Reminiscence

Concord Rangers  0  Millwall  4

Friendly

My pal Derek has lived in lots of places.

Currently residing in Nottingham, he’s also set up base in places such as Cambridge, Maidstone, Bromley, Surrey, Grays and indeed a place called Yoshkar-Ola which for those uninitiated is around 500 miles East of Moscow.

But, most importantly, where was he born and raised? Canvey Island, that’s where, until the floods came in 1953 and they were forced to up sticks. Derek, deep down, is an Essex boy, he may not have the spray tan or the white Merc, but he’s Essex through and through, so much so, to this day he will still eat jellied eels straight from the Thames estuary, the sick man!

I made Derek a promise at the end of the season, I was going to go and watch a game at Concord Rangers, and as a thank you for his generosity to me over the past twelve months, I promised to take him to the town, and back to the place he has such fond memories of.

Bingo, a pre-season friendly against Millwall on the first Saturday of July looked as good an opportunity as any, and with a kick off at 1pm we decided to make an early start and take advantage of the glorious weather and spend some time on the sea front.

An 8am start from Casa Jarvis saw us pulling into a car park on the sea front at around 10.45am, and that gave us ample opportunity to wander over to Sue’s Café, past the various eateries and amusements, to take on board a hearty breakfast and a cuppa.

Derek has fond memories of the place, pointing out various landmarks and remarking on what used to be where, but what I wanted to do was have a walk up the steep slope onto the wall that has been built to protect Canvey from the storm and tidal surges that wreaked so much death and destruction.

Canvey is like Holland, much of it is below sea level, so having an adequate defence facility is critical to prevent any kind of repeat. Once we were stood on the wall looking out towards Sheerness and the Isle of Sheppey, its’ hard to imagine what it must have been like when the water quite literally rose in a matter of minutes and spread into the streets and homes.

With the sightseeing done and a game to go to we got back on the road and followed the route around the coast, past the street Derek was born in, and onto Thames Road which leads to the home of National League South outfit Concord Rangers.

So, what are Concord all about?

It seems the name Concord comes from a beach, which sits slightly West of Canvey sea front, and the club itself are a relatively young creation having been formed in 1967.

The Beachboys joined the Essex Senior League in 1991, winning it for a third and final time in 2008, which in turn earned a promotion to the Isthmian League. Two seasons in the First Division North beckoned before they beat Enfield Town in the Play-Off Final and made it to the Premier Division.

A fourth placed finish in 2012-13 saw them get to another Play-Off Final, this time Lowestoft Town were beaten and little Concord Rangers, the club that were always historically the poor relations to Canvey Island FC, had made it to the National League South.

The relationship between the two clubs has always interested me, and yes, they would have met in the early days of Concord being in the Essex Senior League and then for a couple of seasons in the Isthmian Premier, but by 2013 Concord have held higher status in the town. Do they get on? No idea, but they play in the same colours and one of the hashtags the club promotes is Concord Island, so read into that what you will!

The ground at Thames Road is a good one, but not good enough for National League top flight football as they were denied the opportunity to compete in the Play Offs last season due to not having the requisite grading. The finished in a hugely creditable sixth place under the stewardship of ex-Leatherhead boss Sammy Moore, but disappoint was duly to follow.

Thames Road is quite literally a road that runs from the main road out of Canvey, to the Thames, if you could carry on through the gas storage facility you would be in the drink! It is indeed very close to the river, although to be fair, Canvey Island FC is a little bit nearer the water if we want to get controversial.

I did like the ground though, once through the turnstiles the clubhouse is on the left and was doing a very decent trade on a roasting day in Essex. To the right is the main stand, with two small Atcost seated stands to either side of it, and I suspect here lies the grading issue, with the seats not forming part of the same structure.

Moving round to the Thames end is a small area of cover, while on the side opposite the main stand is a TV gantry and further small Atcost’s either side. Behind this side of the ground is the Thorney Bay Caravan Park, a monstrous site of human holidaymaking!

Finally, at the clubhouse end is a covered terrace that runs across the width of the pitch, before coming to a halt at the players tunnel which is in front of the clubhouse and dressing rooms.

A very decent crowd of 1283 had pitched up to watch a very strong Millwall side (albeit they changed it completely at half time), come away with a comfortable 4-0 victory. They lead 1-0 at half time, and scored three more relatively late on in the second period.

Concord put up a good fight but as you would expect, Millwall’s Championship quality was indeed too much for them.

A good turnout from South London had made it to the island, and from time to time they did find their voices, but like most, the pull of the bar and the plastic glass was more of a pre-occupation. The three members of the local constabulary in the ground didn’t have too taxing an afternoon to be fair.

At the final whistle we made our way out of Canvey and back along the A13 to the M25. I’d enjoyed my day, but most importantly, Derek had too.

Next stop, Maidstone United, all being well, but if he thinks I’m taking him to Russia he can think again!   

Beefy

Epworth Town Colts  0  Winterton Rangers  5

Friendly

It was a really late call on the back of a lucky spot that saw me manage to squeeze in the new home of South Axholme’s finest football club (South of the M180 – don’t want to offend Crowle).

The previous evening, while perusing the general guff I get copied into on Twitter (is copied the right word?), I saw a tweet from the doyen of all things North Notts / Lincolnshire, Rob Waite.

It appeared Epworth Town Colts had relocated from the South Axholme Academy I dutifully attended last season, to a new ground only just round the corner, and it also appeared the first game at the new venue was the following night against neighbours Winterton Rangers.

A quick word with Mrs H saw the relevant paperwork stamped, and after a text to my old mucker Steve, the plan was duly hatched.

As I said in the blog from last season, Epworth is a nice town, the place where John Wesley and indeed Sheridan Smith came from. It didn’t take me long to ascertain the whereabouts of a decent boozer as well, The Old School Inn, which provided a suitable quality of imbibation pre-match.

It seems the ground was one previously used by the old Epworth Town who played in the Lincolnshire League a few years hence, and prior to that it had been owned by the one and only Sir Ian Botham, who duly donated it to the football club as is his philanthropic manner. Sir Ian indeed was a resident of Epworth during his spell as a professional footballer with Scunthorpe United.

Quite how he ended up owning it in the first place, or indeed what he did with it was anyone’s guess, but good old Beefy’s legacy lives on and Epworth have a nice new home of their own.

Located to the West of the town, the ground has a very rural setting and upon going through the gates you find yourself in a large car park. Beyond this is a building to the right which houses the dressing rooms and the tea bar, and otherwise it’s simply a pitch with a rope down one side. Perfectly acceptable for the level Epworth play at, and it does look like they have room to develop, although local opposition to anything remotely progressive may well be an issue.

A plethora of non-league ne’er do wells were in attendance, alongside myself and Steve were of course Rob, a couple of chaps from Sheffield and a couple from Scunthorpe who are well known on the circuit. It seems social media is a very powerful thing.

A modest crowd turned up to watch Winterton field a different eleven in each half, and that resulted in a comfortable 5-0 win for the visitors, albeit they were only leading by a solitary goal at half time.

So, a bonus game and a new ground on a Thursday night, I could at this juncture go on to say that life perhaps doesn’t get any better, but that is probably too bold a statement.

But, for Epworth Town Colts, to have a home of their own where they can develop and grow must be a real positive for them. Maybe after seeing neighbouring Crowle make the jump to Step 7 at the end of last season, replicating that feat is perhaps pretty high on the agenda.

All That Jazz

Upton Town  2  Worcester Raiders  4

Friendly

As much as I’ve wracked my brains over the weekend, I don’t think I can ever honestly say that I’ve been to a pre-match Jazz Festival before.

Yes, some seven weeks since I last stepped into a sporting arena to watch a football match, 2019-20 was now upon is, but, somewhat unusually for me, almost uniquely in fact, the season was to start in June as opposed to July.

Upton Town, new members of the Midland Football League, having joined from the Cheltenham League, had a game scheduled for the final Saturday of the month against Worcester Royals, who looked to be a supporters team of Worcester City. With not a lot else on, and the chance to tick off what looks to be my only new ground in the league this season, it went into the planner.

Slight, albeit minor change of plan though, the opponents were changed at the eleventh hour when Worcester Raiders stepped in with a side reportedly made up of a mixture of first teamers and reserves.

To be fair to Upton Town, they have been members of the old Midland Combination in the past. Between the years of 1989 and 1996 they rose to the top flight before being renamed Worcester Athletico. Two years later, in 1998, they won the league but then seemingly merged with Pershore Town.

I don’t know what ground they used during this period, but I was lead to understand by someone far more learned in these matters than me that the ground the new version are now playing on, is not the same.

So, on the hottest day of the year by miles, and certainly not a day for playing football, I made the steady run down the A38, M42 and M5 before navigating the joys of the Worcester Ring Road and heading South to Upton, which sits betwixt the County town and indeed Great Malvern.

Upton on Severn is a very nice place indeed, as you pass the marina and cross over the Severn Bridge, a left takes you into the main street of the town, and on a Saturday lunchtime it was incredibly busy. I finally found a parking space at the side of the road and quickly gathered that it was indeed Upton Jazz Festival, and the pub I chose the frequent, the Bar Severn, was one of the venues, so over a nice cold pint of God’s finest Carling, I got to listen to some jazz!

I’ll be honest, It’s not really my choice of listening material, I’m more of a Goombay Dance Band man myself, and looking at my age (46) compared to the bulk of those in attendance (add another 30 years), I’ve got a few years yet to diversify my tastes. But, a roaring trade looked to be being done, however, when I saw a bloke walk in with a glass pint tankard fastened to his belt by one of those dog lead clips, I did wonder what my later years had in store.

With twenty or so minutes to kick off and crowds gathering in bigger numbers, it was time to head West out of Upton for about half a mile or so, where the ground was located, at the Hill Centre, which also acts as the headquarters for the local YMCA. It’s a relatively new building, with a very good sized car park, and two pitches adjacent.

No rails or ropes were in existence, but I was lead to understand by a home player who runs the clubs Twitter account, that all would be sorted on that front when the seasons starts in earnest, as will a refreshment area. It's in a rural location, and the views across to the Malvern Hills are pretty impressive. 

The game was a relatively good one to be fair, considering the heat. Worcester took an early lead but then the hosts equalised just before half time. Three goals for the visitors in the second period took the game away from a tiring Upton but they did grab a second goal close to the end of the game.

The final ten minutes looked torturous for both sets of players in the searing heat and humidity, and I lost count of the number of times the referee was asked how much longer there was to play. With both sides virtually begging at the end to be put out of their misery, he duly obliged, maybe a couple of minutes early! He did add in a couple of water breaks, but we simply aren’t used to heatwaves in the UK, and we certainly aren’t used to playing football in them. I can only ever recall watching one football game in hotter conditions and that was in Portugal to be fair.

One incident in the second period caused a bit of off the field excitement, when a free kick by Upton sailed over the bar, smacked into a Transit Van window, which was parked directly behind the goal, and smashed it. Clearly when the owners discovered it, it didn’t go down ever so well, but, I suppose the moral of the story is………

So, the season has begun, all is good in the World once again, the sun is shining and the excitement builds as we see who is in what league, who is playing at what ground, and who is going to make it onto ‘The List’ for 2019-20.

To be fair, I couldn’t have picked a nicer place to visit to start this seasons journey.

Summer League

Broughton Wanderers  2  Kirk Langley  3

The Summer Football League

It was the long hot Summer of 2012, and having finally got our new house to the liveable stage, Mrs H decided I needed to find something to do to keep myself from under her feet.

Mrs H spent a few years working in the licensed trade in Ashbourne, and was pretty well versed with some of the local customs, so when I mentioned the Summer League, she knew a fair bit about it.

“Why don’t you watch a few games in that, some lovely places….”

And that was kind of it, I was about to be introduced to the Derby Summer League.

It isn’t called the Derby Summer League to be fair, it’s actually called, quite simply, ‘The Summer Football League’, and if anything, if it needed localising, it would be more like an Ashbourne based competition than a Derby based one.

I’d read about it on the various non-league forums, and to be honest, my interest up to that point kind of ended when I’d read some of the harsher comments about farmers fields. But to be fair, the negatives were without doubt the exception, it did have quite a keen following amongst the travelling community, and I don’t mean those that turn up one day and park their caravans on open spaces!

Fixtures and locations could typically only be found by ordering the handbook from long standing League Secretary John Brailsford, and then subscribing to the mailing list, it proved handy, and away I went once armed with all of the relevant information.

It started at Kirk Langley, and moved on to places such as Osmaston, Hulland, Brassington, Biggin, Boylestone, Doveridge and Shirley. Teams were either based around the local village, or in some cases, notably in Ashbourne, centred around a pub. It had quirky rules, like the matches were forty minutes each way, apart from cup ties which were forty five! Also, if you were between the ages of 21 and 35, you could not have played Saturday football during the previous campaign.

So what was it all about then? It seemed, as chatter suggested, that it was designed for two purposes, one was to allow those who worked in the farming community who couldn’t play during the typical football months, to get a game, and, it also catered for those who liked to play rugby in the Winter months.

Whether that is strictly true or not I don’t know, but what I found was a keenly contested, and a surprisingly good standard of football. Facilities wise it was as basic as it gets, quite often players would change in cars, and it was literally a case of playing on the village recreation ground, expect of course the Red Lion who did quite literally play in a farmers field just outside Longford!

Over the course of a Summer I’d done the lot, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience at some truly fantastic locations in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside. Since then only one opportunity has presented itself to me in terms of new grounds and that was when Brassington moved to a new facility closer to the centre of the village.

But that all changed recently when it was announced that the village of Church Broughton was to host a team (Broughton Wanderers) after a few years without a side since Holly Bush used to play there. Holly Bush had gone by the time I started watching it, so it was time to dip into the Summer League once more.

It got pencilled in for a Monday night, the Summer League plays every week on a Monday and Thursday night, and it was also scheduled to be my last game of a long season. I took Derek and agreed to meet Dave, lock up your wives and daughters as the boys were coming to town…..

I’ve never been to Church Broughton before, located North of the A50 not far from Hilton, it’s the village where my sister used to be Headteacher at the local Primary School. With the pitch in the middle of the village right next to the school, and with us parked up and players arriving, it was time for a short walk to the aforementioned Holly Bush for a pre-match snifter.

In another lovely setting on a fine night for football, we had the pleasure of a very entertaining game. Kirk Langley upset the form book by taking the lead, but two quick goals from a confident Broughton side saw them turn a deficit into a lead.

But then, somewhat inexplicably, Kirk Langley equalised and then went back into the lead through something a freak goal which saw a clearance rebound off the back of a defender and into the empty net.

And that was how it ended, not only the game, but also for me, the season, and in some ways it was the perfect place to end it, with a couple of mates for company.

147 games, I’m ready for a (maximum) break………..

Steady The Buffs

Kilwinning Rangers  0  Auchinleck Talbot  1

Scottish Juniors Western Region - Premiership

It was the stand out fixture on a night of many choices in the West of Scotland.

Kilwinning Rangers were playing their last ever game at the famous Abbey Park ground, while the fellow Ayrshire visitors are arguably the biggest name in Junior football, and arrived knowing a victory would be another step towards the Premiership crown and a potential double with the Junior Cup Final just around the corner.

Another trip North of the border was soon upon me, and this time I had a compatriot in the shape of my colleague Andrew, who was to ultimately join me at the game. On a wet and windy day, Glasgow was reached by just gone 4.30pm, and shortly after that we were firmly camped in Wetherspoons having fun with the App and the Meal Deals!

Kilwinning is reached easily from Glasgow Central station, trains run frequently to Ardrossan Harbour and our port of call takes around half an hour. By just after 6pm we were alighting just West of the town centre.

Located around twenty miles south of Glasgow, with a population of just over 20,000, Kilwinning became a designated part of ‘Irvine New Town’ in 1966 and with new housing estates springing up, it became something of an overspill for ‘Glasgae’.

The football club has something of a rich history, becoming the first ever Ayrshire winners of the Junior Cup in 1909. Another first came in 2004 when they became the first Ayrshire side to win the West Super League (which became the Premiership). The clubs fortunes declined after this and a couple of relegations were suffered, but two promotions in the middle of the current decade saw them return to top flight status, where they remain.

It’s a fifteen minute walk to the ground from the railway station, and as we arrived it became apparent that a good sized crowd was going to be in attendance for the historic final game, before a move to Kilwinning Sports Centre at the start of next season.

Interestingly, the programme editor, while not going as far as stating it directly, suggested in his notes that he was unhappy about the direction the club was going in, and as a result his efforts for the club would be ceasing at the end of the campaign. I assumed by ‘direction’ he meant one of two things, geographical or strategic, or possibly even both. Either way, he wasn’t a happy bunny!

Abbey Park is a proper old Junior ground, with no seats, but a couple of areas of cover. One area sits raised behind the West goal, while the other is just in front of the clubhouse on the South side. Otherwise it’s standing only out in the open, but the other two sides of the ground are banked so provide excellent views of proceedings. No floodlights at the ground as is the norm, but the pitch was in superb condition.

With a swift can of Tennents downed in the club, it was time to see what fare was on offer. To be fair, Auchinleck, or ‘The Bot’ as they are known, who were backed by a large following, were favourites to get the points, with just one defeat to their name all season in the league.

Talbot won the league four times on the bounce from 2013 to 2016, while the Junior Cup has been won six times in thirteen seasons. Junior sides have only recently been admitted to the Scottish FA Cup, 2009 to be precise, and in that time they’ve reached the Third Round twice, the Fourth Round and then the Fifth Round this season when they lost 4-0 to Hearts after beating Championship full timers Ayr United in the Fourth Round.

In short, they are no mugs!

Tonight was about Kilwinning though, and they did a great job of creating a fitting finale for Abbey Park in terms of the publicity and the local engagement. I would estimate a crowd of around 500 was in the ground at kick off, but when it came to the entertainment on the field, to be honest it wasn’t really befitting of the occasion.

The Buffs, as Kilwinning are known, with the strapline ‘Steady The Buffs’, battled away, but in a game of few chances it was a goal just before half time from Talbot that essentially sealed the three points. The visitors clearly know how to win games when not playing especially well, the mark of champions I guess, but what they do very well is really limit the opposition in terms of chances.

At the final whistle on an increasingly cold night, it was a steady walk to the station before a train black to Glasgow, which saw us back the Spoons before 10pm, just in time to watch Spurs grab the now legendary winner at the Amsterdam Arena.

That’s Scotland over for this season now, and what a great place to round the season off, at a proper old Junior club and ground, and reading between the lines, it will be a loss.

But, a chance has now arisen to head back again next season to Kilwinning, while those more knowledgeable than me will probably tell me it won’t quite be the same. I’ll be open minded though, and, with much talk about the Western Juniors moving into the Scottish football pyramid, maybe a new ground with the appropriate facilities is what they need if progression is on the agenda.

It's all about direction though, and that is quite apparent, what is also apparent is some people don't like a change of direction, and in the West of Scotland, some things are seemingly sacrosanct....

Youth Club

Blacon Youth  1  Lostock Gralam  2

Cheshire Football League – Division One

As we move into May, finding new football venues is proving a bit of a task, but thanks to the trusty old Cheshire Football League, one or two options were on the table, and the game at Blacon was the main attraction.

The third placed outfit from Chester, were at home to Lostock Gralam who sat top, with just Broadheath Central between them in the table. A victory for Gralam would guarantee promotion, whereas Blacon had games in hand should they not get the desired result, it was still in their hands.

Blacon sits right on the England / Wales border on the North West side of the City, not far from the Deva Stadium home of Chester FC. My journey took me via the M56 and through the village of Sealand, which is actually in Wales, before crossing the border again just before the high rise flats come into view.

Blacon is a large residential area made up predominantly of social housing, indeed at one point it was one of the largest council owned estates in Europe, but now its primarily owned by Sanctuary. Myself and Steve had a plan in mind and that was to meet at the Waggon & Horses pub, a mere five minutes from the ground.

With a bookies in the pub car park, it was a busy and indeed friendly place for a pre match pint and sandwich. But we couldn’t stay all day, a top of the table clash was looming around the corner and parking spaces were at a premium! Besides, they ran out of cheese and onion, which is no good at all….

The ground is pretty much what you’d expect at what is effectively Step 8, a railed pitch surrounded a quite superb playing surface, with dugouts opposite each other on either side of the pitch. Two buildings sit next to the car park, one being a changing room block, while the other serves as a clubhouse and seemingly a community centre for the youth of Blacon.

A friendly club, with strong support, indeed a good number had turned up to watch an important game in the clubs quest to attain Step 7 football next season. The Cheshire League is one of the better Step 7 competitions around, so to get into it you’ve got to be a pretty decent outfit.

It was a close game, but Gralam for me had the edge, with Alex Wilson giving them a first half lead. The second period was only moments old when the hosts grabbed an equaliser through Omar Ramo, but on the hour mark it Lostocks’ Robbie Hatton who found the net with the games third and decisive goal.

Of course, Blacon fought hard for an equaliser as you would expect them to do, but there efforts came to no avail and at the final whistle it was the Northwich based visitors who were celebrating a promotion that has been a good few years coming.

Blacon will go again, two wins from four games should see them home, but the final game is away at second placed Broadheath, I suspect the boys from Chester will ideally want it sewn up by then!

So that was the last Saturday of the season for me, three weeks earlier than last season when the horrible winter had such an impact on fixtures, whereas this time round the mild weather has left clubs kicking their heals as we approached the back end of the campaign.

The journey back was nice and straightforward, listening to the tales of joy and woe on Five Live as the likes of Notts County went down, Mansfield Town missed out and MK Dons celebrated. It’s always dramatic at this stage of the season, unless of course you are competing in the Step 4 play offs, in which case you probably don’t know whether you are up, down or sideways!

But today was about Blacon and Lostock, let’s hope that they are both competing at Cheshire’s top level next season, they are both more than capable of making a real fist of it.

Hotbed

Wirksworth Ivanhoe  1  Sherwood Colliery Reserves  3

Central Midlands League – Division One South

It’s got to the stage of the season now whereby I’m trying to find games that have something on them.

Firstly because it means that it might be an entertaining spectacle as a result, but also, it significantly increases the likelihood of teams actually turning up to play!

I was going to go to Wirksworth a couple of midweeks ago, to watch Town, but that got called off due to a lack of visiting players. To be fair, I wasn’t initially planning on going tonight, I was heading to watch a vital game in the Sheffield County Senior League between Houghton Main and Sheffield Bankers, but that turned out to be so pivotal that it got moved to the following Saturday at short notice!

So, a quick look at the fixtures and of course the tables, showed that visiting Sherwood Colliery Reserves needed to win this game to clinch the title, anything other than that and it was in the hands of Wirksworth’s neighbours (and mates it turns out) Rowsley 86.

Despite living mightily close to Wirksworth, it’s not a town I’m overly familiar with. Footballing wise I went to Town once in the late Nineties to watch Belper Town Reserves, while I had an amble to Ivanhoe about seven years ago when they were a Midlands Regional Alliance side. Otherwise, my knowledge of the place is limited to the fact it was where my Grandad bought his new cars from years and years ago.

Both Wirksworth sides are relatively new to the CMFL. Town joined two seasons ago when they expanded the league to effectively add a Step 8 division, while Ivanhoe made the move at the start of the current season. Both currently sit in mad-table places in a league that comprises of an almost equal 50/50 split between reserve sides and first teams.

Arriving in the town a short while before kick off I made my way to a boozer, which was fine, barring a couple of lads who had clearly been in place most of the day. No problems with them, although to be fair one of them in my own mind soon earned the nickname ‘Thrush’……..

Ivanhoe play on Derby Road to the South of the town, sharing a complex with the local cricket club. The cricket side have an excellent clubhouse and scoreboard building, while the football club look to be the poor relations with a small changing room block that looks like it’s been in place for longer than most of the players have been born!

A fence separates the cricket from the football, and other than that, there are some temporary dugouts and a rope down the edge of the pitch. Sherwood had bought a few with them (on a bus) while the Rowsley support probably made up about a third of the overall attendance.

Features wise, a nice bank sits behind the goal giving excellent views of the pitch, and on a wet / cold day, you could watch the game from the comfort of your car at the top. I didn’t do this, but others did on a night that was a bit on the chilly side.

The game was very good in all fairness. Sherwood had the edge in terms of possession but Wirksworth battled like they had something a stake (a bung from Rowsley!), and got tackles in and bodies in the way of everything that was thrown at them. The game had just over ten minutes remaining when the visitors finally made the breakthrough courtesy of Gareth Curtis who managed to get the ball past my old pal Shane Torr who was in goal for Ivanhoe. Nerves looked to be settled, but as is often the case, the hosts went up the other end, won a free kick and before you know it, it was 1-1 and the Rowsley fans were celebrating!

With 89 minutes on the clock, Ewan Robson snatched a second for Colliery and the hopes of Rowsley were shattered once more. With Wirksworth throwing men forward it was almost inevitable that a third would come in the 95^th minute for Sherwood from Triston Burrell.

It had been a cracking final fifteen minutes and to be fair, on balance of play and possession, it was probably the right outcome, and well done Sherwood on your championship. Ivanhoe, as Shane said to me during the game, are finding their feet in a new league and they have been somewhat inconsistent. Next year, with the experience behind them, who knows?

Ivanhoe play Town shortly, the 9th of May in fact. I can't make it but I suspect a few will pop down to watch it. Wirksworth, it appears, is a footballing hotbed, except until now they haven't told anyone!