Tuesday, 6th January 2009

News Archive

10th December 2005

Review Of The Week

Premier Division leaders North Ferriby United increased their lead to nine points when they battled out a 3-2 win at next to bottom Ossett Town whilst the three clubs closest to them before play began on Saturday all slipped up. Marine came from behind to grab a point at Whitby Town that saw them go above Frickley Athletic in joint second on goal difference. Athletic themselves had fared even worse with new signing Richard Tracey taking just five minutes to get off the mark but unfortunately it was for the opposition Guiseley who added a second after the interval. After their FA Cup exploits Burscough were perhaps liable to suffer a reaction and Farsley Celtic made sure they did as the Yorkshire club continue to climb the table after a slow start. They appear to have unearthed a diamond in youngster Kevin Sanasay who hasn't stopped scoring since joining the Celts and he bagged all the goals in a 3-0 win. Witton Albion took full advantage of the sides above them slipping up and a 2-0 win at Wakefield-Emley moved the Cheshire outfit in to fourth. At the opposite end Leek Town stay anchored despite picking up a point at Bradford Park Avenue whilst Ossett Town continued their descent with the defeat against the leaders being their seventh in the last eight league outings. Gateshead and Radcliffe Borough improved their chances of avoiding the drop as the North East side won at Matlock Town with ten men whilst Borough bounced back from a 5-0 home drubbing last week to win 4-0 against Lincoln United. Dropping in to the bottom three are Ilkeston Town who lost at vastly improved Runcorn FC Halton and Ashton United continue to plummet with their defeat at home to Prescot Cables leaving them with just one point from six games. In the one remaining game in the top tier AFC Telford United and Blyth Spartans drew.

With Bridlington Town surprisingly beaten at home by Woodley Sports their lead at the top of the First Division was cut to one point by Mossley who won 4-0 at Spalding United. Third place Fleetwood Town also scored four away to keep up their momentum whilst Gresley Rovers whose form has been hit and miss recently had one of their better days to beat Bamber Bridge and move back up to fourth ahead of Colwyn Bay who went down at lowly Belper Town.

The UniBond League And The Irish FA

The UniBond League will take up through the appropriate channels comments made this week by Irish FA President Jim Boyce that were quite clearly derogatory to the UniBond League and all its member clubs. The comments in which Mr Boyce described Portsmouth's approach for permission to speak to Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez as "despicable" and likened the club's actions to those of "a club in the Unibond League" were aired on both Ceefax and the BBC's Sports website.

Burscough Dream Ends With Nightmare

Burscough's dream of an FA Cup meeting with Manchester United ended in a nightmare on Tuesday evening when they not only went down 4-1 in the rain delayed 2nd Round Proper tie against Burton Albion but also lost their highly rated central defender Adam Tong for the rest of the season. The general consensus of opinion, however, was that the score line flattered the Conference side as their 'keeper Deeney made several outstanding saves whilst Burscough also had a goal disallowed.

Tong, the linchpin of the Burscough defence despite being only aged 23, was carried off with a broken tibia and fibula in his right leg as early as the eighth minute. It is understood that he underwent a five hour operation to pin his leg together and the player is still unable to return North. Tong had been watched by a posse of scouts this season and was surely destined for higher things after another superb performance against Gillingham in the First Round Proper. That game, incidentally, gained Burscough a special award of £250 from League Sponsors UniBond who had also promised a four figure fee bonus had they overcome Burton.

Clitheroe Forced To Switch Trophy Tie

First Division Clitheroe have been forced to switch their forthcoming FA Trophy tie at Barrow from Saturday 17th December to Sunday 18th December with a 2.00pm kick off. The switch follows an instruction from Cumbria Police who, having considered all the implications of the Saturday clash between the Trophy match and the visit of AFC United of Manchester to neighbouring Holker OB on the same day, informed the FA and Barrow that the Trophy tie had to be moved. The 2.00pm start was then agreed between Barrow and Clitheroe to avoid clashing with the televised Chelsea v Arsenal fixture later on the Sunday afternoon. Should a replay be required it will take place at Clitheroe the following Wednesday.

Bay's 125th Anniversary Book

"Come on the Bay", a new booklet/brochure commemorating the 125th Anniversary this year of Colwyn Bay FC is now available from the club on match days price £6 or via mail order from CBFC125, 18 Belgrave Road, Colwyn Bay, LL29 8EY price £7 inc UK P&P. Cheques payable to CBFC.

AFC Telford Heading For The Charts

AFC Telford United have enjoyed plenty of headlines during their brief time in the UniBond League since being resurrected from the ashes of the defunct Conference club Telford United eighteen months ago. Amongst some of their achievements have been setting a new First Division attendance record, hosting a crowd in excess of 4,000 for the First Division play-offs and even a couple of mentions on the floor of the House of Commons.

Nothing, however, in their short history has been as audacious as their attempt this week to make it in to the Top 30 in the national music Charts with their theme song "Keeping the Dream Alive" now out on CD. After quickly selling over 2,500 copies the club was organising a big push on sales late in the week in the realisation that a further 500 purchases of the CD could well see it in to the country's Top 30. The CD, which was recorded by Telford Stage School, went straight to Number 1 in the town's Virgin Megastore chart and was outselling the likes of Kayne West and Gwen Stefani "by a mile".
Gateshead Replace Number Two

Gateshead manager Colin Richardson has released his number two Eric Tait and replaced him with former FA Vase winner Alan Radford who had recently been managing Brodsworth Miners Welfare in the Northern Counties East League. Radford, who scored the winning goal for Bridlington in the 1993 FA Vase Final at Wembley, followed his son Liam to Gateshead a couple of weeks after the 19 year old striker had signed for the "Tynesiders". Radford Jnr had been leading scorer at Brodsworth, albeit with only eight goals in a struggling side.

Cold Way To Raise Funds

34 Whitby Town fans are raising funds for the club by taking part in the local Whitby Boxing Day North Sea Dip. Club Chairman Graham Manser commented "I would like to thank all the participants not only for raising funds for the club but also for their bravery! It has been suggested that I should lead the way but I'm not that silly - the North Sea is very cold in July never mind December. I shall, therefore, do my bit by remaining on dry land with suitable hot refreshments for when the swimmers return!"

Gascoigne Departure Fuels Spalding Fears

This week's controversial departure of Paul Gascoigne from Kettering Town could have a devastating knock on effect at UniBond League First Division club Spalding United. Having lost previous manager Steve Welsh to become first team coach at Football League club Boston United in October, the "Tulips" were fortunate to find former Kettering number two Alan Biley out of a job with the former Derby County and Portsmouth striker having resigned his position with the "Poppies" when Kettering boss Kevin Wilson departed the week prior to Gascoigne's appointment.

Biley agreed to help Spalding out and the Lincolnshire club immediately went on an eight match unbeaten run in the league - a remarkable statistic given they had won only one of their first sixteen matches. A condition of Biley helping Spalding, however, was that he wanted to be available to work at a higher level if any such opportunity came along and, in particular, if the chance came to be reunited with Wilson. With this week's news that Kettering had re-instated Wilson, Spalding feared the worse although Biley was always going to be in charge for Saturday's home fixture against Mossley. Their worries, however, eased somewhat on Friday with the news that Wilson had turned to former Bristol Rovers boss Garry Thompson, who he played alongside at Northampton Town, to be his assistant but of course there could still be room for Biley as a coach.

Fleetwood Take Action

Fleetwood Town are to be applauded in making every effort to identify trouble- makers at their recent home FA Trophy game against Alfreton Town and bringing the perpetrators to account. The club, which prides itself on creating a "family atmosphere" is determined to clamp down on unacceptable behaviour and after taking numerous witness statements and studying CCTV evidence two persons have been identified as the main instigators of the trouble in the FA Trophy game.

The two people concerned have been handed an indefinite ban from entering the Fleetwood Town ground. The club, for its part, has apologised to Alfreton Town and their supporters for the incidents that took place.

Unlucky Parry Out Again?

Colwyn Bay 'keeper Matt Parry has had what can only be described as an unlucky campaign so far. After conceding only one goal in the five games he played early season Parry was injured against Ossett Albion on 10th September. His replacement, England Futsal international Farai Jackson, however did so well that when Parry was fit again he couldn't get back in the team until the end of November when he promptly suffered a bad facial injury that has left him with two black eyes and a suspected broken nose that may have to be re-aligned!

Rovers Sign Manager As Central Defender

First Division promotion hopefuls Gresley Rovers who have fallen off the pace recently due in the main to a leaky defence have signed the recently departed Hednesford Town manager Chris Brindley to plug the holes. The 36 year old, who started out with Hednesford before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers where he graduated to make seven first team appearances, has picked up a host of honours since returning to the semi-pro game including an FA Trophy winners medal with Telford United and a Conference title with Kidderminster Harriers plus FA X1 honours.

Kendal Latest Club To Have Ground Sponsored

Kendal Town are the latest of a number of UniBond League clubs to have their grounds sponsored. Their Parkside home will now be known as the "Planet Conservatories Stadium" following local businessman Richard Hodgson's decision to put something back in to the club who he has followed over the years.

Farsley Join The Army

Farsley Celtic this week unveiled their new training kit sponsors - The British Army!. The join up came as a direct result of the club's initiative to place an advert on their shirts reading "This space for sale" when a promised shirt sponsorship earlier in the season fell through.

The "Celts" have also further strengthened their links with the Community by appointing 21-year-old Leeds Metropolitan University student Ben Cotton as the club's first ever Young People's Development Officer. Ben had written to a number of semi-pro clubs in the area offering his services and Farsley were quick to snap up his offer. Cotton, who will work alongside the club's PR and Commercial Manager Gary Stokes, said: "There are 73,000 young people in educational establishments, youth centres and other facilities in Leeds and is a market ready to be tapped in to. The challenge is to show them that Leeds United are not the only team in the City".

Club Chairman Andy Firbank said: "There is a vast untapped number of young people in this area and we would like to do more for them. We have already started making some inroads and Ben's appointment can only help build on our already successful role in the community".

Snippets

Marine's pitch was vandalised last Saturday night when someone threw a 5 litre pot of white paint on to it. Runcorn FC Halton's run of six games unbeaten in league and cup going in to today's fixture against Ilkeston Town is their best since 1999. Bridlington Town have appointed Gavin Branton as Commercial Manager and will be operating their own lottery from January. Although it is only early December Ashton United made their fourth visit of the campaign to Prescot Cables' Valerie Park on Tuesday evening. Clitheroe are cashing in on the poker craze sweeping the country - they are holding regular poker nights at the club which are raising over £800 in a night!

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