from Lloyd Dyer. The same pair combined a few minutes later and Ward scooped the ball over the bar from close range.
Tom Naylor slipped a measured through ball into the path of Ward, but Adam Legzdins was quickly off of his line to smother the lively Brewers strikers shot.
Maghoma ran diagonally across the face of Burton's area, but the referee waved play on when he was surrounded by three players and tripped a fraction after loosing the ball.

On a night when most of the pre-match hype revolved around the homecoming of Gary Rowett, it was a Brummy who had travelled in the opposite direction who opened the score, when Ward held off two challenges, before knocking the ball through into the area, where Dyer took it on and finished with the outside of his left foot. Dyer is a former Aston Villa youth prospect who played fifteen times for Blues, while on loan in 2015
From the Brewers next attack, Chris O'Grady got underneath Ryan Shotton's attempted clearing header and nodded an arcing effort over Legzdins, that fell wide of his left hand post. Legzdins, is of course a former Burton Albion player, in fact it wouldn't have surprised me if a few dozen of the spectators stood around me had played for either Burton, Birmingham or both teams, given the extent of the 'ex' factor on show tonight.

A late Shotton interception, prevented Tom Naylor from getting his shot on target, tat's the same Tom Naylor whose parents used to sit in the row behind me at Field Mill, when he was still on the books of Mansfield Town... and then shortly before the interval, Legzdins pulled of a vital save down to his left to turn Ward's shot around the upright.
Birmingham had started the first half looking like they were building up a head of steam, but having got to grips with their visitors, Burton certainly had the better of the opening forty five minutes and were good value for their interval lead. In fact, they could have gone in at the break three or four goals to the good.
HT: Brewers 1 v Blues 0

Morrison attempted to clear the ball away as Ward battled for possession, but only managed to pass it straight into the path of Lucas Akins who blazed the ball wide with the goal at his mercy.
David Cotterill attacked down the right flank but his cross was cut out by John McLaughlin... cue Gary Rowett telling Che Adams and Clayton Donaldson to get stripped for action, while David Davis and Cotterill made way.
Adams, of course, was signed by Nigel Clough from non league Ilkeston FC, when Clough Jr was still managing the Blades,
Lukas Jutkiewicz had been monitored well in spite of Cotterill and Jon Spector trying to provide the service the lone front man required.

Dyer committed a foul twenty five yards from Burton's goal, but with a range of options at his disposal, struck the ball towards the Blues fans at the back of the East Stand. To compound the visitors frustrations, Burton attacked quickly from the goal kick and Ward chased a long header from Jon Brayford forward before firing the ball under Legzdins to double Burton's advantage.
He was offside, but Ward deserved a goal for his efforts thus far and if truth be told, it had been on the cards.
The goal prompted City's manager to make their final substitution, when Greg Stewart replaced Maghona.

Nigel Clough

Dyer, O'Grady and Ward were still full of running and Nigel Clough's tactic of stringing three extra players across the front of the Brewers back four was paying dividends as Jutkiewicz was crowded out again.
Stewart drove a free kick into Burton's defensive wall, a wasted opportunity from just outside the D on the edge of Burton's area.
Adams shot was deflected over for a corner and when Stewart delivered his kick to Michael Morrison at the back stick, the visitors captain headed wide from a free header.
With the visitors trying to get back into the game they were vulnerable to Burton breaking on the counter and O'Grady wasn't far away from the edge of Legzdins area,
Ward was substituted with ten minutes remaining, as Will Miller was introduced and there was a swap of former Stags players when Lee Williamson came on in place of Tom Naylor to see out the remaining few minutes.

Gary Rowett

Jackson Irvine went close with two half chances, but as Blues struggled to salvage the result, Donaldson took a heavy knock as he collided with McLaughlin as he charged from his line. After treatment Donaldson was still able to see out the game which had slipped into stoppage time while he was grounded. While Donaldson was receiving attention, Hamza Choudhury came on for the home side with Matty Palmer.
Full time came and one former Burton Albion manager (who came back) had beaten another, to scupper Birmingham's hopes of climbing to up to third place in the Championship table.
FT: Burton Albion 2 v Birmingham City 0

Burton were very impressive tonight, while Birmingham were half decent for the opening ten minutes, before fading, like something akin to a football metaphor for premature ejaculation.
Friday night football doesn't suit Birmingham City.
O'Grady and Ward were fairly awesome tonight and Dyer looked almost unplayable at times.
In conclusion, the best team won. End of!
Blues next two fixtures are: the second city derby v. Aston Villa next Sunday (Noon kick off) at St Andrews, followed by early season pace setters Huddersfield Town away. The Brewers face Yorkshire opposition on the next two weekends, travelling to Elland Road next Saturday to face Leeds United before hosting Barnsley seven days later.

Saturday 22nd October 2016
EFLYA Cup. Northern Group Section. Group Two.
at the Worksop Van Hire Stadium, Clipstone FC
Mansfield Town U18 (0) 0
Walsall U18 (0) 2
Dan O'Sullivan 79, Callum Peters 85
For more photos from this game: Click HERE

Stags Youth:
Sam Wilson (C), Kane Baldwin, Henri Wilder, Cain Smith, Morgan Ratcliffe, Kieran Harrison, Teddy Bloor (Alistair Smith 81), Cameron Healey, Nyle Blake, Jason Law (Devante Reittie 75), Tom Marriott (Surafel Behailu 81)
Unused subs - Xavier Sundby (GK), Aiden Walker
Saddlers Youth:
Brandon Ganley, Sam Tonks, Callum Cockerill-Mollett (C), Ash Maddocks, Dan Vann (Cody Fisher 45, Stefan Mason 86)), Ben Kendrick, Joe Cairns (Debert Massamba 64), Lezion Cela, Cameron Peters, Ethan Freemantle (Dan O'Sullivan 45)
Unused sub - Mitchell Candlin

The Stags must now await their fate, to see if they will qualify for the second round by virtue of being one of the best third placed finishers from the group stages.
Alas, the league website (via Soccerway) shows John Dempster's side as having qualified by virtue of finishing second in their table, but the site admin have listed the result from this game incorrectly as 1-2, instead of 0-2.
And to that end, one would have to feel a modicum of sympathy for the Saddlers if they hadn't progressed into the next round, after having won this game at Clipstone in the manner that they did.
Because on the balance of play, they definitely deserved their win, against a fairly lacklustre young Stags side, who fell to their third defeat in a row.

Walsall currently occupy top spot in the EFLYA North West Division, where they have only lost one game so far all season, so John Dempster and Mark Peters knew that their team would be up against a strong challenge today... and the West Midlands based visitors certainly proved to be just that.
During the opening exchanges, Tom Marriott was looking to impose himself out on the left and he tested the Saddlers defence with an early cross, but they stood firm and cleared the ball away to safety.
Jason Law turned and shot from fifteen yards, but Ben Kendrick charged the ball down and the opening came to nothing.

The game picked up in pace, but not in quality, as both teams passed the ball about frantically, but sideways, across the middle of the pitch, without a great deal of forward movement in evidence, while a string of stray passes broke up any kind of rhythm.
Some fairly rash tackles saw the referee having to intervene frequently, in one incident, Teddy Bloor was scythed down late with a fairly cynical challenge, which knocked him out of his stride for a while.
Walsall escaped from the midfield stand off, but when Will Shorrock launched a searching ball towards the Stags six yard box, Ashley Maddocks fouled Kieran Harrison and play was brought to a standstill once again.

The Stags utilised Marriott as an attacking outlet once more and he floated a great measured ball infield to Cain Smith, who picked his spot in the top right hand corner of the Saddlers goal, but Brandon Ganley managed to reach the ball and gathered it at full stretch to deny Mansfield a first half lead.
Dan Vann repeatedly tried to release the visitors front men, by hitting speculative long balls out towards the right flank, but Henri Wilder was in control of the situation, snuffing out several attempts from the visitors to attack the home side's goal from wide right.
Shorrock almost released Cameron Peters, but Kieran Harrison moved in quickly to intercept with one of his trademark well timed and executed challenges.

Peters threatened again, pushing on through the left channel, but Kane Baldwin snuffed out the Saddlers attack. Joe Cairns broke down the right flank for the visitors but Morgan Ratcliffe was on hand to rescue the situation. Sam Tonks, the visitors right back got as far as the bi-line with an overlapping run, but Marriott had tracked him back and put in a firm tackle to retrieve the ball.
Mansfield picked up the ante slightly towards half time, with Marriotts's long pass to Nyle Blake, was cut out by Vann, but the loose ball fell to Jason Law who unselfishly played it sideways to Bloor, whose shot was smothered by Ganley.
Ratcliffe came closest to breaking the first half deadlock, when Marriott picked out the centre halves run with a measured cross but his header flew wide of the upright.

Right on half time, Cairns tried an improvised twist and shoot on the turn goal attempt, having received the ball with his back to goal, but what he possessed in creativity, he lacked in accuracy. And when Peters tried his luck from distance Harrison got in the way of his shot to preserve a clean sheet going into the break.
HT: Stags 0 v Saddlers 0
The visitors introduced both Cody Fisher and Dan O'Sullivan from the bench for rhe start of the second half. And both substitutes had a big impact on the final outcome.
Baldwin added his presence to the Stags attack but Callum Cockerill-Mollett, the Saddlers captain, was looking formidable in his left back berth.
Walsall picked up the ball and quickly turned attack into defence, but Cairns headed wide from Peters forward pass.

Blake put on a burst of pace as he headed towards the visitors area, but he was tripped. Bloor, adapting well to his midfield responsibilities, dropped the resulting free kick towards Cameron Healey, however Ben Kendrick won the heading duel and nodded the ball away from danger but only as far as Cain Smith who drilled the ball over the bar from twenty yards.
Law and Baldwin exchanged passes eighteen yards from goal, with the latter crossing towards Ratcliffe, but Kendrick was strong in the air again and when Harrison latched onto a headed clearance, his shot skimmed off of Ratcliffe and fell wide of the left hand upright.
Walsall, sensing that this game was there for the taking now, sent on Derbert Massamba in place of Cairns who had run himself to a standstill and the Saddlers were transformed from a side who were just about shading the battle for midfield, to an imposing attacking force.

O'Sullivan, a diminutive yet powerful and highly competitive and combative player, held off a challenge and released Peters down the left wing, he crossed to Massamba and his first touch was only a matter of inches wide of Sam Wilson's left hand post.
Cain Smith slipped a pass through the Walsall defence to Marriott, but Ganley got down well to keep out his angled shot.
Lezion Cela took advantage of some hesitant defending and smashed the ball wholeheartedly towards the Stags goal; Wilson bravely blocked the shot but couldn't quite keep hold of the ball and O'Sullivan pounced on the rebound to open the scoring. The Saddlers goalscorer had been causing problems for the home side since he had entered the fray and had looked like the most likely candidate to break the deadlock. Eleven minutes to go... advantage Walsall!

Devante Reittie had already been introduced to bolster the attack and now Ali Smith and Surafel Behailu were introduced, to get in among the visitors defence, as a draw would guarantee the Stags safe passage into round two.
But as the home side reshuffled their shape, Peters picked up the ball and powered his way straight through the centre of the Mansfield backline and crashed an unstoppable shot past Wilson, who had now been left woefully exposed twice in the space of just six minutes.
The Stags were in disarray as Shorrock set up Peters for another chance, but Wilson held onto the ball tightly.
Peters was by now the only Walsall player in the Stags half as the visitors defended in numbers, but as a long clearance reached the lone striker, he still managed to force a good save from Wilson.

Cody Fisher had been getting stuck in for the Saddlers cause since half time and his considerable input to keeping it tight at the back for Walsall was one of the key issues that overcame the reigning EFLYA North East champions in their own back yard. But when Fisher and Cockerill-Mollett
both went to clear the ball at the same time, there was a nasty clash of heads and the Saddlers number 12 came off worse as both club's physios attended to him and he left the pitch with blood showing through the bandaging that was wrapped around his head.
Thankfully I can report that after the game Cody Fisher was alright, hopefully his recovery is swift.
In stoppage time, Ratcliffe headed the ball across the face of the Saddlers goal to Baldwin, whose well struck shot was saved by Ganley... and that was it.
FT: Mansfield Town U18 0 v Walsall U18 2
It would appear that Mansfield Town and Carlisle United are the two sides with the best third placed coefficients, so fingers crossed.

Saturday 22nd October 2016

FA Vase First Round

at the Windsor food Services Stadium

Handsworth Parramore (1) 3
Sam Denton 28, 65, 87 pen

Shepshed Albion (1) 4
Ben Haseley 6, 72
Karl Whymark 60
Liam Read 68
Admission £5. Programme £1.50. Attendance 108
Photos from today's game: HERE

As we entered the turnstiles, a disgruntled Shepshed supporter accosted us: "They've got no bloody beer here! What use is it having a bar at a football ground if they don't sell beer? We'd have spent a fortune, we got here early and we like a good drink!"
I gave the thirsty traveller directions to a nearby public house and he was in good voice upon his return, so I can only assume that he located it without too much trouble.

The situation, as I understand it to be at the ground on Sandy Lane this season is; that the licensed premises is run by and on behalf of Worksop Town, with all of the profits from bar takings going to them.

I have no idea how the problem came about today and fully appreciate (from experience) that unpaid volunteers, with other commitments and priorities outwith the scope of non league football, do most of the time consuming behind the scenes jobs at the majority of local non league clubs, including Worksop Town.

So I feel that I must stress at this juncture, that I am not criticising any individual or group of people here. But the Tigers will have taken a financial hit this afternoon as a consequence of there being a dry bar in the ground.

Left click to supersize

The first chance of the game fell to Kieran Wells, but he steered his shot wide of the mark.
In the opening exchanges, Sam Denton took a heavy knock, but after a short break in play he was able to resume and went on to have an immense impact on the game.

Gaz Griffiths directed the ball back towards his own goal, when a sturdy clearance in the opposition direction would have been a better option. Amidst the ensuing chaos Joe Green did really well to pull off a double save, as the Dynamo players queued up to take advantage of the defensive slip, but he couldn't keep the visitors at bay a third time as Ben Haseley latched onto the loose ball and drilled it through a crowd of players into the back of the net to open the scoring after just six minutes.

Handsworth set about the task of getting back on level terms as soon as possible, but a string of chances went begging... Connor Smythe put in a great shift and covered a lot of ground, as did Tom Dugdale, but Jake Betts headed clear after the pair of them had combined to cut a swathe down the left wing and set up another chance for Wells.

Dugdale dispossessed Niall Prenderville and advanced thirty yards before releasing the ball to Jon Froggatt who put the ball over the bar from eight yards.

Wells and Froggatt combined to lay the ball out wide to Simon Harrison, who picked out Alex Rippon with a right wing cross, but his shot was charged down by Prenderville.

The referee played the advantage as Luke Fletcher was fouled in the build up and Dugdale presented Wells with another great opportunity, but his header fell inches wide of the target.

Joe Pheasant proved to be Froggatt's nemesis twice within a matter of minutes, first blocking the prolific striker's fifteen yard shot and then clearing the ball off the line, after Froggatt had rounded Ben Gathercole as he ran from his area in a vainglorious attempt to intercept a break through the left channel,

Finally, Handsworth's pressing game paid off when Denton applied the finishing touch to Dugdale's long free kick after twenty eight minutes.

Colin Marrison was fouled on the edge of the visitors area, but when Dugdale aimed a dipping free kick towards Froggatt he headed over.

Smythe, still covering more than his fair share of ground picked out Rippon with a throw in from the left flank, but his shot on the turn was so miscued that it went out for a throw in on the opposite touchline.

HT: Ambers 1 v Dynamo 1

Handsworth had created enough chances to be home and dry by the interval, but a mixture of profligate finishing by their proven and usually reliable forward line and some timely interventions by Betts and Prenderville meant that there was still everything to play for in the second half.

Having absorbed a lot of Handsworth pressure in the first half, Dynamo looked more solid after the restart as they slowed down the tempo of the game, which suited their playing style better than their hosts.

Ironically it was a defensive slip from Shepshed that led to their second goal, when Wells sprinted after an under-hit back pass, Gathrcole advanced from his area and launched a long clearance towards the opposite end of the pitch, Haseley helped the ball on to Karl Whymark and just seconds after being under the cosh the visitors restored their lead on the hour.

The Ambers knew they were now running a severe risk of being abruptly diverted from the road to Wembley... and they fought tooth and nail to get back on level terms and as players from both teams came together on the edge of the visitors area, the referee spotted a shoulder charge by Josh Morrall on Harrison and awarded a penalty. But Gathercole got across Froggatt's spot kick and turned the ball away.

However the home side were on level terms moments later, when Gathercole could only push Dugdale's corner towards Denton and he headed home both his and the Ambers second goal.

The game was opening up throughout the last thirty minutes and Liam Read went close in the sixty eighth minute, but Fletcher managed to turn his shot around the post.

Green came off of his line to deal with the resulting corner and was pushed heavily in the back and took a knock to his head, which stopped him from taking the ball cleanly and in the event he could only nudge it down into the path of Read who netted from twelve yards. But surely the goal wouldn't stand given that Green had been fouled, would it?

Well, according to Mr Jamie Waters, it would! Perhaps he needed to be somewhere straight after the game and didn't want extra time holding him up.

At the other end Gathercole saved Wells' header from yet another Dugdale cross, but Shepshed countered from their keepers clearance and there could be no complaints about their fourth goal, because it was a quality strike, as Haseley powered through the middle of the Handsworth defence and placed the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Two goals down, with just eight minutes remaining and their forwards malfunctioning and suffering from an off day, things went from bad to worse for the Ambers when their manager Micky Godber told the referee a really poor 'knock, knock' joke, or similar and he was sent from his dug out, leaving his assistant Mark Ward tos ee the rest of the game out.

Harry Bamforth won a right wing corner and his shot from Harrison's flag kick hit a defender on the arm and Mr Waters finally came good for the home side, well just briefly... and Denton claimed his hat trick from the penalty spot with three minutes to go.

The game entered stoppage time and Shepshed were trying to run the clock down, by keeping the ball in the corner, so Bamforth decided to get stuck in and retrieve it. His challenge was a combination of clumsy and firm... and as the referee intervened it looked as though it had probably warranted a booking too.

But the referee produced a red instead and subjected Bamforth to a walk of shame for the entire length of the pitch.

And moments alter, the game was over.

FT: Handsworth Parramore 3 v Shepshed Dynamo 4

Shepshed had done enough to justify their passage to the next round and good luck to them to that end, but you can't halp but think that if a few more of the Ambers players had put as much in today as the likes of Denton, Smythe and Dugdale had, it could've been them in the draw for Round Two on Monday.

Wednesday 26th September 2016

Worksop Van Hire North Midland U19 League

at the Jones & Co. Stadium, Cannon Park

Retford United U19 (0) 0

Swallownest U19 (1) 4

Dale Featherstone 22, 74

Jamie Knox 61

Junior Gama 71

Admission £2. Programme 20p. Attendance 35

Last week I was speaking to one of last season's catchment of Under 19 players at Swallownest, Steve Nettleship, while we were both watching Maltby Main in action. And I just happened to mention that I hadn't watched them play this season yet, or seen their manager Mark Edwards around in ages.

I was stunned to hear that Mark had been seriously ill and was currently recovering from a stroke.

It was very saddening to hear that such a nice guy was having a bad time of things, so I contacted him ASAP and was mightily relieved to hear that he was over the worst of it and on the mend.

Mark is one of those easy to get along with people that I immediately clicked with on my travels, because there is a special kind of bond and affinity between like minded souls, who inhabit the off radar grass roots territories of planet football on cold and damp midweek nights, while the rest of the country are all tucked up in their nice warm homes, watching overpaid professionals going through the motions on satellite TV... or Hollyoaks!

As soon as 'Ted' is well enough, we've offered to take him out and about to a few development league games... as long as he doesn't embarrass us by wearing his Rotherham United colours.

In the mean time, you get yourself well pal and don't worry about the 'Swall' lads, on tonight's evidence they are carrying on and moving forward with the good habits they picked up last season.

"Look Mr Geppetto, I'm a real boy now!"

Tonight we knew the staff, committee people and managements teams from both sides, a good number of the players and their parents, Retford's number 8, Liam Bennett, a future England international lives next door to me... and we are on first name terms with the match officials, who kept the game flowing well tonight with a minimum of fuss.

And,of course, it is always a pleasure to see Pam and Barry Crownshaw from the league committee doing the rounds.

So obviously I was going to have no problems being objective, supportive and impartial as regards my overview of the and generous (but genuine) appraisal of the way the game was officiated and the merits of the Worksop Van Hire North Midland U19 Development League itself.

Prior to kick off I discussed the priorities for the recently re-formed Retford United Under 19 team, for this season and beyond, with one of their management duo, Lee Hurst, and he sees the development of his side as a long term project, where he can bring the 16 year old lads in the side through, over the course of several seasons, in a team that is under pinned by a good selection of slightly older players from the area.

The results aren't majorly important... not yet anyway! Because the main aim for Lee and his assistant Phil Hall, is nurturing young players and moulding them into first team material.

But already the signs were there that the Badgers youngsters have already improved since their first game of the season against a strong Sheffield United side... and an enforced break due to a couple of postponements, was probably a blessing in disguise for the United management, as it gave them an extended opportunity to bolster their squad, reassess their game plan and tactics and instill a bit more focus and motivation after the 0-12 reversal against the Blades. Off the pitch, United obviously have the right sort of people making sure that the whole matchday experience runs like clockwork, though perhaps a notice on the main entrance letting people know that they should gain admission to the ground via a side entrance for U19 teams wouldn't have gone amiss. Just saying ;-)

Initially Retford started brightly tonight, with Henry Pickering looking dangerous down the right flank, but Aaron Boardman was tracking his every move and just about keeping him in check.

The first real opportunity fell to the visitors, when Lewis Ballard worked himself a yard of space outside the Badgers area, but shot wide of the upright.

Ben Davies was marshaling his defence well, as Dale Featherstone slotted comfortably into the role of presenting an omnipresent danger to the home side.

The two Liam's, Bennett and White combined well to make strides into the 'Swall' half and the game looked to be fairly evenly balanced, until the twenty second minute when Featherstone laid a pass into the path of Ballard on the left hand side of the Badgers area and ran on to pick up the return ball and opened the scoring with a shot across Adam Hicks.

White showed some good touches on the edge of the visitors box but Boardman took the ball away and cleared. However, White had an opportunity to level things up shortly afterwards, but his audacious free kick from all of thirty yards went wide.

Hicks was called into action but made a great stop from Freddie Russell's angled shot.

Alex Kirkman picked up the ball just outside the 'Swall' area and slipped it through the visitors defence with his first touch, but Jack Hood advanced quickly from his line and thwarted Kris Scott.

Right on the stroke of half time, Jamie Knox, up in support of his attack had the opportunity to double the South Yorkshire sides lead, but Davies put in a timely blocking tackle.

HT: Badgers 0 v Swall 1

The visitors introduced Jack Jeffery and Junior Gama at half time... and their pace and extra impetus, proved to be Retford's undoing as Swallownest cranked up the tempo a couple of notches.

And although the first goal scoring opportunity of the second half saw Pickering's shot bobble wide of Hood's left hand upright.

Nathan Blagg did well in the air to stop Ballard from getting a header on target, but Swallownest doubled their lead from the next attack when Hicks got a hand to Jeffery's right wing cross but could only turn the ball into the path of Jamie Knox near the back stick and he made no mistake from five yards out.

Their are few finer sights in this division than a focused and determined Junior Gama, advancing on the opposition area with the ball under close control, his run and cross on the right flank opened the Badgers defence up for Ballard, but fell on to his right foot as opposed to his favoured left and Hicks saved comfortably.

Cannon Square, Retford.
The inspiration for the RUFC badge.
Random space filling picture moment.

Hicks punched Featherstone's left wing corner away from under his bar and Davies blocked Gama's shot as the lively play maker popped up on the left hand side of Retford's area this time.

But Gama wasn't to be denied in the seventy first minute, when Ballard headed the ball down into his path and he drilled the ball past Hicks.

Moments later Danny Cook crashed a header against the Retford crossbar as 'Swall' finished the game strongly, but three minutes after Gama's strike, Featherstone saw off a challenge and helped himself to another goal from the edge of the area.

Ballard almost presented Featherstone with his hat trick with a measured pass across the Badgers defence, but he shot straight at Hicks. And in the closing moments of the game, Ballard left Gama's sideways pass (or missed it) and Liam Smart hooked a shot wide of United's goal.

FT: Retford United U19 0 v Swallownest U19 4

Saturday 29th October 2016
EFL U18 Youth Alliance (NE)
at The Priory City of Lincoln Academy,
Skellingthorpe Road, Hartsholme, Lincoln
Lincoln City (1) 1
Jack McMenemy 1
Mansfield Town (2) 3
Kieran Harrison 4
Nyle Blake 25
Alistair Smith 64
A few more pictures from this game click HERE

Lincoln City:

Regan Start, Archie Moyses, Ryley Thompson, Jack Fixter, Luke Anderson (C), Jack Weatherell, Danny Horton, Reece Robinson-Jones (James Hugo 14), Jack McMenemy (Charlie Hart 89), Richie Burdett, Keilen Gretton (Luke White 65)

Unused subs - Kyle Watkins, Lewis Cox

Mansfield Town:

Sam Wilson, Teddy Bloor, Kane Baldwin, Cain Smith, Morgan Ratcliffe (C), Kieran Harrison, Henri Wilder, Cameron Healey, Nyle Blake (Keaton Ward 80), Alistair Smith (Surafel Behailu 80), Jason Law (Devante Reittie 75)

Unused subs - Xavier Sundby, Aiden Walker

"Sic Itur Ad Astra" is the Latin motto of the Priory multi sports Academy, which stands on the site of the former City School, on Skellingthorpe Road in Hartsholme, an outlying district to the south west of the cathedraled city of Lincoln; it translates into English as "Onwards to the stars" which was quite apt as Mansfield Town's youngsters once again reminded us of the heights they can actually reach, from time to time at least, when they are focused and concentrating on doing what it is they do best.
Lincoln went into this game off of the back of some indifferent form, but they had beaten Chesterfield 6-2 in their last league fixture, while the Stags arrived at the Priory sitting at the top of the league table, but having just lost an unprecedented three games in a row in all competitions before today.

At this juncture, it is worth churning out that old adage that everyone in the game uses when their team has been on a losing streak: "It's about player development at this age, not results" and to that end Mansfield promoted nine of the Under 18 squad to their Central League side who played at Shrewsbury Town Reserves earlier in the week, while a tenth player, Zayn Hakeem, is away on international duty with the Antiqua Under 20 side, who reached the final of the Caribbean Cup overnight by virtue of a 5-4 penalty shoot out win in their semi. They will now face Haiti in Sunday night's final.
The Stags were also without Ashanti Pryce and Tom Marriott, but football is a squad game in this day and age and John Dempster has a rich seam of talent running throughout both his first and second year recruits and none of the ready made replacements were found wanting, in this lively encounter, played out against a miserable backdrop of intermittent Lincolnshire drizzle.

The Stags ambitions to get back to winning ways were dealt a blow inside the first minute, when Jack Fixter dug out the ball and chipped it over their defence into the path of Jack McMenemy, whose miss hit shot deceived Sam Wilson and ended up in the back of the net.

But the visitors were on level terms almost straight away, when Kieran Harrison picked up the ball just inside the Imps half and advanced forward with purpose, weaving his way forward with purpose, before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner of Regan Start's goal... meaning that both goalkeeper's first touch of the ball had been when they had retrieved it from the back of their respective goal nets. Remember that one, because it's bound to turn up in a pub quiz anytime soon.

Nyle Blake, looking lively through both the left and right channels in support of Alistair Smith, crossed to Jason Law who headed the ball down into the path of (A) Smith, but Fixter, who always seems to relish his side's contests against Mansfield, got his body in the way and blocked Smith's shot.

The Stags picked up the loose ball and their momentum once again and Jack Weatherell did well to divert Law's shot away from goal at the expense of a corner.

In a rare moment of indecision, Harrison missed a clearance as Archie Moyses launched a long ball towards Richie Burdett, who took three long strides towards the bi-line before unleashing an angled shot that Wilson smothered down by the upright.

Solar panels on a thatched roof!? That can never be right!

A big Blake knock into the Imps goalmouth, saw the match referee Gareth Davies given a choice of options that he could award a penalty for, with (A) Smith being pulled back from reaching the ball, while Moyses blocked Law's goal bound shot with the top of his right arm.

Alas, although Law's penalty was struck low and on target, Start got down well to turn the ball away and keep the home side on level terms.

Blake, yet again, terrorised Lincoln on the right flank and picked out (A) Smith with a slide rule pass; the Stags frontman's first touch took him past Luke Anderson, but his second saw the ball skid narrowly past the right hand post.

(A) Smith and Law pulled the Lincoln defence apart with an exchange of passes on the left hand side of the City area, but start saved well from (A) Smith's stinging twelve yard shot.

Cain Smith and Cameron Healey linked up in midfield and played the ball out wide to Teddy Bloor, who was covering the ground of three men today and popping up all over the pitch in an array of roles and positions, his left wing shot across the face of Lincoln's goal only needed a touch and Blake provided it, with an emphatic strike from close range, to put the Stags in front and in control on twenty five minutes.

(C) Smith was a fraction away from increasing the Stags lead a few moments later, but his shot took a deflection past the post off of Keilen Gretton.

The Imps rallied towards the end of the first half, but Wilson confidently rose to collect Richie Burdett's cross, before spreading himself to block Reece Robinson-Jones left foot strike from the edge of the area.

And in first half stoppage time, McMenemy missed a sitter when he failed to connect with Burditt's right wing cross, that bounced a few feet in front of Wilson's goal and was hooked away by Kane Baldwin.

Half time, so far so good and the shoots of recovery after a three game temporary dip, were there for all to see.

HT: Imps 1 v Stags 2

The Stags nearly repeated Lincoln's first half party piece from the restart, but Start pulled off a great reflex save to keep Blake out from close range.

Lincoln cleared their lines but Mansfield came again, with Bloor skipping past two challenges before skimming a shot across the top of the crossbar.

Henri Wilder played a sideways pass from out on the right wing, to (A) Smith thirty yards from goal, but his ambitious strike was cut out by Anderson.
With Baldwin, Harrison and the Stags captain Morgan Ratciffe presenting a formidable barrier for Lincoln to try breaking down, the Stags defence were providing the foundation, freedom and impetus for their team mates to push forward and the visitors had by far the better of the second half.
Law was fouled out on the right wing by Moyses and took the resulting free kick himself, which found it's way through to Healey just outside the left hand side of Lincoln's area and the lanky midfielder almost celebrated his birthday with a goal as his twenty yard chip dipped over Smart but landed on the roof of the net.

Lincoln were soon on the back foot again, when Harrison advanced forward from the halfway line and threaded a pass through to (C) Smith, who unselfishly laid it back to (A) Smith, but Start kept the Imps in the game with another good save.

Law found himself a couple of yards of space out on the right flank to deliver the perfect pass to (A) Smith that bounced up a foot in front of him and allowed the Stags striker to plant an audacious lob over Start, that dropped just under the bar to give the visitors a well deserved two goal cushion.

Wherever the Stags mojo had been hiding for the past few weeks, they had well and truly found it again and will now go into Wednesday night's FA Youth Cup game at Bedworth United and local derby against second placed Notts County next weekend, with a renewed purpose and spring in their step.

The visitors made three substitions inside the final fifteen minutes, replacing Law, Blake and (A) Smith who had all contributed greatly to Lincoln's downfall, with Devante Reittie, who came on first and Surafel Behailu and Keaton Ward who joined him five minutes later, to run at the tiring and overworked Imps defence.
Wilder ran forty yards, keeping the ball tucked in closely to his feet, to avoid being tackled, but Anderson blocked his shot.
Bloor, who had been running non stop since kick off and still looked to have stamina to spare, jinked inside past Ryley Thompson and squared the ball to (C) Smith, who turned the ball past Start, only to see it bobble inches past the post.
Reittie put in a great run on the right hand side of the pitch and stroked tthe ball inside to Blake who was denied, again, by the stubborn Imps keeper.

Pushing for a place in the starting eleven any time soon, Reittie attacked down the middle, but saw that Kane Baldwin was better placed and opted to tee the ball up for the Stags number 3 and with the Lincoln defence backing off anticipating a cross, Baldwin went for goal and was only inches away from adding a fourth for Mansfield as his effort cleared the bar.

Keaton Ward made a blind side run to meet (C) Smith's 'dink' over the Imps defence, but Start sprinted from his line to hook the ball away.

Out of nowhere, Lincoln belatedly showed their teeth and Wilson was forced to tip Burdett's cross over his bar. Harrison headed the resulting corner away and Ward raced off down the left flank with the ball, killing vital seconds of the limited time that was left, before Weatherell cleared his eventual cross away.

Right at the death, Luke White tried his luck from twenty five yards in stoppage time, but Ratcliffe got a touch to take the sting out of the shot and Wilson gathered the ball easily.

FT: Lincoln City U18 1 v Mansfield Town U18 3

Saturday 29th October 2016
FA Trophy First Qualifying Round
at the Sun Hat Villas & Resorts Stadium,
Ashby Avenue, Hartsholme, Lincoln

Lincoln United (3) 4
Jordan Hempenstall 23 25 69
Matt Cotton 30
Gresley FC (0) 2
Pearson Mwanyongo 60
Courtney Meade 82
Admission £8. Programme £1. Attendance 202

Congratulations to Lincoln United who won Tuesday night's Lincolnshire Senior Cup Final at Stamford, to pick up the trophy for the first time in their entire history
Today marked the Whites eleventh cup game of the season and impressively they have only lost one.
Lincoln were on the front foot from the word go and Harry Millard almost beat the former United keeper, Rob Peet, inside the opening three minutes, but saw his thundering long range shot go wide.
Both sides were obviously psyched up for this one, but the competitive edge spilled over during the opening exchanges, as around a dozen players fronted up to each other in front of the dug out area, but the referee Richie Watkins soon had them all walking away in opposite directions.
It's just a shame that he hadn't spotted the smallest player on the pitch, Reece Morris, spark the melee when he trod, quite deliberately, on Matt Cotton.

The fluent manner in which the Whites were knocking the ball around on a playing surface that appears to be recovering well from it's recent bout of yellow jaundice and they threatened to take the Moatmen apart with a wave of attacks that the visitors were struggling to deal with.

Michael Jacklin played the ball out wide to Cotton on the right flank, who exchanged passes with Luke Hornsey as the duo played the ball around Gresley's static back line. before picking out Jack McGovern with a cross, who rolled a sideways pass into the path of Jordan Hempenstall, whose first time shot was blocked en route to goal by Jamie Barrett.

As Lincoln continued to press, the visitors were reliant on Matt Roome who made two last ditch clearances inside a minute to preserve Peet's clean sheet.

Gary King launched a deep cross into the visitors six yard box that Lucas Harrison headed behind from in front of his own goal. Danny Brooks delivered the resulting flag kick, which was only half cleared to Jack McGovern who forced Peet into making a save down by his post with a well struck

half volley.

Gresley enjoyed a brief respite from Lincoln's dominance and Leandro Browne had a chance to break the deadlock, but he planted a dipping free kick over the Whites crossbar.

Oh well, at least Browne drew everybody's attention to the MGB TOOL SUPPLIES advertising board behind the goal, which ought to help Lincoln United secure their continued patronage next season.

A three goals in seven minutes 'power play' from the home side effectively killed the game off and though the visitors made a game of it, albeit briefly, in the second half, United's name was as good as in the hat for Monday's draw with a hour of the game still left to play.
On 23 minutes, Cotton knocked the ball away from the Gresley goal to Hempenstall on the right hand corner of the area, who spanked a shot just inside the right hand upright, beyond the despairing reach of Peet's outstretched arms.
Within two minutes Hempenstall head home his and United's second goal, when Sean Wright headed the ball back across the face of Gresley's goal from Brooks corner kick to the back post from out on the left.
And the seven minute smash and grab was complete when Kallum Smith chased the ball down towards the left touchline, kept it in play and crossed and Jordan Wakeling slipped and fell as he tried to clear the ball that he knocked to Cotton who gratefully accepted the gift from ten yards out.

Wow! Gresley were reeling, but things almost got even worse for them before half time, when Millard's diagonal pass released King and he crashed a shot against the bar with Peet clutching at fresh air.

The Moatmen had a chance to reduce the arrears just before the interval, but Matt Melbourne didn't just clear the crossbar with his wildly lashed attempt on goal, he actually sent the ball sailing out of the ground and onto the adjacent cricket field.

McGovern put the ball narrowly wide when he looked odds on to score and Peet at the other end, Browne kept his shot on target but Phil McGann turned the ball away to safety.

Just in case I haven't already mentioned him, and there is no reason that I should've done, McGann was actually playing in goal for the home side today.

HT: Whites 3 v Moatmen 0

Apparently there is a market stall in Lincoln doing a great deal on black coats

McGovern forced a corner inside the opening minute of the first half, but Peet held onto Brooks flag kick, but Lincoln were a little bit subdued at the start of the second half, although I doubt that anybody really expected them to keep up the gung-ho, crash, bang, wallop pace of the first half up for a whole ninety minutes.

With the Whites sitting back on their lead, for the moment at least, it afforded Harrison the opportunity to push forward, but it still remains a mystery where his ambitious long range shot finally landed.

Gresley came a bit closer to putting a dent in their hosts lead, when Melbourne headed over the bar from Toby Fura's long free kick.

Gresley's manager Damion Beckford-Quailey used his last throw of the dice on 56 minutes, well last three chucks if you wish to split hairs, when he made a triple switch, sending on Pearson Mwanyongo, Courtney Meade and Dexter Morris-Clarke, in a bid to salvage a possible (but hardly probable) replay from this game that had been getting away from the visitors since the half hour mark.

His gamble paid immediate dividends, when four minutes later his side clawed a goal back.

Morris' right wing cross hitBrooks arm and the referee blew for a free kick. Browne knocked a short ball to Mwanyongo, who nudged it forward a couple of steps, paused, moved a couple of feet tohis left and then unleashed a curling and unstoppable shot into the top left hand corner of McGann's goal.

It was a sublime finish, if that had been televised and scored by a Brazilian it would've been... well, y'know!

You don't stop them!

But any hopes of a comeback for the visitors were short lived when Hempenstall finished off his hat trick, with a close range acrobatic shot, after Wright's shot from Brooks ball into the box, rebounded into the path of the Whites number 9.

Game over?

Not just yet. Wright was too casual as he rolled a pass back to McGann and Meade chased the ball down, forcing the United keeper to rush his clearance which fell straight to Meade and although his shot hit Wright who had dashed back to make amends for his error, the Gresley fans shouts of "Handball!" from behind the goal, soon turned to cheers and they retracted their appeals as the ball made it's way, slowly but surely over the line and into the goal.

With eight minutes still remaining you had to wonder if Lincoln were about to end the game regretting and ruing their string of near misses earlier in the game, when they were completely in control.

as Beckford Quailey's tactical substitutions continued to give the visitors some new found impetus.

But Reece Morris sabotaged his side's comeback, when just as Lincoln were breaking up an attack down Gresley's right flank, he added Callum Ward to his 'stamp collection' in clear view of the referee and was probably lucky to be dismissed straight away before any of the angry Lincoln players heading his way reached him first.

It was game over now and despite Mwanyongo seeing a long range shot fly narrowly over the goal, a good number of visiting supporters had already resigned themselves to their inevitable fate and were already in the clubhouse drowning their sorrows.

I hope they made Morris walk home!

FT: Lincoln United 4 v Gresley 2

United were irresistible to watch at times today and although Gresley's defending left a lot to be desired at times, you couldn't fault their application in that final half hour, apart from the actions of a one diminutive player with a screw loose.

An entertaining afternoon was had by all I reckon. Good luck in the next round to Lincoln United... and much kudos and respect to the helpers and volunteers at Ashby Avenue who were a credit to the club they represent. The Gresley supporters club lot that I spoke to in the bar after the game were a friendly bunch too, in spite of their team's sometimes lacklustre showing today.
Enjoy your football travels one and all.

Sunday 30th October 2016

SkyBet EFL Championship

at St. Andrew's

Birmingham City (0) 1

David Davis 71

Aston Villa (1) 1

Gary Gardner 29

Admission £25. Programme £3

Attendance 29,656 (1,998 Away)
I didn't actually take any photographs today, it wasn't the sort of occasion where anoraks turn up with their notebooks, spare pens, zoomy lens cameras and sporting hiking apparel.
But The Guardian newspaper have a picture gallery that summed the day up pretty well, both on and off the pitch which can be viewed: HERE

Birmingham City:

Kuszczak, Spector, Morrison, Shotton, Wiggins (Robinson 90), Kieftenbeld, Gleeson, Davis, Adams (Jutkiewicz 65), Maghoma, Donaldson. Unused subs: Legzdins, Fabbrini, Cotterill, Brown, Stewart.

Aston Villa:

Gollini, Hutton, Baker, Chester (C), Amavi, Jedinak, Gardner, Westwood (Gestede 88), Adomah (McCormack 25), Ayew (Agbonlahor 81), Kodjia. Unused subs: Bunn, Elphick, Cissokho, Tshibola.

Statistics show that Blues had 61% possession as opposed to Villa's 39, while amassing 14 shots on goal as opposed to their visitors 5.

But there is only one statistic that really matters on any derby day, anywhere in the world and that is the final score.

To that end a 1-1 draw will satisfy everybody involved, because regardless of what anyone tells you, or how much spin, bravado and outward confidence they display, nobody ever wants to lose against their 'nearest and dearest' fiercest local rivals and we're all scared to death that it could happen and relieved as hell when it doesn't.

Ignore anybody who boasts loudly before these sort of games that their team is going to rack up a big win, because deep down, I suspect that 99.98% of any partisan local derby crowd, would take a 1-1 draw prior to kick off, if only to avoid the potential ignominy of being on the receiving end of what is commonly known as bragging rights in the aftermath of defeat.

Football is only a game, but on a day like today, it grows arms and legs, tentacles and two heads even and comes to represent so much more than twenty two men chasing a bag of wind around.

The 9.07 Birmingham bound train from Chesterfield, where our travelling party had liaised for breakfast this morning, was fashionably and predictably late, but we still arrived in plenty of time to afford ourselves a leisurely stroll through Digbeth and up the Coventry Road, whilst being careful not to make eye contact with any of the staggering amount of police officers deployed along the route. Today West Midlands Police had opted for tactics aimed at intimidating everyone and anyone into being on their best behaviour, while their heavy handed treatment and persecution of all football fans, would have made a Russian pogrom blush at it's half hearted heavy handedness.

Given past events involving a significant number of Blues and Villa fans, it was always unlikely that there would be a softly, softly approach to community policing employed this afternoon.

I suppose that it is only human nature to try and push your luck just that little bit more when given any kind of leeway and leniency and the zero tolerance show of strength established the boundaries for anybody who intended to wander off of the straight and narrow, even slightly.

The local force in Birmingham have a well earned reputation to maintain and they were certainly putting on a show... bless 'em!

Gary Gardner's first ever goal for the Villains, was all that separated the sides at half time, when he rose above Clayton Donaldson to divert Jonathan Ayew's free kick over Blues defence and beyond the reach of Tomasz Kuszczak's reach after 29 minutes.

Yet the home side had put their rivals under the cosh up until that point and ought really to have been ahead after 10 minutes, when Ryan Shotton picked out the Jamaican international Donaldson at the back stick, but his headed attempt on goal crashed against the underside of the crossbar and bounced up on the line and in spite of the appeals from the City players and premature celebrations of the home crowd, subsequent TV replays showed that the whole of the ball hadn't actually crossed the line and that the referee's assistant Simon Long was right to rule it out.

If the heavy policed streets outside the ground had been a daunting sight for many people, that scene was a picnic compared to what was unfolding out on the pitch itself, with tackles flying in at all sorts of heights from all kinds of angles.

Villa's Jordan Amavi was booked by the match referee, Mike Dean, after just three minutes, for a hefty lunge on Maikel Kieftenbeld, who himself conceded the free kick from which Gardner scored, when he caught an upright opposition player with a rash kick... on his chin!

It was definitely not a contest for the faint hearted out there, but it was massively absorbing and compelling and supercharged by the fantastic atmosphere inside the ground.

Donaldson kept making all the right runs but squandered two further chances. However it is easy to be critical from up in the stands, without taking into account the amount of effort the City front man was putting in just to get into those sort of positions as he battled gamely in tandem with Che Adams against a uncompromising and at times overly physical visitors defence.

After the interval Blues continued to dominate, but it wasn't until the 71st minute that they finally pulled the goal back that evened things up, when Blues substitute David Cotterill's right wing cross was only half cleared by the Villa keeper Pierluigi Gollini into the path of David Davis who drilled a long range and slightly deflected goal into the back of the net in front of a massive outpouring of joy (and possibly a tinge of relief) in the Tilton End.

The visitors could consider themselves fortunate when Donaldson missed a great opportunity from close range just minutes after Davis' had equalised, but Villa held on to cling onto the draw that Steve Bruce (the former Blues and current Villa manager) said was a fair result. Well he would, eh!?

Sadly Rhoys Wiggins was stretchered off, after the game was held up while he received treatment after a collision with Rudy Gestede. Wiggins had featured in City manager Gary Rowett's long term plans and hopefully his injury won't be as bad as it looked as he left the pitch wearing an oxygen mask and obviously in no small amount of distress.

Gabriel Agbonlahor came on for Villa for a brief appearance late in the game and it was fairly evident that he has a genuine dislike for Birmingham City and their fans, but that is reciprocated back from the St. Andrew's faithful, so hey ho!

It was perhaps fitting in the final analysis that two local lads made good, had scored for the teams they had always supported.

Villa will have been happier with the result, but it was equally as important that Blues didn't lose this one and they can be very proud of the way that they took the game to their expensively assembled neighbours in this Sunday dinner time feast of passionate tribalism, commitment and no holds barred competitiveness.

As a consequence of this result, Birmingham climbed back up to seventh in the table, one place below the play off qualification berths on goal difference, while Steve Bruce's Villains remain unbeaten in four games since he took over the reigns at Villa Park.

FT: Birmingham City 1 v Aston Villa 1

Many thanks for the ticket Dan Leivers

Tuesday 1st November 2016
FA Youth Cup First Round
at Meadow Lane, Nottingham
Notts County (0) 1
Tamar Clayton-Naute 79
Romulus FC (1) 3
Anthony Smith 44, 63
James Brown 90+2
Attendance 297

County's youngsters didn't show anything near the sort of form tonight, that sees them currently breathing down the necks of the EFL Youth Alliance (North East) league leaders and reigning champions, Mansfield Town, who they face in an away match at Brooksby Melton College, LE14 2LJ on Saturday, which kicks off at 11AM (Admission £2/£1).
In fact it would be fair to say that on what was possibly the coldest night of the football season so far, they froze on the big stage, under the bright lights of Meadow Lane, while, by contrast, their visitors Romulus rose to the occasion and on the balance of play thoroughly deserved their win and passage through to the second round.

Romulus made a very spirited start to the game with Levi Dawson winning a corner inside the first minute.
The Roms also registered the first effort on goal when Joe Searson-Smithard was forced into saving a firmly struck shot from Dahmarnae Sinclair... and the second when James Brown 'got on the scene like a sex machine', but drilled the ball narrowly wide of the Magpies left hand post from fifteen yards out.

Remaye Campbell got a knock to his head, but after time out and having a tastefully appointed bandage fastened around his head, the Pies front man was able to continue and it was his wide pass out to Harry Gibbons that led to the home side's first chance, Ricardo Dudley stopped County's number 11 in his tracks with a less than subtle, yet very thorough and effective, trip.
Alex Howes directed the resulting free kick to Sam Osborne, who, with his back to goal flicked the ball over the visitors keeper with his head, but it bounced back into play off the crossbar and as the Roms defence half cleared the ball, Jordon Richards swept a cross cum shot across the face of the visitors goal from the right hand side of the six yard box, that only need the slightest of touches, but it flew past the the left hand upright and finally went out of play near the corner flag.

In the main, Romulus were containing the Notts side fairly well, while looking to impose themselves on the game as well. They won a free kick some thirty yards for goal, but rather than faffing about with any fancy set piece arrangements, Lamar Graham went for glory... and a ball boy went for a run up to row R to retrieve his woefully inaccurate goal attempt.
County upped the ante as half time approached
The home side were conceding far too many free kicks around the perimeter of their last third and it took a good stop from Searson-Smithard to keep out Dexter Walter's dead ball kick that was on target and definitely going in.

County upped the ante towards half time and almost took the lead when Alex Howes picked up the ball in the middle of the park, jinked past two challenges and set off towards the visitors goal with real purpose in his stride, before letting fly from twelve yards, with a shot that Dan Griffiths could only parry, but smothered at the second attempt with Osborne homing in ready to pounce on any slip.
Campbell braved potentially aggravating his bump to the head, when he bravely got on the end of Harry Bugg's cross from the left wing, but as he nodded the ball towards Griffith's goal, it appeared to come back off of a defenders arm who was covering the goal line, but the referee Lee Hible was much closer to the action than me... so moving swiftly on!

Ironically it was just around the time that Notts seemed to be getting to grips with their lively visitors, that Romulus took the lead, in the final minute of the first half, when Anthony Smith mixed power with precision as he floated a low shot beyond the reach of Searson-Smith and just inside the left hand post, that maintained a steady flight path mere inches from the ground for the duration of it's trajectory.
So there!
HT: Pies U18 0 v Roms U18 1

Romulus came straight out of the blocks after the interval and Searson-Smith did well to get his body behind Graham's stinging shot.

Howes picked up the ball inside his own half and powered down the right flank for sixty yards before crossing to Campbell, who turned the ball over the bar from close range.

Dom Brownhill's free kick from eighteen yards was well anticipated by Griffiths, who got both hands to the ball to prevent the Magpies from pulling level.

Smith was proving to be a real handful for County's defence and Cobain did well to turn the bustling strikers long range shot over the bar with a last ditch clearance.

Smith was relishing having a crack at undoing a Football League academy side and he narrowly cleared the top of the bar with yet another eighteen yard drive... but he was just finding his range and on 63 minutes he buried the ball into the bottom corner of the goal from virtually the same spot.

Sensing that the game was slipping away, Notts tweaked their formation slightly and sent on two substitutes: Louis Robinson and Ryan Ebanks in place of Campbell and Gibbons.

Ebanks almost made an immediate impact, muscling his way through the right channel and delivering a great cross to Osborne, who was denied by Griffiths as he twisted and reached the ball.

Time was running out for the home side and a good chance to get back in the game went begging when Cobain hit a twenty yard free kick off target, with Romulus limiting his options by piling bodies behind the ball.

Ebanks (I think???) shot from just inside the visitors goal area and though Griffiths got down well to block the ball, Tamar Clayton-Neute pounced on the rebound and threw the Pies a lifeline, when he drilled a close range shot into the back of the net with eleven minutes remaining.

With the County bench getting ever more agitated and animated, the home side piled forward, committing players to attack on a salvage mission, in a vainglorious attempt to force extra time and even a penalty shoot out if needs be.
Clayton-Naute picked up the ball deep inside his own half and tore off on a box to box run, but having opted not to lay the ball off, took too many touches in front of Dudley, who intercepted the ball and hit it long towards the right hand corner flag.
Graham's free kick into the Notts area, was deflected into the path of Smith and only a goal line block by Searson-Smith, among a scrum of players prevented the Roms striker from wrapping the game up with a close range header.

The Pies fans in the crowd roared their encouragement when it was announced that there would be three additional minutes to play at the end of the scheduled ninety, but by having no option but to get as many lads forward as possible for a last throw of the dice bombardment, County had to, out of necessity, leave themselves short of numbers and vulnerable at the back, Dudley hooked a clearance away from the visitors area, Brown countered at pace, Searson-Smith moved forward to narrow the angles for the Romulus front man, but he kept his cool and planted his shot past the exposed keeper to score the visitors third deep into stoppage time.
And that was that, County were now officially concentrating on the league for the remainder of the season.
FT: Notts County U18 1 v Romulus U18 0

Good luck to Mel Eves and Andy Turner and their Romulus side in the next round, they fully warranted their victory tonight.

And once again thanks to the Magpies coach Dan Leviers for the invite and the steward on the main gate at Meadow Lane and the nice ladies in reception, for the war, cheerful and accommodating welcome.

Thursday 3rd November 2016

Worksop Van Hire North Midland U19 League

at the Swall Siro, Rotherham Road, Swallownest

Swallownest (1) 3

Dale Featherstone 5

Joe Parkin 70

Louis Ballard 90+2

Chesterfield (0) 1

Owen Murphy 53

Click on team sheets to enlarge

Swallownest stretched their unbeaten run for the season to five games, out of five starts, to finish the night sitting comfortably in second place in the WVH NMU19L (North) table.
The home side got off the mark after just five minutes, when an attack down the Spireites left flank pulled the Derbyshire side's defence all over the place and as Jazz Crane left his line to assist with his side's desperate rearguard action, it left the goal wide open for Dale Featherstone to open the scoring, from close range, as he side footed a pass from Louis Ballard into the back of the net.

If you didn't know otherwise prior to kick off and were asked to speculate on which of these sides was connected to a Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League side and which represented an EFL League One club, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the team in blue were from Chesterfield... but they weren't
'Swall' were dominant in the first half and the Spireites goal led a bit of a charmed life at times, but the home side only had a single goal lead to take in at half time, despite their non-stop up-tempo work rate.

Ironically, it was only after the visitors started to apply themselves slightly more, following the introduction of the impressive Owen Murphy in the second half, that Swallownest applied the finishing touches, to a job well done.
The South Yorkshire side almost doubled their lead, just minutes after Featherstone had opened the scoring, when Aaron Boardman stooped to get his head on Ballard's cross, but the ball skimmed over the bar.
Tom Gardiner looked to stand his ground as he fronted up to Junior Gama as he advanced on the right wing and was left red faced as Gama drilled a precision pass through the Spireites full back's legs for Featherstone that Ollie Rowley had to clear at the expense of a corner.

Ben Tunnicliffe tried to get some momentum going for the visitors through the left channel, but was stopped in his tracks by firm but fair tackle by Boardman, who was excelling out on the right for 'Swall'.
Freddie Russell made himself some space on the left hand side of the visitors penalty area and wasn't far away from doubling the lead as his angled shot fizzed over the bar.
Luke Kocura combined with Joe Parkin and the live-wire Gama, as the home side passed the ball around quickly and made their opponents look decidedly ordinary.

Besides dealing with the home side's threat on the floor Crane also had to be alert to deal with a number of long throw ins from Danny Cook, aimed for the six yard box.
Featherstone crashed a twenty yard shot just past the left hand upright while Cook saw his effort from the left hand side of the area deflected wide.
The Spireites pushed forward and forced a corner, but 'Swall' defended well and cleared the ball forward to Parkin who raced forward and drew Crane from his line, but planted his shot wide.
The linesman's flag was already up when Jack Hood pulled off a great save from Jack Varley and when Owen Murphy netted off the rebound, his strike was ruled out.
HT: Swall 1 v Spireites 0

Wot! No Granville!?

'Twas good to catch upwith the Nostell massive tonight.

Swallownest came out all guns blazing from the restart, with Featherstone and Ballard combining to set up Gama twelve yards from goal, bur he was thwarted by Crane.
Since coming on as a substitute for the visitors in the first half, Murphy had looked a cut above all of his team mates as an attacking threat and they certainly weren't embarrassed about adopting a horses for courses direct approach to the game, hitting searching long balls towards their number 15 at each and every available opportunity.
Hood came off of his line and forced Murphy to run wide and with no other Chesterfield players in the home sides half he was forced into shooting from to acute an angle to keep the ball on target.

But Murphy was soon advancing on the home side's goal again, chasing another lengthy pass into his path, but when he nudged the ball past the advancing Hood, the 'Swall' keeper managed to drop to his right and get a hand to the ball to maintain his side's lead.
Having absorbed a spell of pressure from the Spireites the home side pushed forward and won a free kick out on the right wing. The ball found it's way through to Josh Billson, who couldn't quite keep his shot on target as he leaned slightly backwards and cleared the bar with a half volley.
Having had a let off at one end the visitors went straight down the other one from the goal kick and equalised in the fifty eighth minute as Murphy stooped to connect with a sweeping left wing cross and headed the ball past Hood.

The visitors almost turned the game on it's head when Gardiner's free kick cleared the bar, but Swallownest brushed themselves down and regained control in the seventieth minute, when, amid a flurry of activity in the Chesterfield goalmouth, the visitors struggled to clear their lines and Parkin thumped the ball through the narrowest of gaps to regain the lead.

Jamie Knox planted a free header inches wide of the upright and Gama spanked a twenty yard shot over the bar as Chesterfield only half cleared a corner into his path.

The referee David Hunt waved away the home side's penalty appeals as Ballard's goal bound shot hit Tom Kinlin's arm, but the offence was judged as unintentional... even though it had prevented a goal being scored.

Chesterfield countered, but Murphy, with the goal at his mercy, miscued his shot, with the clock ticking down.

Parkin and Ballard both went close as the home side pushed forward looking to cement their win, but two minutes into stoppage time, perhaps in an act of karma for the unawarded penalty a couple of minutes before, Ballard gambled on a run as Danny Cook knocked the ball towards the left hand side of the visitors area and Kinlin completely mistimed his attempted clearance and left the 'Swall' number 10 with a clear route to goal and he emphatically dispatched the ball past Crane to make it three-one.
The final action took place in the home side's goalmouth, when, in the ninety fourth minute, Gardiner's long free kick was flicked on, but Hood collected the ball and any faint hopes that the Spreites had of clawng their way back into the game were gone.
FT: Swallownest U19 3 v Chesterfield U19 1

Saturday 5th November 2016
11AM Kick Off
at Brooksby Melton College
EFL U18 Youth Alliance (North East)
Mansfield Town (1) 2
Nyle Blake 33, 74
Notts County (0) 0
Photo gallery from this game: CLICK HERE

Mansfield Town:

Sam Wilson (Xavier Sundby 75), Teddy Bloor, Kane Wilson, Alistair Smith, Morgan Ratcliffe (C), Kieran Harrison, Henri Wilder, Cameron Healey, Zayn Hakeem (Surafel Behailu 83), Jason Law (Devante Reittie 60), Nyle Blake (Keaton Ward 87)

Notts County:

Joe Searson-Smithard, Nathan Cobain, Declan Dunn, Ryan Ebanks, Jordon Richards, George McCartney, Sam Osborne, Dom Brownhill (C), Louis Robinson, Edwin Towers

Subs - Curtis Hall, Harry Gibbons, Harry Bugg, Tamar Clayton-Naute, Remaye Campbell

A virtuoso performance by Nyle Blake, who clinically weighed in with two well taken goals, helped the young Stags to their third win in a row in this local derby against second placed Notts County, which consolidated their place at the top of the league table.

The victory was somewhat overshadowed by an injury to the thus far ever present and highly rated Stags goalkeeper Sam Wilson, with fifteen minutes remaining. Initially it was feared that he might have a broken arm, which somewhat dampened the mood of everyone present in the closing stages of the game. And it was a relief to hear later on that he had actually suffered a dislocated elbow and was already on the mend.

Many thanks must go to the staff from both Mansfield Town and Notts County who were quickly on the scene and Danny Bloor & Lee Harrison (Teddy and Kieran's parents) who made all of the relevant phone calls and ensured that Sam was taken to hospital ASAP. It was a real team effort.

Get well soon Sam!

These two sides had contrasting results in the FA Youth Cup in midweek, with the Magpies surprisingly getting turned over by three goals to one at Meadow Lane by Romulus FC, while Mansfield will face Nottingham based Dunkirk FC at the One Call Stadium in the second round after comfortably seeing off Bedworth United, by scoring three goals without return away from home on Wednesday night.

The visitors started Louis Robinson in the centre of attack as they slightly altered their shape and line up following their midweek cup exit and John Dempster shuffled his pack to offset the unavailability of Tom Marriott, Ashanti Pryce and Cain Smith, who have all played an integral role in the season thus far.
As Notts looked to get their momentum going, Kane Baldwin was in quickly to intercept the ball and fed a long pass out wide to Blake, but Declan Dunn managed to block his route to goal and bundled the ball out for a throw in. Teddy Bloor launched a long throw towards Cameron Healey, who leapt above his marker to reach the ball but headed over from six yards out.

With Baldwin, Henri Winter and the Stags captain Morgan Ratcliffe filling in behind him, Kieran Harrison took up the initiative to get forward in a bid to provide ammunition for his sides front men.

Harrison powered forward thirty yards and 'dinked' the ball over the County defence for Zayn Hakeem to run on to, but he couldn't quite muster up enough power in his jump to connect with his head, right in front of the Pies goal.

Jason Law however, did connect with Harrison's next defence splitting ball, but headed a fraction over Joe Searson-Smithard's crossbar.

Moments later Law was on the attack again and Dunn caught him with a late challenge as he attempted to get a shot in. From the resulting free kick, Bloor passed the ball to Blake, who burst forward and was only prevented from opening the scoring by a really good double stop by Searson-Smithard.

The Stags attacked on the right hand side of County's area, with Blake beating Dunn for pace before flicking the ball on to Hakeem, who unselfishly held it up before stroking a pass to Alistair Smith as he arrived and drilled a full blooded shot just past the right hand upright.

Baldwin once again broke down a Notts move with a well timed tackle and got the ball forward quickly to Hakeem, but George McCartney was sticking to the Antigua and Barbuda Under 20 international like a possessive Siamese twin and he cleared the ball away to safety.

Cameron Healey won the ball in the middle of the park and knocked it forward to Blake,who was in irresistible form today, having first rode a tackle (and they were certainly flying in on a day that the Stags physio Matt Salmon was possibly the busiest person on the pitch), the younger of the Blake boys on Mansfield's books, squared the ball to Hakeem out on the right, whose diagonal return pass through the right channel, fell perfectly for the live-wire attacker, who placed his shot beyond the reach of Searson-Smith to open the scoring on thirty three minutes, with an opening goal that was the product of a spell of fast paced, pass and move football at it's best.

Dom Brownhill forced his way through into the Stags area, but Healey won a crunching 50/50 duel and Ratcliffe cleared the ball away. It would be fair to say that their was no quarter being given in the physical side of this game by either team, but those involved seemed to be well versed in the old adage that if you dish it out you've got to be able to take it too!.

Searson-Smith gathered Blake's cross to Law on the stroke of half time and the Stags had to be content with a one goal lead at the interval, in spite of creating the bulk of the goal scoring chances thus far.

HT: Stags 1 v Pies 0

Inside the opening minute of the second half, the Stags advanced into the visitors area, where Hakeem flicked the ball up for Smith who struck a sweet volley that deflected wide.

County cleared their lines from the corner, with Searson Smithard out on the edge of the box calling out instructions, but Brownhill misplaced a pass straight to Bloor who ambitiously attempted to lob the AWOL Pies keeper from forty five yards, but his effort landed on top of the goal.

Although the Stags looked good going forward and Notts were absorbing a lot of pressure, the visitors aren't second in the table for nothing and John Dempster's side couldn't afford to relax or take their eye off of the ball for a moment and really needed another goal to give them some breathing space.

Nathan Cobain backed off from a challenge momentarily, waiting for his moment, but Henri wilder stripped him for pace on the left wing and sprinted away, before slipping the ball inside to Law, who held off the attentions of Jordon Richards before fizzing the ball over the bar from ten yards out.

Cobain did well for the Pies, breaking forward from his full back berth and advancing forty yards down the wing, but he was met by a determined Morgan Ratcliffe, who swept the ball way and prevented the visitors number 2 from getting his cross in.

On the hour, Devante Reittie came on in place of Law, who had taken more than his fair share of knocks in the midday sun, on a pitch decorated with Autumnal leaves, delivered at a steady pace by the stiff icy breeze that was sweeping across the Brooksby estate.

Reittie's first touch released Blake who quickly knocked the ball across the Pies goalmouth to Hakeem, who couldn't quite find his range with a scuffed shot that came to nothing.

Remaye Campbell, with his head still bandaged from taking a knock against Romulus on Tuesday night, entered the fray in place of Edwin towers and imposed himself quickly, adding a bit more bite to County's attacking intentions.

Wilson got down to his right and turned the ball away at full stretch as Robinson knocked the ball past Harrison before drilling a shot towards the bottom left hand corner of the Stags goal.

Unfazed by County's apparent threat at one end, Harrison raced forward to the other to meet Bloor's right wing corner head on, but his stooping effort went narrowly over the crossbar.

The Stags, sensing that the next goal would be pivotal to the outcome of the game, upped their work rate even more: Blake took the ball past Cobain but was denied by Searson-Smithard, Richards blocked Hakeem's shot on the turn from Bloor's right wing corner and then repeated the trick when Reittie slipped a through ball to Zayn.

But the breakthrough that gave the home side a two goal advantage, finally came on seventy four minutes, when Reittie threaded the ball through a gap between County's central defenders and their left back for Blake to run on to, Searson-Smithard advanced from his line but Nyle planted the ball firmly into the bottom right hand corner.

Sadly, as the visitors made in roads towards the Stags goal in a vaingloriously attempt to salvage something from the game, Wilson suffered from a freak accident which put him out of the game.

The young keeper did well to block Alex Howes' shot from fifteen yards, but as the ball spun loose, Campbell chased it down as Wilson threw himself forward in an attempt to smother it, the Notts strike got a touch but it deflected wide of the left hand post and the impact of landing awkwardly and two players coming together at speed meant that Sam couldn't carry on.

There was no malice on the part of Campbell and the ball was there for both players to go for, but sadly these things happen in the high paced game of youth team football, when competitive youngsters are charging about at breakneck pace.

Thankfully, the damage turned out to be just a dislocated and Sam Wilson will hopefully be on the mend soon, having had his joint popped back in at the hospital.

After a break of around twelve minutes, Xavier Sundby took over in goal, keeping a clean sheet on his EFLYA debut, but I'm sure that he rather would've seen the game out on the touchline given the circumstances.

Dunn tried to test the substitute keeper with a long range shot, but he barely had enough power behind, to see it bobble harmlessly wide of the mark.

Surafel Behailu, on for the closing stages from the bench, set up Blake but though his shot on the turn beat County's keeper it dropped just over the top right hand corner of the goal.

Blake was back again moments later, having danced majestically past two challenges, but Searson-Smithard blocked his shot and when Nyle chased the loose ball down, he could only find the side netting with his second attempt.

Keaton Ward, as he so often does, came on late in the game to giving a tiring front line some fresh impetus, but he too was denied by Searson-Smithard from close range and put the ball over from the rebound as the Pies keeper spread himself to make the angle difficult.

FT: Mansfield Town U18 2 v Notts County U18 0
All told, a great win for the young Stags, but celebrations were slightly muted as we were still awaiting news about the extent of the injuries to 'Our Sam'.
Thanks to Gillian Wilson for the message, the news was a great relief and very gratefully received by all. Hope you were OK and not too squeamish while they were putting him back together.

There is no disputing that the Stags thoroughly deserved their win, though I suspect that the Magpies will be keen to put on a display that does the undoubted talent throughout their squad justice when the two sides meet again in February.

Credit to John Dempster's side who not only put on a good show today, who who worked damn hard to stop County from playing to their strengths too. And you can't underestimate Alistair Smith's efforts as he played far more deeply than usual to help out enforcing the Stags game plan.

Ultimately, it is a team game and although some stars shone more brightly than others, most notably Nyle Blake, every single player contributed to this great win and gave 100%.

Saturday 5th November 2016
FA Cup First Round
at the One Call Stadium, Field Mill
Mansfield Town (0) 1
Ash Hemmings 58
Plymouth Argyle (1) 2
Jordan Slew 14
David Fox 80
Attendance 2,318 (inc. 439 in away end)

Mansfield Town:

Jensen, Bennett, Benning, Collins (D. Rose, 87), Pearce, Clements, Green, Baxendale (Henderson, 81’), M. Rose (Thomas, 73), Hemmings, McGuire

Unused subs - Shearer, Hamilton, Hurst, Hoban

Plymouth Argyle:

McCormick, Miller, Bulvitis, Bradley, Purrington, Songo’o, Fox, Tanner (Donaldson, 61’), Carey, Slew (Ijaha 82), Spencer

Unused subs - Goodwillie, Jervis, Osborne, Dorel

Alas, the Argyle substitute David Goodwillie never made an appearance this afternoon, so several punny jokes that I had been stockpiling since the draw for the FA Cup First Round was made, went to waste and my premature planning went all floppy far too soon.

It was a most unpleasant experience watching the Stags this afternoon; not necessarily because of their performance, because lord knows I have seen them play much worse than they did today, much, much worse! Nor was it the fact that they crashed out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle, because it was always going to be a tall order, trying to overcoming the 'champions elect' of League 2 anyway... and it certainly wasn't the tactics that Adam Murray had employed on a day when the home side certainly gave it a go, at times.

I hate seeing any Mansfield Town team lose, so I was never likely to be jumping for joy at the final whistle, but, ironically, I was quite relieved to hear the referee blow time, for a completely none football related reason... and that was down to the fact that I wouldn't have to spend another single moment sat anywhere near some of most unintelligent, blinkered, ignorant, hatred and bile filled people, that it has ever been my misfortune to encounter in any football ground.

They were Stags fans (apparently) wearing the amber and blue of a club that they purported to love and support, yet their body language, expletive strewn angry language and scowling faces suggested that they either despised Mansfield Town Football Club completely, or that they have some serious mental problems and use football matches as an outlet for their aggressive tendencies.

The vast majority of Stags fans are great people, I would gladly take them all to bed and have a great big rampant love in with them; but there are far too many of the 'enemy within' types to call a minority within the ranks, spoiling the atmosphere and dragging everyone down into the same miserable depths of despair that they inhabit.

One really must ask: if some people hate being at Field Mill so much and turn up already full of predetermined judgmental and personal abuse, why don't they save themselves a few quid and fuck off somewhere else!?

The award for the biggest imbecile of the afternoon was the twenty stone lump, wearing XL clothing when XXXXL might have been less embarrassing, glaring through his thick rimmed spectacles and shouting: "Not good enough Murray, lose some weight you fat c*** and get yourself some glasses!"

I believe that when you get a lobotomy at the Kings Mill Hospital, they chuck in the irony by-pass operation for free.

The Quarry Lane End was left empty today, with a lower than usual attendance expected, I really wish that I could've have gone and sat in there all on my own, not because I found the ogres sat around me intimidating in any way at all... in fact I had planned, to quite an advanced stage, how quickly I could chuck around half a dozen of them over the edge into the lower tier seats before the stewards got to me; but at least in my solitude, sat among the sea of empty yellow seats behind the goal, I could actually watch the game and appreciate what was actually happening on the pitch, without being subjected to a constant flow of rabid screaming, emanating from from an army of Frank Doberman wannabes.

I doubt if there are any supporters from that sheep fornicating shower across the M1 in that there Derbyshire, who genuinely detest the Stags as much as some of this lot today did.

Oh yeah! There was a game of football to write about too.

In the fourteenth minute, Sonny Bradley, a tower of strength at the back for Argyle all afternoon, headed away a left wing free kick from Chris Clements and directed the ball towards Jordan Slew, who sprinted forwards, sixty yards, possibly seventy even, before scoring with a diagonal shot across Brian Jensen.

But other than that, the visitors didn't offer much in the way of any attacking intentions and though the word 'dominated' that I have seen thrown about, would be a bit flattering to either side, the Stags certainly had the better of things possession wise. That said, it is always preferable to score two thirds of the goals in a knock out competition than clain to have had 66% of the open play.

In the second half, Ash Hemmings restored parity with a sublime strike from the left hand side of the six yard box that the Argyle keeper did well to stay out of the way off, for fear of risking life and limb.
But the visitors with just their second goal attempt on target (though to be fair they had several other near misses in the second half), regained the lead in the eightieth minute, when Yann Songo'o took the ball down with his hand and fed it to Jimmy Spencer who knocked it out wide to Slew, who (apparently) had stayed just onside and crossed to David Fox who netted from eight yards, while Jamie McQuire was prevented from cutting out the cross field ball as he was pushed to the ground just inside the Stags goal area. Now none of that was Adam 'effing' Murray's fault, was it!?

The main body of the Stags supporters had applauded their team off at half time and repeated their generous display of approval at the end of the game.

Alas, it is always the misguided Mr Angry types who blow up like indignant puffer fish and make the most noise, which was sad to hear, but not unexpected.

People wonder where the Stags faithful are these days on Saturday afternoon's. Well, watching games is an expensive pastime, even with today's slashed admission prices, but I'd wager that a good number of people are put off by the omnipresent neanderthal moaning brigade. They've paid their money and are entitled to an opinion, just the same as anyone else, but it would be nice if they didn't spend all afternoon sat anywhere near me in future... unless they like over walls to their imminent doom. Just saying!

FT: Mansfield Town 1 v Plymouth Argyle 2

Positives? It's getting ffffffffffffcold at night, did anybody really fancy a long drive to Plymouth for a midweek replay!?

Tuesday 8th November 2016
(Checkatrade) EFL Trophy
at the Ipro Stadium, Pride Park
Derby County (1) 2
Jamie Hanson 24
Andreas Weimann 84
Mansfield Town (2) 3
Ashley Hemmings 2
Darius Henderson 5
Chris Clements 90+3
Admission £3. Programme £1.
Attendance 870 (inc. 357 in visiting supporters corner)

Oh heck! I am a wrong 'un!
Attending a game in a tournament that people are apparently still boycotting.
Well, so was I, until the successful veto of the opening games in this competition, probably helped to force the hands of clubs who were still sitting on the fence, to all but unanimously vote for the non-introduction of Premier League and Championship club's U23 sides being admitted into the Football League, as part of some half baked re-organisation and restructure, or at least gave them a firm but fair nudge in the right direction.

So it's not going to happen, therefore, the need to make a stand and man the barricades, has now become obsolete.
Not that the outcome and results of voting, ballots, referendums and a quick best of three heat of paper, scissors, stone, are particularly legally binding any more, in this day and age.
Not in this country anyway.
I won't personally be feeling compelled to stand on anyone's naughty step as a consequence of watching a football match in Derby on a bitterly cold November night and my conscience is clear.
If indeed, I ever had such a thing.

The EFL have tried to make the make the competition more interesting, adding penalty shoot outs, with an extra point available for the winners at the end of drawn games, but that hasn't worked.
In fact, if anything, it has had a totally reverse and adverse effect.
The format of the competition is crap, let's make no bones about that.
But it's inconceivable that this season's cock up of a tournament will continue without some fairly drastic alterations in the future. There is no doubt that the 'B teams experiment' was a way of testing the waters, by misguided and out of touch league officials, as a means of monitoring how feasible and popular their cock-eyed ideas were. But that has backfired dramatically and the current format is neither of those things.

However we musn't lose sight of the fact, that any of the forerunners to this much maligned lower league knockout competition, were ever really all that glamorous or desirable in the first place anyway, which kind of makes a bit of a mockery of the 'higher ground' that the purists are so keen to be seen defending. Attendances have historically always been piss poor in the opening rounds of all previous Checkatrade EFL Trophy campaigns, under it's various previous names and guises.
Even when the mighty Stags won the Freight Rover Trophy at Wembley, way back in 1987.

Attending these sort games was always a matter of personal preference, priority and (most importantly) choice.
If you don't want to go to these sort of games, then don't, nobody is forcing you to. But, by the same token, should you chose to watch a game of football, you're thoroughly entitled to do so, without having to be be subjected to criticism.
The Stags were playing at Pride Park for the first time ever tonight, which will always attract a certain element of supporters out into the cold, i.e. people like me!
Moreover, one of the young players who I travel far and wide around the Northern Hemisphere with every weekend (and quite a few midweek afternoon's too), was earmarked to be involved tonight.
So I'm hardly going to miss out on that... now am I!?
Your time will come Kieran Harrison and it's good to see that you are finally getting the overdue recognition for the sustained level of consistency that you have shown in both Under 18 and 21 games.

For the record, I am, first and foremost, a football fan and sometimes my passion leads me into temptation and territory that possibly wouldn't appeal to many other people. I even attended Mansfield Town's only appearance in the short lived Setanta Shield tournament, when they were a non-league club a few years.
I'm like that!
Each to their own, innit!
Under 23 sides and B teams from Premiership and Championship clubs are not going to be entering the lower divisions of the Football League.
And just to reiterate, the vainglorious attempt to ever bring about such a change, has already been nipped in the bud and dispatched to never, never land, where it will hopefully curl up in a quiet corner to die a natural death any time soon... hoorah!

Chris Weale, Derby Under 23's thirty four year old keeper must have wondered what on earth he had let himself in for, as crash, bang, wallop! The Stags took the game firmly by the scruff of the neck straight from kick off and stormed into a two goal lead inside the opening five minutes, as the cheers of the visiting Mansfield supporters echoed around the 33,000 empty seats inside Pride Park.
The first goal after two minutes, saw Ashley Hemmings follow up his stunning goal on Saturday against Plymouth Argyle, with a calmly struck shot under the despairing Rams keeper, from Darius Henderson's flick on.
Weale's nightmare start continued, when he miss kicked a clearance, with Hemmings bearing down on him and the ball landed at the feet of Henderson, who added a second goal.
There was already a bizarre kind of strangeness about the atmosphere, given the emptiness of most of the stadium and the unexpected scoreline contributed to that other worldliness of the occasion.

Jamie Hanson's heavily deflected free kick from twenty yards out, completely wrong footed Scott Shearer in the Stags goal and County halved the deficit on twenty four minutes.

"Oh well, it was nice while it lasted" commented my significant other two thirds as a barely audible murmur of appreciation could just about be heard from a small gathering of Rams fans, sat in the lower tier near the players tunnel.

The game continued to be played out in the home side's half but the nearest either side came to scoring gain before half time, was when Henderson found the side netting when he opted to shoot instead of laying the ball across the face of the goal.

But hey! He'd been involved in both Mansfield goals thus far, so give him some credit.

HT: Rams 1 v Stags 2

The home side were less generous about leaving acres of space for the Stags to knock the ball about in after the break, but the visitors manager Adam Murray, who turned out 54 times for tonight's hosts during his distinguished playing career, could still draw plenty of positives from his side's performance, who were still creating more chances than their hosts, even if the tempo of the game had slowed down by now. The Rams were, in the main, being restricted to long range efforts, while: , Howkins, Benning and Clements all went close to adding a third goalfor Mansfield with off target efforts and CJ Hamilton saw his goal bound effort charged down by Farrand Dawson.
With a little over five minutes remaining, County drew level with another deflected strike, as Weimann’s shot from just outside, was blocked by Oscar Gobern, but the ball spun up and dropped over Shearer and bounced just over the goal line.

Given the claim the B teams in this competition have been entered to give development age players a taste of first team football, it was quite fitting that the Rams equaliser was scored by a twenty five year old Austrian.

Rip it up and start again Football League, the original dubious intentions that this season's format was leaning towards, have created your very own Frankenstein monster of a competition.

In stoppage time, Matt Green was almost presented with the easiest of chances to clinch a win for the visitors as County's calamity keeper scuffed another clearance, but with a penalty shoot out looming, Chris Clements finally put the game to bed and claimed a deserved win for the Stags, with a twenty five yard shot that bulged the top corner... and the £10,000 prize money (the pot for all wins in the group stages) was heading towards Mansfield Town's bank account, to add to the cash they won at Port Vale.

FT: Derby County 2 v Mansfield Town 3

Footnote: Added Thursday 10/11/2016.

Having gone through to the 'regionalised' knock out stage by virtue of finishing second in their qualifying group, the Stags have been drawn away at Carlisle United on Tuesday 6th December (correct date according to the Cumbrians website) in the next round, which is just 172 local miles away from Mansfield.

A sick punchline to a poor joke of a tournament, if ever there was one.

Wednesday 9th November 2016
Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup
at the Roundwood Pavilion
Parkgate FC (2) 2
Sam Thornton 30
Lebrun Mbeka 38
Frechville CA (2) 3
Jack Heald 9 Pen, 15 Pen
Gary Eades 49
Admission £5. Attendance 90

Winter is here and tonight's fixtures schedule was devastated by rain, ice, snow, pestilence and famine, but the pitch at Parkgate is more robust than most and an intriguing and eventful, no holds barred game of football ensued.
The tackles flew in, the referee needed two heads with eyes in the back of them and everybody present was thoroughly entertained... not always for the right reasons mind you, but I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle nevertheless.
It was good to see Parkgate's Bruce Bickerdike back where he belongs, after an enforced period of absence from attending games following a recent argument with a staircase, that he didn't win.
It is always a pleasure to chew the fat with Bruce.

Graham Nicholas, who recently took over the managerial reigns from Steve Adams at NCEL Premier Division strugglers Parkgate, has an enormous task ahead of him, as he tries to steer the Steelmen away from the foot of the table, where they currently only have two points from seventeen games.
Tonight they were eliminated from the county cup on home turf, by a team from two divisions below them.
And if truth be told Frechville deserved their hard fought and feisty win, on a chilly night in Rawmarsh.

Parkgate team

The home side's goalkeeper Josh Lill was perhaps a tad fortunate to stay on the pitch, after advancing from his line and pulling down Kane Lawrance, who was clean through on goal through the right channel. Jack Heald drilled the ball into the bottom right hand corner from the resulting penalty, with Lill diving the opposite way and the visitors, having made a lively start to the game, were ahead on nine minutes.

The visitors doubled their lead on fifteen minutes, when the referee, Callum Gough, blew up and pointed to the spot, when Michael Golland's run into the left hand side of the area was cut short by Macole Lannaman's firm chaallenge. Heald stepped up once again and this time planted his spot kick to the other side of Lill, who got his fingertips to the ball but couldn't keep it out.

Frechville CA team

Parkgate went close from Josh Moore's twenty five yard free kick, after Brad Hanson, the Frechville skipper had earned himself a yellow card for a foul on Alex Lill, but the ball crashed off the crossbar and Steven Booth tipped it over as he dropped back down towards his goal line... and Lebrun Mbeka headed wide from Jacob Mason's left wing corner.
Golland provided a comedic interlude as he attempted to throw the ball towards the left had side of the home sides area, but somehow managed launched the ball backwards over his head, into the hedgerow that runs alongside one touchline of the pitch, hiding the ugliness of nearby Kilnhurst from the eyes of any unsuspecting visitors.

Parkgate halved the arrears with a well crafted goal on the half hour mark, when Michael Cuckson won the ball in the middle of the pitch and played it forward to Moore, who feigned a run, taking a defender with him and flicked the ball back into the path of (A) Lill, whose first time diagonal pass through the gap created by Moore, picked out Sam Thornton's run into the area... and he made no mistake from ten yards out as Booth advanced from his line.
If the Steelmen could play like that all of the time, instead of just in short bursts, they wouldn't be struggling in the league.
Ollie Yates delivered a long cross from out on the right towards Moore, who appeared to be restrained from getting to the ball by Ben Dronfield, but the referee never saw it and Frechville cleared their lines.

Blimey! He's tall!

But on thirty eight minutes, the Steelmen were back on level terms when Mbeka stabbed the ball home from close range after Moore unselfishly knocked the ball across the face of the visitors goal.
A bit of 'niggle', that was threatening to over spill, began to creep into the game towards half time, but the officials were just about keepingon top of things... for now.
HT: Parkgate 2 v Frechville CA 2
Frechville made the early running after the interval and (J) Lill had to pluck Steve Bayston's long free kick towards Brad Hanson out of the air, after Lawrance had been upended by Thornton.
But (J) Lill didn't have a chance of getting anything on the ball as Gary Eades struck a dipping twenty yard shot into the back of the goal, that took everybody by surprise.
Eades quality strike in the forty ninth minute, turned out to be the winning goal, but there was still plenty of drama to come in this feisty game.

Jack Heald went for his hat trick with a thundering long range shot that (J) Lill did well to turn past the upright.
Parkgate were struggling to make any inroads in the visitors final third as Frechville battled for everything, to keep their NCEL hosts at bay.
Chris Simpkins long ball into the visitors area was punched clear by Booth and a scrum of players from both teams came together as Moore collided with the Frechville keeper.
It was a sign of things to come.
Mbeka latched onto Simpkins cross, but couldn't get any power behind the ball and his weak shot didn't cause Booth any problems.
At the other end, only a last ditch clearance by Lannaman stopped the visitors from increasing their lead after Lanzel Reid combined well with Lawrance on thye edge of the area from Hanson's probing pass.

A trigger point was reached as two players clattered into each other ten yards in front of the Parkgate dug out and the majority of the players moved in to add some muscle to their respective side's role in an ugly stand off. Once an uneasy calm and some kind of order was restored, a player from each side, Wes Butler, who had only been on the pitch for six minutes, and Lebrun Mbeka were red carded, while the visitors keeper Booth saw yellow.

As (J) Lill ran from his line to smother the ball, Steve Bayston slid in and caught him late. As the angry keeper was restrained and led away from the incident, Bayston, who had already been booked was shown a second yellow card and was dismissed.

Mr Gough then also sent off the Frechville manger for his heated protest towards the official.

Parkgate finished the game with a flurry of corners that ultimately came to nothing, while at the other end, (J) Lill saved from Josh Barringham and punted the ball up the field towards Cuckson who sent Moore chasing a through ball into the Frechville area, where he was upended by a full blooded challenge... and subsequently booked for diving. Uh!?

In stoppage time, Heald took the ball around a challenge by Cuckson, but scuffed his shot high and wide from eight yards.

FT: Parkgate 2 v Frechville CA 3

That was a bit lively, tha knows!

Friday 11th November 2016
World Cup 2018 Qualifier - European Group F
at Wembley Stadium
England (1) 3
Daniel Sturridge 24, Adam Lallana 50, Gary Cahill 61
Scotland (0) 0
Attendance 87,258

England are now unbeaten in 33 consecutive qualifying games, it's an impressive record of eight draws and twenty five wins, since they lost 1-0 against Ukraine, seven years ago.

But their performances in the final stages of competitions, are nowhere near as good as they ought to be. In fact the Euro 2016 finals in France, were an unmitigated disaster for England, the farcical hiring and firing of Sam Allardyce was a major embarrassment and it was vital that the 'Auld Enemy' were convincingly put to the sword tonight, or the ever present, remarkably loyal and faithful fan base, would have gone into meltdown with the sheer enormity of any sort of further humiliation... well, I know I would have done!

But England can always depend on one thing. And that is: regardless of how bad things get, there is always somebody worse off than themselves.

Invariably and consistently, that somebody is, more often than not... Scotland.

England were good, but not great tonight, but to be fair they didn't need to be, because though the 'Pinks' were adept at spraying passes across the width of the pitch, they were less than impressive at getting up and down the length of it to any great effect. Sure, they created several really useful chances, but while England's substandard defences frailties, were exposed as an area of their game that needs an immediate fix; Scotland's finishing was lamentable and pure slapstick comedy.

The oldest football international fixture in the known universe, was an opportunity for both teams to lift the spirits of their fans at the end of what has been a terrible year for both countries national football teams... and the 3-0 margin of victory certainly gave the host nation's fans a significant lift, as it poured more misery on Caledonian neighbours from a great height.

"Cheer up Gordon Strachan!"

The banter (and that is all it was) started on King's Cross station as a troop of cross dressing men, wearing tartan skirts and tight fitting pink bri-nylon shirts...each to their own, live and let live n' all that... mingled among us, near the queue for the Underground.

I thought Daffyd Thomas, Matt Lucas''Little Britain' character was supposed to be Welsh, but it would appear that his fashion sense has a cult following north of the border too.

"I hope you've got your box of tissues for later" winked one of them, "Well, it's going to be fun gubbing you lot again, but I don't reckon I'll be excited enough to have a wank about it!" I replied.

He burst into laughter and I added: "So if you could now get all of the Wembley 1967 bollocks out of the way, I'll bid you farewell and good luck, because you're going to need it!"

Surely to God, nobody would ever wear a half and half England/Scotland scarf

Handshakes and a cheery truce all around ensued, while I chuckled to myself about how civilised society has become, compared to days gone by, when I'd previously encountered international rivalry between our two proud nations head on.

Prior to kick off, a respectfully observed tribute for Armistice day took place and to their immense credit, despite not getting approval from FIFA to do it, both teams displayed poppy emblems.

I don't want to get on my soapbox about the wearing of these badges and symbols of respect, because it should always be a matter of personal choice, but it is thoroughly misguided to claim that the poppy is a political symbol and when all is said and done, November 11th is a significant date in the calendar for many English and Scottish people alike.

Half and half England/Scotland scarf wearer,. there's always one!

If you conscientiously do not wear a poppy, or want to make the occasion about your own blinkered agenda, by wearing a white or black poppy, then that's up to you, but please bump your gums together, shut up and allow those of us who feel that it is100% the right thing to do, to go about our business sans any politicising and PC theorising about an annual tradition that we wish to respect.

Of course, while the England and Scotland fans joined together to remember those who gave all, it is still traditional to boo each others national anthems and cuss one another loudly and very passionately for the next ninety minutes too.

That is not racist, or xenophobic or even nationalistic... it's mutually understood!

And I doubt if anybody on either side of the divide would have it any other way, when football transcends all politics and religion on nights like this.

I have Scottish relatives, but thankfully there are no blood ties with them on my side of the family and, of course, I have links with the Heart of Midlothian Football club that go back a loooong way; but I am extremely proud to be a Sassenach and genuinely grateful that Gareth Southgate's side, though having obvious limitations, were nowhere near rough enough around the edges to lose against Strachan's manky shower.

Darren Fletcher had been guilty of a woeful miss inside the opening few minutes, with a shot that had less power behind it than Nicola Sturgeon actually has in either the Scottish National Assembly or Westminster.

Had that gone in then we might've had a different kind of game to look forward to. But Scotland seemed almost content to slip into a defeatist mindset and accept their inevitable demise and second bestness.

Raheem Sterling won the ball in midfield and set off on a dribbling run, his goal bound strike rebounded off of a defender which released Kyle Walker on the right hand side of the area, who crashed a cross cum cross towards Craig Gordon's goal, that Daniel Sturridge stooped to meet with a glancing header and England were ahead.
The Scots almost pulled level but Grant Hanley misdirected a free header well off target.
Wayne Rooney made a rare slip and gave the ball away to Leigh Griffiths, but with Robert Snodgrass well placed to receive the ball in front of Joe Hart's goal, Griffiths went for glory and toe punted a feeble effort straight at the dandruff free England keeper, who looked head and shoulders better in ability than any of those tasked with the job of finding the back of his net.
There was still time for Fletcher to miss another sitter before the break as it became more and more apparent that the visitors were not going to score tonight, if this game went on past midnight.
HT: England 1 v Scotland 0

Lee Wallace set up James Forrest for the first goal scoring opportunity of the second half, but once again Gordon Strachan was left questioning who had left his sides shooting boots on the team coach, while Joe Hart got up to have a walk to stretch his legs, because he'd finished the Sudoku puzzle book he'd brought along with him and his deck chair wasn't very comfortable.
However England still looked vulnerable at the back and you can't imagine that Spain will be even half as generous as Scotland's profligate attackers were tonight, when they roll up at Wembley Stadium for a friendly on Tuesday night.
The 'Tartan Army' were on the march, towards Wembley Park station, just five minutes into the second half, when Sturridge played the ball to Sterling to his left and he kept the ball moving to Danny Rose on the overlap, who delivered a great cross for Adam Lallana to turn past Gordon with a well placed header.

More gaps appeared in the away supporters section of the stadium just after the hour mark, when Wayne Rooney's corner was met by Gary Cahill who netted England's third headed goal of the night.
By all accounts, the Samaritans switchboard in Edinburgh crashed under the volume of calls and the Empire Way Convenience Store put a notice in their window: 'Sorry we have sold out of tissues'.

England played out the remainder of the game, which was well beyond Scotland's reach by now, in the manner of a sadistic dad. playing 'keep ball' against his six year old son on Great Yarmouth beach.

On a night when Wayne Rooney, showing that his international career is far from over and Raheem Sterling both put in a shift to quieten their most harsh of critics who have been rubbishing them both in the run up to this prestige fixture, while Scotland's fans were left to lament that not only had they been beaten by a team of a far higher calibre, they had also effectively contributed to their own downfall, with a paucity of quality in front of Joe Hart's goal.

After four games in charge of the national team in an interim and caretaker capacity, it would seem that Gareth Southgate has now all but instilled himself as the new England manager. Personally I feel that this would be a positive thing. Southgate has a vast knowledge of the internal workings of the FA on a number of levels and has conducted himself very well since stepping into the role since the Sam Allardyce entrapment/greed* debacle became public knowledge.
If 'Big Sam' still feels that he was the victim in some kind of elaborate sting, then that says more about the money motivated arrogance and ego of the man, than the dubious intentions of the whistle blowers who he naively gave the ammunition to expose and dethrone him on a plate.

The game finished three nil to the hosts and you could almost (but not quite) feel sorry for the the Scottish fans who could still find enough patriotism flowing through their veins, to belt out one last defiant rendition of their anthem 'Flower of Scotland' (a song about a thistle, which is actually a weed) before they headed back home into their own private football wilderness.
The Scotland players I remember from my formative years: Dave Mackay, Archie Gemmill, Graeme Souness, Danny McGrain, Joe Jordan and John Greig, had fight and commitment to their nation's cause and used to be worthy and sometimes better opposition for the English, but their current crop of 'international standard' players deserve to be made to go out in public wearing those daft pink shirts to make a sorry laughing stock of themselves.
Beating Scotland is always fun, but it took the gloss off of the final score slightly, that it was virtually impossible for England to lose against a side who lacked any kind of cutting edge whatsoever.
FT: England 3 v Scotland 0

Saturday 12th November 2016
Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
at the Jones & Co. Stadium, Cannon Park
Retford United (1) 3
Keith Melvin 23, Daniel Murray 69, Josh Raby 90+
Maltby Main (1) 2
Nicky Darker 1, Shawn Mitchell 90+
Admission £5. Attendance 127

Post match handshakes would be a more interesting option in my opinion

The Cannon Park pitch passed a 10.45am inspection this morning, meaning that this game between two sides whose grounds stand roughly twenty five minutes drive away from each could go ahead.
When I arrived, there was obviously still some standing water, particularly on the strips where the referee's assistants would ply their trade and the pitch could be classified as 'soft going' at best, as the game commenced and it cut up badly, making things increasingly difficult underfoot for both sides.
The teams and everybody present, joined in a time of quiet reflection for the fallen of the first and second world wars and more recent conflicts the world over... including the unjust and illegal ones, that certain world leaders have escaped punishment for manufacturing. Hi! Tony Blair!

It was a cold and grey afternoon, but my big fat head was as warm as toast, because that nice Mr Mills (John, the Maltby club secretary) had bought me one his club's dead fashionable woolly hats to wear, as a gift for stepping into his shoes for a couple of games recently.
Those shoes were quite a comfortable fit actually and if Millsy ever wants to skive off again (on a temporary basis) at some point in the future, I'd be more than happy to help out again, as long as the timing was right, as regards my duties with them there Stags.
Though I would happily give Ash Davis a job reference to take on such tasks any day of the week and he's loyal, keen and already in situ at Muglet Lane. Just saying ;-)

The game was literally only a few seconds old when, ever so slightly against the run of play, Nicky Darker latched onto Steve Hopewell's knock down into his path and buried the ball past Sam Jepson, before a Retford player had even touched the ball.
Apparently the official time was given as fourteen seconds, but it may well have been even quicker.
If I had have known that the Miners captain was attempting to create a new world record I would've picked my stopwatch up before I left my house, which you can just about see in the pre-match handshake photo (above).

Shortly after Main's opening goal, two of the visitors committee men Martin Hawley and Danny Griffiths came across to join us in the seats, the ball went out of play and while Martin attempted to kick it back onto the pitch, he actually scuffed it away over the roof of the stand. Well, that's one way to run the clock down and use up the next eighty nine minutes pal! "Accidental!" you say, hmm, the jury is still out on that one.
Amidst a background of 'oohing and ahhing' noises, Maltby cleared the ball off their line three times, but as Keith Melvin's shot was hooked away the referee's assistant on the clubhouse side of the ground, Stuart Richardson signaled that the ball had crossed the line and the Badgers were level. Mr Richardson, resplendent with a poppy adorning his shirt, was in line with play and I wasn't so I couldn't possibly comment further on that one.
Twenty three minutes, one apiece and both captain's had scored. What could possibly go wrong?

A bit of pushing and shoving and gesturing between players from both sides soon escalated into a fully blown scrap, the Retford contingent claimed Maltby's goalkeeper had started it, while other's said that United's Liam Wood and Niall Sultan had struck the first blows (not me I hasten to add).
But, in a nutshell it doesn't really matter who started it, because once players from both sides went piling in, it meant that all three teams had lost control, that's Retford, Maltby and the officials.
In the middle of the melee Ollie Lawrence, the visitors number 3, was poleaxed by a double punch combination and was caught by a boot in the back of his head, while he was on the ground (I hope and pray that was accidental), and was unable to continue as a consequence, once an uneasy peace, of sorts, had been restored.

A picture appeared on social media, showing Darker pulling at a Retford player with his hands clamped around his opponent's face... and as a stand alone photograph, that looked pretty bad for the Maltby skipper. But the fact of the matter is: he was pulling his 'victim' away from Lawrence on the floor, because he had his hands around the already injured players throat.
Other quite blatant shoves and 'hands up' offences were spotted and by now neither side were innocent as both management teams ran on to try and pull some of their more fiery players away from the melee.
One ex-Maltby player in particular really needed restraining too... and was very lucky to get away with what he had done.

Sadly the unrest spread into the stand; it only got as far as threats being issued, but the knee jerk over-reaction to what was going on out on the pitch, meant that my pals from both clubs wouldn't be watching the game side by side anymore this afternoon, as the Maltby lads moved away to avoid any further potential confrontation.
We're all much too old and wise for any of that crap.
Just shake hands and get on with watching the game, instead of blowing things out of all proportion and making and taking everything so personal.
Please!
You were all there for the same reason, your love of the game and your team.
Passion gets the better of us all at times when we care too much... but enough is enough, behave yourselves now you lovable rogues xxx
The match referee, David Hunt, dismissed one player from each side in response to the kerfuffle, Maltby's keeper Danny Rusling and United's captain Keith Melvin.
I was expecting the red card to be brandished to at least two more players.
But what do I know, eh!?

Note, I have deliberately omitted mentioning several names of players who were guilty of offences that went unpunished and have no intention of posting any further photographs online... none of that would serve any purpose and I would only be stirring up a shit storm for when the two sides next meet, or the league respond to the referee's report.
Draw a big black line under it and move on folks.
I really wish that there had been more overnight rain and that this game hadn't gone ahead now.
And I'm glad that the referee had two decent assistants working alongside him in his hour of need... Lord knows he needed them.

With Lawrence unable to continue, Stancliffe came on as a substitute to cover the goalkeeping role and though he could possibly have done with a slightly more flattering sized shirt, he did well between the sticks.

In fact right on the stroke of half time, 'Stan' pulled off a great stop to thwart Liam Wood as he was put through on goal by Danny Murray's measured pass.
HT: Retford United 1 v Maltby Main 1

After the interval, much to most people's surprise, an actual game of football broke out.
The underfoot conditions were dictating the overall style of play, but the cheery demeanour returned to the faces of the spectators as both teams ran (and slid) about at breakneck speed showing a 100% commitment to their respective causes.
During the opening fifteen minutes of the second half, Maltby created the bulk of chances, with Shawn Mitchell going close twice and Jordan Snodin was denied from ten yards out, when Ben Wyld took the ball off of his toe as he was about to shoot from Ryan Carroll's sideways knock.
Jepson saved from Josh Schofield and who then combined with Carroll to play Darker in on goal, but he scuffed his shot as the ball got bogged down.
Retford were utilising Niall Sultan's pace and close control, both down the right flank and in the middle. Danny Reilly stopped him in his tracks with a firm tackle that Mr Webb decided was a foul and showed the Maltby defender a yellow card, which was a bit ironic given some of the shenanigans he had let go during 'play time', halfway through the opening forty five minutes.

Hopewell and Carroll combined to pass their way through the middle of the Badgers defence, but Wyld was scrapping for every ball and got a foot in at the expense of a corner.
Jack Greeves dropped his flag kick right onto the head of Reilly, who powered the ball down towards the bottom right hand corner of the Retford goal, but it was cleared as several Maltby players appealed that it had crossed the line.
Wyld cleared behind again as Schofield advanced towards the Badgers goal. Greeves put another good ball across the face of United's goal that bounced up in front of Darker, who whacked the ball towards the grey sky instead of Jepson's goal.
The lively Sultan ran at the Maltby defence again and forced a save out of Stancliffe. But moments later Sultan returned again, forging a path down the right flank before crossing to Murray who netted from close range.

Maltby had been the more creative side since the break, but goals win games, not statistics.

To that end, Hopewell looked odds on to score within a minute of Retford taking the lead, but Jepson dropped to his left and smothered the ball on the line.

Jack Binney entered the fray from the subs bench for Maltby and was getting in amongst the Retford defence through the left channel. Wyld caught him with a late challenge, that was more clumsy than malicious on the rain sodden pitch. The referee spoke to Wyld who had already booked (most people in the ground had been by now) and told him: "One more and you're off!", which seemed ominous because the Retford number 2 doesn't do things by halves.

Sure enough, he was straight back in the thick of things within seconds, preventing Binney from getting his shot away after he'd run fifty yards to make the opening for himself.

Craig Mitchell came on for the Miners and joined his brother in the middle of the park.

Lord help anyone who felt like starting a scrap now!

Schofield launched a thirty five yard free kick into United's area, but the home side cleared their lines and scrambled the ball away for another corner as the game passed the ninety minute mark.

Greeves drilled the ball into the Retford six yard box and among a scrum of players (S) Mitchell forced the ball over the line from just a couple of feet out, in the fifth minute of added time..

Retford had absorbed a lot of pressure and had defended and countered well, but Maltby deserved something out of this game and it looked as though they would be taking a point for their efforts now.

But in the ninety eighth minute, Josh Raby crashed a long range free kick into the corner of the net, that Stancliffe had no chance of doing anything about.

With the referee looking like he was intent on taking the game past the one hundredth minute, the game almost had a sting in it's tail, when Maltby were awarded a free kick twenty five yards from goal.

Greeves unleashed a blistering shot that swerved round the Retford wall and was moving about all over, just a couple of feet above the ground, it was textbook stuff and had 'goal' written all over it. But Jepson, who must only have caught sight of the ball at the last moment, pulled off an absolutely blinding save across to his left.

And that was that, effectively, Jepson had held onto the three points for the Badgers, as well as the ball.

Maltby had made more chances than their hosts, but didn't convert as many... and therein lays the difference.

FT: Retford United 3 v Maltby Main 2

Now kiss and make up, the bloody lot of you!

Field Mill

Tuesday 15th November 2016
FA Youth Cup Second Round
at the One Call Stadium, Field Mill
Mansfield Town (4) 5
Alistair Smith 13, 20
Zayn Hakeem 16, 25, 82
Dunkirk FC (2) 2
Joel Howes 22
Jack Warner 30
Admission £3 Attendance 506

'Wonk Hall' was the only place to be tonight, even though England were playing Spain (I have recorded it to watch later) and, by all accounts: "You've got to watch 'Celebrity Jungle' later because Carol Vorderman is getting 'em out!" Jeezus... if I wanted to see some ropey looking 50 somethings saggy boobs, I don't need to watch the former Countdown maths girl on TV, because I already have a pair of my own.
The Stags youngsters knew that they couldn't take the threat posed by tonight's visitors Dunkirk lightly, given that the Boatmen have taken an impressive array of scalps in this years competition already.

Left click to enlarge programme

Having seen off Matlock Town and Ilkeston (no mean feat given how highly rated the New Manor Ground club are in local development football circles), tonight's visitors then went on to beat Lincoln City, Alfreton Town and last years quarter finalists Coventry City, to claim their place in the second round.
Mansfield have had a quiet passage thus far by comparison, chalking up a 3-0 win in their only other game in this competition so far this season, with a brace of goals from Cain Smith and another one from the live-wire Nyle Blake.
By virtue of winning tonight's game, John Dempster's side will be travelling south, to that there London, where they make the telly n' that and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second of the United Kingdom of Great Britain lives, to face Fulham at Craven Cottage in the 3rd Round.

Both sides hit the woodwork during the opening exchanges, with the really famous Antigua and Barbuda Under 20 international Zayn Hakeem thumping the first opportunity of the game against the upright, while Jack Warner hit the crossbar at the other end.
Alistair Smith's persistence, when he wouldn't surrender possession of the ball, in spite of the close attentions of Ollie Robinson, led to the Stags opening goal in the thirteenth minute as he stayed on his feet to drill an angled shot past Ryan Howes and just inside the left hand upright from ten yards out.
Having had the visitors watched in advance, John Dempster knew that his team would be up against a big and strong, occasionally physical side tonight and that certainly proved to be the case, but within three minutes of (A) Smith having opened the scoring, Hakeem escaped the attentions of Pierce Bird and doubled the home side's lead, with a clever shot that bounced just in front of (R) Howes, causing the Dunkirk keeper all kinds of problems as the ball zipped up through his hands... and in spite of his despairing attempt to make a catch Hakeem's strike nestled in the bottom right hand corner of the visitors goal.

Two familiar faces in the crowd tonight.
Welcome home! George Foster and Neil Richardson.

On twenty minutes, (A) Smith put the Stags three ahead, with a sublime dipping volley from twenty five yards out that found the back of the net, via the underside of the crossbar.
But the visitors showed the fighting spirit that they are renowned for and pulled a goal back, when George Harrison delivered a deep cross towards the back post and Xavier Sundby was unable to get near the ball as four Dunkirk players attacked it together and Joel Howes got the decisive touch and the Boatmen reduced the arrears after twenty two minutes.
Kieran Harrison picked up the ball just inside the Dunkirk half and spotted Hakeem making a run through the left channel and dropped a great measured pass into his path and as (R) Howes threw himself down in an attempt to block the ball, the Stags striker slipped the ball under the exposed visitors keeper restore the Stags three goal cushion.

The ball sat up for Kieran Harrison, twenty yards from the Dunkirk goal and he unleashed the sort of shot, that demonstrated why he plays in defence... a position in excels in let it be said, but the pigeons nesting in the North Stand roof got a rude awakening.
Warner picked up a pass from Harrison and let fly with a shot that Sundby did well to
save. But just moments later, Warner had the ball again and having found himself in space thirty yards from the Stags goal, he scored with a excellently executed shot, that gave the Stags keeper no chance.
After six goals in the opening half a hour, the game settled down into a less hectic contest.
The Stags were knocking the ball around and looking to pick up another goal before the break, from a more patient kind of build up, while Dunkirk used up no end of energy trying to chase the ball down and nick a goal. The tactic worked to that end, but there were still one or two hair raising moments along the way, while several supporters who complain about the direct and long ball game employed by the first team at times, were imploring the youngsters to 'Whack it!', 'Get it up the pitch!' and 'Stop fannying about in front of your own goal!'

Just before the break, Cain Smith turned and shot from just outside the area, it was one of those efforts that looks really spectacular if it comes off, but by the same token sounds really expensive when it smashes into rows 18, 19 and 20 of the seats.
HT: Stags Youth 4 v Dunkirk Youth 2
"So who is the new first team manager then!?" somebody demanded to know as the half time whistle sounded, I pretended that I was hard of hearing and couldn't hear him for the Bruno Marrs tune blasting from the loud speakers. Out of a crowd of 506, it actually surprised me that only 505 of them knew the identity of the man stood over yonder watching the game while he wore a Sombrero, or the big bloke stood next to him, whose mum and dad used to run the Lincolnshire Poacher pub on Mansfield Road, Nottingham... and who until very recently has been the assistant manager at Boston United, Crawley Town, Rotherham United and Leeds United.
Of course, it could all be a big coincidence. Cough!

Phwoar! Not all of the talent was out on the pitch tonight.

It would be wrong for me not to mention the Stags outgoing manager at this juncture, he was always alright with me and did turn out to watch the under 18 and under 21 sides whenever he could. I liked Adam, a lot, but these things happen in football all of the time and the turnover of staff at clubs is quite staggering compared to other industries.

I know how I'll remember him... and if he's hard up enough to be actually reading this self indulgent bullshit blog with added football content... Good luck Adam and thanks for some pretty special memories along the way.

And best wishes to the incoming manager and his burly assistant too.

There were some key one against one battles developing out one the pitch; most notably Takunda Mushamri, out on the left flank against Teddy Bloor, who made up for what he lacks in stature with some great battling qualities as he refused to be bullied by the bigger player.

Cameron Healey and Darian Roberts will have both have enjoyed their head to head in the middle of the park and Hakeem and Bird had seemingly wanted to swap shirts way before he final whistle.

Henri Wilder and Jason Law covered a lot of ground and weren't unduly perturbed by some fair, but increasing firm tackles as they got up in support of the ever dangerous (A) Smith and Hakeem.

Kane Baldwin, Kieran Harrison and the Stags captain Morgan Ratcliffe, knew they were going to be up against robust opponents tonight and they worked really while covering each other backs.

And Cain Smith is well and truly back on top of his game again and is the glue that holds it all together in the middle of the park.

Jack Warner. Hello, hello, hello.

Pierce Bird had already been shown a yellow card,when he lunged into Nyle Blake, who had come on as a substitute in the fifty fourth minute, but the skillful play maker rode the challenge and probably saved Bird from getting his marching orders, but goalscorer Joel Howes was cautioned for clattering into Blake. Evidently some of the visiting side were familiar with the Stags substitute and knew what he is capable of if they allowed him to run at them with the ball at his feet.
Bloor delivered a right wing free kick into the area, that was only half cleared and fell to Cain Smith, whose long range shot was tipped over by (R) Howes.
Morgan Ratcliffe collected a pass with his back to goal and slipped the ball through to Hakeem on the turn, his shot was blocked by (R) Howes and Blake couldn't quite keep the ball on target from the rebound.
Wilder broke forward on the left, sold Robinson a dummy and picked out (C) Smith with his cross, but the battling midfielder's low and hard side footed effort was saved by (R) Howes.
The Dunkirk captain Ollie Clark nicked the ball on the edge of the Stags area, as the home sides defence conceded possession after faffing about too much, but Ratcliffe deflected his shot wide of the post.

George Harrisoon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Devante Reittie entered the fray with twenty minutes remaining and as he broke forward into the Dunkirk area he was clipped from behind, but tried to stay upright and the chance was gone. You'd never want players to go down when they didn't genuinely need too, but in this case Reittie had been fouled and will know exactly what to do next time.
Baldwin almost netted with a long range opportunist strike, but saw his effort fly narrowly over the bar.
Wilder powered his way into the left channel but shot over from twelve yards.
From the Stags next attack it looked as though Dunkirk had conceded a penalty, when Wilder beat Robinson for pace, but was pulled back by the his shirt and then tripped. Curiously the referee booked the Stags wide man for 'assimilation'.
Oh well, I guess it is a useful part of the steep learning curve for young developing footballers, to see that referee's sometimes make mistakes too.

The visitors hit the post as they showed that they weren't going down without a fight, but I didn't get a look at the lad whose shot it was' number... and play switched quickly to the other end before I could track him and waituntil he turned round so I could see his back.
Reittie was a thorn in the side of the tiring Dunkirk defence, with his fresh legs and attacking intentions, (R) Howes pulled off a save own to his left to deny the Stags number sixteen, but within a minute, Reittie shot again and when the ball was cleared off the line, it fell to Hakeem, who claimed the result for the Stags and the match ball for himself from the rebound.
Blake almost added a sixth goal for the Stags in the closing moments, but as he was about to shoot, Bird clipped his heels and he shot straight at the Dunkirk keeper as he stumbled.
If Reittie and Blake hadn't grown up to be a such credit to their parents and blessed with such good manners as a consequence, they would both probably have hit the deck when they felt contact.
But that isn't meant by way of a criticism, that ruthless edge will come in time, to compliment their undoubted ability.
FT: Stags Youth 5 v Dunkirk Youth 2

Dunkirk were generously applauded from the pitch for their efforts, both on the night and in lieu of the great cup run that they have embarked on this season.
Respect is due in spades!
Well done to all concerned.
Right, when is the next round?
We need to get those train tickets to Fulham booked ASAP.

Wednesday 16th November 2016
Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
at the Forest Town Arena
AFC Mansfield (1) 2
Gary Bradshaw 15, Ollie Fearon 70
Parkgate FC (0) 2
Craig Fletcher 60, 80
Admission £5. Programme £1.50. Attendance 82

A week is a long time in football and tonight Parkgate looked 80% better than they did last Wednesday night, when the 3-2 margin of defeat against County Senior League side

Frechville CA in the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup actually flattered the Rawmarsh based side. On Saturday the recently installed Steelmen's manager Graham Nicholas, steered his side to their only win of the season so far, when they overcame Rainworth Miners Welfare at Roundwood, with Ben Thornton netting the only goal of the game, while AFC Mansfeld were overcoming Blidworth Welfare by two goals to one, after going in a goal down at the break, in the FA Vase second round at the Central Midland League side's Mansfield Road ground, in front of a big crowd.

The Bulls will now face Hucknall Town away, in the third round on December 3rd... and that is where we will be going after the Stags Under 18 game at Clipstone against York City (11AM kick off) finishes.

Rudy Funk's side are sat comfortably in a top ten position, in what is their first season competing at this level, while Parkgate's predicament is so desperate, it is rumoured that United Artists are on stand by to remake the epic 1963 film 'The Great Escape', if the Steelmen manage to avoid relegation; with Nicholas taking on Steve McQueen's role as Captain Virgil Hilts (AKA the cooler king) as he escapes successfully from Stalag Luft III in Sagan and actually clears that troublesome barbwire fence on his 1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy (disguised as a German BMW R75) motorcycle this time around... and there will be no Bud Ekins around to do any of his stunts either, like there was first time around.
Parkgate are currently eight points below the safety margin, but with seventy two points still to play for, if they perform as well as they did tonight, then it might be a smart idea for the teams directly above them to start getting a few half decent results under their belts any time soon.

Parkgate made most of the early running tonight, but the Bulls are adept at absorbing pressure then methodically breaking down their opponents.

The visitors number nine Josh Moore, who was one of their better players in last week's cup exit, was pivotal to there ambitions tonight, battling away to maintain no small amount of pressure on the Mansfield keeper Myles Wright, while weighing in with his considerable presence in defence whenever the home side went hunting for the opening goal.
But in spite of the visitors lively start, it was the Bulls who took the lead, on fifteen minutes, when Ollie Fearon nudged a forward pass in front of Gary Bradshaw, who calmly planted the ball past Josh Lill from ten yards.
Bradshaw almost added a second goal from the Bulls next attack, but Lill got down to his left to make a save as the home side's number 10 let fly with dipping twenty five yard half volley.

Ashley Emmett tried to squeeze the ball through the Mansfield defence to Ben Thornton and was inadvertently assisted by Josh Madin, who air kicked instead of putting his foot through the ball and Wright was forced into blocking Thornton's low, well struck shot from twelve yards.

Lynton Karkach's first touch and burst of pace took him past Josh Dacre, but the former Handsworth player recovered quickly and got back goal side of the Bulls winger and got his tackle in at the second attempt.

Mansfield pushed forward again and Josh Paling's ball into the visitors area picked out Fearon, but Lill was well placed to save from the resulting header.

Parkgate had started the half well, but the home side were finishing it with a flourish and when Joe Austin released Paling down the left flank and he delivered the ball across the face of Lill's goal, Macole Lannaman and and Dom Beever, both needed to block close range shots from Bradshaw and Danny Patterson respectively.

HT: Bulls 1 v Steelmen 0

Both sides had good opportunities at the start of the second half, with Wright denying Jasmin Alali, while Fearon poked the ball just inches past the post at the other end.

Fearon and Bradshaw combined in front of Lill's goal, but when Austin shot from a knock back, his effort deflected over the bar.

Things looked grim for Parkgate when Ben Thornton was forced to limp out of the game, but cometh the hour, cometh the man and substitute Craig Fletcher was on hand to pick up the loose ball, as Mansfield cleared Jed McGown's corner away and crashed the ball past Wright from thirty yards.

Rudy Funk responded immediately, by sending on Ryan Williams and Jimmy Ghaichem in place of Paling and Karckach, to give the Bulls more pace and width.

The referee Abbas Khan, showed Fletcher a ridiculous yellow card, when Wright hit a free kick up the field, while the Parkgate number sixteen was walking back towards his own half, almost ten yards from where Wright took the kick from... and the ball hit him squarely in the middle of his back. It was an unintentional obstruction; Fletcher hadn't even seen the ball coming and Parkgate gained no advantage from the incident... but that isn't how Mr Khan saw it.

Even though everybody else in the ground probably did.

The visitors had the scent of three points in their nostrils and as Moore took the ball on in the Bulls area, before rolling it back to Fletcher, only a great reflex save from Wright stopped the Steelmen's substitute from claiming his second goal.
Ryan Williams showed why he is still playing football as he approaches his fortieth birthday, when he showed some good trickery out on the left flank, before delivering the perfect ball for Fearon to head downwards into the bottom right hand corner of the goal, with twenty minutes remaining.

Andy Saunders... plenty more where this one came from pal

Parkgate had nothing to lose now as they pushed forward, but there was always the risk that they would leave themselves exposed if they committed too many players forward... but the numerical risk paid off, when Wright blocked Moore's goal bound effort and the loose ball fell to Fletcher, who bulged the Bulls goal net with a ferocious strike, to level the score once again.
The Bulls chairman Andy Saunders thought that although Parkgate had deserved something out of the game, Wright had possibly been fouled just before Fletcher struck, but that would have only cancelled out the visitors club secretary Bruce Bickerdike's concerns that Bradshaw had scored the opening goal of the night from an offside position.
All square and no harm done then chaps!

Chris Timons and Madin, both headed over from a brace of left wing crosses from the Bulls 'pocket rocket' Ryan 'Rhino' Williams.
In stoppage time Kieran Hirst had two chances to claim the result for the South Yorkshire side, but his shot on the turn was gathered safely by Wright and though the Parkgate number eleven almost benefit from a slip by Timons and a fumble by Wright, the home side cleared the ball away from McGowan's corner as the full time whistle sounded.
FT: AFC Mansfield 2 v Parkgate 2
The NCEL never fails to throw up some surprising results, especially this season.
I'm sure that the visitors would have taken a draw prior to kick off, even though they almost forced a win on the night, while I would have thought that the Bulls would've expected nothing less than a convincing win against the Division's bottom side, but they had to settle for a solitary point on a cold and windy night in Forest Town, when they performed below par, while Parkgate were well up for it.

Both sides have tricky home games in the NCEL on Saturday when title favourites Cleethorpes Town visit the Forest Town Arena and Bridlington Town, who have been on a roll since Curtis Woodhouse took over as their manager, head for the Roundwood Pavilion.

Saturday 19th November 2016
Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
at the Windsor Foodservice Stadium, Sandy Lane, Worksop
Handsworth Parramore (6) 10
Simon Harrison 10, 73
Aaron Moxam 19, 23, 27, 79
Daniel Buttle 29
Alex Rippon 35
Jon Froggatt 59
Gareth Griffiths 64
Retford United (0) 0
Admission £5. Programme £1.50. Attendance 148
Photo gallery from this game click HERE

Hmm, today didn't pan out exactly as I'd planned, but hey ho!
After tucking into a 'two of everything' sized full English, I took to the road and headed for Chesterfield station, where I was catching the train to Birmingham for the Blues v Bristol City game at St. Andrews. Alas, my automobile never reached it's destination.
Screech! Bump! Kaput!
Nobody got hurt, apart from me that is, though things could have been a lot worse than a bit of concussion and a size eleven headache... but I was already on the lookout for a new car any time soon anyway, so farewell you piece of Hyundai crap; I never actually liked you very much.
I'm indebted to Mr David Wathall for rescuing me, transport wise, in my hour of need and also to Stags U18's caped sidekick, for offering to detour via Retford to Field Mill this afternoon from Leicester, to see the start of the Steve Evans revolution, but I had to politely decline, because there was no guarantee that we would have made kick off, or even the first half, as my hunk of scrap was still laid dying on a slip road onto the A1 when the offer was made.
Cheers mi' dears!

First things first. I'll try to find something positive to say on behalf of all of my friends who are associated with Retford United.

Hmm, how about: hey you guys! No real harm done, because the other four teams in the bottom five lost today too. Or, how about... Oh well! You can't really expect to win every time you visit Sandy Lane, like you did against that other team who play here when you visited earlier in the season.

I'm struggling to think of anything else to be perfectly honest, because when all is said and done, there is no real reason for me to actually write very much about this one sided encounter at all, because the final result tells the whole lock, stock and two smoking barrels story of what went on out on the pitch in this complete mismatch of a game.
But I know how you both like me to rabbit on a bit, so here goes...

From the outset it was clear that it would only be a matter of time until the Ambers took the lead... and from then on in a lottery as to how many times they would find net, as they asserted their authority on the game with a vice like grip, even though they were without their prolific front man today; the Ginger Pele himself, Kieran Wells.

But Jon Froggatt and Aaron Moxam proved to be a very effective double edged sword in attack on the day, tearing away at the fabric that was supposed to hold the Badgers defence together, whilst Danny Buttle effectively dismantled them all over the final third.

Buttle's absence has coincided with a run of indifferent results for the Ambers, but they certainly kick started their season today and have a mouthwatering prospect of a game coming up on Tuesday night, when title favourites Cleethorpes Town visit the Windsor Foodservice Stadium, pretty much as they seem to do every other midweek!

It took ten whole minutes before Handsworth struck the first blow, with Simon Harrison firing the home side in front from the edge of the six yard box, but nineteen minutes later, United were effectively dead and buried and looking at embarking on a damage limitation and salvage mission, as they slid uncontrollably towards a five goal deficit.

In between the first and second goal, the Badgers number two Ben Wyld, who'd been one of their best players in last weeks scrappy win v Maltby Main, limped out of the game and was replaced by Sam Tully.

Danny Buttle pushed forward down the left flank and crossed (remember this one Retford, it might become a regular occurrence later in the game) and Aaron Moxam directed a header beyond the reach of Sam Jepson, who must have been beginning to wonder if some of his team mates wanted him to play against Parramore on his own.

Froggatt netted again, but his effort was ruled out after he had wandered offside.

From then on in, the flow of goals was akin to that thing that happens to a male bladder on a hefty all night drinking session. No, not the Chino splash-back, but that scientifically proven phenomena that once the seal is broken, time after time, with embarrassing frequency, whoosh! The trickle will become a gushing flood.
Aaron Moxam advanced towards the Retford goal through the left channel and his delivery into the area deflected over Jepson via a deflection off of both Keith Melvin then James Warwick-Adkins.
The Retford keeper must now have been wondering if some of his team mates wanted him to play against Parramore and them on his own.
Jon Froggatt muscled past Keith Melvin and knocked a square pass across the visitors area for Moxam to secure his hat trick, if he's being given the deflected one, in the space of just eight minutes.

On 29 minutes, the visitors defence went off to play a game of hide and seek while Jepson had to race out of his area to take on Moxam, who nudged the ball past him before unselfishly passing to Buttle who took a few moments off from destroying the visitors down the left flank to bag a goal for himself.

"Get warmed up at half time Sam, you're playing up front on your own in the second half as well", shouted a disgruntled Retfordian.

Buttle turned creator for Handsworth's sixth goal, when he delivered a right wing free kick invitingly towards Alex Rippon, who got across Jepson and above a static defence to power a header into the roof of the net. If you're losing count at this juncture, that's six-nil after 35 minutes.

Rippon almost helped himself to another goal moments later but shot over from twelve yards.

The home sides defence had gone for a walk around PC World to alleviate the boredom caused by their inactivity, when the Badgers mounted a rare attack and Niall Sultan put the ball into the back of the Ambers net from an offside position, so it didn't count, but it was hardly likely to signal a Retford comeback anyway.

The visitors kept trying to play football, but the absolute gulf in class really told today. I doubt if there was a single substitute on the Handsworth bench today who wouldn't have walked straight into the Badgers starting line up.

Simon Harrison saw off the attentions of two Retford players on the right and put a cross in to Buttle, whose first shot was blocked while his second off of the rebound, deflected wide off of Tully.

Melvin, the Badgers captain, miscued a clearance that doubled up as a pass to Buttle, but Jepson did well to save the wingers angled shot, on the stroke of half time.

HT: Handsworth Parramore 6 v Retford United 0

Synopsis thus far by a Retford supporter I was stood near: "They don't just look like a f***ing Sunday league team in that kit, they're playing like one!"

His mate replied "Hang on, there's no need to be insulting Sunday league teams, that's a harsh comparison"

Them long suffering natives are getting restless me thinks.

Moxam attempted an audacious lob over Jepson inside the opening minute of the first half, but the Retford keeper plucked the ball out of the air.

Dillan O'Conner was on hand to thump the ball out of play from yet another Buttle cross from out on the left towards Moxam and Froggatt.

Froggatt ran into the Badgers area and was tripped, it was as blatant a penalty as you'll ever see, but I think the match referee took pity on the visitors as he waved play on. Maybe his pencil needing sharpening after writing so many goal scorers names in his book.

You know who's left wing corner found it's way through to Harrison, who drilled the ball inches wide of the right hand upright.

That man Buttle popped up out of nowhere again, this time on the right, he lofted a pass towards Ryan Lee who couldn't quite get his head to the ball as Jepson pushed it away, but Froggatt pounced and finally scored the goal that his performance deserved just before the hour mark.

Not even the introduction of Luke Walker from the Retford bench was going to save the day for the visitors now.

Buttle, who seemingly had a ball of his own to play with all afternoon, picked up a pass from Tom Claisse, who eased his way seamlessly back into the Parramore team today after his recent 'hiatus', and crossed to Froggatt, but Tully got his head to the ball first and the visitors got a temporary reprieve... very temporary as it happens, because when Jepson did well to beat out Moxam's twelve yard shot, the Parras centre half, Gaz Griffiths, was on hand to make it eight-nil.

With a queue of Retford players chasing Buttle around, in a manner becoming of half a dozen scantily clad French maids pursuing Benny Hill in a comedy sketch (the accompanying music score that Mr Hill employed, that you will all be familiar with is called: 'Yakety Sax' and was jointly composed by James Q. Rich and Boots Randolph in 1963... I felt that you needed to know this), the live-wire wide man delivered approximately his 112th telling cross of the afternoon and as Jepson punched the ball away Simon Harrison connected with an absolute pile driver of a shot and scored Handsworth's ninth goal.

Daniel Buttle Esq. stroked a pass into the path of Stuart Ludlam as he advanced into the right hand side of the visitors box, he in turn delivered the ball to Moxam at the near post, who with his back to goal, turned and directed the ball just inside Jepson's right hand post.

The Badgers goalmouth was a scene of goalmouth scrambles and near misses in the closing stages, but Handsworth went eleven minutes without scoring.

FT: Handsworth Parramore 10 v Retford United 0

Retford will have been mightily relieved to hear the full time whistle and can now look forward to the visit of Pickering Town to Cannon Park on Tuesday night, who currently sit two places above today's victors Handsworth Parramore in the league table. Oh heck!

The Ambers have a home game against the east coast Owls from Cleethorpes, before having to face the might of Maltby Main next Saturday, on the same day that free scoring Liversedge travel to Retford.

I don't think that I'm being too cruel, when I say that I hope some of the Badgers players had paid their £5 admission fee today, to stand and watch this game pass them by like it did.

Retford United 1 v Penistone Church 2 - NCEL LC3

Maltby Main 1 v Staveley MW 5 - NCEL LC3

Burton Albion 2 v Birmingham City 0 - SkyBet EFL Championship

Mansfield Town 0 v Walsall 2 - EFLYA Cup Northern Group Stage (Group 2)

Handsworth Parramore 3 v Shepshed Dynamo 4 - FA Vase R1

Retford United 0 v Swallownest 4 - WVH NMU19L

Lincoln City 1 v Mansfield Town 3 - EFL Youth Alliance (NE)

Lincoln United 4 v Gresley FC 2 - FA Trophy 1st Qualifying Round

Birmingham City 1 v Aston Villa 1 - SkyBet EFL Championship

Notts County 1 v Romulus 3 - FA Youth Cup R1

Swallownest 3 v Chesterfield 1 - WVH NMU19L

Mansfield Town 2 v Notts County 0 - EFL Youth Alliance (NE)

Mansfield Town 1 v Plymouth Argyle 2 - FA Cup First Round

Derby County U23 2 v Mansfield Town 3 - EFL Trophy

Parkgate 2 v Frechville CA 3 - Sheff & Hallam Senior Cup

England 3 v Scotland 0 - World Cup 2018 Qualifier

Retford United 3 v Maltby Main 2 - NCEL Prem

Mansfield Town 5 v Dunkirk 2 - FA Youth Cup

AFC Mansfield 2 v Parkgate 2 - NCEL Prem

Handsworth Parramore 10 v Retford United 0 - NCEL Prem