In another relatively quiet week, the highlights were 2 more visits to Olivers Mount for more pre-season friendly outings for the new Handsworth FC squad.
Both games were won and the management duo of Froggy and Wardy seem to be getting things into good shape as far as squad-building goes.
On 5th July, Retford Utd were the visitors and, as expected, provided a good test for The Ambers who ran out 2-0 winners. The Retford squad included a couple of ex-Handsworth players and manager Ryan Hindley is also well known to the club (and in non-league football circles generally it has to be said!)
Overall, it was another good performance from the lads who played some nice football and defended stoutly when necessary. A goal in each half brought the win.
My personal selection as Handsworth Man-of-the Match was goalkeeper Dylan Parkin. He made 2 or 3 top-class saves to keep The Ambers in front. The clean sheet was well-deserved.
Heavy rain at times during the game didn't spoil it although I got soaked whilst taking my pictures. My own fault. I believed the Weather Channel forecast which predicted a dry evening with the sun making a brief appearance before sunset. The heaviest of the rain came around the time the sunshine was predicted. As my father used to say "Weather forecasters? They couldn't tip rubbish."
The match album is here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/62126085@N04/albums/72177720309582195
It was wet again on Saturday 8th July when Handsworth hosted Dinnington Town although this time, I decided to shoot the pictures from the back of one of the stands rather than at pitch side as I normally do.
This was a fairly comfortable 6-1 victory against a side from a lower division but Handsworth had a couple of "senior" players away so the team had to be reshuffled a little. The lads were 4-0 up by half time and worked hard right up to the final whistle. Nice to see strikers chasing back to challenge for the ball when they'd lost it in the opposition half. An all around team performance - and that's what we're after!!
Match Album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/62126085@N04/albums/72177720309658678
There's no midweek game this week and so the next test is away at Hucknall Town FC on Saturday, July 15th. Looking forward to that one. That leaves one more tough pre-season test against Stocksbridge Park Steels before the real stuff starts on 29th July.
We also got news of the FA Cup and FA Vase preliminary round draws. Handsworth have a long trip to Skelmersdale in the Cup and another trek to Chorley to play Euxton Villa in the Vase. Games to be played on 5th August and 26th August respectively. Not 100% sure if we'l make those 2 games but we'll see!
🧡🤎⚽👊
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