Stronger Together

Ossett United  3  Brighouse Town  0

Northern Premier League – League Cup

The date was Saturday 4^th May 1996, and the equation was a simple one.

If Belper Town won at Ossett Town, then they would pip Stocksbridge Park Steels to the runners up position in the Northern Counties East League, and because champions Hatfield Main could not go up, then in turn the Nailers would secure promotion to the Northern Premier League.

The day was all about anticipation, two coaches went North up the M1, but ultimately it was to end in bitter disappointment. Ossett, who had nothing to play for, put on a heroic performance and won the game 1-0. The Stocksbridge fans who attended the game, and they travelled in a reasonable number, celebrated wildly at the final whistle.

I always felt that the game meant more to Ossett in the sense that a victory would simply stop Belper going up. Had it been a dead rubber, then the effort and commitment they put in might not have been quite the same, especially when you saw how Ossett celebrated at the final whistle, you would think it was them that had promotion on the line!

Anyway, that was an awful long time ago now, and the feeling of desolation sat behind the goal after the game ended had gone twelve months later when a runners up spot was this time secured, and with Denaby United not eligible for the move upwards, the Nailers had finally made it to the promised land.

Football in Ossett is an interesting story, and one I will try and summarise as best I can.

Historically it’s been about two teams, Town and Albion. There is another in the form of Common Rovers, but that can wait for another day, in fact, I’m not sure they exist anymore, but they did as a West Yorkshire League side many moons ago. I know that because I went to see them!

Anyway, lets start with Albion.

Playing on the South side of the West Yorkshire town, at the very nice set up that was Dimple Wells, we were regular visitors from the mid-Eighties when they were a NCEL side, right up to when Belper got promotion. They joined us for a season in 2001-02 after earning promotion themselves, but were relegated immediately. A couple more years later and they were back, to stay, and stay they did in the First Division North of the NPL. Life in the NPL was predominantly about survival, and that they managed successfully.

Town however was a slightly different story.

Located in the town centre at a ground that is without doubt worth a quid or two, they too were a NCEL side until 1999 when they won promotion. They then had a spell in the First Division of the NPL that saw them achieve a best place runners-up spot, and courtesy of re-structuring in 2004-05, they found themselves elevated to the Premier Division.

Town were different to Albion in the sense that they had some money behind them, and it was this money that meant they could sustain a seven season spell in the top flight, before relegation eventually befell them.

After that, other than a season where they finished fourth in Division One North, like Albion, they were ultimately survivors in Step 4, not looking like going up, but good enough not to go down.

To put it bluntly, the town arguably wasn’t big enough for the both of them, not if they wanted to see Step 3 football and above. Historically, in instances where you get a town like this that has two clubs, the prospect of a merger of any sorts is always the unthinkable. I look at places like Northwich for example, a car crash of a town when it comes to football, when in hindsight, a merger of some sorts with Witton Albion might have stopped the chaos that has been Northwich Victoria and it’s splinter club 1874.

But, from almost out of the blue, it was announced in the Summer of 2018 that the two Ossett clubs were to merge, to form United, and they would play at the Ingfield ground that Town used. It did seem to be well received to be fair, but I’m an outsider looking in, not a dyed in the wool Town or Albion fan, so maybe I’ve got it wrong, I don’t know. The strapline was ‘Stronger Together’, but how would it manifest?

It started well, crowds were up, significantly up in fact, and on the field the club managed  to attain a fifth placed finish in the Eastern Division of the NPL as it was now known. That saw them enter the play-offs but it came to an abrupt end when they lost to Pontefract Collieries, who in turn lost to Brighouse Town, who in turn weren’t promoted anyway due to the farce that was last season.

This season has been tough, the club have been dealt a severe blow courtesy of an opposition player who decided to take legal action against them for an injury he sustained while playing against Ossett. The case was unprecedented, and somewhat alarmingly, ruled against the club. Ossett United were ordered to pay £135,000 in costs and damages, selling the ground to cover the costs is a real possibility.

I’d not been to Ingfield for many a year, probably eight or nine to be precise, and I’d certainly not been to see the Ossett club in it’s new guise, it was time to nip up from work on a Tuesday night and have a look at what was happening.

Ingfield is a cracking little town centre venue. Parking is limited but I arrived early enough to get in the car park at the ground. Once through the turnstiles, which sit to the corner behind the goal, a large seated stand which is directly behind the goal is the focal part of the ground, now painted in blue, as opposed to the red when I last came.

The clubhouse, offices, shop and dressing rooms are on the East side of the ground, with a small area of cover set below the dressing rooms, while on the opposite side of the ground is another similar style area of cover and a TV gantry.

A further area of cover has been added behind the North goal since my last visit, which means the ground now has cover on all four sides. The atmosphere is good, the welcome is friendly and the clubhouse does look to have had a makeover as well. You sense that off the field, up until the court case, they were ready to make the step up, but what the future holds now is anyone’s guess.

This was a League Cup tie against last season’s un-promoted play-off winners Brighouse Town, and to be fair it was a very decent game.

Brighouse started strongly and had chances, but somewhat against the run of play, James Knowles gave the hosts the lead just before the half hour mark.

The crowd of 199 saw Elliot Harrison net a second ten minutes into the second period, and despite missing a penalty after Brighouse had been reduced to ten men, it was indeed Ossett who finished strongly, scoring a third goal in the final minute courtesy of Aaron Haswell.

199 – had that been a Town or an Albion game you probably would have got half of that. The average at Ingfield this season is 352, a figure both clubs in isolation could only have dreamed of in years gone by.

Has the merger been a success, well I would say it has, notwithstanding the court case. But only when they become a stable and sustainable Step 3 club could you really say it’s achieved it’s objective, assuming of course that is where they want to stop, which I can imagine it isn’t. Time will of course tell.

They might be a different name now, but I still consider them to be the club that stopped us going up, but I don’t hold a grudge, all is fair in love, war and football!