A step too far

North Ferriby United v Tranmere Rovers - 21 Mrach 2017
National League
Attendance 638

North Ferriby United                                    

1 Watson; 2 Topliss; 5 Gray; 21 Dixon; 20 Skelton; 15 Middleton; 16 Tinkler; 

14 Fallowfield (Templeton 75);  6 Emerton (Kendall 67); 25 Thompson (Cosgrove 83); 

4 Oliver

Substitutes

7 Cosgrove; 9 Templeton; 10 Kendall; 19 Cooke; 23 Douglas

Tranmere

1 Davies; 5 McNulty; 3 Ridehalgh; 8 Harris; 6 Ihiekwe; 12 Sutton; 2 Vaughan; 

24 J Hughes; 11 Jennings (Mekki 89); 9 Cook (Stockton 71); 

10 Norwood (Mangan 71)

Substitutes

7 Mekki; 13 Turner; 16 Dunn; 9 Mangan; 23 Stockton

Adults £15
OAP (over 65), Students: £8
Under 16: £4
Under 12’s admitted free if accompanied by an adult. (for National League fixtures only)

Programme £2

We are coming to the business end of the season and it has become clear that North Ferriby United are not going to escape the drop back to the National League North.  Promotion last season was brilliant and this season has had its moments but the harsh reality is it is too difficult at this level, it is a step too far.  Ferriby is a village and it is being pitched up against cities with traditional football league sides like York, Lincoln and today's visitors Tranmere.  It doesn't seem too long ago that Tranmere were on the cusp of joining the Premier League and before that playing in a League Cup final.  How the mighty have fallen.

The game started brightly with Tranmere nearly scoring in the opening minutes with Watson pulling off an excellent save to his left when seemingly unbalanced  and wrong footed.  Ferriby were getting into the game and scored first on the 12 minute mark when Gray headed home smartly from a free kick delivered in from the right hand side.

The game then descended into a scrappy period of play with Tranmere wrestling for dominance and they eventually equalised from Harris after 22 minutes.  Rovers were becoming the more dominant side and were stringing together some decent passing moves and producing another good save from Watson.

Just when it looked that they would be going into the half time break level controversy was to strike.  Rovers had a corner and when it looked like United were going to clear it from the box there was contact with a striker who went down and the penalty was awarded.  Yes “we’ve seen them given”, but it looked a little soft considering that Ferriby had what looked a stronger claim turned down earlier.  Watson managed to pull off a great save from the resulting kick but could only push the ball into the centre of the goal and Harris was the quickest to react and stroked the ball home right on half time.  The home bench and fans were clearly not happy with this and their team now had an uphill struggle to get anything from the game.

United started the second half well having another decent penalty shout turned down and attacking in numbers.  However, on 60 minutes they were caught out on the break by their opponents.  An excellent long ball was brought well under control by Norwood, albeit with more than a hint of the use of an arm, and a right footed cross was perfect for Cook to head home.  The United players appealed to the referee and linesman to no avail.

Ferriby continued to battle on gamely but Tranmere were very much in control and always seemed to have more in reserve should they need it.  For them and Harris the icing on the cake was his hat trick goal added in the final minute of four added.

Tranmere were deserved winners and a clearly a very accomplished side at this level being as good as any I have seen this season.  I thought the 0-4 score line flattered them and it is disappointing that once again the talking points revolve around decisions not going our way which is frustrating.  As a Hull City supporter I am used the perceived big club bias and am beginning to wonder if applies as far down as the National League.  Ferriby manager Steve Housham seems to think so and was clearly annoyed when interviewed by local TV.  Yes the fans do get on the officials backs but there does appear to be inconsistency in the application of the laws within games.

Match highlights video 

This is not one of my better videoing efforts; I took the wrong gloves with me and struggled to capture the 2^nd and 5^th goals.  However I will not beat myself up too much over this as I think I saw more of the key incidents than the man in the middle did.

Tranmere are a good side and I wish them well for the rest of the season.  They still could win the title but are likely to be in the play offs.  On the basis of tonight’s match I can see them being back in League 2 in the near future.

Ferriby has given it their all this season and considering the changes since their 6-1 defeat at Lincoln at the start of the season they have made a good fist of it.  If they can keep the nucleus of this side together there is no reason why they shouldn’t have a good season back in National League North and it will certainly nice to see more victories rather than a string of gallant defeats.

The nasty ones

Pontefract Collieries (Colls) v Hall Road Rangers (Rangers) – 18 March 2017

Northern Counties East League Division 1

Attendance 168

I identified Pontefract Collieries as the team to beat in the NCEL Division 1 earlier in the season and so it was proving to be.  I missed the home defeat of Hall Road Rangers back in October, a game by all accounts Rangers could have won, so I had this fixture pencilled in my diary for some time (as much as you can pencil in Google Calendar).  The alternative game was watching North Ferriby United battle for survival against Solihull Moors and friend Rick said he was fed up of seeing them lose.  I plugged Pontefract in the satnav and Rick rode shotgun for the top of the table clash 1st versus 3rd.

The satnav dropped us at the end of row of houses where there was a playing field with two teams warming up.  For just a moment I thought we must have gone wrong, but then I recognised some familiar faces.  We were in the right place, the unassuming ground was just behind.  Once inside we could see there was plenty of cover and proper seating not bleaches but the place wouldn't miss a little TLC in the summer.

The match day programme is a good quality colour one with a lot of statistics and information but no bloody staples in it.  The seemed to be no working tannoy and the whiteboard for the teams was blank so we had to quickly mark up the programme as best we could.

Admission £5.00
concessions £3.00
free for under 16s
Match day programme £1.50      







     






Hall Road had the better of the early exchanges creating a number of chances but failed to capitalise on any of them.  Perhaps they were trying just a bit too hard to force the issue at times shooting from distance and added to this the Colls goalkeeper (Ben Saynor) was impressive form.

The key moment of the first half was to come on 34 minutes when a speculative ball found Jordan Turner in space and from the edge of the penalty box he fired into the top far corner.  Phil Dobson in the Rangers goal had no chance; to save that he would need the levitation skills of Dynamo or a magic carpet!

Not surprisingly Pontefract started the brighter in the second half.  On the 50 minute mark a long throw from the right was headed dangerously into the Rangers box and Jordan Turner was on hand to score again.  That was effectively game over, but the Rangers player continued to attack in the hope of narrowing the deficit and perhaps nicking a valuable point.  As so often is the case this, together with a sapping heavy pitch, lead to gaps for the Colls to exploit.  Christopher Jackson added the third on 64 minutes (which I missed with the video camera due to being distracted by updates on Hull City and North Ferriby United).  Jordan Turner then completed his hat-trick on 75 minutes, latching onto a defensive error to face Phil Dobson one on one and the finish with great composure.

Match highlights Video

As they say, not a good day at the office, but there is much still to play for and Rangers need to get themselves back up ready for Saturday’s home game against Brigg Town.

As we were leaving a Pontefract supporter suggested that these were two of the nastiest teams in the division.  A bit harsh perhaps but there was no holding back in the tackling by either side and the referee, who didn't have an easy job out in the middle, had reason to speak to both benches during a first half altercation.  He could well have shown a red in the first half and was lenient not showing a yellow for a fairly blatant dive late in the second half.

I think Pontefract should finish champions with Rangers battling it out with Emley for the other automatic promotion spot.  It is likely to be close with the team coming 3rd having to rely on the play offs needing to make the most of home advantage.  A good entertaining game but probably more enjoyable for Colls fans and any neutrals present.

Well that escalated quickly...

Barton Town Old Boys (Swans) v Bottesford Town (Poachers) - 14 March 2017

Northern Counties East League Premier Division

Attendance 110

A Tuesday night football fix, the choice of Leicester City in the Champions League or get in the car for a live game?  Paul a friend and former work colleague and I have been meeting up at various non-league football grounds in the Yorkshire area every few weeks.  He suggested Barton Town, which was fine by me as its pretty local and one of my favourite grounds, thinking it wasn’t too far for him.  Alas Lincolnshire geography is not one of his strong points as he soon found out, the ground being 55 miles from his home on the A19!

Admission prices

Adults: £5.00
Concessions: £3.00Children (Under 18): £2.00Under 5: FREE





Match day programme £1.50

It was a lovely early spring night, dry and fairly mild, so ideal football conditions.  We have been fortunate this winter that there have been no prolonged periods of extreme weather so few matches have had to be postponed and pitches in general are bearing up fairly well.  A quick look at the playing surface showed it having a fair grass covering and a reasonable surface unlike some ‘glue pots’ I have seen.  Not bad considering that Westella ground-share here so there is double the number of games played on it.  However, appearance are deceptive as the pitch is bumpy (which is evident from the video) with some real man traps in one goal area.

 

Teamsheet courtesy of @BartonTownOB                Perfect 10 special offer

The match was not one to disappoint.  I had barely got the video camera switched on when there was early penalty area action; a Bottesford player went down after a shove resulting in a penalty kick.  This was well despatched by Reece Newell (3); Poachers 1 up.  A bad start for Barton who took a while to recover, but gradually got back into the game which was looking pretty even.  It was Bottesford though who added the second when Luke Anderson (34) was nicely played in and slotted home from a short way out.  Things were to get worse for the Swans a couple of minutes later when a good shot was excellently cleared off the line by the Barton defender, only into the path of Joshua Nicholl (36) who stroked it past the despairing blocker who tried to head it off the line from his prone position.  So Swans 0 Poachers 3 and so it was to be at half time.

Barton started the second half brightly and was to quickly get back into the game.  A Swans free kick was headed into the area towards Oliver Donald (61) who delivered a lovely cushioned header towards his owner goal but unfortunately for him past his own goalkeeper at full stretch.  We now had a game on our hands; the next goal was always going to be crucial.

Alas for Barton it was to be scored by Bottesford; Daniel Boulton (67) scoring after some scrappy play in the box.  Even at 1-4 down the Swans continued to battle on and were awarded a penalty which Thomas Waudby (76) managed to convert though the Poachers’ keeper very nearly kept it out.  In fact a lasting memory was the keeper punching his goalpost in frustration and thinking ‘boy that has got to hurt’.  Good to see that even though they were 4-2 in the lead it still mattered to him.  Indeed a great deal of commitment was shown by both sides and the tackling was a times very robust, so much so that both sides had a man sent off for getting a second yellow.  Still nothing too ‘over the top’ and neither dismissal had a significant bearing on the result.

The scoring was rounded off with great composure in the box by Daniel Boulton (81) making the final score Barton Town Old Boys 2 Bottesford Town 5.

So a disappointing result for the Swans after their recent mini recovery with relegation almost certainly three from four (Barton, Parkgate, Armthorpe and Retford).

All in all an excellent evening's entertaining with only one small gripe.  There is lots of on site parking which is great, however, there are some big potholes in parts so take care when parking!

Links

http://www.ncefl.org.uk/

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/bartontownoldboys/

Look at me, please!!

It was Andy Warhol, the somewhat eccentric artist who is probably best known for his Campbell’s Soup tins prints, who came up with the well know quote "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes".  In many ways I guess he is right with so many so called ‘reality’ TV shows thrusting the generally talentless to the forefront of the media to then fade into obscurity in a relatively short period.  This also applies to the various ‘talent’ shows like The Voice, The X Factor and the beautiful oxymoron that is Britain’s Got Talent, which have never really thrown up much in the way of lasting superstardom.  Bizarrely some people seem to be famous for being famous and nothing else and no one knows what they do, such as the Kardashians.  I like to feel that talent and hard work are rewarded, which I think they generally are, but sometimes that’s not the case.

Being a shy and retiring sort I have avoided being recorded on film to such an extent of crossing the road if I see that Look North are recording opinion pieces in Hull.  I have never wanted to be a spokesman and if one is wanted I will go AWOL.  I take the Homer Simpson approach that volunteers are suckers; never volunteer, never own up and always make fun of people who are different.

I have had a few fleeting seconds of fame though.  I got my name in the Times and Financial Times when I passed my professional exams.  I even proved to be a winner ...albeit the crossword in Fishing News and the Sodoku in Professional Pensions both of which had small prizes and results in print, but this is hardly big league fame.

It is possible to buy a bit of fame by sponsoring some event.  I guess I could try to get my name on the Big Screen at the KCOM stadium but knowing the Allams that would be eye-wateringly expensive as no doubt match and match ball sponsorship packages.  However, if you drop down to non-league it becomes very affordable.  I sponsored the match ball at Hall Road Rangers a few weeks back for the princely sum of £25.  That gets your name on the front of the programme and an announcement over the tannoy to a crowd perhaps running into three figures.  Not only that, you get admission for two with programmes and a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich in the inner sanctum of the committee room.  Bargain indeed. 

The match I covered was an incident packed local derby ...

Hall Road Ranger 2 (1)  v  Westella VIP 5 (1)   Thursday 14 April 2016

Adam Foster 47P, 63P      Chris Spinks 5P, 60 Garry Flounders 58, Chris Short 70, Joe McFadyen 75

Attendance: 75

Exhibit A match programme and the spelled my name correctly!

This game pretty much had the lot; seven goals, four penalties and a red card, so I couldn’t have picked a better game to be associated with, just a shame about the result.

This was probably the key moment 4 minutes in when the referee gave a red as well as the obvious penalty.  Personally I though he pushed the ball well out of range and so we would have managed to cover it.

The resulting penalty was put away.

The referee then continued to gave Hall Road Rangers no favours when he gave another penalty this time for hand ball when the ball made contact from an almost point blank shot.  Harsh in my opinion.

This time the stand in goalkeeper managed to keep it out.

Hall Road Rangers managed to get on terms just before half time with a penalty of their own.

In the second half Hall Road Rangers converted their second penalty the 4th of the evening but the extra man took its toll and Westella VIP put away another 4 to run out comfortable winners.

Smile please!

It’s over a month since I posted on this blog but not through a lack of things to say.  In fact more the opposite I've been so busy since the last post I just haven’t had time.  I had a three day visit to Belgium and France with work as well as fitting in a dozen football matches, a rugby league game and an ELO concert in Leeds.  The thing is the wet winter put paid to so many games that April has been a period of catch up with some non-league teams playing Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.   Getting to four games in five days is great but when you work doesn't leave you with much time for anything else which is evidenced by the growing pile (physically and electronically) of books, audio books and football magazines in Chez Fleming.

I've also been faffing around with things I don’t understand...

Football fans in general have a sense of humour.  Standing in the cold and wet watching another drab goalless draw you’ve got to have one.   Admittedly much of the humour is coarse and ribald, probably as a result of the working class roots of the game, and it can manifest in a number ways.  Facing defeat in another relegation dog fight may result in gallows humour in a vain attempt to stay sane.  Some supporters can with superb comic timing usually coinciding with a moment of relative hush come up with a witty comment befitting Oscar Wilde and making smart-arse jokes at the expense of the match officials is now almost obligatory.   Then there are the songs and chants; sometimes coarse and offensive but others inventive and very funny.

Taking the piss out of friends and fellow supporters is also part of the game and if you are going to give it you better be able to take it!  Over the last few weeks I have been getting my share of good natured stick, well I hope it is good natured...

A couple of years back I got a pocket video camera for Christmas, to replace one that got lost, which sort of lives in one of the bedroom drawers.  The thing is being busy and suffering from age-related forgetfulness I never seem to have it with me when I go out and end up thinking if I had brought it I could have captured the moment.  This was to change though when one evening I had the idea of taking it with me when I went to see Hall Road Rangers.  What is wrong with that?  Queue the leg pulling.  Yes it is shaky.  No I am not after a job with ITV.  Yes I am the official adopted unofficial Videographer for Hall Road Rangers but I am not going up that tower, it doesn't look safe.  In fact it looks the sort of scaffold and architrave combination beloved of cowboy plasterers which can only end in tears for the unwary.  The funny thing is I also get “did you get that” and “let’s have a look” for the same people so it is of some benefit at the lower levels.  At North Ferriby United though they have a proper professional standard camera so I didn't get mine out, well no man wants to be belittled over the size of his equipment!

Still I will shrug off the jibes and persevere with it during the next non-league season and post the results on Twitter as well as some in this blog.

Hall Road Rangers 1 (0) v Knaresborough Town 1 (0)   Tuesday 12 April 2016
Jordan Harrison 57             Will Lenehan 80

Attendance 61

Hall Road Rangers hit the bar from a free- kick.

Hall Road Rangers take the lead from the spot

Knaresborough Town equalise from a corner.

A draw was probably a fair result and the game will probably be best remembered for the language emanating from the away bench, strong stuff!

Still I will shrug off the jibes and persevere with it during the next non-league season and post the results on Twitter as well as some in this blog.