With very little football scheduled in England for Christmas Eve the Central Midlands League, 10 promotions from the Premier League, gave their clubs the choice of playing or not. Dinnington Town and Retford United agreed to play and were well rewarded with a crowd of 269, much, much higher than normal. There was the fact that Dinnington had won five in a row and were third, at home to Retford United, who were top and so far undefeated in the league although they only just maintained that record last time out when they equalised in the 90th minute against Haworth Colliery.

The large mainly male crowd may also have been helped by getting a pass out with the children to be out of the way. It may have been because after the torrential rain that swept across the UK the day before, Christmas Eve was a beautiful sunny day, with clear blue skies but with a chill wind. There also seemed to be a good many groundhoppers taking advantage of visiting Dinnington where the midday kick off didn’t disrupt the day too much.

I decided to go to see if Retford could maintain their record against in form opposition and because the ground had been majorly updated since I was last there. A new 3G pitch has been installed with new floodlights and tarmacadam hard standing on three sides. Gone are the covered areas but I’m sure that is a future priority not only for the fans but to achieve ground grading criteria. What has been achieved is outstanding and gives the club a firm financial base to progress.

They have also updated the facilities by the fact that you now enter the playing area via the resource centre which provides food an drink before, during and after the game. This was not available before and is a great idea to bring together two community assets. There is also unusually a Post Office in the building. The bowls club is also next door.

The new pitch does appear to slope slightly from end to end and is covered with multi coloured lines marking out various smaller pitches for juniors.

Dinnington Town 1 Retford United 3

December 24th 2022, kick off 12.00 (Midday). Central Midlands League North Division

Dinnington Yellow shirts with black edging and fading with black shorts. Retford United Grey shirts with darker grey vertical stripes and grey shorts.

Dinno v The Badgers

The game was very competitive as expected but it was Retford who created the best chances. They had a disallowed goal on 20 minutes and hit the cross bar 7 minutes later when the rebounding ball was just scrambled away only to be hit back in but only into the side netting. Dinnington had their own period of pressure and were denied by a point blank save by the goal keeper on 32 minutes.

Retford though went ahead on 41 minutes when a cross in from the left was met by the number nine Joe Froggat who tapped in. This seemed to coincide with the sun disappearing behind some cloud which certainly increased the chill factor. It was soon colder for the home side when in the last minute of the half a Retford player was fouled in the penalty area and Mark West took charge and dispatched the ball into the net for Retford to lead 2 Nil at half time.

As the teams walked off the pitch the Dinnington Manager walked over to argue with the ref and was shown a yellow card, unfortunately this added to one he had collected earlier for the same offence and he was red carded and sent off.

Dinnington came out in the second half with renewed vigour and deservedly pegged a goal back after ten minutes of the restart when Brad Sedgwick collected the ball near the penalty spot and struck it straight into the top right hand corner of the goal. They continued their pressure and for a while Retford looked a little rattled.

With 21 minutes left Retford’s impressive Mark West was put through on goal and running on to the ball he clipped it across the home keeper, Best, into the top right hand corner. This goal steadied Retford and they kept control of the game until full time.

Retford went home with their unbeaten league run intact but Dinnington played well and showcased their great new facilities that will surely improve the game of football for the community in the future.

The officials should also be commended keeping very tight control of the game and the referee was quick to explain any of his decisions on the pitch. All in all a happy start to Christmas.

Tuesday 20th December 2022, Technique Stadium Chesterfield, FA Trophy Kick off 19.45pm

Having been to see Chesterfield FC bow out of the Derbyshire Senior Cup the night before I thought I would give myself an early Christmas present and watch two games in two days.

I don’t know why turning up for an evening game is so magical, but it is.

Chesterfield’s FA Trophy match against Coalville Town FC had been postponed on Saturday due to the hard ground and to ensure that fixture congestion would not build up it was quickly rescheduled for Tuesday night. The draw had already been made for the next round and each team knew that a win would bring them an away tie with the winners of Banbury v Bognor Regis which was being played on the same night.

The evening was so different from the night before in that there were now clear skies and the temperature had dropped by 7 degrees.

This stadium, one of the newly relocated grounds of the past 10 years, is one of the best, which was amplified by the fact that England under 19’s have played here in the last 12 months. Those who will remember Saltergate will have loved its homely charm, but it’s cramped near town centre location could not survive and the housing that has replaced it gives no indication of football’s cultural loss. The Spireites have not had a good time in the new stadium having dropped down to the National League but the club is now more focused locally and on a much steadier foundation.

Coalville Town play in the Southern League Premier Division Central which is two levels below Chesterfield. They have been a successful Non League Club for some years since originally establishing in 1926 and have been known as Ravenstone Miners Athletic, Ravenstone Swifts and Coalville Town from 1998 when they moved into the Town after having local difficulties in being able to install floodlights.

When I looked at the program and heard the teams over the sound system I had that eerie feeling that I’d seen this before, in fact at Staveley the night before. Chesterfield were not playing their first team but their second stream squad which when I compared it to who had featured in their league games this season there was little comparison. There was a place for Lawrence McGuire, brother of the England centre back who I had seen previously play for Illkeston Town.

Chesterfield FC 1 Coalville 3

Isuzu FA Trophy Third Round Proper

Chesterfield, Light Blue Shirts , White Shorts: Coalville Town, White and back vertical stripes to front of the shirts, plain white back with black shorts.

This seemed familiar as Chesterfield stroked the ball across the back finding no outlets for a final pass while Coalville buzzed around as if their life’s depended on it. Coalville also played quick tempo direct running and passing that unnerved the Chesterfield defense. All the same as Belper the previous night.

It was no surprise that Coalville took the lead on 10 minutes when their number 2, Alex Dean, took the ball past defenders and crossed it beating the goalkeeper for Ashley Chambers just to tap in. This brought some response from Chesterfield who seemed stung by the visitors and they drew level 8 minutes later when a curling free kick from the left was met by George Wilkinson at the far post.

The night was getting colder and I thought that Chesterfield would now show their dominance and take control of the game. They did however fall back into their previous lethargic pattern and Coalville renewed their lead on 22 minutes when a poor clearance by the home defense meant the ball fell to Tom McGlinchey who curled the ball across the keeper into the far corner of the net. Again the goal sparked a Home response but Coalville looked well prepared and organised and little came of some shots from long range.

Coalville were worth their 2.1 lead at half time and within 5 minutes of the restart were 3.1 up when Ash Chambers again scored with a deflection after some good interplay with McGlinchy after Banks sloppily gave the ball away.

Chesterfield and Coalville made changes but there was little change to the pattern of play and the outcome. Many of the Chesterfield fans had drifted away before the final whistle but the away fans stayed to celebrate. Coalville are off to Banbury in the next round but Chesterfield’s two matches highlighted that they have little in depth beyond the first team. Hopefully at the end of the season they will be in with a shout of promotion otherwise these two games will be seen as a waste.

There were 2107 fans there with 287 from Coalville but listening to the reaction in the main stand when they scored I think there were a few more away fans than identified.

Monday 19th December 2022: Staveley Miners Welfare Ground, Staveley Derbyshire. Kick off 19.30 pm

As the freeze of the past ten days ended I noticed a game not far up the road at Staveley. Chesterfield FC had hired the all weather pitch to play their previously twice postponed ‘Derbyshire FA Senior Challenge Cup’ match. It was to have been played at Clay Cross’s ground but was postponed on 6th December due to a waterlogged ground and the 13th due to a frozen pitch.

Staveley had not missed out like other teams because of hard pitches and the drainage was more than adequate to cope with the change in temperature, a balmy 13 degrees and the slight drizzle that soon wet you through if you stood out in it.

Chesterfield’s team was styled as a Chesterfield FC XI as they were playing many youngsters as a group of their fans just behind me in the stand told me. They said that the only first team squad player was the goalkeeper Luke Chadwick.

This I’m sure was a disappointment to the Belper United players who would have loved to have pitted their skills against a team four promotions away from them. However it was understandable that Chesterfield were in this position as their FA Trophy game was postponed from Saturday and was to be replayed the next night. Chesterfield have also won through three rounds of the FA Cup, twice against League opposition, and now face a mouth watering home game against Championship team West Bromwich Albion in early January. They are also sitting third in the National League with games in hand with Notts County and Wrexham above them, this league is in my mind the hardest, most competitive to get out of in the pyramid structure.

The facilities as always are first class at this venue and the Chesterfield fans were expressing their admiration and comparing it to some of the grounds in their league. I had a coffee and some chips before the game but they did not come up to their usual standard and I will not comment further than say they were cold and I resorted to some tomato sauce to help them down.

Chesterfield FC XI 0 Belper United 3

3rd in National League v 14th in Unuted Counties Premier Division North

Chesterfield in an unusual all light green kit: Belper United all blue ki with a white flash across shoulder and down the arms.

You sometimes know the result of a game early on and this was no exception. Belper immediately showed that they wanted the win and pressed forward down the wings with some intensity and direction. Chesterfield however played the ball out of defense slowly from side to side and were overwhelmed by hungry opponents. How Belper didn’t take the lead on 12 minutes was a mystery. A corner for them was awarded after Chadwick had managed to tip a shot over the bar and when it came into the box it was met with some ferocity hitting the bar and bouncing down to a group of player of which a Chesterfield player managed to scramble it away.

Chesterfield did come more into it at the mid point of the half but they lacked any cutting edge and didn’t bother the away teams defense. The left full back for Belper was now playing more as a constant overlapping winger and one of his crosses was headed just over on 35 minutes. But two minutes later the inevitable happened as he again flashed in a cross which this time was met by Josh Gregory who right footed put the ball beyond the diving keeper into the left hand corner of the goal. So a deserved half time lead for Belper who came off the pitch to torrential rain.

Chesterfield were a little more direct after the restart but within 10 minutes another attack on the left made it to the goal line and the cross was rolled along the ground past the despairing goalkeeper for Richard Hanslow to tap home for Belpers’ second.

Belper played out the rest of the game with ease and made it three nil when yet another cross from the left was loop headed over Luke Chadwick’s dive by Jack Tyson.

The one bright spot for Chesterfield was the performance of the number 3, Archie White, according to the team sheet, who didn’t give up all night and provided many of their better plays.

Great to be back after the freeze and I would expect that Belper will have a harder game away against Gresley in the next round even if that club is a Division lower than them.

Saturday 3rd December, Swinton Community Sports Ground, Barton Road Swinton, Dearne Valley, South Yorkshire

I finally made it back to Swinton after my abortive visit in September. We were then experiencing beautiful Autumn sunshine but this dull grey day seemed an age away. The ground is situated on the edge of a housing estate on the side of a hill and the 6 degrees seemed colder as the wind blew up the valley from the school down below.40 brave people had turned up despite Christmas events and shopping and the draw of the world cup on the television.

The pitch slopes slightly from end to end and is mainly flat with the surface showing some mud after the constant rain and previous games.Next to the pitch are training pitches that can be used by the seniors as well as a good junior set up for this community involved club.

The senor team this year have returned from exile after playing at the Mexborough ground and a new stand is being constructed to meet the grading standards of the league.

Swinton was one of the many coal mining towns in the area which I have been visiting recently, the area goes back at least as far as Roman times and was famous for its pottery industry in the 1800’s when Rockingham Pottery was world famous. The factory ceased production in 1842 but gave the world the style, Rococo after the factory name. Now light industry, warehousing and call centres have become staple industries of the whole area.

There is little about Swinton Athletic F.C.’s history with football having been played in the town in the 19th century. They joined the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League about 1990 where they have played since, often in either division . They have been active locally and have won the local Montagu Cup on 8 occasions starting in 1964.

Their opponents Hepworth United come from a village near Holmfirth and joined the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League in 2016 having previously played in the Huddersfield League. The club has been going for over 100 years in this farming village with locals also formerly employed in nearby textile mills.

I sat down on the girders that are part of the ground improvements as the teams came out and today at this level 10 league wins away from the Premiership there was only a referee to take charge of the game with no line officials.

Swinton Athletic 2 Hepworth United 0

Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League – Premier Division.

Swinton all blue kit that had some subtle vertical darker stripes on the front. Hepworth black shorts with vertical black and white striped shirts.

The chat amongst the fans was that both sides are without a few regulars with work and family Christmas commitments taking precedence.

Hepworth were first to put pressure on their opponents particularly down the left side but poor finishing let them down. Often if you don’t take your chances you will be punished and on 19 minutes the ball bobbled through to Swinton’s number 9 who placed it onto the right hand corner of the net between the keeper and the post.

Just 2 minutes later and a high ball in from the right was miss headed by a Hepworth defender and it fell again to number 9 who made no mistake with the gift to make it 2.0.
For the remainder of the half Swinton were the better side but couldn’t add to their tally by half time.

With a cold bum from sitting on the girder for the first 45 minutes I decided to have a walk round and watch the second half standing up. It was then the chill wind blowing up the hill hit me and I decided that winter was finally with us, late this year.

Hepworth were again fastest off the blocks and were awarded a penalty on 63 minutes for a blatant hand ball. However after what seemed an age the keeper dived the right way to save a weekly hit attempt. Hepworth shyness near goal continued, even the woodwork wasn’t helping when they hit the crossbar in the dying minutes.

Swinton deserved their win because they had taken their chances, surely Hepworth won’t miss so many this season.

There were no chips or catering facilities at the Swinton ground but next door is Park View Bar where you can get a drink and I believe some food before or after the match. For me this time it was a coffee and a packet of crisps. Swinton also entertain their team and the visitors there afterwards. Swinton have a long way to go but they are making some steps along the road at this community ground.

Walking through Prescot Town Centre you come to the hill that is Hope Street. Walking down it you see Prescot Cables Football Club. You wonder how many fans of all teams have walked down this street full of hope for a victory.

Football has been played in Prescot since 1884 under the name of Prescot and Prescot Town before they adopted the Cables name. The ‘Cables’ came from the largest employer, British Insulated Cables that had been set up in 1890 and which traded locally for 100 years under various names until its closure in 1991 with the loss of 230 jobs.

The club had a successful run in the Lancashire Combination from the late 1920’s until a slump in form saw them drop into the Mid Cheshire League in 1975 where after continued high finishes they became founder members of the Cheshire County League. More success was to follow when in 1982 they were again founder members of a League, this time the North West Counties League where they progressed to the highest division. When they finished runners up in 2002 they were promoted to The Northern Premier League Division One and attained a spot in the Premier Division in 2004 with one of the many Non-League re-organisations.

2005 was a pivotal year in that a group from the Supporters Club took control but the club fell into administration in 2008 caught up in the financial crash. Relegation followed a year later to Division one where they have stayed and this year are having one of their most successful recent seasons. They have now become a Community Club that is run by volunteers who have a long lease from the local authority who now own the freehold of the John Russell Stadium.

Macclesfield Football club by contrast have only been in existence since Macclesfield Town FC went into liquidation in 2020. The club were bought by Robert Smethhurst with the intention of quickly getting back into the National League and from there the EFL. Macclesfield Town FC had risen as high as the 3rd tier of English football over their nearly 150 year life and throughout their history were known as a strong Non-League club. Robert Smethurst has invested heavily in the club and has brought high profile Robbie Savage on board as Director of Football. His status in football and his celebrity profile has enabled the club to get outstanding media coverage.

Up the hill just off the Town Centre is the Shakespeare North Playhouse a beautiful new theatre built of wood by traditional methods, in the round, a cockpit theatre fashioned in the style of ‘The Globe’ in London. The theatre was opened this year and you would be right to ask why Prescot. Well the area of Prescot was very influential and prosperous in the first Elizabethan era and had a theatre there in those days rivalling London. The play that was being presented at a rival matinee performance to the football was ‘A Christmas Carol’. Scrooge v Tiny Tim came to mind in the football with the team with money v the Community Club.

It was a dull grey day with some slight drizzle in the air and although the Met Office App was saying it was 11 degrees I think they must have been measuring it indoors. The pitch looked flat but the grass was beginning to wear after the rain of the last month. What hits you first is the high, large, seated stand that runs down most of one side under which are the changing rooms, snack bar and club house. The other three sides were terraced with a small covered standing area over half of one end.

The snack bar beckoned but there were no chips, however unexpectedly there were Hot Pot pies! This turned out to be a mushy meat and potato pie that with peas and gravy was delicious. The club house was well furnished, warm and friendly which belied the recent club statement against anti social behavior that had been issued for a second time this season and had meant that two policemen were standing within the crowd which was a great 948. As I moved to the exit I saw one of the policemen yawning which didn’t reflect the game but their lack of work. The crowd of nearly a thousand was good considering Christmas Shopping, the miserable weather and the World Cup matches of Poland v Saudi Arabia and France v Denmark on the television.

What struck me was that I was in Prescot where Lancashire or Liverpudlian accents prevail but the announcer had a very strong American accent!

Prescot Cables 1 Macclesfield 2

Saturday 26th November 2022: 15.00pm kick off.

Northern Premier League Division One West.

9th v 1st Cables (Also known as the Pesky Bulls) v The Silkmen

Prescot: Yellow shirts with black sleeves Macclesfield: Pale Mint Green shirts with white shorts

Macclesfield started the game the strongest both physically and skillfully and had two attacks cleared off the line. Despite this Prescot hung in there and were still very much in the game but on 30 minutes a second yellow card for James Hamill looked likely to open the floodgate for the away team but some profligate finishing and great saves from Mitchell Allen in the Prescott goal kept it all square at half time.

Just after another Macclesfield attack Prescot were awarded a free kick out on the right touchline, some 35 yards plus out. James Edgar hit the ball into the centre and it sailed over everyone into the top left hand corner of the goal for a home team lead, could this be real! The euphoria of the home crowd only lasted a minute as James Berry through on goal chipped Allen but the ball hit the cross bar and dropped down for Berry to run through and tap it in for the equaliser. The game was now getting more competitive and you couldn’t tell that it was Prescot who had the ten men. It could have been ten each when a bad foul in midfield ended in a scrum of players with the Prescot centre back being booked for some jostling with the perpetrator of the foul slinking off early and avoiding a second yellow. Macclesfield substituted the player immediately afterwards.

With 15 minutes left the referee awarded a freekick for a foul inches from awarding a penalty with the crowd baying for a different response. The freekick came to nothing and eight minutes later Macclesfield dowsed all of the Christmas cheer when a ball was hooked into the goal mouth from the right in what looked like an off side position for Dan Cowan to tap in for the lead 1-2.

Prescot just didn’t give up and had a penalty shout for hand ball and a deflected shot just go wide in the last minutes. I usually don’t get partisan in the matches I watch but I was so upset for Prescot who gave their all and ran their socks off with super human effort. Certainly Macclesfield were Scrooge in this performance and Prescot were Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim in the story recovers and with this spirit Prescot will come back stronger.

P.S. After the match the Shakespeare Theatre North was amazing and the production of A Christmas Carol was more like a pantomime. The four actors kept everyone entertained and if this is what they are going to offer to the public I’m sure it will be full as it was on Saturday night.

A trip south on the busy M1 full of commuters hurrying home lead me to Loughborough University, one of the top ten university’s in the UK, to see Loughborough Students play.

I was here last year to see one of their FA Vase matches when they went all the way to the semi-final, this year they were eliminated at their first hurdle.

I had come to meet up with my daughter, to see how they are maintaining an unbeaten league season and enjoy the great facilities they have.

Luckily it was a dry evening considering the recent rain and at 8 degrees was a good night to watch football. The beautifully flat grass surface was beginning to wear on the touch lines and there were marks on the pitch where the teams had warmed up.

Heanor have a long history being formed in 1883 but other teams pre-date this in the town. They missed being elected to the Football League by 3 positions when playing in the Midland League and did well in past FA Cup matches only losing to teams like Aston Villa, Southampton, Bury and Nottingham Forrest. Most of their football has been played in local and midland leagues but spending just over the last decade in the United Counties.

Loughborough students trace their history back to 1919 under the name of Loughborough Technical Institute later to become a Technical College and then a University. They have won many University competitions but it was in 2007 that they moved into the Non-league sphere of today. The University Stadium was opened in 2012 and they were moved into the United Counties League in 2019 with the major league re organisation. For this season they have appointed Rebecca Sawiuk as Director of Football who is maintaining the growth of the men’s and women’s teams.

Loughborough Students FC 5 Heanor Town 1

Tuesday 22nd Novbember 2022 19.45 pm kick off

United Counties League Premier Division North 1st v 4th Students v Lions

Loughborough Students: Shirts with pink shoulders graduating into purple body and shorts.

Heanor: Ready orange shirts and shorts.

Loughborough immediately set the pace of the game but it was a mistake in the Heanor defense that gifted them a goal on 8 minutes giving Anthony Lynn time to draw the goalkeeper and place the ball past him for the lead. The students pace and passing kept up the pressure and they scored their second goal after 22 minutes when two or three rebounds from shots meant the ball fell to Ethan O’Toole who blasted it home from close range.

Ethan had his second 6 minutes later when he found himself wide on the right in the penalty area but was able to hit the ball across the goalkeeper into the left hand corner of the net. The Students maintained their slick play and although Heanor did have some chances they failed to take them.

Immediately at the restart with Loughborough in a commanding three nil lead Heanor pressed forward and secured a corner. The ball was swung in from the right just under the cross bar and although it seemed the keeper had it in his hand the ball was bundled over the line by the Jack Dando of Heanor. Despite protests from the home side the goal stood.

Heanor pressed more in the second half and used the high ball to challenge the keeper from corners and free kick. At the other end chances were kept out by some heroic goalkeeping but he was unable to keep out a missile of a free kick from just outside the penalty area by Matty Bowman for a 4-1 lead at 58 minutes. Both sides now had more chances but it was Matty Bowman again who showed class with a through ball to Dylan Edwards who calmly rounded the keeper to give the students a convincing 5-1 win.

There were numerous chances for both sides in the game and on chances it could have been 12 – 7, many of the home team players shone out on the night in a very competent team performance but my player of the match was the Heanor goalkeeper.

As I knew there would be no no chips so I had a vegan sausage roll and a coffee, pictures tell all.

A short journey on the A57 to Worksop for an evening game this week. The continual rain of the day has stopped and cleared skies meant the temperature had fallen to 6 degrees with the odd fog swirls to pass through, more typical weather for November. There was no chance that the rain could have caused postponement due to the state of the art all-weather pitch.

I last visited here on 22nd of February 2020 when the fear of the club folding was in the air. The club needed £60 000 to survive of which £30 000 had been promised from Peter Whitehead, owner of the ground, if the other £30 000 could be raised. £24 000 had been raised and the full £30 000 was achieved by the end of that month. This meant that Peter Whitehead would takeover the club. Getting on for two years on and what a change, a new entrance to the ground which incorporates new changing rooms, a covered terraced area behind that goal and a small covered seating area to one side greet you along with the all-weather pitch. The seated stand down one side of the ground seemed to be cleaner with the older terraced shed end still in place along with the open terraced side. What a great impression and the on field performances have gone forward too. A win would have put Worksop only three points behind the League leaders Stockton Town with a further two games in hand. The good news continued in that the crowd of 582 was Worksops highest home league attendance of the season, a fact that was evident in that parking was more difficult than before.

The signage outside the ground, for the 1861 coffee lounge and on the program is also new putting forward their claim to be the fourth oldest football club in England. This is a fact that is disputed by Martin Westbury in his excellent book ‘A History of Sheffield Football 1857-1889’. He states on page 155- ‘I will cause further controversy by suggesting Worksop Town FC has an 1873 foundation date’.

I wrote on that previous visit about Worksops history and about their opponents Stocksbridge Park Steels when I visited them so I will not repeat myself.

Worksop Town 4 Stocksbridge Park Steels 1

Northern Premier League – East Tuesday 15th November 2022

The Tigers v The Steels

Worksop, yellow shirts and black shorts: Stocksbridge, red shirts with white short sleeves and red shorts.

With Worksop having been in free flow scoring in their most recent games I was surprised that after only 2 minutes it was ex Worksop player Tomas Poole who put Stocksbridge ahead. A misplaced pass in the Worksop goal area gave Poole the chance to curl the ball with his right foot into the top left hand corner of the net.

The Tigers did not panic and started to play the ball out to the wings and put pressure on Stocksbridge. Within 5 minutes Jay Rollins playing on the right with number 11 on his back put over a pin point cross for Liam Hughes to rise above the defense and head home for 1-1.The pressure on Stocksbridge did not relent and Worksop were ahead on 11 minutes through Jack Broadhead, He headed in another neat chip but collided with the goal post and the keeper which took sometime for both to recover. It was Jay Rollins again causing trouble that put in a cross that seemed to go behind the goal line in the mass of players but it only came out to be hit back along the ground for Jack Broadhead to turn and make sure, 3-1 to Worksop.

Worksop increased their lead four minutes before half time when goalkeeper Sebastian Malkowski’s long kick was headed down to Liam Hardy who hit the ball with his left foot first time past keeper Hampshaw’s diving hand.

Worksops easy half time lead was met by another rain shower which fortunately was short lived.

The Stocksbridge half time team talk must have been good because in the second half they immediately looked to hjave more shape, not leaving gaps for opposing players to run into or onto and their wing backs played further out to the sides of the pitch which although not totally did reduce Jay Rollins, my man of the match, from getting to the byline and delivering pin point crosses. Stocksbridge even hit the bar on 70 minutes but Worksop also made changes presumably to rest players for Saturday that seemed to disrupt their flow.

Worksop were worthy winners and it will be intriguing to see if they can catch Stockton and stay up there for a promotion that will match the off field organisation. There are many downs in football but for Worksop it seems a very positive up.

For all the good news the chips were disappointing in that they were warm, soggy on the inside and left a greasy taste that lingered. Sorry to say a score of only 58, I suppose you can’t win everything.

On Saturday I visited Sandygate Road S10 Sheffield (The World’s Oldest Ground) to see Hallam FC play Bury AFC in the second round proper of the FA Vase. I missed their clash in the FA cup due to other commitments but fate had it that they had been drawn together in the ‘Vase’ a cup that either side could well go all the way to Wembley. Both these teams play at the same level in the pyramid system with Hallam and Bury both being promoted last season to the Premier divisions of the North East Counties and North West Counties respectively. Their encounter in the FA Cup ended 0.0 at Hallam with Bury winning the replay at home 1.0 so a competitive game was expected.

Hallam have continued to attract good crowds this season despite being in the lower half of the higher Division and like Bury are one of the best supported teams at this level. The Sandygate Road ground in the leafy suburb of the Crosspool area of Sheffield was once on the edge of this green city and you can understand their Countrymen nickname. The ground was opened in 1804 as a cricket ground and like many other clubs started to play football in the off season to keep fit and in 1860 Hallam FC was born. This has been officially confirmed by FIFA as the oldest football ground in the world still in use for football and the first interclub football match was played here against their rivals Sheffield FC on Boxing day 1860.

Sheffield FC although being the oldest have had a nomadic journey and still play just over the border in Derbyshire but their proposed new home at The Sheffield Transport Ground at Meadowhead, Sheffield, looks like it is going forward after a partnership arrangement with The Joe Root Academy. Again it will be cricket and football together, back to Sheffield FC’s roots. (The Sheffield Star 22nd October 2022)

How long can this weather last, clear blue skies and no wind meant perfect conditions for the players to perform on this highly sloped pitch, from end to end, that looked like it had absorbed the recent heavy rain leaving a heavy ground that had cut up in places during the warm up. The ground is homely with the shed end, a covered standing area behind most of one goal, an open end for standing and a side that hosts a good seated stand along with clubhouse and changing facilities. The club house is active locally for use at evenings and weekends. The open cricket square side harps back to the clubs founding and the cricket club remains a local asset as well with many teams of all ages and abilities. There is investment here with some very substantial posts having appeared since my last visit that look like they will be hung with nets to stop those boundaries going into the road or gardens. The cricket ground also has a historical claim to be the oldest club ground in Yorkshire and they now have a second ground further out of he city towards the Peak District on Crimicar Lane, Fullwood.

Hallam’s history which I have documented before has spanned 162 years whereas Bury AFC were only formed in 2019 out of the sad collapse of Bury FC and the loss of their Gigg Lane ground. Different groups looked to save the club which was not achievable and two emerged, one that created Bury AFC and set them on a footballing journey to climb up the footballing ladder and another that wanted to save the Gigg Lane ground for football to be played by a Bury team. Both have succeeded but now have to come together to put all the pieces in place. We hope that this can happen in the near future.

Hallam FC 1 Bury AFC 1

Saturday 12th November 2022 Kick off 15.00pm Sandygate Road, Crosspool, Sheffield.

The Countrymen v The Shakers

Hallam : Blue and black vertical striped shirts with blue shorts. Bury : White shirts with a blue flash across the shoulders with black shorts.

Bury kicked down hill in the first half towards a waning sun that hovered over the cross bar of the goal. Perhaps it was the sun in Bury’s eyes but more likely Julian Lawrence between the sticks that kept them at bay as they created the most and best chances of the first 15 minutes. Hallam came more into the game but it was Bury who should have scored on 36 minutes and the 0.0 draw at half time was down to goalkeeper hero Lawrence.

The second half had no let up in chances as both sides came close. The stalemate was broken though on 60 minutes when the Bury team stopped for a foul on one of their players that they thought the referee had indicated with his arm movement but the linesman had flagged for a throw to Hallam which they took quickly for Brett Agnew to run on unopposed and slide the ball into the net past the goal keeper. The Bury team to a man surrounded the referee and what seemed like an age the referee finally dismissed them and the game could be restarted.

Bury now threw everything into attack and Hallam were resolute in defense until on 70 minutes a ball was swung in from the right at chest height that was met by Connor Comber whose downward header squeezed into the net between the post and the diving Julian Lawrence.

The final minutes were tense for the large 660 crowd but despite chances neither team were able to find the winning goal. Everyone’s heightened emotions were deflated as they realised that at this stage of the Vase competition there is no replay only penalties to decide the game.

The referee organised penalties at the Shed End and it was Bury who came out the winners 4.1 with Jack Atkinson saving two of the spot kicks. What a disappointment for Julian Lawrence who as Hallam’s goalkeeper was my man of the match by a mile although it was Jack Atkinsons penalty saves that made the most impact on the result.

This had been an exhausting ‘Mad Max; game played by two very frantic competitive teams who looked like they both had so much to lose that it reduced the skill level to make me feel I had seen an old fashioned pinball machine in action which had ended on tilt with the penalties. The players must have been exhausted, I was, but I left the ground to walk to the car knowing I had seen the best game of the season so far.

The only disappointment were the chips which at £2 were a small portion of thin, crispy, hot but with little taste with a greasy after feel. A score of only 60.