With the football season coming to an end I was pleased to head to Rotherham to watch the Northern Counties East Division One paly off semi-final between Shirebrook Town FC and Wakefield AFC. With Shirebrook finishing above Wakefield in the league they should have been playing at home but perhaps not expecting to be in the playoff s their club house was pre booked for a wedding.
Parkgate are based in the north of Rotherham and their ground is next to Rotherham United FC’s training ground which is currently being rebuilt having been totally cleared for the redevelopment.
The grey cloud of varying shades looked menacing but were very high and didn’t look to threaten rain although the cool breeze was keeping the temperature down in the first week of May.
The ground is set up the hill overlooking the training ground with Liberty Steel in the valley and trees lining the far hills. The ground facilities are just to this level of football and their rise as Champion to the Premier Division will leave it as a poor relation of many of the others. You approach it through a housing estate which leads into a large car park.
The pitch slopes from side to side with a hedge down one side and trees and hedges at one end where the hawthorns were in bloom, there is no standing area on those sides. Behind half of one goal is a covered seated area, a food kiosk and some standing. On the other side is a small covered standing area with a grass bank where most supporters were congregating. The pitch was in beautiful condition for the match.
The contest was between the aristocrats of Wakefield who play in the amazingly redeveloped Wakefield Trinity stadium and Shirebrook who have whippet racing training outside their ground sometimes before games.
Shirebrook Town 4 Wakefield AFC 0
Saturday 4th May 2024, 15.00 pm kick off, Parkgate Football Club, Green Lane, Rawmarsh, Rotherham, S62 6LA, Northern Counties East, Division1 Paly off Semi-final. 3rd v 4th
Shirebrook; Black Shorts with black and red vertical striped fronts to the shirts with red backs. Wakefield; Navy Blue shorts with white shirts that have a thin blue and red stripe down the centre of the front of the shirt.
The game was cheered on by a good humoured crowd who exchanged banter and and chants which I estimated to be about 500.
Shirebrook showed their intent from the outset by applying a very high press and were first to every ball. Their efforts were nearly rewarded after just 8 minutes when they hit the cross bar. Just six minutes later they were ahead when Kieren Watson slammed home a curling freekick from the right hand edge of the box that he received at knee height.
A few minutes later a medical emergency in the covered standing area stopped the game. The team’s medical staff ran to the elderly man who had collapsed and the defibrillator was rushed to the scene But after a short while the man recovered and the Parkgate officials brought him a plastic chair to sit on for the rest of the game.
The disruption did not affect Shirebrook’s intent and they went further ahead on 25 minutes when a through ball was met by Kieren Watson who took three strides and made no mistake in doubling the lead. Wakefield had their first shot on goal five minutes later but at the other end Wakefield’s right full back took the legs away from Shirebrooks number 7 in the penalty area and that man Kieren Watson stepped up to smash the ball down the centre of the goal with the goalkeeper going to his right.
Kieren Watson had taken his hat trick with great skill and the game calmed down after the frantic start. Shirebrook’s half time three goal lead look unassailable as the players left the field.
Wakefield looked steadier in the second half but Kiyani Clayton made it 4 with an hour gone when a poor back pass to the Wakefield keeper allowed him to nip in and run across the goalkeeper to tap the ball in. Substitutions by both sides made no difference to the play as Shirebrook ran out the game to set up a trip to play Beverley at their home ground on Saturday 11th.
Playing at home, away due to the wedding didn’t hurt Shirebrook and if the wedding party were Shirebrook fans they would have cheered when they heard the result.
Unfortunately there were no chips inside the ground although they were available in the facility outside it. Instead I had a warm to cool sausage roll with a cup of coffee.
A post script to the match was published on Shirebrook’s X account 5th May. Despite this good news for them their game at Beverley will still be played and I am sure will still be competitive.
Shirebrook Town FC @ShirebrookTwnFC
Good morning After a very important win yesterday we were informed that win should be enough to be promoted regardless of next weeks game on a points per game average over the season.