Tuesday, 7th October 2008

News Archive

16th February 2008
Review Of The Week

GATESHEAD visited Premier Division leaders WITTON ALBION for the second Saturday in succession and having knocked them out of the League Cup last week became the first side to prevent Albion winning at home in the league this season.

Albion were twice behind but the Division's leading scorer Adam Warlow equalised on both occasions. After five successive wins BUXTON dropped out of the play-off spots when they were held to a draw at next to bottom KENDAL TOWN whilst GUISELEY failed to make ground when they surprisingly lost at home to ILKESTON TOWN who hadn't won in their previous nine league outings.

At the opposite end bottom club LINCOLN UNITED gave themselves hope with a first win in sixteen games, LEEK TOWN took four points in the week including a first home win of the season in midweek and FRICKLEY ATHLETIC made it three wins on the bounce with a 4-2 defeat of ASHTON UNITED.

So tight is it now at the bottom that WORKSOP TOWN in eleventh place are only five points off a relegation place!
BAMBER BRIDGE with two wins in the week became the third leaders of the First Division North in four weeks after breaking ROSSENDALE UNITED's eight match unbeaten run in midweek before beating rivals BRADFORD PARK AVENUE on Saturday.

Last week's leaders SKELMERSDALE UNITED had a bad few days losing at LANCASTER CITY and then going down 3-0 to FC UNITED of MANCHESTER who may be down in seventh but with their games in hand and current form are a danger to all. Two wins in the week enabled LANCASTER CITY to climb to fourth whilst OSSETT ALBION drop out of the play off slots after defeat at HARROGATE RAILWAY ATHLETIC who were picking up three points for only the second time in eleven outings.

Both the top two in the First Division RETFORD UNITED and CAMMELL LAIRD won and GRANTHAM TOWN moved in to third with a win over SHEFFIELD FC who hadn't lost in their previous eight league games.

The other two play-off spots are occupied by GOOLE AFC and GRESLEY ROVERS who fought out a 1-1 draw. After conceding six at COLWYN BAY in midweek ALSAGER TOWN kept a clean sheet at WARRINGTON TOWN and took all three points with a Chris Budrys goal whilst bottom club SPALDING UNITED moved to within four points of next bottom KIDSGROVE ATHLETIC with a draw at BRIGG TOWN but it could have been so much better for the "Tulips" as Brigg's second equaliser came in stoppage time.

Cowan Calls It A Day

Veteran defender Tom Cowan who signed for Retford United in January has called it a day after a succession of injuries this season. He is joining the Fire Service and decided he should quit playing before possibly falling foul of a more serious injury that could jeopardise his future career plans.

The Scottish born 38 year old defender made around four hundred appearance in the full time game including a dozen for Glasgow Rangers. His other clubs included Clyde, Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Burnley, Cambridge United, York City and Carlisle United as well as loan spells at Stoke City and Peterborough United. He had made just two appearances for Retford before announcing his retirement.

League Cup Draws

The draws for the semi-finals of the League Challenge Cup and the President's Cup were made at last Sunday's Board meeting and are as follows with ties to be played to a conclusion on Saturday, 8th March:-

League Cup:
Skelmersdale United v Gateshead
Ilkeston Town or Eastwood Town v Frickley Athletic

President's Cup
Goole AFC v Nantwich Town or FC United of Manchester
Ossett Albion v Radcliffe Borough

There will be a new name on both trophies. Gateshead, who visit the First Division's only survivors Skelmersdale United, are looking to make their third League Challenge Cup Final and will be hoping to make it third time lucky having lost to Hyde United in 1990 and Marine in 2003 whilst the other away team in the draw, Frickley Athletic are attempting to reach the Final for the second time having lost to Marine in 1991. They travel to either Ilkeston Town or Eastwood Town who play their delayed quarter-final next Wednesday.

In the President's Cup only Goole, who reached the inaugural Final of the competition in 1982 against Buxton but lost, have previously appeared in the Final whilst both of their possible semi-final opponents, Nantwich Town and FC United of Manchester who face one another on Monday in another delayed quarter-final tie are attempting to reach the Final at the first time of asking.

The other semi-final sees Ossett Albion, conquerors of First Division South leaders Retford United in the quarter-final, at home to the First Division North's bottom side Radcliffe Borough. Albion, however, will be taking absolutely nothing for granted as they will be well aware that Borough's cup form does not reflect their league position having won ten and drawn two of the fifteen cup ties they have contested this season!

Firsts

Although there weren't many midweek league games they did produce two firsts with Leek Town winning a league game in front of their own fans for the first time this season when beating Worksop Town on Tuesday whilst Bradford Park Avenue's goalless draw at Newcastle Blue Star was the first time this season that Avenue had failed to score in a league fixture home or away.

The last time Leek had tasted three points at Harrison Park was ten months ago in a 1-0 success against Matlock Town on 7th April 2007. Although Avenue failed to score in a 4th Qualifying Round FA Cup tie on 27th October at home to Gainsborough Trinity a week after failing to find the net in a 2-0 home defeat in the FA Trophy at the hands of Sheffield FC they hadn't failed to score in a league game since their final match of last season on 28th April when they drew 0-0 at home to Skelmersdale United.

Morning Has Broken

Yet another first last midweek saw Witton Albion's first caution of the campaign for dissent when new signing Adam Morning picked up a yellow card at Matlock Town in the seventh month of the season. Not surprisingly Albion are the runaway leaders of the season to date tables in the "Fair Play" tables in addition to standing at the head of affairs at the top of the Premier Division table. Should they maintain their lead in the "Fair Play" table until the end of the season they will pocket a cheque for £1,000 courtesy of league sponsors UniBond whilst a further cheque of £4,600 awaits them if they manage to keep their lead in the Premier Division intact come the end of April.

Marine Supporters Hand Over £3,500

Marine Supporters Association (MSA) made their largest ever single donation to Marine FC at the midweek game against Hednesford Town when they handed over a cheque for £2,500 which, together with a cheque for £1,000 given to the club as Christmas present, has taken MSA's donations to the parent club to in excess of £50,000 since the Supporters Association was formed in 1991.

Albion Record For Pritchard

Witton Albion's Brian Pritchard made his 605th appearance in today's game against Gateshead taking him past Alf Ashley's record that his stood since the 1950's. The 33 year old defender joined Albion in 1995 from Southport and given how players move around these days his record is likely to stand for many years.

Keast Names Backroom Staff

New Stamford manager Dougie Keast has been a busy man this week naming his backroom team as well as having to bring in several new signings to replace the players who followed former manager Graham Drury to Corby Town. Andy Drummond, a UEFA "A" licence coach, will be back in the dug out for a third spell having previously worked under former managers Billy Jeffrey and Drury whilst veteran goalkeeper Ian Pledger has quit Spalding United to become Assistant Manager to Keast.

On the playing side Shepshed Dynamo defender Tom Guiney became Keast's first recruit after playing for Keast at Corby last season. Other signings see Gareth Pritchard return from Spalding to the "Daniels" for whom he has already made over two hundred appearances in previous spells during which time he won the club's "Player of the Year" award. Another Spalding player to arrive is Jason Bonser whilst Keast has also signed Eastwood Town's Chris Gray and Coalville's Ronnie White.

Sheffield To Play Dutch Giants

UniBond First Division South club Sheffield FC are to take on one of the most successful clubs in Europe with the announcement this week that Ajax, Dutch football's most famous side with 29 titles and one of only five clubs to have earned the right to keep the European Cup having won it on three occasions, will be coming to Sheffield to take on the world's oldest club. The game will be staged at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane on 13th April at 3pm with tickets priced at £5 and concessions £2. The game follows on from Sheffield FC's 150th Anniversary celebrations last October when they attracted a gate of more than 18,000 for the visit of Italian champions Inter Milan.

Ashton Dislocates Hand

FC United of Manchester looked to their ground sharing hosts Bury this week when regular goalkeeper Sam Ashton dislocated his hand in a midweek friendly at Flixton. They have signed twenty year old Aaron Grundy on a month's loan. He made his Football League debut for Bury as a substitute in February 2006 and has since made a handful of first team appearances including a live televised FA Cup tie against Weymouth last season.

UniBond League Television

Forthcoming Games

Sat 16th Feb Witton Albion v Gateshead Match of the Week
Wed 20th Feb League Cup Quarter Final Ilkeston Town v Eastwood Town Match of the Week
Sat 23rd Feb Matlock Town v Eastwood Town Live Game 12:45
Sat 23rd Feb Bamber Bridge v FC United of Manchester Match of the Week
Sat 1st March Stocksbridge Park Steels v Cammell Laird Match of the Week
Tue 4th March Leek Town v Whitby Town Live Game

All games can be accessed through the banner link on www.unibondleague.com and are subject to change.

New Chairman For Mossley

A long search for a new Chairman at Mossley came to an end this week with the club announcing the appointment of local businessman Steve Astley of the club's main sponsors J.Mills Funerals. He steps in to the breach left when the Rigby family stepped down at the end of the last season after many years at the helm. He has as his new Vice Chairman an old Mossley stalwart in former Secretary Les Fitton whilst former manager Bob Murphy continues as Club President.

Guiseley Chairman Tackles Three Peak Challenge

As if attempting to guide your club to the summit of the UniBond League Premier Division isn't a daunting enough challenge Guiseley Chairman Phil Rogerson is to tackle the Three Peaks challenge in June. He is hoping to scale the heights of Ben Nevis (4,409 feet), Scafell Pike (3,209 feet) and Snowdon (3,560 feet) all within twenty-four hours on the weekend of 5th / 6th June to raise money for the cause of Action Medical Research. Any UniBond followers who would like to support Phil can see him at Guiseley matches or, alternatively, register their sponsorship on line at - http://www.action.org.uk/~philiprogerson

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