Unfortunately folks it seems as though summer is well and truly behind us, and wet weather tyres were definitely needed.
We arrived at Thackleys Dennyfield ground, after executing a Le Mans style driver change at Tankersly, just in time to see the referee dancing a warming jig, “wahay is it Strictly come Reffing?” one of the locals said and of course this sparked a debate amongst the Staveley fans on who their favourite was on the BBC show of a similar name….Rachel Riley was unanimously chosen and by then the Countdown to kick off was over…..
Staveley Miners Welfare kicking towards the carpark lined up in their traditional blue and white striped shirts and blue shorts with
In goal. 1 Martin Dewberry
A back four of.... 2.Chris Dickman
3. Phil Austin
5. Luke Beatson
6. Matt Hassett - making his debut
midfield five of 4. James Colliver
7. Pat Lindley
8. Josh Scully
10 Nick Hague
11. Anthony Rowley
with...... 9. Jordan Turner in the lone striker role
You fear the worst when you play a team that are top of the league and flying but we started off really well and created a few half chances with Septembers player of the month Jordan Turner heading wide from a left wing cross and Nick Hague combining well with Chris Dickman down the right before shooting wide.
The good start was undone however on 25 minutes when Thackley who had themselves contributed to an entertaining game of football with, a few half chances took the lead with a header from a corner.
One nil Thackley
The referee then allowed a truly horrendous two footed lunge tackle on Josh Scully to go on the basis that he “got the ball” which, is technically true but this isn't 1977 and you just simply cannot do that in the game these days, play continued with Scully down injured and in some discomfort until Pat Lindley went in for a hard tackle no where near as bad as the previous one and got booked for it!
Physio Dave Tromans worked his magic with the sponge but even that wasn't enough to repair Josh and he left the field of play on a stretcher to reappear after he was substituted by Sam Finlaw, wearing a rather fetching pink flip flop and sporting thankfully nothing more serious than a possible broken toe, he’ll certainly be out for a while though, you would think.
The second half continued in much the same fashion Staveley creating chances and looking more likely to score. Finlaw, who was impressive in midfield and Anthony Rowley both went close, the latter forcing a good save from the keeper after cutting in from the left wing.
As the game wore on Jordan Turner came more and more into it, nearly scoring on several occasions as did Luke Beatson who knocked the ball wide of the post after he went up for a free kick.
Manager, Neil Cluxton decided to change things with Kurtis Morley coming on for Anthony Rowley and later on Joel Evans for Pat Lindley who went up front in a 3-5-2 formation to try and grab the equaliser that we deserved.
It was at this point I got caught up in the game and basically stopped taking notes. Roughly around the same time the man in the middle took centre stage or rather the assistant on the far side did.
Luke Beatson came into close contact with a Thackley forward and the ref blew the whistle indicating a free kick, bizarrely because ‘keeper Martin Dewberry already had the ball in his hands from an over hit through pass which Usain Bolt would have struggled to get onto never mind the Thackley forward. The ensuing chat between the assistant ref on the far side a good 30 yards away resulted in Beatson harshly receiving a red card and basically killed what had been a good game.
Full time - Thackley 1 - 0 Staveley Miners Welfare.
There were many candidates for Man of the Match but for me I think Sam Finlaw shaded it.
We got nothing on this occasion and deserved at least a point if not all three. I'm looking forward to the next game which is at home against Long Eaton United (16th October) and so should you, believe me "The Welfare are back!"
