Staveley Mw 3 - 2 Ashton Athletic - FA Vase 2nd Round Qualifier

With little to cheer about in the league...Dudsey's hoping that Staveley's previous form in the FA Vase would re-appear at Inkersall Road this afternoon. I'm pretty sure there isn't going to be many more Saturday afternoon's like today in 2013, ridiculously warm with a real summer feel about it.

With the turmoil of last season out of the way, the task of rebuilding a squad able of competing in the Ncel Premier Division isn't something you can conjure up overnight, but on this afternoon's showing things are heading in the right direction for Chairman...Terry Damms and Manager Neil Cluxton.

As any Step 5 outfit would, both Staveley and Ashton Athletic would both welcome the financial benefits of a good run in the Vase, the additional funds can impact greatly on how the season pans out come next May. 

There's a few new faces in the Staveley side since I took a look at them pre-season, Jordan Turner who showed great promise in Shirebrook Town's friendlies now partners the very lively Jonathan Wafula, boosted by the towering figure of Nathan Benger offering some great support play. 

An evenly matched start to the game came to an abrupt end as Jas Colliver gifted the ball to Ashton's Ryan Small who made no mistake in capitalising upon his good fortune, beating Laurence Matthewson from close range with seven minutes on the clock.

Despite the shock of conceding so early on in the game, Staveley pressed on from the re-start with Josh Scully running the right-flank and causing the visitors a heap of trouble. Turner and Wafula looked dangerous on every break, a constant supply of decent balls in from Scully, Matt Thorpe and Benger gave the front pairing plenty to work with and Turner quickly squared the game within five minutes of Ashton's opener from Jamie Smith`s inch perfect pass.

Scully and Wafula's wide play had the visitor's on the back foot but there seems to be far too much space for Ashton's quick footed No11... Adam Howard, who soon became the chosen route in for the visitors given the amount of room he his creating for himself out on the left wing but after his initial mistake, Colliver and Smith seem to be coping well in defence.

Staveley continued to look dangerous on every break and even though Turner get's caught out with the off-side flag on a few occasions it was a matter of time before he managed to sneak in unhindered behind Paul Casey off Scully's excellent through ball which allows him to cut in and beat Steve Dryden from a decent angle...ten minutes after his first goal.

Whilst the remainder of the half looked to be in Staveley`s control, Ashton didn`t look as though another goal was beyond them and it remained tightly balanced up until the interval, 2-1at half-time.

If there`s ever a good time to get a goal, the opening minutes of the second half for me is as good a time as any and that`s how the second half started for the home-side. A scything tackle just outside the area gave Josh Scully the opportunity to take a pop at Dryden`s goal from an ideally positioned free-kick, with a decent run in from the left of ball, he produces a peach of an in-swinger which nestles into the top right hand corner...3-1.

High on confidence, Staveley continued to stroll into Ashton`s half, usually down the left via Wafula and Turner. With the game seemingly over as far as the visitors were concerned an off the ball incident resulted in a bit of a Melee as players from both sides dived in. Three Red cards are produced by Mr Munday resulting in Ashton`s Edwards and Casey along with Staveley`s Jake Vernon taking an early shower.

At 3-1 up and with an extra pair of legs you would have thought it would be a stroll to the finishing line for Staveley...far from it..!! For whatever reason  the punch-up seems to have given the visitors a new lease of life and after several decent breaks from Howard and Connor Anderson from wide-out left and a series of corners they manage to pull another goal back off of Ryan Small`s head from the set piece.

With a nerve twitching fifteen minutes left to the final whistle, Staveley manage to hold the opposition off and get to the final whistle a goal to the good and with eight hundred quid in the bank.!!

Over the ninety minutes Staveley looked good for the win although Ashton gave it their all after the Melee and could have grabbed a late equaliser. Going forward..I think Mssr`s Turner, Wafula and Scully will no doubt be giving a few more sides the run-around.


My Man of the Match - Hard to call given the talent going forward for Staveley today and an excellent performance by Skipper...Jamie Smith, but for his two well taken goals...it has to be Jordan Turner..!!


Click here for Match Pictures


Teams - Staveley Mw : Matthewson, Hague, Trench, Scully, Colliver, Beatson, Smith (c), Thorpe, Benger, Turner, Wafula. Subs : Damms, Vernon, Foyle, Nightingale, Butt.

Ashton Athletic : Dryden, Edwards, Casey, Wood, Rolands, Latham (c), Lawrence-Forbes,Kay, Small, Anderson, Howard. Subs : Hull, Burbidge, Gallaway, Green, Holden

Attendance - 116

Admission - £5

Good luck to Staveley in the next round of the FA Vase and to Ashton Athletic for the remainder of their season.

Dronfield Town 1 - 1 Clipstone Fc

What was forecast to be a pretty dismal day has turned out to be a quite pleasant afternoon at the 'Stonelow Playing Fields' and although Dudsey`s  no stranger to this `Neck of the Woods` I have to admit to never visiting Dronfield Town's ground before.It`s a Majestic little set-up with great potential should they progress even further up the pyramid

Newly promoted as Champions from the Central Midlands North Division last season, they saw off promotion rivals Afc Mansfield with an impressive 24 game winning run and also took the bragging rights by beating them 1-5 in their own back yard.

Since promotion life in the Ncel for Dronfield seems to be something of a 'Baptism of Fire', having only picked up one point from their opening seven league games.

Having dropped the 'Miners Welfare' tag for the 2013/14 season, Clipstone having finished in eleventh position last season seem to have found stability within the Ncel and now have set themselves a realistic target of promotion to the Premier Division, aided by the guidance of Chairman...Brett Marshall who's certainly no stranger as to what's required to achieve great things on a low budget, having took Retford United to the pinnacle of the Ncel in the 2011/12 season.

A bit of a Football Faux Pas this afternoon...both sides struggled to produce the game all in attendance anticipated and although there were brief spells of decent play. Between that and a Ref who would have been more suited to an Under 11's kick-about, he went out of his way to reduce the game to possibly the hardest forty five minutes of football I`ve seen this season.

Dronfield started off quite brightly through some decent play between Nick Horsfield, Dan Wood and Lewis Naylor and looked as though they meant business. Pete Stubley, Kieron Watson and Ian Hillier are trying to make some headway for the visitors but Stuart Hill is doing a sterling job as a makeshift Sweeper, he`s produced a string of finely timed tackles to deny their advances.

After the first twenty minutes the remainder of the first half was played out with both Keeper`s hoofing  it over the top and hoping someone would have the initiative to pick up the scraps. Needless to say it went into the interval 0-0.

Half-Time...and refreshments have to be obtained from Coal Aston`s Cricket Club Tea-Room, with no hot food available it`s a Cheese Sandwich and a Tea, all for the Princely sum of £1.50. It`s turned out to be a glorious afternoon as the sun beats down. Dudsey sits and takes in a couple of overs during the interval, Coal Aston`s second XI are 148 for 4 off of 34 overs.

Back down the steps to the touchline in the hope of a better second half, Dudsey catches Marsh coming out of the changing room...he`s shouted himself horse in his half-time rant at his under performing team.Despite his words of wisdom, Dronfield look the brighter of the two sides in the opening spell.

The Ref is still getting it seriously wrong, the bookings must now have exceeded the corner-count and it seems inevitable that the chance of both teams finishing with eleven men is next to none.

Eventually, the visitors start to find their feet, although a goal from either side still seems a mile away. Dudsey`s having a chat with Mr Clipstone...Barry Clarke, he say`s he feels sorry for anyone who had paid to watch the game today (Cuckoo..."that`s me").

Jokes out of the way it`s starting to look more like a game of football in the second half. Dronfield`s Tom Carnall is having an excellent second half and has missed nothing, he`s virtually managed to stop nearly all of the visitors advances single handed.

Watson finds himself with plenty of space in-front of goal and should have buried it only to lose out with his final touch. Eventually the first inevitable second booking comes as Dronfield`s skipper...Ashley Rawson is given his marching orders. A man to the good, Clipstone start to look the dominant side but Carnall is still hell-bent on keeping the door firmly shut.

Stubley, Watson and Hillier are determined to turn the one man deficit into a result, a quick break from the right finds Stubley heading towards Nick Siddons' goal, only to be up-ended by the No1 shirt, Mr Evans awards the penalty but neither cautions him or even has a word. Rob Paling places the ball on the spot and drills the ball low and hard towards the bottom right-hand corner but Siddons is right on it and makes a fine save.

The game continues to gain some sort of momentum...the home-side are managing to make the odd break and a foray down the left-flank results in Paling clattering into Dronfield`s Callum Mawby, it`s his second yellow and it`s down to ten men for the visitors as well.

Thinking they might have blown their chance with the man advantage, Clipstone get a break and make a charge towards goal and in the dying minutes Watson puts 'The Cobra`s' ahead from Stubley`s well timed ball. Thinking 'Lady Luck' had gifted them with a fortuitous three points the visitors are caught napping from the re-start and in the time it takes Dudsey to Tweet the goal, Dronfield have got the ball in the back of Ed Eley`s net through Mawby... unbelievable,1-1 on practically the last kick of the ball.

Perhap`s it`s been an off-day for both sides but it`s definitely been hard on the eyes this afternoon, a much needed point for Dronfield, no doubt Marsh will be seething that what looked like a definite three points in the dying minutes was squandered so cheaply from the re-start.


My Man of the Match - Tom Carnall (a faultless defending display)


Click here for Match Pictures


Teams - Dronfield : Siddons, Hemsley, Butler, Rawson, Carnall, Hill, Whitehead, Mawby, Naylor, Horsfield, Wood. Subs - Gange, Ashton, Roberts, Fordham.

Clipstone - Eley, Paling, Shaw, R.Austin, Pride, M.Austin, Hillier, Carty, Watson, Stubley, Millington. Subs : Hales, King, Webster, Allan.

Attendance - 68

Admission - £3

Sheffield Fc 3 - 1 Market Drayton Town

All week I`d got Ilkeston Fc v Witton Albion pencilled in...so what`s Dudsey doing at The BT Stadium.."we`ll call it a marital compromise".!! 

Joking aside, it`s always nice to see Stuart James (Jamesie), Sheffield Fc`s Press Officer for an afternoon of footie and light hearted banter with the his regular crew in Copnell`s Corner..(it`s invitation only..!!).

I took a look at Market Drayton the other week at Eastwood and was initially impressed with their first half performance, especially Yannick Makota who wreaked havoc on and off the ball. Unfortunately the visitors arrive in Dronfield manager-less as Lee Ebden`s tenure was terminated earlier on in the week.

Dudsey`s grieved to see the Catering Wagon that had been knocking out what had to be the league`s largest (and possibly finest) Burgers for seasons on end is no longer situated near the half-way line, Jamesie informs me the Lady said she was struggling to make it pay... "it was very popular and I struggle to believe she couldn`t make it pay on an average crowd of 200 plus..!!". 

Sheffield are boosted by the return the key central defence pairing of Jamie Hadfield and Richard Stirrup plus a few last minute signings, no doubt they will be looking to build on their one league triumph this season at home against Lincoln United.

Quick out the traps..Makota catches the Club lads napping and puts Drayton in front with a well executed finish in the fourth minute.The remainder of the half is pretty much an even-steven affair with both sides creating some good opportunities. Rob Stevenson and Makota are pressing on for MDT whilst Purkiss, Gascoigne and Steve Woolley look to test Callum Burton`s integrity in the visitors goal.

It`s all being played at a good pace and although there`s plenty of chances the mid-field battle is becoming a little scrappy and frustrations are turning into a few niggly spats, Andy Gascoinge`s advances are drawing the Drayton players into a few missed-timed one`s and tempers starts to boil over a bit in the final ten minutes of the first half. 

Another player to stand out for Market Drayton is their No 6...Ednilson Gomes,  who looks very well established both going forward and very solid at defending.

Still irked by an earlier incident, Kyle Blake is shown a straight red for lashing out in an off-the-ball incident which very few people saw, with Gascoigne picking up a caution for his involvement, 0-1 at half-time.

With a man extra, the Sheffield faithful are hoping to turn the advantage into a victory in the second half and it`s only a matter of minutes before Gascoigne has squared the game...1-1 in the fifth minute of the re-start.

Sniffing a victory is up for grabs, Sheffield push forward at every opportunity, usually supplied by  some excellent distribution from Steve Woolley yet strangely enough Makota, Stevenson and Matthew Campbell still manage to pose a threat..(Jamesie`s crew have developed a soft spot for Makota`s skill...he`s quality).

Waves of pressure from the lads in red finally break the deadlock as Sheffield take the lead through Mark Fereday just after the hour with a neat finish from the right-hand side of the box. Increasingly in control as the game progresses, Sheffield decide to give the bench a chance to stretch their legs. Joel Purkiss and Zeph Thomas take to the field and both start to trouble Market Drayton`s defence.

Makota`s still not done yet and continues to display some flashes of brilliance between Sheffield`s sortie`s but with a man light it`s only a matter of time before the home-side get another quick break and it`s Zeph Thomas this time who skips in from wide right to put the game beyond doubt with just over five minutes remaining....3-1.

With little left to offer that`s how it finished up, a comfortable win for for the home-side against a disadvantaged but spirited Market Drayton team. Thanks to Jamesie for allowing Dudsey to help select Sheffield`s 'Man of the Match'.

Click here for Match Pictures

My Men of the Match : Sheffield - Steve Woolley (excellent display and looking back to his best), and for Market Drayton - Yannick Makota (pure class...shame Blake spoilt his chance to really shine this afternoon).

Teams - Sheffield : Annerson, Turner, Hill, Burrell (c), Hadfield, Stirrup, Algar, Gascoigne, Fereday, Gregory, Woolley. Subs - Purkiss, Williams, Pemberton, Rithven, Thomas.

Market Drayton : Burton, Jones, Ting, Breeze, McMullen (c), Gomes, Stevenson, Blake, Makota, Campbell, Fox. Subs - Ruane, Crawford, Davies, Hall, Westray.

Attendance - 339

Admission - £7