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News Archive

12th March 2006
Review Of The Week

North Ferriby United hot shot Gary Bradshaw quickly repaid the club's decision to take him back on loan from Cheltenham Town with a brace in his side's 3-2 win at Gateshead that puts Ferriby three points ahead of Frickley Athletic at the top of the Premier Division although Athletic have played a game less, and also puts Gateshead into the bottom 3. Ferriby were the only club in the top five not on cup duty but sixth and seventh placed Witton Albion and Burscough met one another with the latter coming out on top. In the one other top flight game at the weekend AFC Telford United secured only their second away win when beating Lincoln United. A significant midweek result, however, was Leek Town's win at Burscough and the Staffordshire club, after being certain relegation candidates at Christmas, are suddenly within three points of fifteenth place! First Division leaders Mossley crashed to a home defeat against Colwyn Bay who had lost their five previous games but Kendal Town failed to cash in with a 3-3 draw at Eastwood Town and lost their second place to Fleetwood Town who won at bottom club Bishop Auckland. Bay's win lifted the Welsh club back in to the play-offs but only seven points separates fourth place Bridlington Town from Clitheroe in fourteenth!

First Division Stocksbridge PS pulled off the shock of the day in the cup competitions when they beat Premier Division title hopefuls and five times finalists Marine in the League Challenge Cup. They will meet Farsley Celtic who disposed of struggling Runcorn FC Halton in the other semi-final with both winners making their first ever appearances in the Challenge Cup Final. Both President's Cup semi-finals went to extra-time with Bradford Park Avenue requiring a penalty shoot out before overcoming First Division Brigg Town. In the other game Ilkeston Town came out on top 4-3 in the all Derbyshire tie against last season's Challenge Cup winners Matlock Town. Another semi-final to go to a penalty shoot out was in the Chairman's Cup where Blyth Spartans eventually triumphed over Frickley Athletic whilst last season's beaten finalists Woodley Sports didn't quite make it this time round losing 4-2 at home to Ossett Town.

Relegation

Just a reminder that with the Conference National Division due to expand next season by an additional two clubs the total number of clubs to be relegated from the Premier Divisions of the Isthmian, Northern Premier and Southern Leagues at the end of the current season will be reduced from twelve to ten. This will result in the automatic relegation of the three bottom placed clubs in each of the three Premier Divisions with the tenth club being the one with the worst playing record of the three clubs finishing fourth from the bottom of the three Premier Divisions.

Liverpool Come To Runcorn's Aid

Cash strapped Runcorn FC Halton have been helped out by Liverpool who have loaned them the European Champions Cup for a fund raising 'photo shoot.

Cartwright Given Leek Job

Stand in Leek Town boss Mark Cartwright has been told that the job is his until at least the end of the season. The 33 year old former Wrexham, Brighton and Shrewsbury Town goalkeeper has taken to management like a duck to water since taking over from Nigel Deeley in January and following Tuesday evening's win at Burscough his side had won six and drawn one of their last eight matches. When Cartwright took charge of team affairs Leek were staring relegation in the face well adrift of the rest of the table with just one win all season but Tuesday's win left them within three points of fourteenth place.

As a reward for their efforts Cartwright, along with Director Darrell Oliver, treated the players to a day of "paintballing" and such is the team spirit that he has engineered that Lee Dodgson who had been recalled by Morecambe from his loan spell made the trip back for the day's activities.

Avenue Appoint Sharpe

Bradford Park Avenue this week announced that Phil Sharpe is their choice to replace former manager Gary Brook with whom Avenue recently parted company. Sharpe has a wealth of experience on the UniBond scene both as a player and on the management side. Sharpe's most recent position was with Frickley Athletic between 2002 and 2004 and he has named former Avenue player Clive Freeman as his Assistant with Bradford battling to avoid a second successive relegation.

Fleetwood Strengthen Off The Field

Enjoying a very successful first season back in the UniBond League on the field of play, Fleetwood Town are also adding strength to their backroom team and this week announced that they have appointed Les Taylor as General Manager of the club. Taylor is a very experienced figure in North West football circles having previously seen service with Morecambe, Lancaster City and Blackpool in a Commercial Manager capacity and more recently has been working as a scout for Bolton Wanderers. Taylor's main remit will be to preside over Fleetwood's commercial activities but his skills and experience will also be utilised to assist Chairman Andy Pilley in the day to day running of the club.

Borough To Raffle Their Manager's Job

Radcliffe Borough are to give their supporters (and anyone else's) the chance of being their manager. For all the would be managers who think they can do the job as well as they boast they can on the various websites and in the bar after a game now is the time to act.

The club are running a raffle with tickets priced £5 and the winner will manage the team for a full week during pre-season delivering two training sessions, taking in another semi-professional game in a scouting role, structuring the team meeting, dealing with any problems that crop up during the week and preparing the players for a game with a place in the dug out during the match. The winner will also be able to nominate his own Assistant Manager who could be one of his own friends or a member of the Borough management team.

All funds raised will go towards a new Supporter's Club shop and there is only one proviso to the purchase of tickets - applicants must be over sixteen years of age.

Elvis In The TV Limelight Again

Gresley Rovers' popular canine mascot Elvis Gresley travelled to Manchester last week to audition for a new Channel 4 TV programme hosted by Lisa Tarbuck aimed at finding the UK's "best amateur dog". After his success last year at Cruft's Dog show Elvis has again found himself in the limelight competing against other dogs to secure a place in the TV programme's Grand Final later in the year.

Before three renowned judges from the world of dogs Elvis had to complete a routine that included a "sit and stay" along with a "call and fetch". However, his party piece was his well known jive to his very own signature tune Hound Dog with all his routines performed with his usual panache. Did he make it to the Final? Gresley fans are still waiting to find out but he will appear once again on TV as the auditions are to be shown later in the year as Channel 4 announce the Finalists.

He has certainly been a busy dog as he not only appeared at Crufts in addition to his antics at each home match but also switched the Christmas Lights on at two local villages. Gresley Chairman Mark Evans said "We heard about the programme and put him forward. The producers liked the idea of having a football mascot and invited Elvis to the studios for an audition. He was filmed performing the basic skills and tricks and we have been told footage of him will be used in the programme later in the year. The show is very much in the mould of the X-Factor and Pop Idol but for dogs. Obviously we don't expect him to win as he isn't a dog but we are delighted he is taking part as it will continue to raise the profile of the club".

Walker Says "Thank You"

Belper Town's Jamie Walker's "thank you" to the Haematology Dept at Kings Mill Hospital, Mansfield where the 22 year old is currently undergoing chemotherapy is beginning to take shape. The youngster, who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer of the glands, towards the end of last year is staging a match to raise funds for the Department where he is being treated and already the likes of Nigel Clough, Chris Waddle, Cyrille Regis, MK Dons manager Danny Wilson and Scott Sellars have agreed to turn out alongside members of the 1987 Coventry City FA Cup winning side such as Steve Ogrizovic, Trevor Peake and Brian Burrows. The game will take place at Belper Town on Sunday, 23rd April with a 3.00pm kick off.

Farsley Sell Manager

Farsley Celtic have sold manager Lee Sinnot for £200. The former Watford FA Cup Finalist was one of a number of items put up for auction at a recent fund-raising event for a local school and as a result of the successful bid will now do some coaching at the school.

The club has also been granted the coveted FA Charter Standard Community Award for Junior Football in addition to their existing FA Charter Development Status. Chairman Andy Firbank said "I would like to express my sincere thanks to the club's Junior Chairman Ian McDougle and Community Football Director Lee Sinnott in addition to the 21 junior managers and coaches who have helped obtain this prestigious award". Three recent recruits to the full-time game started off in the Farsley junior set up with Nick Smith signing a one year contract with Bradford City only this week whilst Manchester City's recent FA Cup hero Micah Richards and Leeds United's Tom Taiwo, who is understood to be about to sign for Chelsea, all taking their first steps in the game in Farsley's junior sides.

Bradshaw Back

Title chasing North Ferriby United appear to have given their promotion hopes a significant boost by the loan signing of their former prolific marksman Gary Bradshaw from Cheltenham Town to whom the player moved from Ferriby at the end of September. At the time of his move the 23 year old former Hull City player had already notched up fourteen goals and almost six months on still remains in the Premier Division's leading goalscoring chart.

Bradshaw made more than twenty appearances as a youngster for Hull before being released and joining Ferriby, who were then in the UniBond League First Division, on the understanding that the club would not stand in his way if a chance to move back in to the Football League came along. The club's elevation to the Premier Division last season was achieved on the back of 39 goals from Bradshaw and he carried on in the top flight in the same vein in the first two months of the campaign before his chance to go to Cheltenham.

Burscough Take Lloyd On Loan

Burscough, who looked play-off certainties at the very least before their FA Cup defeat by Burton Albion in December in a game that saw them lose key central defender Adam Tong with a broken leg, attempt to get their show back on the road with the signing of goal scoring right sided midfielder Paul Lloyd on loan from Morecambe. Lloyd is a few days short of his nineteenth birthday but has appeared in the "Shrimps" first team this season scoring twice including a strike against Grimsby Town in the LDV Trophy. He has also found the net eleven times for Morecambe's Reserve team.

Clitheroe Look To Name Manager Next Week

First Division Clitheroe appear set to name their new manager next week with final interviews due to take place tomorrow (Sunday). Current caretaker boss Mark Smitheringale is one of three names understood to be on the short list and appears to have done an excellent job since the departure of Tommy Lawson in January. Should he get the job it is thought likely he would utilise the services of his former boss Paul Marshall under whom he served as Assistant Manager at Goole in a role reversal.

Frickley Looking For Biggest Gate

Frickley Athletic are targeting their Good Friday table topping clash at home to North Ferriby United to beat their previous highest gate of the campaign which stands at 460 for the visit of AFC Telford United. The club has linked up with the Yorkshire Sport & Social Development Council to provide a family day out. The entertainment gets underway at 12.15 with human table football, sumo wrestling, bucking bronco, surf simulator and much more on the agenda.

Benn Back At Bradford

Wayne Benn, Bradford Park Avenue's longest serving player since the club was reformed, is back with the club after a spell at Goole. He has more than four hundred appearances to his credit but will be hard pushed to catch the club's two all time leading appearance holders with Tommy "Chick" Farr notching up 542 matches between 1934-50 and Bob Danskin who clocked up 506 games from 1932-1949. New manager Phil Sharpe has also brought in young 'keeper Andrew Jeffrey from Worksop Town and taken John Lamb on loan from Leigh RMI.

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Rovers Make A Point On The Road

Lincoln Pre-match News

At home to:
Willenhall Town (UniBond President's Cup 2nd Round)

Tuesday 14th October, 7.45pm

View previous encounters with Willenhall Town