To Blog or not To Blog. That was the question...

Turned out "Not to Blog" was the answer.

My last post was on 20th January. Since then, I've "celebrated" my 74th birthday, our son Mark has celebrated his 50th. Both events are reminders that I'm getting on a bit. Or more accurately, I've got on a bit.

To be frank - I haven't really felt like posting. 'Can't be arsed" about sums it up and I have absolutely no idea why I decided to type this new post now.

Anyway... The non-league football season progresses toward it's end and for some reason, it seems to have been a particularly long one. We've been to around 40 games this season, the majority  involving Handsworth FC, Handsworth Reserves, Handsworth U21's and Handsworth U18s of course but we've also enjoyed visits to a couple of other games outside the Handsworth "umbrella" -  like our trip to see old mates at Belper Town last Saturday.

Belper is where I began my football photography journey under the guidance of Tim Harrison, the Belper snapper who, basically, mentored me when I first began shooting football. That was back in 2007. A long time ago and another fact that makes me realise my age!

It's 2 years since our last visit. It was a lovely day weather-wise but not the best game of football we've ever seen. A good crowd of 591 saw a 0-0 draw between Belper and Stocksbridge. I took the camera of course but got involved in various chats with volunteers and supporters who are still at Belper from the days when we were Nailers supporters so not a lot of photos were taken.

It was also the first outing for the Duchess's new camera. She's upgraded to a Canon R7 and also bought a telephoto lens and new camera bag. So we are now totally "Canon mirrorless" at Nortoner Towers. Like me, chats with old friends took priority over her photographic efforts so it wasn't a massive test of her new gear although she did get some nice shots of the ground. The improvements to Belper Town's home are impressive and continuing!

Some of Sheila's shots on the new camera!

We dined at Chester's fish and chip restaurant in Chesterfield on our way back from the game. February 24th was our son's 50th birthday and although he now lives in Rotterdam, we always celebrate his birthday by dining out even though he can't be with us! It's a great excuse for an evening out!

Handsworth FC have continued their up and down season over the last month although to be fair, the saying "you don't always get what you deserve in football" has certainly applied to The Ambers recently. A combination of injuries, player unavailability and, it has to be said, poor refereeing, means only one win and a draw have been secured in the last month.

Results don't tell the whole story however. In at least 2 or 3 of the games played, a late opposition goal has meant defeat or 2 points dropped. The good news is that the lads have played some good football at times which augurs well for the remainder of the season. As it is, Handsworth are in mid-table with only 8 games of the league season left and they are also still in the NCEL League Cup. Fingers crossed.

Ground improvements also continue at Olivers Mount. New LED floodlights have been installed and on a selfish note, photographing night games just got a whole lot easier!! The lights are really effective and really add to the "night match" atmosphere.

Let there be light!

Lots of other stuff has happened since I last posted but the majority of events have been mundane and not worth boring you with.

See you next time - whenever that might be! 

Ice, Ice Baby!

The plan was that the next blog entry would follow Handsworth's game against Albion Sports scheduled for today but since the game has been postponed due to frozen water pipes at Oliver's Mount, I thought I might as well bore you now.

If I'm totally honest, I'm quietly pleased that there's no game today. I think I'm getting a bit "stale" when it comes to my football photos so a short break feels a little bit welcome perhaps? I keep saying "I'm getting too old for this" when shooting football and I think maybe I'm seriously starting to believe it! 

It's also my 74th birthday tomorrow. I don't want to be 74 but what can you do!?!

There's not really a lot to say when there's no football to go to. Our social life basically revolves around Handsworth FC.

Really only two items of note in my pretty mundane existence during the last week. 

Our son and his wife have finally moved into their fabulous new house after several weeks of waiting for the i's to be dotted and the t's to be crossed. Delighted for both of them. The only real concern was how their cat Izzy would react to the new place.

He's a rescue cat and can be very timid but he's been checking out the new house and Mark thinks he's almost decided where his "safe area" will be. Izzy used to like to sit by a radiator at their old place but the new home has underfloor heating which seems to have confused Izzy a bit! I'm sure he'll be fine!

Izzy selecting which box will be his

I've also had to see the nurse at our doctors surgery. A couple of weeks ago, at Handsworth's game against Bottesford, I stumbled and took a chunk out of my left leg on a metal stanchion in the stand. Didn't realise how much damage I'd done (to my leg - not the stanchion!) until I got home after the game.

I got a little concerned that the wound didn't seem to be healing and the area around it was reddening. Our local pharmacist told me that the reddening could be a sign of infection so I'd better get it checked out. Anyway - you'll be glad to know that the nurse at our surgery cleaned and dressed the wound and is pretty certain it's not infected but I have to go back on the 26th to see how it's going.

I learned a couple of interesting things from the nurse too. I told her I'd left the wound uncovered for a couple of days to "let the air get to it" (my grandmother's advice from many years ago) but the nurse said it should always be kept covered because letting air get to it can also let infection get to it.

Secondly, when I said I'd put Savlon Antiseptic cream on it she grimaced and said Savlon should never be put on an open wound.

You learn something new every day!

So - a blank Saturday. What to do. I've absolutely no idea. Roll on bedtime!

I'll let you know what, if anything, I get up to but in the meantime, I'll leave you with a shot of this morning's sunrise through the landing window.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning - your boats on fire...

😁😉😂

Contrasts.

So I finally get around to updating the blog. My only excuse for not doing it sooner? I've been busy. It's been a hectic couple of weeks since the New Year started but I'm not going to bore you with all of the details.

Our football experience has been mixed. Handsworth have played 3 games resulting in one win, one draw and one defeat.

The win came in the County Senior Cup when we beat Sheffield FC after a penalty shoot out.

Ian Robinsons match report:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/0-5805517/report

My pictures

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2024-01-03-sheffield-fc-00-45-on-pens-ambers-shsc3-1087588.html

The draw was in a NCEL Premier League game against Bottesford Town when the game finished 3-3

Ian's report:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/1-14094648/report

My pictures

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2024-01-06-ambers-33-bottesford-ncel-prem-1087979.html

The loss was last Saturday (13th Jan) when we lost by a single goal at Penistone Church, again in the NCEL Premier League.

Ian's report

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/1-14094662/report

My pictures

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2024-01-13-penistone-10-ambers-ncel-prem-1088602.html

I've put the links there now so that you don't have to read the rest of this rubbish if you don't want to!! (But it would be good if you did! 😉 👍 😘)

The game v Sheffield was staged at Handsworth's ground at Oliver's Mount because the persistent rain over the preceding days meant it was more than likely that Sheffield's home pitch would be waterlogged. Being a cup fixture, it was important that the game got played to help ease fixture congestion if it got postponed again. The Ambers 4G pitch ensured it went ahead.

Handsworth played very well against a team from a division higher in a fairly even game. After 90 minutes, the score was 0-0 so the game went to a penalty shoot out which Handsworth won 5-4. The deciding penalty was scored by young Rion Arbuoin who had joined the game as a sub with about 15 minutes left. It was a lovely moment for the lad for 2 reasons. 

First of all, he has been out of the 1st team squad for 6 months through injury and this was his first appearance since he got hurt. Secondly, last season Handsworth lost a penalty shoot out against Winterton when Rion's penalty was disallowed in very controversial circumstances. The ref initially allowed the penalty then changed his mind and decided that Rion had "double-kicked" the ball. Some very nasty scenes followed as the players left the pitch with some fans involved in the fracas.

The huge grin on the lad's face when he scored the winner against Sheffield was amazing and to be honest, it was very brave of him to put himself in the frame like he did.

Rion is congratulated by his teammates after striking the deciding pen.

Final comment on this game? The performance of the match officials was exemplary. Referee Danny Guest and his two assistants never put a foot wrong. Wish they could ref us every week!

Three days later, we witnessed a contrasting performance by the match officials in the 3-3 draw with Bottesford Town. The referee seemed determined to show everybody that he was in charge. He awarded Bottesford two penalties, at least one of which was highly debatable (even the Bottesford players seemed surprised!). 

The ref then sent 2 Handsworth players to the sin bin in the  space of 3 minutes as they protested the award of the second penalty. It's also the first time I've heard of an assistant ref swearing at a couple of Handsworth spectators, telling them to shut their mouths (expletive deleted) as they reacted to the penalty award!

In the dying minutes of the game, Handsworth number 5, Matt Reay, was red-carded when he collided with the Bottesford keeper as both tried to win a dropping ball. Matt slipped as he moved in and the keeper fell on top of him. (Matt was one of the two players sin-binned earlier in the game.) The keeper needed no physio treatment and wasn't badly hurt but the ref decided to display his power once again.

Matt Reay is dismissed for losing his footing as he went for the ball

Handsworth did have chances to make the game safe the most notable of which was when Leon Howarth's penalty kick beat the keeper but hit the base of the post. Score was 3-1 at that point but hey, I keep saying it - that's football.

I had a bad day photography wise, missing clear shots of all 3 Handsworth goals.  I'd moved into the small terraced stand to get out of a rain shower. A guy stood directly in front of the camera as Mitch Dunne scored The Ambers second - the goal of the game. In my haste to get around the guy blocking me, I stumbled against an iron stanchion and took a hefty chunk out of my left leg. I'm counting it as my first ever footballing injury!

We then moved on to a very cold Penistone Church on Saturday 13th January. The teams were pretty close in terms of recent form. Handsworth still had some player availability issues and weren't helped by the suspension of Matt Reay following his red card the previous Saturday.

The Ambers gave a good account of themselves and as the game progressed, it looked increasingly likely that one goal would settle it. That happened when Penistone pounced on a defensive error and scored the winner in the 68th minute. Despite some heavy Handsworth pressure in the final 15 minutes, we headed home with nothing but feelings of what might have been.

It was a bit of a stop start affair with some niggling fouls and yet more referee interventions which caused protests and disbelief amongst players and fans. It was very concerning in the last few seconds when Leon Howarth took an elbow to the head and went down in a heap. The referee completely ignored the incident and played on for maybe 20 or 30 seconds then blew the final whistle. 

He never checked if Leon was OK but instead joined his assistants to receive the handshakes of the departing players. Leon, clearly dazed, left the pitch with the physio and Handsworth players helping him after the officials had gone to the changing rooms.

A dazed Leon Howarth is helped to his feet after the final whistle.

Next game is at Oliver's Mount against another of the high flyers in the division when Albion Sports visit. Albion are in the play-off places despite having a 3-point deduction and it'll be another tough one. It's true that there are no easy games!

I'll not bore you with details of how my computer crashed, meaning system reinstallation and files recovery had to be completed but let me tell you, it was a real pain in the backside!! Took 2.1/2 days to get everything back up and running! Ain't technology wonderful!

Hopefully, the next entry on Norton Yer Life will be shorter and again, "hopefully", it will follow the Albion Sports game next Saturday. Unless of course, something really incredible happens but we're talking Ken at Norton Towers here so "incredible" is highly unlikely!! 

😉

See Yer!!

Happy New Year!

It's been 2 weeks since my last posting, largely due to the fact that the Christmas and New Year holidays got in the way a bit.

In those two weeks, Handsworth FC secured a 0-0 draw at Hallam FC on Boxing Day and then crashed to their heaviest ever home defeat when Emley AFC were the visitors.

We didn't go to the game at Hallam as we had something else happening on Boxing Day but reports suggest it was a hard-earned point secured after a fine goalkeeping display by Dylan Parkin. Handsworth's squad was massively depleted through injury, suspension and the unavailability of a few first team players who would normally be almost guaranteed starters in a 1st team game.

Ian Robinson's match report is here:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/1-14094637/report

No match album as I wasn't there with the camera.

Next up, on 30th December, was a home game against Emley AFC, a team many believe will win the title. They are in 2nd place, 2 points behind leaders Campion FC but with 2 games in hand. Emley are also still in the NCEL League Cup and the County Senior Cup and have a 4th Round proper game in the FA Vase on 13th January.

We knew it would be a tough ask although Handsworth were unbeaten in 4 games in the league and in fact the previous 6 games had produced 3 wins and 2 draws. In addition, only one team in the Premier Division had kept more clean sheets than Handsworth's 7 this season so far. OK, so that was Emley with 11 but even so, those of us of an optimistic bent thought we might just get something from the game but has I've said elsewhere, I don't have a massive amount of faith in statistical analysis!!

Emley's long unbeaten run had come to an end the previous week when they lost 1-0 to Penistone. Another reason to hope maybe?

In truth, Handsworth were beaten by a much better team on the day. It didn't help that The Ambers were down to the bare bones as far as squad selection went with only 4 subs on the bench one of whom was 16 year old goalkeeper Tom Hill. Another was the hastily arranged dual registration of Koby Erratt-Thompson, a young lad on Ilkeston Town's books.

I don't think I've seen a better side than Emley at this level. They are big, fast, tactically aware and they have a good skill level in all positions so I guess there's no real disgrace in losing to a side of such obvious quality.

Read Ian Robinsons match report here:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2023-12-30-ambers-17-emley-ncel-prem-1087322.html

And my pictures from the game are here: (not my best set. That's why there's fewer than the usual number. The weather was awful and I spent most of the game shooting from the back of the stand in an effort to avoid the wind and rain!)

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2023-12-30-ambers-17-emley-ncel-prem-1087322.html

Next up is another tough one. We play Sheffield FC, from a division above Handsworth, on Wednesday 3rd December in a County Senior Cup tie. The game should be a home fixture for Sheffield but it is being hosted at Oliver's Mount where the 4G pitch will hopefully remove the possibility of another postponement. It is followed on Saturday 6th December with a home game against Bottesford. 

Then, a week later, we have yet another hard test when we visit Penistone Church FC. who will be buzzing having recently ended Emley's long unbeaten run. We usually manage to get to "Penistone away" every season but we'll see what the weather gods have to say.

Away from football, we enjoyed a very quiet Christmas. Because our son and daughter-in-law couldn't make it to Sheffield this year, we conducted present opening via a video link. It's not the same as having everybody in the same room but it's a workable alternative I guess.

So, 2024 is upon us and we're already 2 days in! We have a couple of significant birthdays happening this year and our son and his wife now have a date for moving into their fabulous new home. That will happen in mid-late January if all goes to plan. I'm still hoping we can get over to The Netherlands sometime in the spring maybe. That would be really good.

That's it for now folks. More hopefully follows after the next couple of games unless there is something really important that I think you should know about before then!

Happy New Year All!- and "Many Thanks" for taking the time to read this stuff. It's really very much appreciated.

Like buses - you wait for ages for a game then 2 come along at once...

More rain meant the stop-start nature of the non-league season continued, leaving Handsworth without a game for 2.1/2 weeks after the home victory against Goole AFC on 25th November. NCEL Premier games scheduled for Golcar and Garforth on the two following Saturdays were postponed along with the County Senior Cup tie at Sheffield FC, which should have happened between these two Saturdays.

So, next up was a home fixture against Barton Town on Wednesday 13th November followed by another, 3 days later and at home again, against Maltby Main. They turned out to be 2 very different games! 

The Ambers seemed to have built on the momentum of the 6-1 win against Goole and largely dominated when Barton Town visited Oliver's Mount but a hatful of spurned chances meant the game stood at 0-0 until the 84th minute when Handsworth skipper Mitch Dunne headed home. 

Mitch Dunne's header gave Handsworth the lead v Barton

Perhaps a little naively, The Ambers pushed for a 2nd goal but Barton hit them on the break and grabbed an equaliser in the 4th minute of added time. The disappointed Handsworth faithful had to settle for a draw which almost felt like a defeat!!

It was one of those games (and we've all been there and seen them!) which would have had a very different scoreline if Handsworth had put away half of the chances they created.

On to the next fixture which was again at home but this time against a Maltby side who had recently dragged themselves off the foot of the table. Handsworth's Leon Howarth scored an absolute cracker in the 10th minute and The Ambers eventually won 1-0 to move up to 6th place in the division.

Leon Howarth's 10th minute strike brought Handsworth the 3 points v Maltby

The difference in performance between these two fixtures was like chalk and cheese. A top drawer performance and only one point was the result in the first game but then a below par performance brought a win! Football really is a "funny old game."

Ian Robinson's excellent match reports are here:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/1-14094549/report

and here:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/1-14094610/report

My photo albums from both games can be found by clicking the links:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2023-12-13-ambers-11-barton-ncel-prem-1086130.html

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2023-12-16-hfc-10-maltby-main-ncel-prem-1086431.html

Next up is a Boxing Day visit to Hallam FC. We can't make that game but we should be at Oliver's Mount on 30th December when we host high-flying Emley.  

That's the first of a 3 games in a week sequence. Wednesday 3rd January, we'll meet Sheffield FC in a S&H County Senior Cup game. Although it's technically their home game, it will be played at Olivers Mount on our 4G pitch to ensure the game goes ahead, (unless it snows!!!) having been postponed once already.

Then we are at home again on 6th January when we'll face the ever-improving Bottesford Town, again at Oliver's Mount.

See what I mean about games coming along like buses??!!

On the non-football front, we had a brief visit from our son Mark who drove from his home in Rotterdam to spend a few days with us because he and his wife aren't able to visit Sheffield at Christmas. It was great to see him (not least because he sorted out my external SSD which I thought I'd broken!) and the next time we meet up will hopefully be in Holland in the new year after they have moved  into the new home they've just bought. 

With no football to take pictures of, I've spent some time sorting out some old photographs and reliving some old memories, most of them happy, at Belper Town, Frecheville Cricket Club and of course Handsworth FC as well as holidays and bird-watching trips. I've been a member of Flickr since 2011 and wondered if you'd like a look at the 60,700+ photos in dozens of  albums which I've posted on there in the last 12 years. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/62126085@N04/albums

Go on! Grab a cuppa and have a browse! You know you want to!! 😜

I doubt there'll be another blog post before Christmas so I just want to wish you all (I'm assuming I have more than one reader!!!) "A Very Merry Christmas" and "All The Best for 2024" from Nortoner and The Duchess XX

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

No football weekend again!

With Handsworth's trip to Golcar ruled out because of the weather last Saturday and the fact that about 3 inches of snow fell on our estate so I couldn't get the car out, it was a no football weekend for us. Well, I suppose I could have got the car out but I don't drive in the snow!

The reorganisation of Handsworth's original fixture schedule due to earlier postponements meant the new dates had left The Ambers with 7 games in December 2023. Three of these were to be at home and 4 away. A tough ask given that Christmas and New Year were later in the mix somewhere.

Handsworth should be in action next on 5th December (tomorrow) in the County Senior Cup game at Sheffield FC. Nortoner Towers is about a mile up the road from Sheffield FC's home at the Coach & Horses ground so conditions will be similar to what they are in my back garden! Despite rain all day there is still standing snow about and with more rain forecast for this evening and Tuesday morning, another postponement looks on the cards. We'll see.

A cuptie postponement complicates the remaining fixture list because Cup games take precedence over league matches so a new date for this tie would add to the congestion. As well as the County Senior Cup, Handsworth will have another fixture to slot in.

We await news of our next opponents in the JCP Construction League Cup but the draw for the 3rd round hasn't been made yet. There are 2 second round League Cup ties to be played over the next week so it will probably be in the New Year before those games can be arranged.

Fixture lists compilation is one of the hardest tasks for any league administrator at grassroots level. The Duchess, (my other half - Sheila) spent many long hours over many years sorting out fixtures for the Under-11 to Under-16 age groups when she volunteered on the Committee of the Sheffield & District Junior Sunday League. Before she finally retired from the Junior League, she had the process down to a fine art and could compile the fixture lists for all age groups and all divisions in about a fortnight.

Anyway, with the Golcar game to be added and cup ties to be sorted, as it stands, Handsworth remaining fixture load looks like this:

December 2023 - 6 games - 5 league fixtures and 1 cup tie. 3 games away and 3 at home.

January 2024 - 4 games - 4 league fixtures. 2 games away and 2 at home.

February 2024 - 6 games - 6 league fixtures. 4 games away and 2 at home.

March 2024 - 3 games - 3 league fixtures. 1 game away and 2 at home.

April 2024 - 1 game - 1 league fixture. 0 games away and 1 at home.

As ever in these cases - fixtures are subject to change! 😉

Since there's no new football pictures to edit and show you, here's a picture of a winter moon taken from our bedroom window. 

This one shot reminds me that almost all of my photography these days is concentrated on football. Pre-Covid, I did a lot of wildlife and landscape photography and the plan is to get back to a more diverse portfolio in the new year. That's the plan anyway although knowing me, this plan will just get tagged on to my "Gunna do it!" list which is already several pages long!

Until the next time. See yer! 

Six Of The Best...

We gathered at Olivers Mount on Saturday 25th November to see if Handsworth FC could get back to winning ways in the NCEL Premier Division when we hosted Goole AFC who, like The Ambers, are having a very mixed season.

Waterlogged pitch postponements meant that this would be the team's first outing since the somewhat disappointing display at Pickering a fortnight previously.

Another dry, bright and cold day (as wished for) and we saw a comprehensive victory for The Ambers who ran out 6-1 winners and so avenged a 2-1 defeat to Goole in the reverse fixture at their place on October 10th.

Handsworth started brightly enough and really looked "up for it", taking the lead when midfielder Tom Bishop scored his first goal for the club but Goole levelled things a short while later and some of the home fans began to fret a little! However, with Mitch Dunne and top scorer Alfie Dodsworth having excellent games, the lead was soon restored and at half time, the score was 3-1 and the fans began to settle down a bit!!

Three further goals were added in the second half and were it not for a great performance from the Goole keeper, ex- Amber Luke Chadwick, the final score could have been in double figures.

As ever, Ian Robinson missed nothing and his comprehensive report can be found on the club website. Click the link:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/1-14094581/report

Unlike Ian, I missed a few things, including a couple of the goals but that was really down to a lack of concentration as I found some lovely folk to chat too - from both sets of fans! Can't even blame the camera the time! My album is also on the website if you want a look:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2023-11-25-ambers-61-goole-ncel-prem-1084428.html

I did redeem myself to some extent though. I managed some good shots of the goal scored by Leon Howarth. So far this season all I've managed of Leon's goals is, generally, the ball hitting the back of the net! He's scored in each of our last 4 games so a good picture was long overdue!

Leon Howarth rounds the keeper and walks the ball into the net

On the subject of statistics, I've long believed that they can be used to prove anything. Many, (many) years ago, when I was at college studying for my HND in Business Studies and Practices, the only module I failed was statistics.

I guess it didn't help my cause when I put a sticker on the front of my statistics notes which read "A statistician is someone who believes that with your head in an oven and your feet in a fridge, on average, you'll be perfectly comfortable." I don't think the lecturer was impressed and although he never said anything, I failed the module so - what do you think!?

I mention this because in fact, prior to this win, statistics show that Handsworth hadn't won a league game in the previous 8 matches but on the flip side, they have won 3 of the 4 games played in November. OK. That includes 2 games in cup competitions so, is the glass really half full or half empty?

Anyway, next up on the football front is a series of away games, the first of which is at Golcar on 2nd December in the NCEL Premier league, followed by a short trip to Sheffield FC on the 5th December for a Senior Cup 3rd Round tie and finally, on Saturday 9th, we're away at Garforth in our next league game.

We won't be at either Golcar or Garforth. I've something else happening on Saturday 2nd and our son arrives in Sheffield on 7th December and will head back to Holland early on the 12th so we've almost a week with him which we intend to make as much use of as we possibly can!

I also need his help because I'm having some more problems with the computer/hard drives. I've somehow managed to corrupt the new SSD I bought so I'm working from my "backup" drive. I think I know what to do but I'm going to wait until he's actually at Nortoner Towers where he can guide me through it personally (and laugh at me no end of course!)

OK! I've bored you enough guys.Thanks for reading all or part of this ramble. Each view gets my "Blogger Stats" up! Much appreciated! More follows when there's more to report! 

Tarra for now!