6/4/14 – Weekend Round-up from across Europe’s top Football Leagues – Spanish Title Race hots up as the top three all pick up important wins

Perhaps the most exciting title race in Europe at the minute once again delivered as La Liga’s three leading teams, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid, all picked up wins on Saturday.

Current league leaders Atletico Madrid, who were missing top goal scorer Diego Costa due to a hamstring injury, maintained their tight 1 point lead at the top with a 1-0 win at home to 7^th placed Villarreal, a 14^th minute header from Raul Garcia proving to be the only difference between the two sides. 2^nd place Barcelona had to dig in for their win, the Catalan giants unconvincingly beating the leagues bottom side Real Betis 3-1 at home. Messi had put the hosts 1-0 up from the penalty early in the first half and their advantage was doubled in the 67^th minute after an own goal from Betis’ Jordi, only for Castro to pull one back for the visitors just a minute later. Messi however finished the game off with 4 minutes to go, the argentine pouncing on the rebound after his second spot-kick of the game was saved by Adan. 3^rd place Real put four past Champions League hopefuls Real Sociedad, goals from Illaramendi, Bale, Pepe and Morata gifting them with an impressive 3 points away from home.

Elsewhere at the bottom of La Liga, four of the leagues current relegation candidates came up against each other. First half strikes from Riera Magem and Arribas for 17^th placed Osasuna earned them all 3 points away to 19^th placed Almeria, despite a late second half goal from Soriano and in the weekends other relegation 6 pointer, a stoppage time winner from Boakye gifted them a valuable 3 points at home to Getafe.

Germany

Over to the Bundesliga and bottom side Eintracht Braunschweig kept up their last ditch fight for survival, with a 3-0 win at home to fellow strugglers Hannover 96 in the Alarmstufe Derby.

Braunschweig, now unbeaten in 3 games, took the lead in the 14^th minute through Congolese forward Kumbela, lashing home into an empty net after Zieler in the Hannover goal had parried the ball into his path. The hosts double their lead 7 minutes later when a finely hit left footed half volley from Neilson found the bottom corner of the Hannover net and things only got worse for the visitors in the second half. Firstly Hoffman was sent off just after the hour mark and then in the dying minutes, an unmarked Hoschdeit put Braunschweig 3-0 up, placing the ball past Zieler from just 8yrds out.

In the other games, champions Bayern Munchens 53 game unbeaten run in the league was ended as FC Augsburg picked up a shock win at home to the league leaders, striker Sascha Molders scored the only goal of the game in the 31^st minute against a supposedly weakened Bayern side. Elsewhere relegation threatened VfB Stuttgart won 2-0 at home to Freiburg.

A 2-1 defeat away to strugglers in the league Hamburg on Friday night, proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Bayer Leverkusen manager Sami Hyypia, the Fin was dismissed just 24hrs after the match following a run of bad form which included only one win in their past 9 games.

France

Paris St-Germain maintained their 13 point lead over 2^nd placed Monaco with a comfortbale 3-0 win at home to mid table Reims.

 

Two own goals from the visitors added to Edinson Cavani’s first half strike for the league leaders, who were without their Swedish talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has scored 25 goals in the league so far. The victory opened up a 16 point gap at the top for 24 hours at least, before Monaco also picked up a home win against Nantes, with goals form J. Rodriguez (2) and Raggi giving them a 3-1 win.

In the weekends other games St Etienne were held 1-1 at home to Nice, Lyon picked up a 2-1 win away to Valenciennes and 3^rd place Lille also won 2-1 away to Toulouse.

Netherlands

Onto the Dutch Eredivisie and in the game of the weekend, this seasons surprise package Vitesse came up against the leagues front runners Ajax.

Vitesse struck first in the 25^th minute. Traore found himself in the 6yrd box with an easy tap in after World Cup hopeful Jasper Cillessen, could only parry a powerful freekick from Zakaria Labyad. Ajax however equalised immediately after the half time interval, as K. Sigthorsson strolled into the area and slotted past a stranded Velthuizen in the Vitesse goal. As the game drew to a close, home fans began to throw missles at Cillessen, luckily the goalkeeper was unharmed and carried on in the game.

Elswhere in the league, two goals from Graziano Pelle guided feyennord to a comfortable 2-0 win at home to RKC Wallwijk, taking the strikers league tally up to 20 for the season. Heerenveen also recorded a home win against PSV, the visitors who have been consistently poor all season went down 3-0 in an extremely unconvincing performance.

Italy

Action from Italy’s Serie A now and AS Roma kept alive their slight chances of winning the Scudetto after an impressive hat-trick from Mattia Destro.

Destro scored his first of a glorious sunny sunday afternoon in the 32^nd minute, tapping in a pass from Gervinho. He added his second in the 56^th minute with a neat low finish and completed his hat-trick with 17mins to go, after yet more good work from Gervinho. Chilean Mauricio Pinella added a late consolation from the penalty spot.

Earlier on in the day, 10 man Lazio had beaten Sampdoria 2-0 at home and there were also wins for Fiorentina, Sassuolo and Torino. Inter were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Bologna on the Saturday night, despite twice being in the lead.

In the weekends tie of the round, 7^th placed Parma recorded a win over Rafael Benitez’s Napoli side who sit 3^rd in the table, the only goal of the game coming from Marco Parolo in the 55^th minute.

Portugal

Benfica weren’t in action this weekend and it was up to second place Sporting Lisbon to keep up the pace on the league leaders.

And they did just that with a 3-1 win away to Pacos De Ferreira. Goals from Carvalho, Roja and Perruchet Silva, took Sporting to within 4 points of Benfica who now have a game in hand over their title rivals. Porto in 3^rd place also picked up a 3-1 win at home to Academica.

Other notable fixtures this weekend in Europe

On Sunday the most fiercely contested derby in the whole of Turkey took place, Galatasary beat their big rivals and current league leaders Fenerbahce, 1-0 at home in a game where both sides finished with 10 men and consisted of 14 yellow cards.

The only goal of the game came in the opening 10 minutes, Wesley Sneijder with a crisp side footed finish. The win keeps alive Galatasary’s faint hopes of winning the league, taking them to within 7 points of Fenerbahce who have a game in hand over them.

 

 

The Quakers take another step forward towards cementing a play-off place

A first half free kick from Terry Galbraith proved just enough to take all 3 points for the Quakers, against a tough Ossett Town side away from home.

Darlington made 5 changes to the side that comfortably beat Wakefield 5-1 in midweek, Walker, Ward, Hunter, Scott and Fisher replaced Hopson, Purewal, Dowson, Davis and White in the starting line up.

In the 4th game to take place between the two sides this season, Darlington would of been expecting to have to grind out a result against Ossett Town, who before the match sat 8th place in the league.

However from kickoff it was Darlington who started as the much brighter side and it took just 6 minutes for Darlo to threaten the Ossett goal. A free kick sent in to the box by Joe tait, had to be tipped over for a corner by Dobbs.

The matched seemed to settle down from there, not much happening to test either keeper up until the 28th minute.

Ian Ward, making his first start for Darlington, struck the ball home from close range after a corner was whipped into the box and led to a mad scramble, in which Ward took advantage of.

And it took The Quakers just another 5 minutes to double their advantage.

Terry Galbraith curled a free kick into the top right hand corner of the goal, following a foul on skipper Gary Brown who took a boot to the face from Ossett's Louis Horne, around about 25yrds from goal.

And that's how the score stayed going into half-time.

Into the second half and once again neither keeper was really tested, Darlington were more than happy to just slow the tempo of the game right down and try to keep a hold of their two goal
advantage.

Unfortunately for the visitors, that advantage was halved on 76 minutes.

Ignoring Darlington's claims for handball, the referee and the Darlington defenders, allowed Nick Wood to take control of the ball in the area and fire Ossett Town straight back into the game, striking the ball across the goal and into the back of the net.

From then on the Quakers had to really dig in and protect their slender lead for another 14 minutes.

But Ossett Town just couldn't find that spark needed in the final third of the pitch and despite the referee adding on seven minutes of stoppage time, The Quakers managed to hold on to a vital 3 points away from home.

Ossett Town: Dobbs, Kilburn, Jeff, Kuba-Kuba, Horne, Wood, Branagan, Patterson, Wood, Eyles, Williams.

Goals: Wood (76)

Darlington: Bell, Walker, Galbraith, Tait, Hunter, Brown, Mitchell, Scott, Ward, Fisher, Thompson.

Goals: Ward (28) Galbraith (33)

MOTM: For me it has to be Gary Brown, the defender, turned midfielder for this game, broke up plays in the heart of the pitch and wasn't afraid to put a foot in, a captains performance!

Should Football Club Owners really be allowed to change a Clubs Name and/or Crest for Marketing Purposes?

Fast-track back to December 2010, with debts of up to £35million due to the previous seasons relegation from the Premier League, Hull City were on the verge of administration and in need of some serious financial investment.

Up stepped Assem Allam , a local Egyptian businessman worth a reported £150million.

From the get go Allam fully focused his intentions on securing the clubs future and immediately invested £30million into the club, with a further £10million in personal guarantees. From then on the future looked bright for Hull City, debts were being settled and more importantly the team were performing well on the pitch. Under current manager Nigel Pearsons guidance, the team notched up a club record run of 17 unbeaten away matches in the 10-11 season.

The following season they managed to finish 8^th in the Championship under Nick Barmby, however on the 8^th May he was sacked from the club after reportedly making comments about the clubs ownership and transfer policies. Steve Bruce replaced him for the 12/13 season and things only get better for Hull City on the pitch. After a highly successful campaign in the league, the clubs promotion hopes boiled down to the last day and following a dramatic 2-2 draw at home to the already promoted Cardiff City, Hull finally made their return to the Premier League after, this after fellow promotion contenders Watford went down 2-1 at home to Leeds.

In the eyes of the fans, nothing could possibly bring them down right?

Wrong!  

With great shock to the fans, the man who had surely saved the club from financial ruin and cemented his status as a club legend, revealed that he had reregistered the club as “Hull City Tigers ltd”, dropping ‘Association Football Club’ from the name. Now the actual ‘club name’ had not changed but the ‘company name’ had. This move signalled his intentions to eventually change, or in his words “shorten”, the actual club name to “Hull Tigers”, totally dropping ‘AFC’ & ‘City’ from the club name.

In an interview to the Daily Mail on the 8^th August 2013, Allam had this to say:

“In the commercial world, the shorter the name, the better. The more it can spread quickly. My dislike for the word 'City' is because it is common. I want the club to be special. It is about identity. 'City' is a lousy identity. Hull City Association Football Club is too long”

“AFC is redundant, it is not used by the club. The fans never mention AFC, nor do the media,"

His reasoning behind the change was both understandable to me but all gone about in the wrong way. He claimed that the club needed to explore extra avenues of making money in the global market, stating in an interview to the Guardian on the 12th September 2013 that “By next year I will change the name to Hull Tigers." He added, "I cannot afford to run the club by fans' feeling."

Understandably fans reacted in a negative manner towards these plans and immedialty set about trying to block them. A supporters website (www.citytillwedie.com) was set up as a forefront for the campaign against any name change. Hull City fans also demonstrated during games, with fans all standing together and repeatedly singing “City till I die” when the time on the board strikes 19:04.

Clearly however, the fans objections to these plans have fallen on death ears with the recent confirmation of Mr.Allams plans this week, to change the ‘club name’ to Hull Tigers. All this after claiming that nothing would be decided without the fans consent.

Here are just a couple of reactions I received from Hull City fans regarding the recent news:

Darren Norton:

“I am very much against the name change. There is no proven commercial value to the name change. It can’t be positive if the owner has already called the protesters  “a small minority that no longer go to games ". Such naivety has already put into question his sanity, as well as his ability to make rational business decisions. Under the current set up he has no one to question his decisions at board room level”

“The owner stated that no changes would be made without the consent of the fans. He has already back tracked on this promise”

Keysha Mackie:

“It’s just ridiculous, it will break with a 109 years of history and tradition, it’s basically like going to support a brand new club. Fine! it may bring in money and overseas fans and things like that, but I already think without this name change we already have the foundations to become a big club. Dr. Allam did pretty much save us when he first came into the club, so I support him for that as he put his own hard earned money into our club, which was a mess at the time due to the previous owner”

“I suppose when your club is considering a name change its pretty much all about money and the clubs future, talking commercial wise it may have a positive effect on it, but that doesn't mean to say I’m all for the name change because I’m all against it as you can tell”

The FA's Rule 3L states: "Any application for a change of playing name must be received by the Association before 1 April in any calendar year in order for it to be considered by [the FA] Council for adoption in the following playing season.

"The[FA] Council will use its absolute discretion in deciding whether to approve a change in a club's playing name."

Although it is my understanding that the FA have already taken a dim view on this, having already confirmed their intentions to always refer Hull City AFC to their historical name. However something similar to this has already happened before, not so much to the approval of the FA, but they allowed it to pass.

In 2012, current Malaysian owner of Cardiff City changed the club crest, from a bluebird to the Red Dragon and also the team colours, going from Blue to Red. Yet again all this to appeal to a more global market, mainly in his home country of Malaysia and in and around Asia. Now the financial investment of Vincent Tan has done wonders for the club, but is it really worthy throwing a clubs tradition and heritage out of the window? Mr Tan is already an extremely wealthy businessmen, why the need for more money?

 

My opinion on all this is that I do understand and appreciate the owners intentions behind these changes, however particularly in the case of Hull City and Assem Allam, I just get the feeling that he really doesn’t care what the fans have to say about this. To me he’s taken the “It’s my club and I’ll do what I like” attitude, which I do respect as he is the owner, but is that really a smart move? Is it really worth losing all respect that the fans once had for you?

Surely to protect the Heritage of this beautiful game, which we invented! Plans like this should not be allowed to materialise. But what can the FA do about it? Or even FIFA? That’s just up to them to decide I guess?

 

Comfortable win for The Quakers as Edwards proves the doubters wrong

Curtis Edwards put in a man of the match performance for Darlington as they sailed to a comfortable win in difficult conditions.

Both teams lined up as follows:

Cammell Laird: Atherton, Lundon, Dysart, Hollett, Ferrigan, O'Brien, Couch, Foley, Henders, Young, Woods
 Darlington: Jameson, J.Robinson, Hunter, White, Galbraith, Thomas, Thompson, Edwards, Scott, Dowson, Fisher 

After Wednesday nights DCC tie at home to Sunderland RCA, in which a significantly weaker side was fielded, understandably there were more than a fare few changes to the Starting line up. Hunter, White, Thompson, Edwards, Scott & Dowson were all reinstalled, as well as new signing Nathan Fisher who was making his league debut for the club.

With the rain lashing down and a strong wind blowing over Cammell Lairds Kirklands stadium, from the get go it was plain to see that the weather was having an effect on the game, with several crosses and passes either being misplaced or going harmlessly out of play.

Due to the weather playing it's part on the game, it wasn't until the 15th minute for the first real chance of the game to materialise. Some good link up play involving Dowson and Fisher, led to Thomas hitting a shot across the floor which just missed finding the net by centimetres. After this Darlo managed to get a few more efforts in on goal, firstly Edwards heading just wide of the goal and then Fisher had a shot that went wide of the oppositions goal.

Darlington's best chance of the half fell to Steven Thompson in the 40th minute, after some great passing between him and Dowson, the ball fell to Thompson who, one on one with the keeper, somehow managed to hit his shot just wide of the goal. So bad was the miss that a few Darlington fans were still cheering thinking it was a goal, seconds after the shot went out of play.

Cammell Laird had rarely threatened Darlington's goal in the first half, leaving Jameson in the net with little to do.

Both teams went into halftime at 0-0, Darlo having the much better chances and creating some really good passing moves. In my opinion, after the way the first half had panned out, Darlo really should of been leading the match already.

Into the second half and both teams were unchanged, thankfully the conditions had also improved during the interval.

First chance of the 2nd half fell to the hosts, no doubt after receiving a rollicking from the their manager, they managed to create an effort that harmlessly went over the bar, that was on 50 minutes and just 3 minutes later the first goal of the game arrived!

A cross into the box from the left by Galbraith was surely about to be headed into the net by Fisher, however for some reason Atherton in the Cammell Laird goal went to save it with his feet, a move that he soon regretted with the cross nestling into the bottom of the goal, 1-0 to the Quakers! Although it is still disputed who's goal it actually was, with Fisher clearly claiming it with his celebrations.

However in the 68th minute Fisher nearly claimed what would of certainly been his goal, only for the ball to be cleared off the line by Dysart.

Cammell Laird were creating chances but really only one actually threatened the goal. A un-marked Laird player managed to head the ball down low and it did have Jameson scrambling for a minute, however he made the save look easy, no problem!

The Quakers dominated the second half and eventually managed to finish the game off in stoppage time. A clumsy challenge on Thompson in the box left Galbraith with the simple task of putting the ball into the back of the net, which he did albeit for after a good hand from Atherton, but the ball found the side of the goal.

2-0 to the visitors, game over!

Man of the match for me goes to young Curtis Edwards. Although all round it was a brilliant team performance, the youngster put in a confident performance after a difficult week. Breaking up plays and starting off some really good attacks, top effort!

Darlo avoid the Axe after 0-0 stalemate

Dull, lifeless and boring is the only way I can describe this game really. In a match that pitted together two teams fighting for promotion it was little wonder that some fans were anticipating a tough, but entertaining game between two good attacking sides.

Darlo were forced into a couple of late changes before the game, Peter Jameson making his debut for the club came in to replace the injured Mark Bell and Jordan Robinson replaced Pilatos at RB due to personal reasons. Another new signing, Nathan Thomas came in ahead of Jonny Davis who had been dropped to the bench, no doubt due to fatigue after Wednesdays FA trophy tie vs Buxton.

Both teams lined up as follows:

Lancaster: Hale, Wills, Elderton, Clark, Marshall, Mahoney, Winder, Hunter, Wearing, Jackson, Kilifin

Darlington: Jameson, J Robinson, Galbraith, White, Hunter, Edwards, Moore, Scott, Dowson, Thomas, Thompson

The match started as it meant to go on, lots of passing about in midfield, soft attacks that proved little threat and an extremely whistle friendly referee. The first real chance of the game fell to Lancaster in the 30th minute,  but even that gave Jameson in the Darlington net little to do, saving easily from a shot straight at him.

Other than that there was not much else worth mentioning really, both teams just couldn't produce that bright spark needed in the final third.

Into the second half and the match got a little bit more exciting, ever so slightly however. Just the same old passing moves happening from both teams but a few more chances were being created, Curtis Edwards had a shot blocked early on for Darlo and Lancaster had a shot that went just wide of the post.

The only real nervous moments of the game fell to Lancaster, Winder got down the right wing and brought out a good save from Jameson in the 64th minute. And just a minute later Jameson was forced into making another comfortable but good save, this after a cross was put into the back post from the left and found an unmarked player.

The second half proved to be another dull affair just like the 1st however, Darlo did have a chance in stoppage time, or at least they thought they did. Thompson outmuscled the Lancaster fullback and was clean through on goal, only for the linesman to pull it back for a soft free kick to Lancaster. Thankfully not long after that the full time whistle went.

Both teams got what they deserved really, a dull solitary point. Apologies if I've bored you with this but that pretty much sums up the game.

To be honest it's tough to pick a man of the match as well but if I had to give it to some one it would be Peter Jameson for Darlo. Made the only saves of the game in a confident debut performance.

Attendance: 594

Impressive performance from Andy Warrington frustrates Darlo

A man of the match performance from the experienced Andy Warrington, earned Buxton a replay against Darlo in a game that was packed full of attacking football, mainly from Darlo.

 

From the off Darlo started the much better, getting the ball down well, freely passing it about and it didn't take long for Darlo's first effort of the match. Steven Thompson jinxed past 2-3 Buxton defenders before unleashing a shot from just outside the box, that had to be tipped over the bar by Warrington in the Buxton net. That effort pretty much set the tone for the 1st half, with Buxton camped in their own half for much of the early stages and it was doing Darlo's corner count no harm! Corner after corner from Galbraith, were constantly causing Buxton's defence problems and the ball was forever having to be scrambled away from danger.

 

Buxton however did eventually manage to settle the game down and have a chance of their own, a cross was put in towards the back post but the effort was wasted and went out for a goal kick. Once again Darlo had another period in which they were on top, after some good work down the line by Dowson the striker managed to pull the ball back for Davis, who hit the ball with some force that would of stung the hands of Warrington, who made the save look easy. Warrington was dealing with chance after chance, a shot across the floor by Edwards was comfortably saved down low and from the resulting corner, the ball went all the way through before being cleared off the line, how darlo weren't already leading was a mystery! The last real chance of the half went to Buxton, only for Bell to brilliantly save down low at the post from a lee Morris header.

 

The first half was very much dominated by Darlo but just like Monday night, chances weren't being converted which was really frustrating.

Into the second half and both teams were getting in some early chances, nothing that caused either keeper real danger up until the 57th minute. A crossed whipped in from the right by Leon Osborne found an unmarked Lee Morris at the back post who, with the goal at his mercy, somehow managed to fire his header over the bar, a massive let off for Darlo!

 

Just 3 minutes later though, Steven Thompson punished Morris's miss with a wonderful solo effort, turning in from the right, Thompson took the ball past 2 defenders before hitting a ferocious shot with his left foot that found the top corner. It was nothing more than what Darlo deserved after dominating long periods of the game, shortly after the restart though, Buxton ceased control of the game.

 

On 64 minutes Bruno Pilatos misjudged a cross and the on rushing Buxton forward toe poked the ball towards home but for a last ditch clearance off the line from Alan white. And just a minute later Darlo were yet again let off the hook, a goal bound shot from Lee Morris, after a corner was swing in from the right, was well blocked by Leon Scott at the back post. Darlo then went straight up the pitch and a powerful effort from Dowson was well saved by Warrington with his legs, but just a minute later Buxton went on the counter and a deflected cross from Buxton full back Grant Black, found Matt Thornhill in the box who bulleted a header past a stranded Mark Bell, into the top corner of the goal.

 

With both teams going for it the match had quickly turned into a game of end to end football, brilliant to watch for a neutral but nerve racking for both sets of supporters. 

 

Thompson was really making Warrington work for his wages this afternoon, the winger got in a couple of decent efforts towards the end, one brought a good save round the post from Warrington and the other, a free kick that just went wide of the goal.

 

Then came the most brutal moment of the game! Thompson took on the defender, got into the penalty box before eventually being brought down under a clumsy challenge, PENALTY TO DARLO IN THE 92ND MINUTE! Up stepped Thompson against Warrington, who remember has had a cracking game so far and what do you think happened? Thompson went to place the ball but Warrington parried the ball away into the path of an on rushing David Dowson, and guess what? Warrington saved the rebound! That turned out to be the last chance of a match that Darlo probably should of won, but for the heroics of Warrington in the Buxton net.

Buxton starting line up: Warrington, Black, Green, Istead, Palmer, Ryan, Thornhill, Stevens (Lugsden 56), Morris, Osborne (Broadhead 90), King

Darlington starting line up: Bell, Pilatos, Scott, White, Hunter, Davis, Edwards,Thompson, Galbraith (J Robinson 64), Dowson, Johnson

Man of the match for me has to be Andy Warrington, single handedly kept Darlo at bay for the full 90 minutes.

 

Attendance: 443

 

The replay will be played this Wednesday night at Heritage Park.

A Great Advert for Non-League Football – Blyth v Ilkeston Evo-Stick Premier

 

First of all before writing this entry, I’d like to just take a moment to offer my condolences to the family of former Blyth Spartans AFC striker Scott Bell, who unfortunately lost his 2 year battle with Motor Neurone Disease last week, at the age of just 35yrs old. The much loved former Blyth frontman had made 125 appearances for the Spartans and had netted 50 times in a stint that spanned 3 years, which included a league and cup treble. In the words of all involved with Blyth Spartans “Rest in peace Bellveccio.”

 

Being a fond lover of non-league football, I’m always on the lookout for an exciting local game that’ll deliver that fix of good football we all crave, so when the opportunity arose to attend Blyth Spartans v Ilkeston in the EvoStick- Premier, once again, there was only ever going to be one answer! Setting off on the 51 mile trip straight up the A1 just after quarter past 5, me and my fellow companion were both looking forward to what on paper, looked an extremely attractive match-up.

Arriving in Blyth about 18:45 the first thoughts that immediately entered my head, was to be honest, grim! Although darkness had already set in, Blyth really gave us both that feeling of being in Boro, not surprising really with Blyth being a harbour town. Unfortunately for us, my little friend here didn’t 100% know where Croft Park was (home of Blyth Spartans) so how do you go about looking for a non-league ground in the middle of an unknown territory? Scan the skyline for floodlights of course! Then vuala! As if by magic we were there.

 

Parking in a street just outside the ground, from first appearances Croft Park looked like a ground packed  full of character and it didn’t disappoint. First things first though, straight to the bar! The club bar at Blyth or shall I say function room, is an extremely spacious, warm, cosy and inviting area. Club bars and social areas at non-league clubs are another massive reason why I have a passion for these leagues, no matter where you go you’re always welcomed into a friendly, family atmosphere and you get that sense of belonging, even as a neutral! Paying an acceptable £10 (which is pretty average for this league) into Croft Park you’re immediately greeted by a sort of mingling area for fans, you have you’re toilets on one side and the Burger van on the other, three guesses where I headed straight away! £3.20 for a decent Cheeseburger and a can of coke was more than satisfying.

Croft park is built up of 4 stands, one large seated stand by the side of the pitch where the dug outs are situated and immediately opposite you have a fairly large covered terrace, which you could probably get a good 400-500 squeezed in to. Behind both goals you have covered terraces covering the full length of the goal line. All in all Croft Park can accommodate around about 4435 (556 seated) spectators.

 

Both teams lined up as follows:

Blyth - Misiweicz, Airey, Purewal, Buddle, Watson, Mullen, Horner, Hubbard, Wearmouth, Davis, Maguire

Ilkeston - Allinson, Baker, Webster, Gordon, Maguire, Storey, Reid, Wilson, Ricketts, Richards, Stokes

Onto the Match!

Before kick off a minutes applause was observed by all in Croft Park in respect of the late Scott Bell.

From the off there was some really good, attractive attacking play on show and it didn’t take long for the first chance of the game to materialise, a shot from Ilkeston’s Kane Richards from just 10 yards out went wide of Blyth’s near post and it didn’t take long for Blyth to punish that miss. Just a few minutes later Aaron Wearmouth burst into the Ilkeston penalty box and was hacked down by Matt Baker, penalty to Blyth in which in form Craig Hubbard duly dispatched into the back of the net. With Blyth 1-0 up Ilkeston immediately went on the lookout for an equaliser and they nearly got it straight away, with a good chance that just couldn’t find the net. However Ilkeston were soon rewarded with one of the best goals I have ever seen! From absolutely nothing, Ilkeston’s Laurie Wilson spotted Blyth’s Michal Misiewicz off his line and he took his chance, from just on the halfway line Wilson unleashed a powerful but speculative shot that had Misiewicz scrambling to get back on his line, but he had no chance and to the delight of the few travelling Ilkeston fans, the effort flew in to the top corner of the goal. Blyth kicked the game back off but in a half full of attacking play, the only one realistic chance before half time fell to Ilkeston’s Jason Stokes who’s chip over an advancing Misiewicz landed harmlessly on top of the net.

 

Into the 2^nd half and immediately Blyth went 2-1 up. A pacey cross into the box by Aaron Wearmouth, who so far for me had looked impressive with his workrate, was met by Danny Maguire who with the flick of his boot, left Allinson in the Ilkeston goal clawing at thin air. And just minutes later Blyth nearly went 3-1 once again through Danny Maguire, his header after a mistake by Allinson was met with a last ditch clearance off the line by Baker. However Danny Maguire did eventually get his second of the night after a cross by Ash Davis found an unmarked Maguire in the 6yrd box with a simple tap in past a stranded Allinson, whose defence had literally gone missing. With the game seemingly all but over, it appeared that Blyth sat back a little which allowed Ilkeston to go in search of a goal that would get them back in the game and it was Blyth’s own lack of concentration that allowed Kane Richards to stroll into the box, only for a clumsy challenge from Lewis Horner gave Ilkeston that lifeline back in to the game from the penalty spot. Aaron Webster stepped up and converted the chance that gave Ilkeston an opportunity to take home at least a point from the game with 15mins still to go. After that though Ilkeston really only created one decent effort on goal which was wasted by James Reid who from only 8yrds out, fired over from a cross by Richards. Blyth held on for the last 15mins to earn a hard fought 3 points.

 

Man of the match for me had to be Aaron Wearmouth. The lanky winger who I’d previously seen play in the colours of Bishop Auckland, had seriously impressed me in the 70mins he did have on the pitch.

Just a quick look into the bar to check up on the latest England score before we set off back home, more than satisfied with what we had seen. Blyth played a lot better than what I had expected and left me in no doubt that this season, could be the season that they make their return to the Skrill North.

Attendance on the night was 311.