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2nd February 2008
Review Of The Week

None of the top three Premier Division sides were in action on Saturday but midweek saw third place GATESHEAD deliver a body blow to FLEETWOOD TOWN's chances of catching leaders WITTON ALBION with a 3-2 away win.

Two 2-0 wins in the week enabled EASTWOOD TOWN to go fourth whilst GUISELEY closed in on a play-off spot with a 2-0 victory at LINCOLN UNITED although both goals came late on as the bottom club made it fourteen games since tasting the scent of three points.

After moving in to the last eight of the League Cup in midweek, season long relegation favourites FRICKLEY ATHLETIC continued their escape act with a 4-0 success over HEDNESFORD TOWN and now have plenty of clubs firmly in their sights as the battle to avoid the drop begins to really boil.

Elsewhere, there was a second away win on successive Saturdays for WORKSOP TOWN whilst two teams who are both out of sorts, PRESCOT CABLES and OSSETT TOWN, drew in the only other top tier game to survive.

It was a bad week for season long First Division North leaders CURZON ASHTON who lost at home to SKELMERSDALE UNITED on Monday and retaining their unbeaten away record on Saturday will have been scant consolation for being held to a goalless draw at WAKEFIELD.

With Skelmersdale hitting CHORLEY for seven Curzon lost top spot to their midweek conquerors on goal difference. Bottom club RADCLIFFE BOROUGH edged closer to Chorley with a stoppage time equaliser in midweek at MOSSLEY.

In the First Division South CAMMELL LAIRD failed to close the gap on leaders RETFORD UNITED when they lost at BELPER TOWN but GRANTHAM TOWN got back to winning ways after two defeats when they came from 3-2 down to win 5-3 at BRIGG TOWN and maintain their play-off place.

Another promotion hopeful, GOOLE AFC made it three wins on the bounce with a 2-1 success at home to WARRINGTON TOWN who had also lost in midweek at home to COLWYN BAY. The Welsh side, who had beaten Warrington in stoppage time, found out what it felt like on Saturday when they lost in similar circumstances at CARLTON TOWN and in the one other match to survive QUORN picked up all three points for the first time in eleven attempts when beating ALSAGER TOWN.

UniBond "Fair Play" Awards

The UniBond League "Fair Play" awards for January have gone to GATESHEAD, BRIDLINGTON TOWN and KIDSGROVE ATHLETIC respectively. Gateshead's success means that no top tier club has won the award more than once this season whilst Bridlington took the First Division North prize in the first month that Chairman Peter Smurthwaite and Mark Lever have been in charge of team affairs.

Kidsgrove took the First Division South award for the second time having won it back in August and with Alsager Town and Nantwich Town also having won the Fair Play award this season and Witton Albion running away with the season to date Fair Play Premier Division table it would appear that Staffs and Cheshire are producing some very "Fair Play" minded teams indeed.

In the other season to date tables, which can be found elsewhere in this Press Release, Newcastle Blue Star lead the way in the First Division North whilst Quorn continue to head the South section table.

UniBond League "Club Of The Month" Awards

The UniBond "Club of the Month" awards for January have gone to BUXTON, FC UNITED of MANCHESTER and BRIGG TOWN respectively. The top tier prize was taken by Buxton who won all six of their games in the month scoring twenty goals and conceding just four in the process.

FC United of Manchester were taking their first UniBond award when lifting the First Division North prize with four straight victories but they would have been pipped to the award had Lancaster City, who hadn't conceded a goal in their previous seven games, won at lowly Bridlington Town to register five wins out of five in the month.

As it was City were hammered 4-0 leaving FC United with a 100% record as the winners. The First Division South accolade went to a very surprising source as Brigg Town entered the Christmas programme rock bottom only to at last find some form on the back of some sharp shooting from Rick Day who they plucked from local football.

Brigg carried on their new found form in to the New Year to register four wins from their five games with Day having found the net ten times for the Lincolnshire side since his arrival from the Scunthorpe League in early December.

The eighteen awards made so far this season have, amazingly, gone to seventeen different clubs with only Witton Albion having won the award on more than one occasion.

Whitley Named As Colwyn Bay Youth Academy Consultant

Colwyn Bay this week announced the appointment of Chris Whitley as their Youth Academy Consultant in which role he will oversee the club's Youth Development System including its Elite Development Centre and Grassroots Training Programme.

Whitley is currently the Education Welfare Officer for the FA of Wales UEFA International squads and is Chairman of the Technical Committee of the FAW Trust. He has worked in a coaching capacity with Schools and Youth International squads for more than thirty years with more than 350 internationals under his belt.

He holds a UEFA "A" Licence and is currently working with the Welsh Under 15's and 16's national development squads. During his time with Wales Whitley has worked with such household names as Ian Rush and Mark Hughes and more recently Craig Bellamy and the Spurs duo of Gareth Bale and Chris Gunther. He also established a successful Academy at Barry before their departure from the League of Wales.

Back on the field of play the Welsh club have signed defender Steve Rowland from Southport who he joined after being released by Port Vale at the start of last season. The 26 year old was with Port Vale from leaving school and went on to make more than a century of Football League appearances. He was also twice picked for the Welsh Under 21 side but missed out on both occasions due to injury.

North Ferriby Youngster Captains England Schools u18's

North Ferriby United youngster Matty Bloor had a day to remember for the rest of his life when he was given the captain's armband on his debut for England Schools Under 18's against Australia last Sunday at Shrewsbury Town.

Also playing in the game was Hednesford Town striker Harry Hambleton who got the ball in the back of the net only for it to be disallowed. The pair will shortly be off to a warm weather training camp in Spain with the rest of the squad as part of their preparation for the Home International championships culminating in a Wembley showpiece against Scotland.

Bridlington Not Seeking A Manager

Bridlington Town have decided not to seek a manager after recent performances under the stand in team of Chairman Peter Smurthwaite and Mark Lever.

The pair will take the club through to the end of the campaign after bringing in basically a new squad of players who have gelled quickly in to a cohesive unit.

Lever was a regular for Grimsby Town in the nineties clocking up around four hundred appearances including two visits to Wembley in 1998 wining both the Auto Windscreen Shield and the Division Two play-offs. He also won three player of the year awards in his time as a "Mariner" before moving to Bristol City and Mansfield town.

Avenue Legend Dies

One of Bradford Park Avenue's all time greats, Billy Elliott, has passed away aged 82. The Bradford born left winger joined Avenue straight from school at the age of fifteen and made almost fifty war-time appearances despite being in the Royal Navy.

He made his Football League debut at White Hart Lane in 1946 and wrote himself in to Avenue's history archives when he scored the only goal at Highbury in a 1947/48 FA Cup tie against the champions elect Arsenal when Avenue were a mid-table Division Two side.

He was transferred in 1951 to Burnley for £23,000, a huge fee in those days, and immediately won five England caps before being sold at a profit to Sunderland where he teamed up with another Avenue legend Len Shackleton.

Elliott also tasted FA Cup glory in 1973 when he was on Bob Stokoe's coaching staff as Sunderland beat all the odds to overcome the then invincible Leeds United.

Thornley's Remarkable Effort Not A Record

The remarkable achievement of Lancaster City goalkeeper Mark Thornley in keeping seven consecutive clean sheets before the sequence was ended in emphatic style by Bridlington Town last Saturday is not a league record.

That belongs to Leek Town's Tony Bullock who kept ten consecutive shut outs between a 1-1 home draw with Spennymoor United on 31st August 1996 and another 1-1 home draw against Buxton on 8th October 1996.

Of those ten games eight were league games - Runcorn 2-0 (a), Bamber Bridge 4-0 (a), Alfreton Town 4-0 (h), Winsford United 2-0 (a), Chorley (h) 1-0, Buxton 2-0 (a), Boston United 1-0 (h) and Marine 0-0 (a).

In addition during that run Matlock Town (a) and Eastwood Town (h) were both defeated 1-0 in the FA Cup. He was sold to Barnsley in March 1997 for a £20,000 fee and made around forty appearances for them before moving on to Macclesfield Town, Lincoln City, Ross County, Dundee United, Gillingham and St Mirren before rejoining Ross for a second spell last summer.

Stamford Go For Keast

Having lost manager Graham Drury last week to Corby Town, UniBond Premier Division side Stamford have opted for Dougie Keast (who ironically, has both played for and managed Corby) as his replacement.

The Edinburgh born 46 year old played with Hibernian until heading South to complete his teacher training. He played for several clubs on the English non-league circuit most notably Kettering Town for whom he made 373 appearances and was part of the Poppies side that reached the FA Cup 4th Round in 1989 and finished runners-up in the Conference.

He joined Corby as a player in 1992 and captained them to their highest ever finish in the Southern League before signing for Rushden & Diamonds in exchange for a £3,000 fee in March 1994 winning the Southern League Midland title the following season.

His first managerial experience was with Quorn where one of his protégés was Luke Varney who was sold to Crewe Alexandra before earning Quorn a six figure add on fee when he was later sold to Charlton Athletic. He then managed Loughborough Dynamo before moving to Corby in December 2006 only to leave when the "Steelmen's" new owners brought in their own management team last summer.

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