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SOUTH NORMANTON have issued a press release at the end of a traumatic week which saw assistant- manager Brian Franks
walk out on his close friend, first team boss Chris Nicholson.
Nicholson said: “It has not been easy over the
past year and we have put in a lot of effort. Brian chose to walkout but I am not a quitter and have a lot of thought for
my players.”
A number of the Shiners team have been subject of transfer talks but have remained loyal to the
cause of fighting for survival in the Northern Counties East League Division One. Nicholson said: “Everybody wants to
kick you when you are down, but I am pleased with some of the players’ attitudes and they are staying with me to fight
for the cause.
“I do have some good players, captain John Peel, top-scorer Nick Thorpe and Joe Atkinson and they
are staying at the club, but I just want the others to fight to ease the problem at the bottom of the league.
“As
regards the future I am looking for other players but I am only interested in players who are willing to give 110%.
“We
had some good results early on in the season, in the FA Cup and the Vase - we went through the back slapping and now the fight
is on. We need to begin defending and stop losing silly matches.”
STAVELEY have signed 20-year-old midfielder
Jimmy Pemberton from Premier Division side Buxton.
Pemberton had made only a couple of starts this season for the Bucks
notching one goal.
ARNOLD TOWN’S great adventure in the FA Youth Cup is over but the young Eagles have done
themselves proud by being one of only four non-league sides to make it through to the Third Round.
Arnold have been
labelled the ‘surprise package’ of the tournament but were eventually beaten by a strong Sheffield United team
in front of a bumper crowd of 565 at Gedling Road. Town’s progress in the competition has owed much to their goal-scoring
ability with the team finding the back of their opponents net 19 times including a seven goal haul against Dunston in the
Second Round.
Striker Ben Hutchinson notched four against Dunston and already has 30 goals to his credit this season
but, unfortunately, Ben and his team-mates found Sheffield just too strong for them.
Meanwhile, the Eagles senior side
have been fined and had three points deducted after they failed to fulfil a fixture earlier this season.
Their league
match at Mickleover Sports in October was called off as Arnold were unable to field a team.
As well as the points deduction,
they have been fined £500 with a further £500 suspended until the end of the 2006/07 season.
The suspended fine will
be payable if the offence is repeated before then.
HALLAM continue to improve their squad with William Rowley the
latest recruit to join the Sandygate Road club.
The 18 year-old midfielder has been snapped up from local rivals Sheffield
after beginning his career across town at Sheffield United.
BORROWASH VICTORIA are regrouping well after last season’s
relegation from the top-flight and are on course to begin the new year in the top half of the First Division table.
And
the first team’s progress is being matched by the reserves who are performing well in the Midland Regional Alliance
League. Joint manager Gary Redfern said: “Mick Wood and Mark Yeomans are doing a tremendous job with the reserves.
“The
first team are also playing well, even though all of the results haven’t gone our way, so there’s a great buzz
about the place at the minute.”
LONG EATON UNITED have a new manager. Long-serving player Craig Weston has
taken over on a caretaker basis following the resignations of Cohn Tansley and Simon Van-de-Broucke.
Tansley and Van-de-Broucke
had only been at Grange Park since the close-season but resigned after The Blues were hammered 8-0 at Sheffield - a result
which left them struggling in the lower reaches of the Premier Division.
United chairman Jim Fairley said: “Something
had to change because we had what looked a good side out at Sheffield, but it seemed some of the players just didn’t
want to play for that management team.
“I am gutted things haven’t worked out for Cohn Tansley. He’s
the sort of person we want at the club because he’s got so much to offer and he’s done everything he said he would,
except get us into the top six.
“I can’t really comment on Simon because I didn’t speak to him much.
The vital thing for us now is to make sure we avoid relegation.”
Weston has already made his first signing by
strengthening his backroom staff by recruiting Mickleover
Sports reserve teams boss Steve Hamilton as his assistant. And
the early signs are encouraging for The Blues as the team responded well to their new manager by recording a 2-0 win over
fellow strugglers Glasshoughton Welfare in the manager’s first match in charge.
And Weston was, understandably,
delighted with how things went. “A new manager always looks to make an impact and that means getting as many points
possible from the first three or four games,” he said.
“So it was a great result for my first game in charge.”
And
the new man in the Grange Park hot-seat is confident his side won’t be returning to the First Division. “We won’t
go down,” he said. “We need to achieve respectability and that would mean finishing in mid-table.”
TADCASTER
ALBION welcomed their highest gate for many years when over 300 fans squeezed into The Park for the clubs West Riding County
Cup clash with Nationwide Conference side Halifax Town.
The full-time Shaymen were too much for Taddy to handle with
former Scarborough striker Chris Senior bagging four goals in the 5-1 Halifax win but promotion-chasing Albion can be proud
of their efforts.
Tadcaster boss Jim Collis said: “Halifax are fitter, faster, and they train every day so we
were always going to be up against it.
“But in patches, I thought we put in a good performance. We made mistakes
we needn’t have done and made three bad errors out of the five goals but for the last 15 minutes we played well and
showed a bit more of what we can do.
“And if the team can learn anything from the game it’s to work on
cutting out mistakes, and on keeping concentration. I felt we finished up very strongly, and didn’t throw in the towel.”
SUTTON
TOWN have a new man between the sticks after signing the experienced Mark Hales from near- neighbours Shirebrook Town. And
Hales made an immediate impact at The Fieldings with a fine display on his debut in the 1-1 draw with Sheffield.
“Mark
Hales had a very good game. He was doing his job,” said Sutton boss Les McJannet. ‘We played well in the first
half, but Sheffield were better than us in the second. “They are the in-form team at the moment and the most skilful
side we’ve played all season,” McJannet added.
HARROGATE RAILWAY striker Graham Marchant could be a
record-breaker after netting what must be one of the fastest ever hat-tricks in NCEL history.
Quicksilver Marchant
smashed his treble in just 11 goal-crazy minutes in the first-half of Rail’s 8-1 rout of Glasshoughton. And Marchant
wasn’t content with just three as he scored twice more in a performance which manager Martin Haresign labelled the best
he has seen from his team.
“We were delighted with it,” said Haresign.
“We’ve been near
to that sort of result two or three times but to play like that, it was probably my best performance as manager at Railway.
“We’ve
had a ten-niller in the cup but that was against a team in the division below and I’d say that was also my best result
as a manager.”
SHIREBROOK TOWN have made two new signings with goal-keeper Darren Lomas joining the club
from First Division Teversal whilst former Notts County, Heanor Town and Eastwood midfielder Kieron Heath has also arrived
at Langwith Road.
Lomas, who has joined the club as a direct replacement for the departed Mark Hales, has also enjoyed
spells at South Normanton Athletic, Staveley MW and Teversal.
TEN Northern Counties East League clubs have applied
for promotion to step four of the non-league pyramid. Subject to re-structuring promotion to the Unibond League may be dependant
on success in a play-off competition in addition to league position and ground facilities.
The list of promotion-seeking
clubs from the NCEL is: Armthorpe Welfare, Arnold Town, Buxton, Garforth Town, Harrogate Railway, Liversedge, Selby Town,
Sheffield, Shirebrook Town and Sutton Town.
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