Northern Counties East League Easter Hop preview

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Glasshoughton Welfare chairman Phil Riding has praised Northern Counties East League officials ahead of the Easter Hop initiative next week.

Local football enthusiasts will be treated to eight specially-timed NCEL matches over three days – starting with AFC Emley’s Division One home clash with Bottesford Town on Thursday night.

Glasshoughton’s crucial Premier Division clash with local neighbours and fellow relegation strugglers Nostell Miners Welfare is the next fixture on the list – taking place at Leeds Road on Friday morning at 11am. The hop then moves onto matches at Pontefract Collieries, Hemsworth Miners Welfare and Athersley Recreation.

The final three games are the following day and they begin at Bridlington before Pickering Town’s home game with Worksop Paramore then the hop’s final match at Tadcaster Albion on the Saturday night.

Glasshoughton’s average attendance is 66 and the hop is likely to provide bumper crowds and much-needed revenue for the teams involved and Riding is fully in support of it.

“The NCEL officials deserve a lot of credit because they are working ever so hard behind the scenes and it is important their work gets recognised,” he said.

“They have brought recognition to the NCEL League with the Ground-Hop day and I hope they get rewarded with a good day out. It will be a fantastic day and we’re pleased to be recognised by the league and to be involved in the day.

“We believe there will be one to one and half full coaches and anything between 70 and 140 ground-hoppers. So we may get 200 for the game which would be financially welcome income. It is a really positive thing, but let’s not forget that there is a football match to be played and there is a lot at stake in it. It is a mammoth game and the pressure is really on.”  

After four games without a win, Rob Hunter’s men beat Long Eaton United 2-1 after two goals from Darrell Young last Saturday to edge closer to safety. Glasshoughton currently sit in 16^th, six points ahead of Nostell who are four points ahead of the relegation zone.

Weather-permitting, Armthorpe Welfare is next up on Saturday and Riding admits that the trip to Armthorpe and the Ground-hop day clash with Nostell are crucial matches.

“We had a mammoth win on Saturday,” he said. “We hadn’t played well in the last two games against Arnold and Winterton, but we managed to get a good win against Long Eaton and it has given the club a big lift.

“We’re coming down to the business end of the season and we’re on 33 points now and I think we need a couple of wins to be safe. It’s in our hands.

“We have Armthorpe on Saturday which is a winnable game, but the flipside is that if we lose the next two games then the gap closes and the pressure is back on.”

All admissions on the day of the game will be charged £5 as there is no concession price.

However, advance tickets may be purchased for £3.00 from the Club at all Glassshoughton first and second team games before the fixture.

For full list of the Easter Groundhop fixtures and more details see the NCEL website.  

Ex Leeds United man Mark Jackson on why Nigel Adkins is the man to replace Neil Warnock as Whites manager

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Former Leeds United defender Mark Jackson believes Nigel Adkins is the perfect choice to replace Neil Warnock, if the Whites manager steps down at the end of the season.

Jackson, currently assistant manager at Evo Stik Division One North outfit Farsley AFC, played for Scunthorpe United when Adkins was the physio at Glanford Park under Brian Laws.

Adkins, who is believed to be still negotiating his pay-off from Southampton, took over as Scunthorpe manager in 2006 before taking charge at Southampton in 2010.

He led the Saints to back-to-back promotions and into the Premier League and Jackson is convinced that Adkins has the right attributes to lead Leeds.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Nigel for a number of years at Scunthorpe, this was obviously before he went into his managerial post at Scunthorpe and into the public eye,” he said.

“During my time at Scunthorpe when he was the physiotherapist, you could see something in him which has brought him to the managerial table. You saw his philosophy on how he likes his teams to play, his man-management of players and the psychology which is really important.

“He is really positive in everything he does and you see in the interviews he does on Sky Sports that he really is. He’s a forward-thinking manager, a new breed of manager. He is a manager who likes to embrace new ideas and new tactics and not afraid to try something new.

“I think a manager like that is what the game needs now and me being a Leeds supporter, who has been lucky to play for them in the past, I would love to see the days when they were competing in the Premier League back.

“I think a manager of that calibre and a forward-thinking vision would be the man to take them there.”

As a player, Jackson broke through the ranks at Leeds and played 19 times under George Graham in 1997 before moving onto Scunthorpe, Kidderminster, Rochdale and then Farsley in 2007.

He has moved into coaching himself and he points to the success Adkins enjoyed at Southampton as another key reason to why he would like to see him in the Elland Road hotseat.

“There is a lot of luck in management, you drop lucky at the right time, but the way he conducts himself and the way he gets his teams playing is something I like,” he said.

“He gets all his players to buy into what he is doing.

“They may not be the most talented players in the world, with all due respect to them. But if you get them all playing a way and all believing in themselves then you can achieve things. Southampton’s achievements were obviously getting to the Premier League.

“I follow his career and I like what he does and I think Leeds United needs someone like that now.”

Warnock has confirmed in the last few weeks that he won’t be the United manager next season if the club are still in the Championship for the 2013-14 campaign.

Leeds have slipped away from the play-offs in the last two months and Warnock has openly said that he has discussed his successor with the owner GFH Capital.

Leeds and Warnock had huge hopes for promotion this year and Jackson admitted he had believed that Warnock would lead United to promotion.  

“It has not panned out the way they hoped and I thought when Neil Warnock was taken on, he was the right man for the job,” he said.

“He had a track record of getting teams promoted and I remember speaking to someone over the phone and saying that I didn’t think it was a long-term thing to get Neil Warnock in. I don’t think he (Warnock) saw it that way. But for whatever reason it hasn’t panned out this year.

“People talk about budgets, but I do think Leeds suffer from the respect of teams coming to Elland Road, a fantastic stadium, and upping their game every time. And we probably haven’t got the quality of players that we need to get us out of the Championship just yet.

“We still have a chance of the play-offs, but it is slipping away so now might be the time to start thinking about the future.”

Success eludes Farsley AFC after Matlock Town Doodson Sport Cup defeat

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Silverware will elude Farsley AFC for a second consecutive season after the 3-1 Doodson Sport Cup quarter-final defeat at Matlock Town. For a campaign that began with such high hopes, the last eight Evo Stik Division One North games will finish with a whimper when compared with last year’s play-offs charge.

The change to a 4-3-3 system did not work and big-name new signings like defenders Rob Pacey and Aaron Hardy weren’t successful – both had left Throstle Nest by December. Then manager Neil Parsley had to cope with injuries to players such as Simeon Bambrook, Ben Jones and Mark Jackson.

However, while success has not been forthcoming, Parsley is already rebuilding his squad for next season. He has the base of a good defence in James Riley, Ryan Serrant and Matt Dempsey, along with youngster Rob Etherington (pictured above) who had a coming of age at Matlock. Etherington had to cope with Massiah McDonald, a player who Football League are looking at. The striker is a handful and Etherington made some fantastic tackles and showed huge confidence by bringing the ball forward himself at times.

In midfield, the deadwood has been cleared out. Robbie O’Brien (pictured above) is a major signing, having been the backbone of the Bradford Park Avenue for the last few years. Parsley also has classy wingers in Ryan Harrison and Steve Mallory along with Bambrook who is still a class act. Upfront, Gareth Grant is still banging the goals in, but key to next season could be the retention of Adam Priestley, who is on the verge of scoring 30 goals.

More quality is obviously needed and if Parsley can bring those players in, success will come and Farsley will win games like Matlock away. The cup clash on Tuesday night was lost in the first 20 minutes – James Ashmore and Lewis McMahon scoring.

But it should be said that it was a good performance from Farsley in the second half – a 45 minutes which were extremely competitive and provided plenty of entertainment for the 126 watching. The referee adopted an ‘anything goes’ rule with the official deciding not to punish stamps, diving alongside a string of incorrect decisions.

Gareth Grant scored a fine goal to bring Farsley back into the match at 3-1, a couple of minutes after McDonald had headed home Matlock’s third. But, as Farsley tried to find a way back, shots from Harrison, Bambrook and Chris Walton were kept out as Matlock held on to secure a semi-finals spot.

Farsley now have to take their second half performance in Saturday’s trip to New Mills as they look to end their barren run which stands at seven games.

Match highlights below:



Missed Chances Cost Farsley AFC in New Mills Defeat

By James Grayson (Twitter - @jamesAgrayson)

Match Photos

Two goals from Daniel Douglas-Pringle ensured New Mills won the first leg of the double-header Evo Stik Division One North matches with Farsley AFC.

Farsley were desperately unlucky having been the better side, but Neil Parsley’s team will rue the amount of wasted chances.

The result strengthens New Mills’ bid for a top five place and gives them the psychological edge over Farsley when the two sides meet again at Church Lane next Saturday.



The match itself was far from a classic. Despite being low on confidence after five games without a win, Farsley looked dangerous going forward. Adam Priestley had two good chances before scoring on 20 minutes after he rounded the New Mills goalkeeper.

But, Farsley’s frailties in midfield and defence were soon exposed when New Mills equalised just six minutes later. David Fitzpatrick was allowed time and space down the left and he saw his effort cannon back off the crossbar. The home defence failed to react and Douglas-Pringle lashed a strike into the bottom corner past Tom Morgan.

However, apart from the winner and one more chance at the start of the second half when Morgan pulled off a great save to keep the scores level, that was all New Mills had to offer.

 

Farsley had plenty of chances to score. Ryan Harrison went close with a header at the far post. Gareth Grant was guilty of a bad miss after being put through on goal. The striker and Priestley then both had efforts well-saved

And with time drawing to a close, the signs that New Mills would win it were there. They got the goal on 77 minutes. Fitzpatrick was again involved and his whipped cross found Douglas-Pringle waiting who simply headed the ball past Morgan from close range.

While there were negatives, there were a few positives. Among them were the referee's performance. The referee Craig Grundy (pictured above) had a superb game. He had full control of the game and was there on hand for every major decision. All the players respected him and he only needed to show two yellow cards. Craig is an example to all referees young and old on how to referee a football match properly. In a day and age when yellow cards are handed out like confetti, young referees should watch Craig referee and see alternative methods to dishing cards out. If only there were more like him.

From a Farsley perspective, it was a much better display and a win at Matlock Town in the Doodson Cup on Tuesday night will help get the confidence back.



Review: La Cage Aux Folles

By James Grayson (Twitter - @jamesAgrayson)

Wanting to raise the bar was the reason behind why Yeadon Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society’s chose La Cage Aux Folles as their spring production. A brave move, some would say, based on the tools needed like sets, costumes and male dancers. But the decision has been a masterstroke as YAODS have produced a fabulous musical.

Colourful, humorous, mixed with fine acting and memorable musical numbers, such as Gloria Gaynor’s What Are What We Are, La Cage will live long in the memory for years to come. While the two main stars deserve the plaudits, there were superb performances from the whole cast and crew.

The chemistry of the leading men Georges (David Kirk) and Albin/ZaZa (Andrew Walton) ensure that La Cage’s star shines brightly throughout the production.

Kirk, who enjoyed a fantastic stage presence, is magnificent. His never-wavering smile and facial expressions light up the stage and the audience enjoy watching him perform. Walton, who has the harder task of dressing up in drag, is equal to him. Walton, who admitted it was his hardest role yet, is ZaZa, a world-renowned and temperamental drag artist.

The story is easy to follow. Gay couple Georges and Albin are enjoying life running their famous drag club, until Georges’ son Jean-Michel (Rob Durkin) announces his engagement to the daughter (Emma Fearnley) of a far-right politician. Albin is initially told he will have to be ‘uncle Al’ and ‘play it straight’ for when fiancée’s parents come for tea as Jean-Michel’s real mother will be there. In one of the most memorable scenes, Georges tries to teach Albin how to be a straight man and act like John Wayne.

All is going well until Jean-Michel’s mother fails to show which Albin forcing back into the role of ZaZa and become mother. And this is when the comedy reaches boiling point as Georges and Albin try, but fail to act normal towards Dindon (Garth Rookes), who soon sees through them, leading to a hilarious finale.

Alongside Walton and Kirk, the butler Jacob (Greg Silverwood) enjoys the limelight with a marvellous performance as Albin’s faithful ‘maid’. Jacob has his fair share of one-liners and the audience love his role.  

While the main actors take credit, praise should be reserved for the dancers, orchestra and backstage crew who ensured the difficult production went without a hitch. YAODS knew it would be tough, but La Cage has been a huge all-round success.   

Yeadon audiences have been given a treat and La Cage will be a hard act to follow next year when Me and My Girl will be performed at Yeadon Town Hall.

The bar has been set.

Match Report: Leeds United 1-1 Peterborough United

By James Grayson (Twitter - @jamesAgrayson)

Leeds United’s hopes of reaching the Championship play-offs hang in the balance following a disappointing 1-1 draw with relegation strugglers Peterborough United at Elland Road.

A second half equaliser from man-of-the-match Sam Byram rescued a point after in-form Peterborough striker Dwight Gayle had put the visitors ahead on 15 minutes.

And boos rang out at the final whistle as Peterborough finished the stronger side.

The result leaves Leeds five points off the play-offs with only nine games remaining.

Leeds manager Neil Warnock had warned his players not to under-estimate Peterborough and they clearly hadn’t listened as Darren Ferguson’s men made a fine start to the match.

Gayle saw an effort cannon back off the crossbar just minutes before he held off Leeds captain Lee Peltier and fired his shot past Paddy Kenny and into the top corner.

Gayle, who has made an impressive start to life with Peterborough since his move from Dagenham and Redbridge, caused endless problems for Peltier and Tom Lees, who would have to withdraw due to injury in the first half.

His replacement Jason Pearce then wasted four guilt-edge chances in the last 60 minutes – including a close range header when the goal was gaping.

But Leeds knew they could find a way back into the match. The Peterborough defence looked vulnerable and were making careless mistakes.The goalkeeper Robert Olejnik looked a bag of nerves and was suspect with his kicking and throwing ability.

However, forward talisman Steve Morison, double goal-scorer at Crystal Palace, was being kept under lock and key by defender Gabriel Zakuani.

So when Warnock brought off Morison and replaced him with El-Hadji Diouf at half-time, it breathed new life into Leeds. Diouf allowed Leeds to attack with the ball on the ground and this caused Peterborough to start rocking.

And after a few half chances, Leeds scored the equaliser on 57 minutes.

Stephen Warnock’s corner went across goal and teenager Byram, recently linked with Manchester City, connected with the ball with his shin which took the ball over-the-line.

Leeds pressed for the winner, but it was Peterborough who nearly won the game in the closing stages.

Gayle, Kane Ferdinand and Lee Tomlin all got behind the Leeds defence towards the end, but the Whites managed to survive. Gayle also had a decent attempt tipped over the crossbar by Kenny.

Peterborough will look back on the game as two points dropped, while Leeds’ weaknesses were exposed again ahead of a local derby with Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

Theatre Review - God's Official - Harrogate Studio Theatre

By James Grayson (Twitter - @jamesAgrayson)

Don’t kidnap a football referee after a bad decision as they never change their minds. That’s what Degsy (Keith Hukin) and Cliff (Matthew Booth) found out during the botched kidnap of referee Greaves (Stephen Crane) in the excellent God's Official.

Inside the small and cosy Harrogate Studio Theatre, the audience are gripped as Degsy and Cliff struggle to cope with Greaves, who they discover is annoying off-the-pitch as well as on it. There are non-stop laughs throughout the Reform Theatre Company production and Cliff and ringleader Degsy’s description of the ‘goal that was not goal’ gets the play off to a fine start. You almost feel that you are there inside a stadium watching the game.

The decision to kidnap Greaves and make him replay the game comes after Cliff and Degsy’s team are relegated following a controversially disallowed goal. Degsy decides to take matters into his own hands and goes round to the referee’s house (after finding his address in the phone book) and take him hostage. The humour comes out as Greaves describes his kidnapping. He nearly escaped, but forget he had recently had an inside door fitted and knocked himself out on it as he tried to get away, which gets the audience laughing.

Degsy makes Greaves relieve the disallowed goal hundreds of times in an effort to persuade him that it should have been allowed as Cliff stands watching and wishing he wasn’t there. Cliff, who did not want to be involved, tries to walk away on several occasions. But he still ends up driving Degsy and Greaves to a different location in his van, which has his phone number on the side.

The change in place allows Greaves a second escape attempt, but this time he is halted by hilariously halted after sliding on some dog poo. He is then taken to the church for the finale.  

And even as the play looks set to end on a sad note, the play is pulled back from tragedy and ends on a humorous note as Degsy faces up to his crime.

While there are serious moments, God’s Official is a laugh-out comed and for any football fan, it is a must-see. However, there is a disclaimer: don’t follow Degsy and Cliff’s lead if a referee makes a bad decision during your team’s match.

God’s Official runs at Harrogate Studio Theatre until March 16^th.