Thursday, 28th August 2008

News Archive

7th October 2006
In the First Division it was bad week for last week's joint leaders Eastwood Town and Bradford Park Avenue.

At least the former had a point to show for their efforts at Woodley Sports on Saturday after losing at home to Harrogate Railway Athletic in midweek but Avenue also surprisingly lost at home to Gresley Rovers on Monday and went down again in Saturday's top of the table clash at Buxton who now go joint top with Eastwood to relegate Bradford to third. Newcomers Cammell Laird remain unbeaten after despatching Alsager Town 4-1 on Tuesday and occupy fourth whilst the final play-off spot belongs to Shpeshed Dynamo who have won five and drawn one of their last six games. At the opposite end, struggling Bridlington Town recovered from their 9-1 midweek mauling at the hands of Stocksbridge PS to keep a more respectable scoreline in a 2-1 defeat against Shepshed but despite another two defeats stay out of the relegation places as Chorley didn't play this week whilst Wakefield FC remain without a point after losing at home to Shepshed on Tuesday.

Half of the First Division clubs were in FA Trophy action with the games between Belper Town and Skelmersdale United along with Goole AFC and Kidsgrove Athletic ending up all square. Elsewhere Alsager Town and Cammell Laird both won their first ever ventures in the competition but spare a thought for Wakefield FC for whom nothing is going right. Without a point in the league they lost their Trophy tie at Warrington Town to a last minute penalty!
FA Cup Draw

Defeats for Belper Town and Frickley Athletic in midweek replays mean that the UniBond League will have ten representatives in the 3rd Qualifying Round of this year's FA Cup competition - exactly the same number as last season. Unlike last season, however, when Rossendale United were the only First Division team still standing the lower tier has been remarkably successful this time around and will supply half of the UniBond clubs still hoping to progress further. Warrington Town's dramatic extra-time win over Premier Division Kendal Town on Tuesday after being two down sees them take their place alongside Ossett Albion, Woodley Sports (both of whom knocked out Conference North clubs to reach this stage), Skelmersdale United and Kidsgrove Athletic.

Warrington now feature in the only all UniBond tie of the Round when they will travel to Fleetwood Town. Six of the remaining eight clubs face Conference opposition with Matlock Town having to travel to opponents from that level of the game for the second round running whilst Woodley Sports have agreed to reverse the venue for their fixture against Gainsborough Trinity after they failed to obtain Hyde United's Ewan Field ground due to Hyde being allocated a fixture by the Conference. Trinity, however, offered to pay Woodley's travelling expenses if they would switch the game to Gainsborough. Woodley, of course, at the moment are not allowed to play home ties in the FA Cup on their artificial surface.

Elsewhere, Guiseley will be at home to Newcastle Benfield of the Northern League whilst Kidsgrove Athletic make the trip to Haverhill Rovers from the Eastern Counties League. The full draw for the ties as they affect UniBond clubs can be found on the fixtures page with the matches to be played on Saturday, 14th October.

Toronczak Nominated For "Player Of The Round"

Ossett Albion's Danny Toronczak is one of five players nominated by the FA for consideration of "Player of the Round" for the 2nd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup thanks to his two goals in two minutes that saw his side knock fourth placed Conference North club Workington out of the competition last Saturday.

The "Player of the Round" award is made throughout the FA Cup competition with the winning players from each Round being invited pitchside at the Cup Final to receive their awards. Unfortunately Danny, with Albion's dedicated fan base being so small in numbers, may not achieve the reward his sharp shooting last weekend deserves as the competition is website based. UniBond fans are encouraged to support him in the nomination made by the Daily Telegraph's Ricky George by voting on the FA's website.

Brotherly Love

When Graeme Mitchell came on as substitute for Warrington Town in Tuesday evening's FA Cup replay he may have set some sort of FA Cup record as his appearance meant there were no fewer than three sets of brothers on the pitch playing at the same time. Whilst he was partnering his brother Phil the visitors, Kendal Town, already had Paul and John Osbourne and a second pair of brothers in Scott and Paul Redhead on the pitch.

UniBond "Fair Play" Awards

The UniBond "Fair Play" awards for September have gone to Mossley and Cammell Laird respectively. The Premier Division winners had five cautions in seven games during September and took the accolade for the second month in succession whilst Lairds showed you can be competitive but fair as they finished the month as the only unbeaten side in the First Division but still lifted the Fair Play prize with four cautions in six games.

Mossley's double success leaves them already well clear in the season to date tables but in the First Division a really bad month for August "Fair Play" winners Colwyn Bay sees the Welsh side drop out of the top six. New leaders in the season to date table are Alsager Town just ahead of Kidsgrove Athletic. There is a prize of £1,000 for the overall season Fair Play winners in each Division with £750 for the runners-up, £500 for the third place club and £250 for the fourth place club making a total of £5,000 prize money courtesy of UniBond over and above their sponsorship of the League. The season to date tables can be found elsewhere in this Press Release.

Buxton Sign Simpkins

Another former Football League player to move in to the UniBond League this week was Michael Simpkins who signed for First Division title hopefuls Buxton. The 27 year old defender has made almost a century of appearances in the full time game after starting off as a trainee with his home town club Sheffield Wednesday. Whilst he did not break in to the first team at Wednesday he saw Football League action with Chesterfield, Cardiff City and Rochdale plus loan spells with Exeter City and Cheltenham Town.

Stocksbridge Set First Division Record

Whilst Stocksbridge PS' 9-1 win at Bridlington Town on Tuesday evening was not a League record away victory it did set a new record for the First Division overhauling Caernarfon Town's 8-1 demolition job when the Welsh club travelled to Great Harwood Town in season 1994/95. It was also a club record defeat for Bridlington as they had never previously conceded more than six in a competitive game and it was also the first occasion they had been involved in a match that saw ten goals. It wasn't, however, Stocksbridge's biggest win as that came in an FA Cup tie in 2002/3 when they hit seventeen past Oldham Town. The League record for an away win is still held by Matlock Town who overwhelmed Lancaster City 10-0 in 1974/5.

Contributing to Bridlington Town's heavy reverse on Tuesday was the fact that central defender Carl Giblin was dismissed as early as the 18th minute whilst goalkeeper Gavin Kelly also saw red before the half way stage had been reached.

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At home to:
Alvechurch (FA Cup Preliminary Round)

Saturday 30th August, 3.00pm

View previous encounters with Alvechurch