Finding Dronfield Town’s ground on the Coal Aston side of town proved not easy and I ended up walking round the cricket pitch with a game in full flight. I passed two others going to the game and caught up a familiar figure who asked the cricketers the way. Going through a leaf covered gate we were straight at the entrance and the man in front of me just walked straight through although I had to pay. He was greeted inside and then I realised it was Chris Waddle one of the all time great footballers. I looked up later to find he did make one appearance for Hallam in his illustrious career.

The game we had both come to watch was Dronfield Town FC v Hallam FC in the North East Counties League Division One. Dronfields pitch slopes slightly from side to side, the pitch was magnificent and the ground very very tidy gleaming from a fresh coat of paint. The club house although small had a bar and served food both inside and out.

The game watched by 154 was competitive but Hallam bossed the first half with their numbers 10 and 11 always a handful. It was no surprise that Hallam took the lead on 33 minutes through Benjamin Thornton and they should have added more. It was here that the woman next to me spoke to Chris Waddle and the Chairman of Hallam as she was the mother of the scorer. When the mother of the scorer is only as old as your daughter you realise you have been watching football for a long time.

The second half changed immediately and Dronfield took advantage of the wind and sun by kicking long high balls for Hallam to deal with. It was no surprise that Mathew Ord scored for Dronfield after 55 minutes after a mix up in the Hallam defence. From then on it was one way traffic and Dronfield scored twice more through Connor Chappel and Mark Fereday. Both teams look useful at times and should gain good results as the season progresses.

Dronfield Town FC 3 Hallam FC 1

In my chip league I was pleased to have them served in a paper tray with a wooden fork. They were a golden brown and very hot but were a bit dry and tasteless meaning they only scored 56.

The start of my new season was today at Staveley Miners Welfare F.C. who were playing Boston Town in an Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup.

A good way to start at the outset of the FA Cup and at a ground I have wanted to visit for some time.

I drove straight into the car park on a beautiful sunny day at the front of the ground at no cost and paid my £3 concessionary entrance. Staveley play in the Northern Counties East League and their facilities could be of a team higher up the pyramid.

The club house is large, clean, good seating and tables with a well run bar and food serving point. The toilets were also spotless and two large screens were showing Sky Sports Saturday. Everyone was friendly and I didn’t get the stares as to who is he. It was also well used and 30 minutes prior to the game the whole crowd of about 100 were in there and there with very few late comers. The Club House facilities must generate good income for the club on a regular basis and  I’m sure it’s also down to a strong band of enthusiasts who seemed to be making sure all was well.

The 8 page program was free and the pitch looked good but lots of dust was thrown up during the game and you wander with such little rain has the grass grown only superficially and come the winter weather there will be a lot of poor pitches this season.

 

Staveley Miners Welfare F.C. were formed in 1962 as a Sunday team, then as the Nags Head playing in Barrow Hill and started playing on Saturdays in 1989. It has since risen to  its current step 5 level and despite difficult times in 2007 a new Chairman in Terry Damms has with his team made it into a successful community club with feeder teams of all ages.

The opponents Boston Town started playing in 1962 after their local rivals Boston United ran into difficulties. United have recovered and play at a higher level but Town play in the United Counties Premier Division Step 5 level. Their nickname is the Poachers. Both teams have reached the semifinal of the FA Vase in the past and should have been evenly matched.

Staveley Miners Welfare 4 Boston Town 2

Forgive the headline but I couldn’t resist with Staveley scoring first (although their nickname is the Trojans) second, third and fourth. 3 nil up at half time and adding a fourth just after the restart of the second half all should have been plain sailing. Boston came back with 2 goals to reduce the deficit but Staveley should have added a few more but for poor finishing.

 

Davies, Greenfield, Bell and Baskerville, scored for the home team and Johnson and Holland for the visitors sending Staveley through to a next round home tie against Lutterworth Town on the 25th August.

Post Script

Everyone is always on about pies at football grounds, so this year I,m going to have a chip league. The chips at Staveley were hot, well cooked, served quickly,tasty but slightly soggy. They were only £1.20 a tray and therefore start the season in first place with a score of 67 out of 100.

It’s taken a few days to sink in, Aston Villa will play another season in the Championship after their one nil defeat to Fulham in the Championship play off final.

The omens were not great, Fulham had finished higher than Villa and their end of season form had been very very strong. Hope is eternal as they say and the game being played on the same day as Villa’s only European Cup win in 1982 increased expectation.

The crowds gathered in good humour and the songs were sung on a sunlit Wembley that was a great setting for this most important game worth more than £100 M to the winner. Again Villa did not turn up in the first half after their magnificent and emotional two leg win in the play off semi-final against Middlesbrough. This same lethargic response had happened after their 4-1 comprehensive beating of Wolves and the subsequent 3-1 home defeat at the hands of QPR which had put paid to their automatic promotion hopes.

 

Villa defended  allowing Fulham to have more possession and it was no surprise that  their Captain Tom Cairney scored first on 26 minutes when he fired the ball past  Villa goalkeeper Sam Johnstone after latching onto Ryan Sessegnon’s pass that split Alan Hutton and John Terry.

The game stayed very sterile till half time with Fulham going in 1-0 ahead and considerably in control.

Villa came out in a more attacking mood in the second half but still looked lacking in ideas to prise open the Fulham defence. Jack Grealish tried to run at them and create the magic to get Villa back in the game and was fouled countless times. Frederick’s stamp on Grealish in the first half should have seen red which was shown to Odi midway through the second half totting up his two yellow cards for fouls both on Grealish

Villa bought on Kodja, Odomah and Hogan after this to stir a spirited resurgence and a search for the elusive equaliser. Hope was not fulfilled and Fulham will be playing in the Premiership next year.

Villa meanwhile will see a summer of major transformation with loanees and senior players returning to their clubs or ending their contracts. Gloom hangs over this part of the West Midlands as it all sinks in.

Talking of disappointments my home town team, St Albans City did not fare much better. Having been in the play off positions for virtually the whole season a defensive collapse in the final few games left them agonisingly one place short. St Albans have also announced another attempt to build a new ground away from their picturesque Clarence Park ground. Although this is needed for the long term future of the club it will be a sad day when it will eventually happen. http://www.stalbanscityfc.com

Another link to my St Albans City past ended this year with the demise of the Kleeneze company. Kleeneze was a door to door catalogue sales company offering home-ware goods in the same style as Avon do with cosmetics etc. In the late 40’s and 50’s my father, a committed St Albans fan used to travel to away matches in a box attached to a three wheeled motorbike instead of a side car. During the week the box carried Kleeneze samples and goods door to door in St Albans and at the weekend it was an escape to the football world of community, passion, highs and lows and friendship.

The season however ended on an amazing high for one of the greatest players in the English game. Paul Bastock retired after 1277 appearances in goal for English clubs in league and cup games. His career started in 1988 and 30 years later he played his last game, this was for Wisbech Town and it was a fairy tale ending with them gaining promotion to The Evo-Stick Northern Premier League Division One East. Paul played for many teams but he played a staggering 501 for Boston United and 274 for St Albans City. Well done Paul, you will be missed.

Image from The Non-League Football Paper

Even with the disappointments, bring on the new season.

 

The Championship play off semi-final second leg is always a tense moment in a clubs history. Only one game away from the culmination of a long season the Wembley shoot out and the riches and fame the Premiership might bring.

A sell out of the Aston Villa fans ticket allocation meant an anticipated passionate atmosphere which was there from entering the ground 15 minutes before kick off. Parking and access to the ground as always was manic but one hopes that the removal of most of the old industry on the roads from the M6 and the building of new sheds will bring some new road schemes and the removal of some horrific fly tipping.

Giant musically synchronised flares surrounded the pitch as the two teams walked onto the stage. The sound was as good if not better than those European nights of what now seem long past. Time to recollect and show respect by a minutes applause in tribute to former player Jlloyd Smuel was accompanied by the Holte End singing “there’s only one Jlloyd Samuel” at first seemed unusual but as its intensity grew it seemed a very appropriate response. Further chants for him, Ugo Ehiogu and Dalian Atkinson were a reminder of all three ex players losing their lives so young within the past two years.

The game was tense as Aston Villa defended comfortably, not being phased by Middlesbrough having the majority of possession. The first half ticked by so fast as two teams cancelled each other out with no goals to add to Villas 1-0 advantage from the first leg.

The Middlesbrough’s tactic of channelling the majority of their attack through ex Villa man Adama Traore lacked any penetration, with Alan Hutton, the comeback kid, having the best of their battles.

Villa had the scoring opportunities with Lewis Grabban testing Dimi Kostantopoulos twice and Jack Grealish’s attempt bringing out the keepers best save. Adoma and Snodgrass kept tirelesly continuous probing down the wings and Villa seemed to be in command.

Finally chaos in the 87th minute as Traore gained control in the centre of the pitch just short of the goal area. Sam Johnstone rushed off his line to palm away his attempted lob only to have been adjudged to have been outside his area. A yellow card for Johnstone’s misdemeanour and a free kick within easy striking distance. Stewart Downing, another ex Villa player, stepped up to place the ball over the wall and clip the top of the bar. This signalled the end of Middlesbrough and Villa played out the remaining four minutes of added time.

Aston Villa 0 Middlesbrough 0

Aston Villa won 1-0 on agregate

Fans rushed onto the pitch and celebrated with the team with good humour. The Holte End wanting to see their team gain their adulation booed the transgressors and made pointed chants to how they felt.

Everyone left in an excited mood, looking forward to the Wembley trip but knowing that the 90 minute shoot out is anyone’s on the day.

So Villa Park rocked to the continuous noise of the crowed and their team was a rock in defence. Middlesbrough did not have a shot on goal from outfield play, Jedinak, Chester and Terry were rock slid in their performances.

To be continued……………

The Rain in Spain is supposed to stay mainly on the plain but on Monday night 7th May it was definitely in Granada which is on the edge of the Sierra Nevada mountainsj.

 

The match was at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes where in Laliga second division Granada C.F. hosted Rayo Vallecano. Both teams were recently relegated from Laliga, Rayo in 2015/16 and Granada in 2016/17.

Rayo is the other team of Madrid after Real and Athletico and a book called ‘Working Class Heroes’ was published in 2017 byPitch Publishing Ltd, written by Robbie Dunne about the team and it’s working class neighbourhood. This is on my future reading list.

Rayo are riding high at the top of the league and look firm favourites to be promoted whilst Granada have established mid table respectability as they re-group.

Straight away you could see even in the warm up that Rayo were eager to start and went through a very disciplined drill.

The first half saw good control by both sides and some skilful play especially some cross field balls hit with pace and precision but no one gained an advantage. Javi Varas the Granada keeper was the busiest and pulled off two fine saves.

The fan sat next to me consumed a bag of salted sunflower seeds and all that was left was a pile of kernels on the floor in front of him. It reminded me of the days of roasted peanuts at Highbury when the terraces were covered in the shells.

Rayo took control from the start of the second half as also did the rain. Light and with some warmth at first but on cue with Bebe opening the score on 62 minutes for Rayo the heavens opened.  Bebe took his goal well beating Varas’s diving right hand into the corner of the net from the middle of the goal.

Now came the down poor with rumbling thunder and with cover on only one side of the ground everyone looked for shelter under the stand. This totally surprised me as fans watched from stairwells, nooks and crannies everywhere hoping for an equaliser. Where people stood would not have been allowed in Britain for safety reasons.

 

The rain did not stop and a muted cheer from the few Rayo fans who had stayed out in the rain on 68 minutes heralded Trejo’s goal and Rayos second. A few fans left but many stayed to see Granada spark to life for the last ten minutes that also saw the rain stop. No fairy story though as Rayo marched on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rain never stopped on a visit to Sheffield Football Club, Home of Football, Coach and Horses Ground, Sheffield Road, Dronfield, Derbyshire, S18  to see an Evo-Stik League First Division South game against Spalding FC.

Sheffield FC are recognised by FIFA as the oldest team in the world having been formed in 1857 and maintain a strong amateur tradition. they are an active local club that run many junior and senior men’s and women’s teams.

‘The Home of Football hosts over 20 teams under the Sheffield FC banner, and although Sheffield FC is ‘The World’s First Football Club’, we are still firmly committed to being actively involved in the community and promoting the future development of the game. Sheffield FC encourages players and fans from all walks of life to come together and simply enjoy all that is good about the game of football.’ Taken from Sheffield FC’s website.

They are also a team that have been a bit nomadic when it comes to where they play Abbeydale Park, Sheffield Amateur Sports stadium Hillsborough Park —Owlerton Stadium Hilllsborough, The Don Valley Stadium and Olive Grove where one day they wish to return.

Since 2001 The Coach and Horses Stadium has been the first permanent home of Sheffield FC. The Coach and Horses Stadium is located on land to the rear of the Coach and Horses Dronfield just south of Sheffield. The pub is part of The Thornbridge Brewery Group based in Bakewell who have a growing portfolio in the area.

 

Although many have claimed the origins of the game as being from China, a derivative of a game for village hooligans, from the Cambridge or Oxford Universities it was in Sheffield that order and the basis of the rules of today’s game were cemented.

The visitors Spalding’ nicknamed ‘The Tulips” have been going since 1921 and have always played at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field where the attendance record is for an FA Cup game against local rivals Peterborough of 6973. They have never won any national cups and have been a competitive side at this level of football for many years.

 

Sheffield FC 5 Spalding FC 1

If this hadn’t been the last home game of Sheffield’s season and that neither club had any danger of being involved in the end of season promotion or relegation this game may have been called off. The groundsman made great efforts to keep things going with frantic forking of vulnerable areas at half time. Perhaps he was thinking of the close season and the smaller the damage the less will need to be done to repair the pitch for next season.

 

 

Being in Sheffield I must recommend the local  meat and potato pie, chips, mushy peas and splashes of Henderson’s Relish. It didn’t last long.

The match turned out to be a one sided affair in the poor conditions as the Sheffield defence took early control of the game. Clear passes to the wing and lethal crosses for the Spalding defence to handle dictated the pattern of the game. It was no surprise that the referee Drew Dutton awarded a penalty on 18 minutes which Waide Fairhurst crashed home. Five minutes later and a minute before half time Andrew Cascoigne and Jamie Yates added to make a 3-0 deficit at half time. Jamie Yates goal was a well taken free kick from the left side of the goal which was greeted with much delight by the team.

The Tulips’ started the second half with much more resolve and reduced the arrears through skipper Gary King on the hour. The resurgence was short lived when only two minutes later Adam Chapman made it 4 – 1 with Waide Fairhurst getting a second and Sheffields’ fifth.

Spaldings’ goalkeeper kept geeing up the team and keeping the ball in play quickly and looked dejected at the end despite his efforts to keep the home side at bay.

 

 

 

 

Our weather changes so quickly, last week a match in Barnsley was moved to the away ground due to a waterlogged pitch and ten days later watching an evening game at the same ground in shirt sleeves. Shaw Lane FC v Altrincham FC in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, The Ducks v The Robbins, Trans Pennine Derby, The Established v The New Boys on Thursday 19th April.

Shaw lane AFC are relative newcomers to Non league football and have had considerable success for a small club. Formed in 1991 they merged with Worsbrough Common 2011 to become Aquaforce Barnsley and Barugh FC in 2012 to become Shaw Lane Aquaforce.  In 2016 The club dropped the Aquaforce pat of their name due to FA rules on sponsors names being used at the level of football they were playing.

Since 2010/11 they have gained promotion in two divisions of the Sheffield and Hallamshire League and two divisions of Northern Counties East and now two divisions of Northern Premier.

This season 2017/18 they were one of the stand out Non-league teams in the F.A. cup getting as far as the first round proper. Shaw Lane’s magical FA Cup journey ended with a 3-1 defeat to Mansfield in front of over 1,576 people crammed into their Sheerien Park ground and broadcast on national TV.

The club originally played at Shaw Lane Sports Club, to the west of Barnsley town centre sharing a ground with Barnsley Rugby Union Club but in the summer of 2017 they moved to Sheerien Park where they now ground share with Athersley Recreation. A ten year lease has been agreed and the ground has been brought up to Evo-Stik premier standards.

 

Shaw Lane 1 Altrincham 2

Some strong tackles marked the start of this game that was initially played at a frenetic pace. Altrincham had most chances but Shaw Lane’s goalkeeper Ed Wilczynski was in command. As the game neared 40 minutes a cross goal move by the visitors was picked up by John Johnston who took it to the bye line and somehow managed to score from the acutest of angles.

Shaw lane hit back with a penalty on 43 minutes when Damien Reeves slotted home.

The second half matched the physical intensity of the first but as the half progressed Altrincham gained more and more of the possession and the scoring chances. It was not surprising that they made it 2-1 when Joshua Hancock swivelled round in the centre of the goal and planted the ball into the net to the right of Wilzynski after 83 minutes. The resulting celebrations were as if they had won the league but are still short by only one point which will not be long in coming.

Shaw Lane are still four points of the play offs and must now depend on others to slip up.

 

 

Travelling through North Nottinghamshire into the Derbyshire border town of Shirebrook (population 9760 at the 2011 census) on a foggy day, you pass through an industrial estate located on former coal mining land and are confronted by a massive complex of grey enormous buildings.

This is the home of Sports Directs Head Quarters, Distribution Centre and home to circa 4000 employees. Even the employee car park has to be reached by a bridge over the road. This is one of the fiefdoms of Mike Ashley the successful entrepreneur, owner of Newcastle United football club and billionaire.

Mr Ashley’s collection of brands has created a vast sports and retail empire that grows and grows.  He has in the past 24 hours become the major shareholder in Game and in March took control of 29.7% of Debenhams.

Although there has been plenty of historic bad press over wages and conditions there has been a positive response to these. In April 2017 the Diocese of Derby organised with Sports Direct for Church of England, Methodist and Catholic local clergy to offer support in the canteen on Mondays for 90 minutes at the middle of the day. In the wider community the fears regarding the swamping of local history by such a large company and with a considerable amount of imported labour has not happened.

John Humphrys revisiting after 10 years reported for the Radio 4 Today program on 20^th May 2017 and one of his summing up comments was:

“Obviously, you can’t get deep into the heart and soul of a community after a couple of short visits. But what’s clear is that the worst fears have not been realised.”

What is also on this extensive site is a Sports Direct Store and Factory Outlet which is a cathedral to sports goods and clothing of their own brands and the major iconic brands.

New to the site is an enormous Everlast Fitness Club and a new warehouse box called Brand Ex. Brand Ex is a designer outlet like a TK Maxx on steroids. Is Brand Ex the future for Debenhams.

Love them or hate them you have to say that Sports Direct have provided a huge amount of employment much of which is being invested locally. Is this the retail future!

 

Visiting Villa park for the second time this season I was cheered by everyone’s good mood and expectation.

The 4-1 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 days earlier had raised expectation of regaining promotion to the Premiership through automatic promotion rather than by the nail biting lottery of the play offs.

Villa Park looked as immaculate as ever and a crowd of over 30000 had turned up to see them play Lower Table Queens Park Rangers in this rearranged game.

From the start Villa looked lethargic and seemed to have no shape or purpose. QPR won just about every header in attack and defence and it was no surprise that they took the lead through Ryan Manning after 12 minutes when he ought fought John Terry to head home a net uncontested cross.

Villa did little to respond and when they did high crosses into the box were dealt with easily. It was no surprise that QPR’s left back Jake Bidwell, who had provided the cross for the first goal, scored with a well placed shot to the right hand corner of Sam Johnstone’s goal. His shot was made easy by the poor headed clearance by the Villa defence.

Surely Villa would come back in the second half playing into the Holte End. The introduction of Kienen Davis and Scott Hogan did have an initial impact but with everything going through Jack Grealish who was receiving the ball further and further within their defensive half it was not surprising that substitute Luke Freeman who had only been on the field for a few minutes made it 3-0 with just 98minutes from time.

Birkir Bjarnason’s late introduction on 81 minutes for the very ineffective Connor Hourihane did spark some more direction and James Chester’s 88th minute goal and 4 minutes of added time gave unjustified hope but Villa’s 61% domination of play did not reflect QPR’s domination of the score, chances and commitment.

 

Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce told BBC WM:

“We’ve choked tonight. We’ve made a mess of it. Now we need to put it right at Bolton on Saturday evening.

“From experience, I always feared it might be ‘After the Lord Mayor’s Show’ following the weekend. I toyed and toyed with changing it, making five or six changes, and in hindsight, I should have done.

“We never got started. Mentally, we weren’t at it. We didn’t get anywhere near the heights of Saturday. But that’s what this league is all about, any team can beat you.”

Quotes from Steve Bruce from BBC WM printed on the BBC sport Website.

With other results going against Villa it looks highly unlikely that they will go up automatically. To be any football fan has its ups and downs but the last 6 years with Villa have been a roller coaster that has had more downs than ups.

Some fans left early but most left the ground still hopeful that the team can regroup and win their last 9 remaining games.

While many would have considered Manchester United v Liverpool or Aston Villa v Wolverhampton Wanderers as their match of the day with chasing teams gaining the upper hand, a worthy alternative was Hereford FC v Kings Lynn.

Hereford FC are rising from the December 2014 demise of Hereford United. The newly formed club, keeping the Bull mascot, the club colours and the Edgar Street ground have started to bounce back and hope to eventually regain Football League status.

What is impressive is the fan base they have kept and grown. With over 1500 season tickets they have deserved their success having won the Midland Football League in 2015/16, the Southern League South and West League in 2016/17 and now sit top of the Southern League Premier Division. In between all of this was a trip to Wembley for an FA Vase Final.

Hereford 0 Kings Lynn 2 – March 10th 2018

Hereford started the game 10 points clear at the top of the league against their nearest rivals Kings Lynn who had played one game more. A win would have left them out of sight in the league with only Slough with games in hand any threat to their ultimate promotion.

Hereford however never got into their stride and although hitting the bar once in each half never looked like taking control. The very wet pitch made keeping control of the ball difficult and gusting winds made for some high balls straying from their intended destination.

At half time the 0-0 scoreline looked the most likely final outcome to the game but some head tennis in the Hereford goal mouth lead to Ryan Fryatt beating Hereford’s goalkeeper Martin Horsell on 58 minutes. With the home side trying to push forward Toby Hillard received a through ball which he ran onto to slot home for 2-0. Hereford never looked like coming back from this and the game petered out for Kings Lynn to inflict the double over the league leaders.

Hereford need to regroup to continue their rise up the leagues and the 3424 who attended was a bigger crowd than at 8 Football League games some three and four leagues above this level. I’m sure that Hereford will get their reward this season. Everyone at the ground was so friendly when buying a ticket a few hours earlier and two Kings Lynn fans decided to chat to me all of the match. This was Non League football at its best although I believe the conditions did not give me the end to end football I had hoped for. Great day out.