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Season review 2013/14 by Richard Lane
Chris Wade16 May 2014 - 17:00
A review of the first season competing in the Central Midlands Football League North Division
PRE-SEASON The new season began with six friendlies with varying degrees of success. A win at Bourne and a narrow defeat at Gedling against Level 6 opposition was followed by a comprehensive win over a Boston United youth team and an equally emphatic thumping by Lincoln City youths. A dreadful afternoon at Harrowby followed by a close run game at Holwell led us into the league season
AUGUST An opening day win over Sherwood Colliery proved a false dawn as four straight defeats followed, unluckily against Phoenix, disappointingly at Harworth, embarrassingly at Kinsley and predictably at Mansfield though Danny Purves was able to boast that he had scored the first goal against them. Lying three from the bottom of the table it looked like it was going to be a very long season.
SEPTEMBER One win and four defeats in August were followed by five wins and one defeat in September. A run of home midweek games saw us beat Thoresby, Glapwell and put seven past Welbeck, while there were wins on the road at Clay Cross and Brodsworth. The only blot on the record came in the final match where a well organised Thorne outfit ran out easy winners.
OCTOBER Only three games this month, the first of which brought a totally depressing afternoon both in terms of weather and performance as we exited the Notts Senior Cup at the first hurdle against Attenborough. This was followed by two high scoring wins over Bentley and Ollerton which produced 16 goals between them.
NOVEMBER November brought a mixed bag of results. Revenge over Phoenix was followed by a loss to Westella and a second defeat by AFC Mansfield in the Floodlit Cup, where for once they had a player sent off (as did we). A new low was reached at Thoresby but the mood was lightened by a thumping 9-1 away win at Welbeck followed by a comfortable defeat of Askern.
DECEMBER The last chance of cup glory disappeared as we went down at home to struggling Linby Colliery who at the time had only managed two wins in 21 games. On the bright side, though, it did spare us another trip to AFC Mansfield. We then completed a satisfying double over Ollerton before conceding one to Harworth which was due as much to player commitment as anything else. The year ended with Town in fifth position.
JANUARY With the monsoon season on us the New Year began with a trip to the 4G surface at Bishop Burton College, which for once favoured the home side. This was followed by that rarest of results, a draw, against Kinsley. The final January match was played in absolutely appalling conditions at Thorne, where rain, hail and gale force winds made it a total lottery.
FEBRUARY The dreadful weather continued, allowing us just one fixture in the whole month with matches against Easington, Glapwell and Mansfield all washed out. The one we did play gave us a morale-boosting five goal win over Bentley.
MARCH Our heaviest (and hopefully final) defeat by AFC Mansfield in a match that we controlled for the first half was followed by wins at home to Brodsworth and on our travels at Easington, where our first trip to the North Sea coast reminded us all of what a cold wind really feels like. In a month with five Saturdays we had matches on only two of them, a situation which is far from ideal.
APRIL / MAY At the fourth attempt we finally managed to get to Glapwell and were rewarded with all three points, but this was followed by the familiar end of season decline, Easington and Clay Cross both benefitting from our lack-lustre performances. Another below par home game saw a draw with second to bottom Askern before we finally clinched fifth spot with a win by the only goal of the game at the season’s first opponents Sherwood Colliery.
AUGUST An opening day win over Sherwood Colliery proved a false dawn as four straight defeats followed, unluckily against Phoenix, disappointingly at Harworth, embarrassingly at Kinsley and predictably at Mansfield though Danny Purves was able to boast that he had scored the first goal against them. Lying three from the bottom of the table it looked like it was going to be a very long season.
SEPTEMBER One win and four defeats in August were followed by five wins and one defeat in September. A run of home midweek games saw us beat Thoresby, Glapwell and put seven past Welbeck, while there were wins on the road at Clay Cross and Brodsworth. The only blot on the record came in the final match where a well organised Thorne outfit ran out easy winners.
OCTOBER Only three games this month, the first of which brought a totally depressing afternoon both in terms of weather and performance as we exited the Notts Senior Cup at the first hurdle against Attenborough. This was followed by two high scoring wins over Bentley and Ollerton which produced 16 goals between them.
NOVEMBER November brought a mixed bag of results. Revenge over Phoenix was followed by a loss to Westella and a second defeat by AFC Mansfield in the Floodlit Cup, where for once they had a player sent off (as did we). A new low was reached at Thoresby but the mood was lightened by a thumping 9-1 away win at Welbeck followed by a comfortable defeat of Askern.
DECEMBER The last chance of cup glory disappeared as we went down at home to struggling Linby Colliery who at the time had only managed two wins in 21 games. On the bright side, though, it did spare us another trip to AFC Mansfield. We then completed a satisfying double over Ollerton before conceding one to Harworth which was due as much to player commitment as anything else. The year ended with Town in fifth position.
JANUARY With the monsoon season on us the New Year began with a trip to the 4G surface at Bishop Burton College, which for once favoured the home side. This was followed by that rarest of results, a draw, against Kinsley. The final January match was played in absolutely appalling conditions at Thorne, where rain, hail and gale force winds made it a total lottery.
FEBRUARY The dreadful weather continued, allowing us just one fixture in the whole month with matches against Easington, Glapwell and Mansfield all washed out. The one we did play gave us a morale-boosting five goal win over Bentley.
MARCH Our heaviest (and hopefully final) defeat by AFC Mansfield in a match that we controlled for the first half was followed by wins at home to Brodsworth and on our travels at Easington, where our first trip to the North Sea coast reminded us all of what a cold wind really feels like. In a month with five Saturdays we had matches on only two of them, a situation which is far from ideal.
APRIL / MAY At the fourth attempt we finally managed to get to Glapwell and were rewarded with all three points, but this was followed by the familiar end of season decline, Easington and Clay Cross both benefitting from our lack-lustre performances. Another below par home game saw a draw with second to bottom Askern before we finally clinched fifth spot with a win by the only goal of the game at the season’s first opponents Sherwood Colliery.
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