CML Hop

CENTRAL MIDLANDS LEAGUE FOOTBALL BONANZA 2010

Saturday 6th March 2010

2010 is the seventh football bonanza that the Central Midlands League (CML) have organised and the first that I have paid in advance for a ticket for admission and programmes to all of the games. There are only three games today due to the distances involved and only one of the clubs being floodlit. I have been on several bonanza games before in 2005 (Santos and Forest Town) and 2007 (Yorkshire Main, Askern Welfare and Hatfield Main) but normally work and time dictates that I cannot normally attend these games. I first watched a game involving a CML club in 1998 when I took in Long Eaton United’s FA Vase game against the now defunct Oldbury United and have watched at least one new team each season since. Prior to today I have seen four games in the CML this season with the games being at Kirkby Town, Louth Town, FC 05 and Parramore Sports.

A few weeks prior to today I had been offered a lift to all three games by a fellow Leicester based groundhopper called Gary. Neither of us had met each other before but it made sense that two people from the same place to go together. Fortunately we got on with each other and it made the journey all the more enjoyable and pass a lot quicker than if sitting in a car on your own. Thanks go out to Gary for this.

Game 1

EASINGTON UNITED 3-0 HUTTON CRANSWICK UNITED

Low Farm, Beck Street, Easington, East Yorkshire

Attendance: 209

The first of the bonanza games and the furthest away from Leicester saw us depart at 6.30am for the 148 mile trip to Yorkshire’s Holderness coast. The journey up was straightforward, uneventful and traffic free and we arrived in Easington at approximately 9.15. This season is Easington’s first in the CML having transferred from the Humber Premier League. They had been founder members of the Humber Premier League (HPL) since its inception in 2000 with a runners-up spot in 2004 being their best finishing position. Opponents Hutton Cranswick are in their second season in the CML having transferred from the HPL a year earlier than their hosts today. Like Easington they too were founder members of the HPL and also like Easington their best ever finish came in 2004 when they were crowned champions. At the start of play Easington sit in mid-table with 31 point obtained from their opening nineteen games played so far while Hutton are third from bottom recording only four wins from twenty-one games played.

Low Farm is a basic affair with the pitch being railed off and some hard standing on a couple of sides of the pitch. An overhang on the changing room block provides the only cover but with the game being played in sunshine it wasn’t required this morning. The first half was a better affair than the second with all the goals coming in the first thirty two minutes. The opener came with just eight minutes on the clock when Craig Havercroft put in a free kick from the right which was headed home by Paul Morrill from six yards out. Havercroft made it 2-0 on twenty minutes when he hit a shot from just inside the penalty area which to be honest the Hutton keeper should have done better. The third on 32 minutes was another soft goal from Hutton’s point of view as Jamie Cousins scored with a shot from the left hand side of the penalty area. Within five minutes of the re-start Hutton had their best chance when a shot from outside the penalty area struck the crossbar. The remainder of the half was mainly forgettable as Easington won comfortably.

Game 2

WESTELLA & WILLERBY 0-1 PARRAMORE SPORTS

Blackburn Welfare Leisure, Prescott Avenue, Brough, East Yorkshire

Attendance: 194

An hours drive to the other side of Hull and more specifically the town of Brough saw us arrive with an hour to spare before the start of game two. West Ella and Willerby are two villages / suburbs of Hull some six or seven miles from Brough but play here due to ground requirements of the CML. Like Hutton Cranswick, Westella are in their second season in the CML having transferred from the HPL. Like the other two former HPL clubs they were also founder members and recorded their best finish in 2007 when a runners-up spot was achieved. Opponents Parramore Sports come from Sheffield and like Westella are in their second season in the CML having been promoted from the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League. At the start of play both these teams sit in mid-table in the CML’s supreme division with just two places and four points separating them in the home side’s favour.

The Blackburn Welfare Leisure is home to four football pitches with the one used by Westella nearest the excellent social club and is fully railed off. The game was the worst of the three with the only goal coming on seventy minutes when following a break by Gavin Davies, he then put the ball across for Gallagher to side foot the ball into the net from six yards out.

Game 3

LOUTH TOWN 3-1 NETTLEHAM

Park Avenue, Louth, Lincolnshire

Attendance: 257

The last game of the bonanza saw us have three hours between the two games. The journey south to Louth across the impressive Humber Bridge took just over an hour, and with time to kill we spent some of it in a restaurant having a chip supper. I have covered Louth before so will not go into detail on their ground etc. This game was the best of the three with it being played at a quick pace throughout, possibly due to it being bloody cold!!!. Louth took the lead early on in the game when Paul Watts volleyed in past Nettleham keeper Leigh Herrick following a chip from James Archer. The home side got a further two goals in the second half from Jamie Rowbotham and Kurt Crossley, but the final goal of the game and day was scored by Nettleham from the penalty spot.

We arrived back in Leicester around 10.45pm some sixteen hours since departing. Overall a long but enjoyable day out.

Websites:

Easington United: http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/easingtonunited/

Louth Town: www.louthtown.co.uk

Steel City Show

PARRAMORE SPORTS 3-4 LOUTH TOWN

Saturday 27th February 2010

Central Midlands League Supreme Division

Woodbourn Road Stadium

Thanks to the weather my original choice of game in the Leicester & District League premier division between Welby Lane United and Kingsway Rangers was postponed on the Friday, so it left me with the option of choosing another game or heaven forbid not going at all. To be frank there was not a lot that grabbed my attention or that I could be bothered with until a posting on Tony’s non league forum by Rob Hornby – he of Central Midlands League fame!! which stated that Parramore Sports game v Louth Town had been switched from their normal venue of the Don Valley Stadium (DVS) in Sheffield to the nearby Woodbourn Road Stadium, a smaller athletics venue which does not normally host men’s open age football. Having been to the DVS before to watch the Sheffield Eagles Rugby League team I had no interest in going there again to watch football, but thankfully this switch gave me the chance to visit a new venue and see a new team in action. A call on the Saturday morning to Rob gave me confirmation that the game was on and I duly gave him confirmation that I would definitely make the seventy mile trip up the M1 to the independent state of Yorkshire and asked him to reserve me a programme and badge.

The stadium facilities include an eight lane track with an addition two for the sprinting; two long jump / triple jump pits; 400 seated stand and a bar. The stadium is fairly easy to get to and took around 1 hour 20 minutes to get to from my home in Leicester. If coming from the south exit the M1 at junction 33 and take the A630 towards Sheffield, continue to follow City Centre signs when the A630 becomes the A57, exit the A57 signposted Manor Park onto Parkway Drive, turn left at island onto Parkway Avenue, then turn right at junction onto Woodbourn Road. Stadium is ahead of you on right hand side, though for the small car park turn right at lights immediately before stadium.

Parramore Sports Football Club were founded in 1936 and played in the Sheffield Works League from then until 1972. Three seasons were then spent in the Barnsley Junior League before returning to the Works League in 1975. Just two seasons were spent back in the Works League before they joined the Sheffield Amateur League in 1977. Eight years later in 1985, following success at Amateur League level they joined the highly rated Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League. Despite not being in the premier division of the County Senior League the club, in 2008 made the switch to the Central Midlands League and recorded an excellent fourth place finish. Promotion to the Supreme Division was achieved at the first attempt. Their first game in the Supreme Division saw Parramore record a 5-0 away victory at Lincolnshire side Nettleham. At the start of play ‘Sports sit literally in mid-table in the eighteen team division, recording eleven wins in the twenty-one games played so far. Sports go into this game in the back of four straight wins, two in the league and two in the Floodlit Cup and last Saturday saw them record a 3-1 victory @ strugglers Kimberley Town in a league match with Lewis Fothergill (2) and Gavin Davies scoring the goals. Opponents Louth Town, also in their debut season at Supreme Division level top the table with fifty points from their opening twenty one games played so far. They have a one point cushion over Sutton Town AFC but have played two games less. I visited Louth Town in September last year for their league game against Calverton Miners Welfare (report can be found here: http://www.rambler77.net/2009/09/louth-town.html) where they record a 3-1 victory. Louth come into the game on the back of seven straight wins, recording a 3-0 win at Southwell City last Saturday.

The game was one of the better ones I have seen this season with the visitors from Lincolnshire emerging victorious in a seven goal thriller. The visitors supporters from Louth and neutrals in attendance did not have to wait long for the first goal when Jamie Rowbotham lobbed the ball over the Parramore keeper Mark Clements on eight minutes despite being under pressure from a couple of defenders. A further eight minutes passed and it was all square when a mistake in the visiting defence allowed Gavin Davies to score from ten yards or so out. Parramore then took the lead for the first time just four minutes later, when the first of three penalty kicks was awarded by referee Craig Langton. Davies went down under a challenge from Louth keeper Craig Wherey and Kieran Gallagher despatched the penalty in the top right hand corner. The second penalty kick was awarded on thirty three minutes, this time for Louth. Mark Wood stepped up and made it 2-2. Louth nearly re-took the lead on 38 minutes when an incisive breakaway resulted in Mark Clements making an excellent save at his near post. Just two minutes into the second half and Louth did indeed regain the lead with Mark Wood getting his second of the game, steering the ball home from a cross from the right. Just after the hour mark and the third (and final) penalty kick of the game was awarded and Kieran Gallagher made no mistake and brought the game level for the third time. The winner for Louth came with ten minutes remaining when Mark Wood completed his hat-trick, scoring direct from a free kick. The game did not end with all players remaining on the pitch as both teams had a man sent-off in the last five minutes. Both sending offs were for two bookable offences and not straight red cards, though this came as no surprise to myself as, despite it not being a dirty game it was competitive and the referee took the names of at least ten players and you felt that one or two would end up being turned into dismissals.

Overall it was an enjoyable outing to the Steel City of Sheffield and credit to both teams for producing an entertaining game of attacking football.

Admission: £3

Programme: £1

Badge: £3

Coffee: £1

Woodbourn Road Stadium

http://www.donvalleystadium.co.uk/woodbourn_road_stadium/

Louth Town

LOUTH TOWN 3-1 CALVERTON MINERS WELFARE

Saturday 26th September 2009

Central Midlands League Supreme Division

Park Avenue

Louth (population 14,200) is a market town situated on the River Ludd in the East Lindsey District and lies on the eastern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. The town centre is a maze of narrow streets which is of mainly Georgian and early Victorian architecture. The Church of St James’ (built 1515) dominates the surrounding landscape with its 295ft spire – the largest church spire in England. The town is also noted for the Greenwich Meridian crosses the town on Eastgate, near to the junction with Northgate.

Websites / sources:

http://www.louth.org/
www.louthuk.com

The town has two football clubs that have Louth in their name, one of which though plays is the nearby village of Saltfleetby. Louth Town currently use the Park Avenue ground on the eastern edge of the town which was home to Louth United for many years. Town were formed in the summer of 2007, and they secured a short term lease on the Park Avenue ground after United were served notice by the developer who owns the land to leave, and moved out to the afore mentioned village of Saltfleetby and as such left the Central Midlands League and re-joined the Lincolnshire League. ‘Town took United’s place in the Central Midlands League and finished a creditable 10th place in a twenty team Premier Division in their debut season. Last season Louth won the division winning twenty five of their twenty eight league games and with it secured promotion to the Supreme Division. This season they have continued where they have left off and at the start of play find themselves in second place behind Newark Town, unbeaten in seven games securing six wins. They are also through to the 1st Round of the FA Vase having seen off East Midlands Counties League side Blackwell Miners Welfare with an emphatic 6-2 away win. Their reward is a home tie to United Counties League side Sleaford Town. Opponents today are Nottinghamshire side Calverton Miners Welfare are in their fourth season in the league having previously been members of the Notts Alliance and Notts Senior League. They secured promotion to the Supreme Division in their second season when they finished runners-up behind winners Ollerton Town. Last season they finished in 3rd place in the Supreme Division but have found the going tough so far this season, currently lying in 14th place after nine matches played.

The journey up to Louth took around two hours going via Newark and Lincoln and I managed to park in the town centre, conveniently right outside a chip shop – exactly what I was looking for. After a brief pit stop I arrived at the ground with around 40 minutes to kick-off. I was charged £3 for the admission, £1 for a programme and a further £3 for pin badge. The club could not have been more welcoming and hospitable having found that I had travelled from Leicester and I was even offered a tour behind the scenes and given a copy of the team line-ups. The clubhouse is above the stand, from which allows unrestricted access to the playing area, ideal if the weather is of an inclement nature, but on a day like today being outside is the only option. Credit must also be given to the groundsman for the excellent playing surface.

Louth started the game without six first team regulars and at times during the first half it showed, the first twenty minutes being a scrappy affair with neither side being able to take control of the game. It was not until around the 25th minute that the home side started to get their passing game together and created a couple of good chances. They deservedly took the lead on 35 minutes when right-back Jason Callaby put in an excellent cross, which was headed back across the goal for Jamie Rowbotham to tap the ball home from a couple of yards out. The half ended with no further scoring. Calverton shocked the home side with the best goal of the game when on 51 minutes Callum Kitchen volleyed home spectacularly from the edge of the area after the Louth defence could not clear the ball. It took just two minutes for Louth to restore their lead when Mark Wood crossed the ball for Danny Kilmore to score with a powerful header. A further three minutes passed and it was 3-1 when substitute Callum Hyland’s shot from the edge of the area crept over the line by a yard or so after Michael Randell could not gather it cleanly. That was the last of the scoring but home sub Mark Fairburn had two chances towards the end to put the icing on the cake, only for the first to be well saved by Randell and the second was put wide with only Randell to beat.

Overall a comfortable win for the home side despite the afore mentioned absence of the six players. It does make you wonder what the scoreline might have been if Louth had a full squad to choose from. Having seen Sleaford themselves play as well this season the Vase tie should be a cracker and I would not be surprised if Louth took something from the game.

http://www.louthtown.co.uk/