Gresley FC 1, Stocksbridge Park Steels 0 (30/12/2016 19:45) - Where the Fog is Burton?

Over my Christmas holiday the weather had scuppered my chances of seeing all the football I had wanted to. Frozen pitches had been the order of week and freezing fog had made the travelling treacherous. It was a little foggy tonight as myself and my father made our way to the Moat Ground for this evening's tier 8, NPL South, match.

I have seen Gresley (Rovers) play many times and I really like their homely old fashioned stadium and their sloping pitch. Tonight they were entertaining a team from Sheffield who were 11th in the league. Gresley were 16th at the start of play.

20 years ago Gresley Rovers were on the brink of Conference (tier 5) football and they got to the FA Vase final. Their poor stadium and then financial problems cost them promotion and then caused them to go into administration. They had to reenter the footballing pyramid, as Gresley FC, in the East Midlands Counties League. In the glory days they played Burton Albion in derby games over the Christmas period. Where are Burton Albion now? Tier 2! 'The Ben Robinson Miracle'. Those derby days are long gone but Gresley is still a smashing little club.

As myself and my father and the other 227 fans arrived at the ground we were welcomed by the Tannoy blaring out some old 60s tunes. The Gresley sub's warmed up and after one of them had fired a ball into an adjacent garden he received a berating from the coach "Oy! we've lost 17 balls already this year! They're £28 each!" A 1 minute silence was observed for the passing of the youth teams' coach mother and then the game began.

Gresley started the game more brightly with the advantage of the slope and soon took the lead. Some fast and skillful play down the left produced a chance for the number 10. From the inside of the left hand angle of the box he rifled a shot into the bottom corner of the goal past the 'keeper's right hand.

Gresley had the better of the first-half although the Stocksbridge fast number 7 caused some problems from time to time. Gresley should have gone into the break two goals to the good. A striker was sandwiched by two defenders and a penalty was awarded. A weak right foot shot was easily saved by the 'keeper' falling to his right.

Three injuries to Gresley players upset the balance of the team in the second-half. But Gresley hung on.

Shirebrook Town 0, Rossington Main 3 (26/12/2016 15:00) - Derbyshire Done

With this game I completed my challenge of seeing all Derbyshire teams that currently compete in the top 11 tiers of English football. Today's game was a Northern Counties East League Division One (tier 10) clash between 13th placed Shirebrook Town and 19th placed Rossington Main at Shirebrook's Langwith Road ground.

Shirebrook is often in the news; or more accurately, the SportsDirect warehouse in the town is often in the news. I wanted to provide a balanced review of the impact of the warehouse on life in the town but I was only able to find a Mail Online link.

Rossington have, over the Christmas period, signed three new players to bolster their chances of avoiding relegation, whereas Shirebrook may be plunged back into a relegation fight depending on the outcome of disciplinary proceedings. In their previous match Shirebrook refused to return to the field of play for the second-half.

This was hardly a local derby for a Boxing Day match. The visitors had to make the 50 minute drive from their Doncaster homes. Myself and my father, incidentally, had to make a similar distanced trip from my Boxing Day dinner at my parent's house.

Myself and my father were impressed with the club's set up. Its stands and facilities could easily grace tier 8. The bobbly pitch though let the club down a little.

Rossington had the advantage of the slight slope and the wind on their backs in the first half and raced into a three goal lead, their dangerous wing play causing panic in the Shirebrook defence. Shirebrook looked a lot poorer than league position suggested. We found out the reason for this by overhearing a club official explaining the situation. Apparently a lot of the players picked up food poisoning at a Christmas party. They were lucky to get enough players to make up the team. There were no substitutes and only the manager and coach were on the bench.

Shirebrook looked more dangerous in the second half as Rossington sat back. The decent looking numbers 5 and 9 linked up well a number of times but were, between them, unable to pull a goal back.

Rossington's goals are described thus:

0:1 Good work and an overlap down the left resulted in the number 11 being found free on the edge of the box. He placed his shot to the corner of the goal past the right hand of the 'keeper.
0:2 A towering header downwards from the big number 9, from a corner, skidded past the 'keeper's feet.
0:3 The number 10, diagonally 7 yards out from the 'keeper's left hand post, drilled a shot through the 'keeper's hands.

An overview and list of the tier 9 Derbyshire teams that I have seen at home in league action can be found in the following link.
http://footytourist.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/football-in-derbyshire.html

A list of the tier 10 and 11 teams seen by the end of 2016 (in league or cup action, home or away) is shown below:

Shirebrook Town (T10 - Northern Counties East League Division One)
Dronfield Town (T10 - Northern Counties East League Division One)
Belper United (T10 - East Midlands Counties League) 
Graham Street Prims (T10 - East Midlands Counties League)
Borrowash Victoria (T10 - East Midlands Counties League)
South Normanton Athletic (T10 - East Midlands Counties League)
Stapenhill (T10 - East Midlands Counties League)
Holbrook Sports (T10 - East Midlands Counties League)
FC Bolsover (T11 - Central Midlands League North Division)
Clay Cross Town (T11 - Central Midlands League North Division)
Tideswell United (T11 - Central Midlands League North Division)
Mickleover RBL (T11 - Central Midlands League South Division)
Swanwick Pentrich Road (T11 - Central Midlands League South Division)
Pinxton (T11 - Central Midlands League South Division)
Holbrook St Michaels (T11 - Central Midlands League South Division)
Hilton Harriers (T11 - Staffordshire County Senior League Premier Division)
Ashbourne (T11 - Staffordshire County Senior League Premier Division)
Aston United (T11 - Nottinghamshire Senior League)
Sandiacre Town (T11 - Nottinghamshire Senior League)
Whaley Bridge (T11 - Cheshire Football League)

Gamesley (T11 - Cheshire Football League) club disbanded at end of 2015/16 season
South Normanton (Town) (T11 - Central Midlands League South Division) 2nd team of Athletic

The young and the old and a missed game in Germany (03/12/2016)

Hannover 96’s second string (u21’s, reserves, development squad - whatever you want to call them) play in the 4^th tier of German football, the Regionalliga Nord. They play their homes games at the Eilenriedestadion, the original home of Hannover 96. There H96 have established an excellent small modern stadium and academy set up.

The original art-deco main stand of the stadium, adjacent to the former finishing line of the athletics track that would have encompassed the pitch, is now behind a goal and two new stands have been built on the flanks of the realigned pitch.

We (myself and my mate I was visiting in Hannover) were due to see ‘ H96 II’ in league action at the Eilenriedestadion but due to some confusion we missed the game by a matter of 18 hours. We did get to watch some football though. On one of the academy’s artificial pitches the U15’s were entertaining the U15’s of VFL Osnabruck.

The game ended 0:0 but is it was not devoid of action and good skill. Both teams played some nice football but the best chance came the way of the Hannover youngsters. The big left sided midfielder whipped in a beautiful cross from the wing and found the number 9 in a central position 8 yards out with a ball that looked easier to convert than to miss, but miss he did.

The individual player that stood out was the Osnabruck midfielder, number 6. He looked comfortable on the ball and taking on players and pinging long passes accurately to the feet of his team mates.  

I was actually wishing Osnabruck would sneak a winner as Osnabruck is Derby’s twin city.