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.