Scarborough Athletic 0 - 1 Gresley Fc

A late holiday at North Yorkshire`s Cayton Bay gave Dudsey the double opportunity to take a look at Rudy Funk`s new-look Scarborough Athletic at Queensgate against Gresley Fc.

Sorry there`s no photo`s and about the late posting...not easy with no Wi-fi and bad network coverage (Cheers O2)..!!

A bit of a dash Tbh...we arrived at the caravan at mid-day and had just enough time to un-pack and make the sixteen mile trip back down to Queensgate for the game.

Nice to a see Rudy and have a chat prior to the game. An healthy and expectant crowd of 500plus made for an excellent atmosphere..with a fair few making the 260 mile round trip from Gresley.

An entertaining start to the game saw the Derbyshire visitors take the game to 'The Seadogs', much to the frustration of the home support things weren`t quite going to plan; Boro were creating enough in the way of chances but some excellent defending...especially by Marc Strzyzewski who was keeping Boro honest. 

Both sides sought to make an opening throughout the first half, Ryan Blott and Tony Hackworth spearheaded Boro`s attack whilst lone striker Rob Stevenson battled it out with Dean Oliver providing the support for the visitors, Dudsey was a little lost as to why Royce Turville hadn`t made the starting eleven for Gresley given how many regulars are either injured or unavailable.

Gresley had a decent first half but a lone striker against the quality of Boro`s defence was always going to be a big ask. With neither Goalkeeper hardly having to break sweat in the first half changes for the second half looked a dead cert, unfortunately for Gresley the change came sooner than expected as Oliver pulled up with what.appeared to be his hamstring five minutes before the interval.

The introduction of Turville seemed to make the difference...with two strikers upfront Gresley began to look far more incisive than they had in the opening period; although it might have been a different story had Ryan Blott converted a cracking opportunity which was well collected by Derby County loanee keeper Ross Etheridge.

Gresley continued to absorb Boro`s advances which were mainly created by the excellent mid-field duo of Bryan Hughes and Peter Davidson under the watchful eye of Gresley`s mid-field Sheriff Jepson but Boro`s two frontmen looked a little short of idea`s in-front of goal to the point were Rudy decided to change the format, replacing Blott and Hackworth with Lewis Clarkson and Tyler Colishaw.

Eventually the visitors managed to break free with Turville teeing up a beautifully weighted pass into the path of Spencer who confidently slipped the ball beyond the incoming Jason White. Gresley...high on the strength of the goal continued to push and Spencer should have put the game beyond doubt as his excellent shot fizzed over White`s crossbar.

With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Scarborough threw the kitchen sink into the dying minutes with the new front pairing of Clarkson and Colishaw looking lively but to their credit 'The Moatmen' hung on to take a gutsy and determined victory.

Not a great performance from Boro but nevertheless you can see that Rudy has assembled a decent squad who no-doubtedly will be competitive at Step 4.

Good Luck to Rudy and his `Seadogs` for the rest of the season.

Teams- Scarborough : White, Plummer, Ridley, Milne, Denton, Davidson, Bolder, Hughes (c), Blott, Bradshaw, Hackworth. Subs - Clarkson, Colishaw, Greening, Bennett, Cook.

Gresley : Etheridge, Johns, Harrison, Strzyzewski, Barrett (c), Graves, Lyons, Jepson , Oliver, Spencer, Guy. Subs - Hanslow, Turville, Grice, James, Fitzhugh.

Attendance - 518

Admission £8

Eastwood Town 3 - 0 Market Drayton Town

I must come clean and admit to a bit of free-loading today, Dudsey has been kindly invited to today`s game by Steve Peat...Eastwood`s Vice Chairman. Since Peaty rang me I`d been scratching my head all week as to when it was when I last visited Coronation Park and Tbh I`m still stumped as to when it was..?

It`s fair to say 'The Badgers', once a Conference North side have had a fair few problems in recent years both on and off the pitch.and have hopefully found a level where they are able to be competitively strong once again, starting their new season in the Evo-Stik Division 1 South.

Despite the events of recent seasons there seems to be an sense of anticipation that there could be a chance of something to celebrate other than a decent run in the Notts Senior Cup for the first time in a few seasons.

Market Drayton enter the new campaign as established regulars, enjoying their fifth season at Step 4 since gaining promotion as the Midland Football Alliance champions in the 2008-9 season; since joining they have predominantly finished in the lower half of the league.Rumours of Pascal Chimbonda putting in an appearance for the visitors were quickly dismissed as Dudsey peers at today`s team-sheet. Ah well...!!

Looking at the team line-ups there seems to be a lot of activity in the summer transfer market with several new faces added to both squads.

With ten minutes to the kick off Dudsey slopes off to the Tea-bar to try one of these local Meat & Potato pie's Peaty has tipped me off about that are lovingly made by a local Butcher, I can honestly say in all my years of sampling football stadia pie's these babies should carry a royal seal of approval...crammed full of Steak and chunks of New Potato... Devine.!! and a must for any travelling fan.

The game get`s off to a decent start with both sides enjoying several good breaks, Dorryl Proffitt and Jannick Makota seem to be leading the advances up front for Market Drayton with some decent supply work by Kayledon Brown and Rob Stevenson and as the game settles down it`s the visitors who seem to be enjoying a good spell of early pressure.

Forced back into their own half for a while, Anthony Newton and Tyrone Burton find themselves in a bit of a busy spell but Newton looks well up for it and is keeping the Market Drayton strikers at bay. The visitors enjoy a fair amount of corners but Alex Malong in goal looks comfortable with the set piece.

'The Badgers' start to pose a threat as Burton and Tristan Whitman enjoy a couple of decent runs in down the right wing and manage to supply Kieran Wells and Ash Robinson with some decent in-balls for Eastwood.

Both Malong and Damien Stevens look comfortable in each sides No1 Shirt and produce a couple of fine saves apiece to keep the game goalless. The first half remained an end-to-end affair and could easily have gone either way but it`s 'The Badgers' who get the break as Whitman finds himself in enough space to slot home from close range with five minutes of the first half remaining.

Market Drayton get the second half rolling and before the teams had time to settle into any sort of rhythm Carl Slater falls awkwardly, immediately the screams of pain from Eastwood`s No 6 left no-one under any doubt that the lad had suffered a bad injury. For fear of causing him any more discomfort than he`s already in, he is covered and consoled by his team-mates and staff whilst the ambulance arrives.

After a thirty minute break the game is resumed....Dudsey get`s to thinking what effect such unfortunate events have upon the players and how it affects the manner in which the remainder of the game is played, anyway the game does continue but Market Drayton seem to be struggling to getting back into the rhythm of  the game as they had in the first half, Eastwood once again seize the chance and double their lead through Ashley Robinson around the seventy minute mark.

Looking slightly beleaguered by Eastwood`s second Market Drayton start to look slightly second best despite some valiant efforts by Proffitt and Makota. Any chance of a of resurrection for the visitors were quashed only ten minutes later as Kieran Wells' strike puts the game beyond their reach..3-0 with fifteen minutes left.

Despite a very unfortunate 30 minute pause in the game, both sides played out a good contest and although the result speaks for itself, the difference between the sides wasn`t really three goals. Malong was in fine form for The Badgers, and the stoppage did seem to take the wind out of Market Drayton`s game but on the day Eastwood were just a little more clinical where it mattered.

My Men of the Match - Eastwood - Alex Malong...a fine goalkeeping performance. Market Drayton - Yannick Makota...Classy Forward.


Click Here for Match Pictures


Teams  Eastwood - Malong, Burton, Riley, Hurren (c), Newton, Slater, Whitman, Craven, Wells, Robinson, Munn.  Subs - Simmons, Gowring, Shaw, Whyman, Garner.

Market Drayton - Stevens, Jones, Ting, McMullen (c), Hall, Campbell, Stevenson, Blake, Brown, Makota, Proffitt.  Subs - Westray, McCalla, Fox, Crawford, Hawcroft.

Atttendance - 145

Admission - Complementary

News on Carl Slater is he suffered a dislocated elbow and is at back home.Wishing him a speedy recovery.

Ps, Cheers Peaty Lad..!!

Shirebrook Town 0 - 0 Pontefract Collieries

With the PSF's well and truly put to bed, it's time to see what all the training, signings and strategies translate into in the much awaited 2013/14 season.

Ex Hallam manager, Julian Watts has now taken the helm at Shirebrook since Mark Shaw's appointment at Worksop Town. Speaking to Watt's a couple of weeks ago, he seemed very optimistic and from what I've seen recently in a couple of Town`s friendlies...he has every reason to be.

Assisted by two very experienced players in Mark Camm and Danny Bacon, the benefits of mixing youth and some sound experience looks to be paying dividends both on and off the pitch.

With both of today`s Clubs mooted as potential promotion candidates in the Ncel Division 1 curiosity had the better of me, making this fixture the first game of the new campaign. Pontefract will be keen to get off to a good start and hopefully improve on their fifth spot finish to last season, just one place above Shirebrook..hence Dudsey's interest in today's fixture.!!.

A big mention to all the staff behind the scenes who have made some major improvements at Langwith Road, one side of the ground is now totally covered, new turnstile's have been installed and the place has a very fresh feel about it.

On the face of it 0-0 sounds like a pretty boring opener to anyone`s season but both sides played some decent football. Watts has instilled some fine one touch football into Shirebrook`s game whilst Pontefract always looked dangerous on the break.

Shirebrook got the game of to a start and both sides looked fairly evenly matched, both defences looked tight with the towering figure of Ross Henshaw having the aerial dominance in Shirebrook`s box. Pontefract also seem well organised through Michael Staley and the watchful eye of Craig Robinson who didn`t miss much.

Aaron Moxam looked nippy going forward but Staley had got him well pegged down...if not a tad too clingy at times. Pontefract had a penalty shout dismissed, ball to hand...hand to ball, either way the Ref was having none of it, something he failed to acknowledge for both sides on numerous occasions during the game.

Moxam had a golden opportunity of Town`s first half just before the break as he eventually managed to beat Ponte's efficient off-side trap, one on one with the Craig Parry he ran on a little to close leaving his chipped shot just within the grasp of Ponte`s No1. Town went close again as Craig Getliff`s shot came rattling back off the woodwork...All square at half-time.

Shirebrook came out the brighter of the two sides in the second half and had two or three decent chances early on but the balance of play soon evened out as the half progressed. Ponte's defence and the well capable Parry managed to keep Town`s advances bay. Whilst at the other end Shirebrook`s defence was also still unrepentant at succumbing in the final third.

Quick on the break and hungry for an opener the visitors got their second half rolling in the middle quarter with Liam Radford and Nathan Perks spearheading Ponte`s advances. Their finest chance came as Andrew Catton struck a lovely ball from distance and looked every inch a goal heading into the top left-hand corner only for Joe McCormack to pull of a fine save.

Shirebrook took to switching tactics and the flow of the game changed again, Ben Cobley and Matt Thompson took advantage of ample space down the right flank, pressing deep into the visitors half chances started to materialise again, much to the concern of some dignitaries from Pontefract to Dudsey`s left.

Shirebrook`s best chance of the second half fell to the feet of Ben Cobley, a challenge just outside the box saw the home-side awarded a free-kick, the pacey wing-back struck a sweet shot only for Parry to pull off another fine save..pushing it just wide of his left hand stick.

Pushing for a goal, Shirebrook kept knocking but the difference between goal`s conceded and a clean sheet was Craig Parry. Ponte took advantage of Shirebrook`s push for a goal and hit Town on the break on a few occasions but good defending from both sides saw the game finish goal-less.

Not an ideal start for an opening game from supporter or a neutral in search of goals and although the points were shared both sides played some attractive and enjoyable football. Shirebrook enjoyed a few more clear-cut chances on goal than the visitors, whilst they could argue a denied penalty shout didn`t help their cause today.

Either way, a decent enough game of football from two sides who I am sure will figure in the Top 5 come the end of the season.

My Men of the Match - Shirebrook - Ben Cobley (excellent on and off the ball). Pontefract - Craig Parry (the difference between clean sheets and goals conceded).

Click here for Match Pictures

Attendance - 147

Admission - £4