Sheffield Fc 0 - 2 Leek Town

Having looked at the local fixtures earlier on in the week, there`s only two games which catch my eye....Staveley Miners Welfare are at home to Parkgate in the Ncel Prem whilst Sheffield Fc are at home to Leek Town in the Evo-Stik Division 1 South.

Saturday Morning, it`s grey and drizzling outside.."Can I really be arsed with standing outside on a damp, freezing cold Saturday afternoon for two hours"..."Not really" and as much as I thought I had made my mind up...come twenty to three I find myself on the A61 ...So Sheffield v Leek it is.

It`s the first time I`ve visited the BT Local Stadium since the departure of Sheffield`s ex-boss Curtis Woodhouse...Just to wish Curtis all the best and hope his preparation for his re-scheduled title fight against Shayne Singleton in Manchester on March 8 is going well.

Looking at today`s team-sheet, there also seems to be a few changes amongst the playing staff, with only half a dozen of Curtis` side lining up today. Lee Cooksey has re-joined the club from Rainworth Mw and Jordan Eagers has made a step up the pyramid from Staveley.

Young Jack Waddle..(son of Chris, who`s here today somewhere) is on loan from Chesterfield whilst Leek`s line up looks pretty consistent with previous match reports from the Evo-Stik website over recent months.

The game gets underway but it`s hardly a thriller, the pitch is very heavy and Leek are inviting Sheffield to take the initiative. Jack Waddle has the opening shot on goal followed by a couple of decent chances for Jon Muldoon which could have seen `Club` take an early lead but once 'The Blues' found their rhythm they set about their business in a very organised manner.

'The Blues' seemed to have all area`s well covered under the watchful eye of  skipper George Melling who`s no nonsense approach to defending kept Sheffield`s advances to a minimum in the opening half hour. Jamie Hadfield is working his socks off to try and keep Tim Grice at bay but he`s not getting much help..!!

Danny Smith was immaculate all game but in the first half he was untouchable, spearheading nearly everything Leek conjured up...not bad for a right-back..!!, Dan Shelley and Tim Grice were at hand to gratefully accept Smith`s quality through-balls, his constant probing deep down into Sheffield`s half was causing them a heap of problems. Sheffield get the odd break here and there but aren`t doing much damage in the final third of the park.

A fifteen minute spell of pressure saw the visitors take the game under control and a very scruffy attempt to clear the ball in a very congested box gifted Peter Wright the chance to prod the ball beyond Liam Flynn, 0-1 with ten minutes remaining of the first half. Leeks second goal came in the dying seconds of the half as Matt Bell laid a decent cross for Grice to tap home from close range, 0-2 at half-time.

Sheffield make two changes in the interval and came out brightly for the first five minutes of the second spell but the visitors soon regain control of the game and looked odds on to increase their first half lead. Sanders and Grice are running young Waddle ragged down the right flank where the ball is being duly collected by Wright who had a least three decent chances to put the game to bed, but ironically 0-2 was to be the final score.


All in all a pretty poor game on show for the home supporters. Leek were by far the better of the two teams, crisper passing and thoroughly more organised on a pitch which was really heavy in places. 

On the face of it, this a probably one of the worst performance`s I`ve seen by a Sheffield side for quite a while, gone has the cutting edge, the usually robust mid-field looked lacking and the steely determination which has seen them not only retrieve a deficit, but to turn it into a victory was nowhere to be seen today.


My Men of the Match; Leek - Danny Smith (immaculate) and in defence for Sheffield, Jamie Hadfield ("he can`t do it all on his own though")

Teams - Sheffield -Flynn, Turner, Waddle, Burrell, Hadfield, Cooksey, Eagers, Stirrup, Muldoon, Forbes-Swindells, Woolley (c). Subs, Powell, McKenzie Taylor, Al-Hakam, Roney

Leek  - Chapman, Sanders, Smith, Melling(c), Thomas, Hall, Bell, Shelley, Wright, Grice, Danylyk.  Subs; Peach, Hadrell, Urwin, Brannen, Roberts. 

Attendance - 225

Admission - £6      

Burger with Onions (Beef hopefully!!) £2.30