Shirebrook Town 3 - 1 Staveley Mw - Ncel League Cup 3rd Rnd

Not initially planned but the thoughts of watching 'The Brits' was enough to flush Dudsey out of the house, even in sub zero temperatures.

Jokes aside..I`ve been meaning to get to Shirebrook to see what sort of squad Mark Shaw was assembling at Langwith Road since his departure from Sheffield Fc, which if I`m honest I think has been to Sheffield`s detriment on current form.

The place seems to have re-gained it`s buzz since his arrival and rightly so, he`s currently raised them from a club who were floundering near the foot of the table to second in the league, hot on the heels of Athersley Recreation for promotion to the Ncel Premier Division.

Staveley on the other hand have had a tumultuous couple of months due to problems off the pitch, which see`s them fielding just one member of what was for me a very promising squad.

It`s initially a bitterly cold evening with a cutting breeze wafting over the ground from the changing room end, gladly the wind eased off and it didn`t seem too bad, (“cold enough mind”).

Shirebrook started off with a side of mixed experience enabling Shaw to access some of his up and coming stars and tbh they knock the ball about nicely and seldomly looked in any real danger of coming second.

Not to knock Staveley`s efforts, a team made up primarily from the reserves and U19`s, you could tell the lads had played together and they looked as comfortable going forward as they did coming back with some good fluid movement down the wings.

Towns strikers, Jordan Lemon and Kyle Jordan are seriously quick lads and in Ant Rowley they probably have one of the best wide players in the league for me.They are at Staveley from the off but the visitors don`t look too rattled and remain composed across the back. Initially it`s pretty good end-to-end stuff in the opening ten minutes, but once the home-side had settled down they start to look the more dominant of the two sides.

Antony Rowley

Ryan Damms looks his usual self for Staveley and poses a threat on a few occasions with some decent link play with Finlaw and Watters, but the pace of Lemon, Jordan and Rowley has the visitors back-peddling on numerous occasions and it`s Shirebrook`s skipper Danny Williams who opens the account in the thirteenth minute.

The visitors dust themselves down and get on with the game but the first half is in Shirebrook`s hands and despite some decent attempts to break forward a second goal just on the stroke of half-time via Lemon adds extra pressure for the hope of a revival in the second half. 

Staveley`s Ryan Damms

Staveley do raise a very commendable second half performance, Damms missed an absolute sitter after doing some tremendous work to create himself an opportunity around the hour mark, and if it had gone to 2-1 it would probably have spiced things up even a little more for the visitors.

Unfortunately Kyle Jordan`s and Shirebrook`s third goal with quarter of an hour remaining sealed the tie although Damms did manage to deprive the home-side of a clean-sheet with ten minutes left to play, 3-1 at the whistle. 

A fairly comfortable win for Shirebrook in the end but full credit to Staveley`s youngsters who under the guidance of Neil Cluxton, made a decent enough game of it.

Hopefully Mark Shaw and his side can go on and secure a place in the Ncel Premier for next season and Staveley will get a turn of fortune in the not too distant future.


My men of the Match - Shirebrook, Ant Rowley - Staveley, Ryan Damms


Teams : Shirebrook - Hallam, Ludlam, Rowbotham, E Wall, M Wall, Hemsley, Lemon, Jordan, Williams, Rowley, Holland. Subs- Mullen, Forbes, Cardwell, Barnett, Husbands.

Staveley - Dewberry, Forbes-Chambers, Jones, Tomlinson, Vickers, Lindley, Smith, Gee-Pemberton, Damms, Finlaw, Watters. Subs- Ellis, Naughton, Emson, Barrett.


Admission -£4 

Attendance -141 (A very decent turn out given the temperature)