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!

In Reserve...

A couple of blog entries ago, I mentioned that The Ambers were to undertake 3 long away trips to games at Pickering, Tadcaster and Silsden, all within a week. I also suggested a "waterlogged pitch" might help reduce the length of the "North & West Yorkshire Tour."

Turns out waterlogged pitches meant the games at both Tadcaster and Silsden were postponed  leaving The Ambers 1st team with no fixture until 28th November when Goole AFC are the visitors to Olivers Mount. Perhaps in future, I should be more careful what I wish for!

We hadn't planned to go to Silsden last Saturday anyway. I had some business to sort out in Sheffield and wouldn't be through with that until it was too late to travel so we took the opportunity to see the Handsworth Reserves side for the first time this season.

The Reserves are essentially a new squad with a lot of young players and are competing in the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League Division 1 having dropped down from the County Senior Premier Division during the summer break. The team had done well in the Premier Division but a change of management and essentially, the break up of last season's squad meant the Reserves were more or less starting from scratch.

They'd made a good start and were pushing for the top spot so we decided to have a look for ourselves in their home fixture against Thorncliffe Villa, another side in the process of rebuilding. 

On a fine dry afternoon Handsworth won the game. I like fine, dry afternoons because photography is so much easier when I'm not trying to keep me and the camera warm and dry!

At half time, Handsworth lead 2-0 with goals from Aidan Askwith (what a talent this young lad looks by the way!) and Nathan Metcalfe but based on 1st half performances, Thorncliffe were still very much in it.

Aiden Askwith (16) opens the scoring

Nathan Metcalfe scores the second goal.

A more cohesive show in the second half kept Handsworth largely on top although both sides could have had further goals if the chances created had been taken. 

Handsworth maintained the 2 goal lead until the final whistle and the win actually moves them into top spot in the division on goal difference from Sheffield City FC but Sheffield and 3rd placed AFC Dronfield have games in hand. Mind you, I've always reckoned that I'd rather have points on the board than games in hand.

There's a long way to go of course with only around half the season completed but things are looking good for the lads.

My match album can be viewed here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/62126085@N04/albums/72177720312801553

On other fronts, with a lot of help from my son in Holland, I figured out that computer problem I've been having. I store files and photographs on a 5Tb external hard drive and everything is then backed up to a second 5Tb external hard drive. As you'll see, I'm a "belt and braces" man!

The iMac and Apple operating system has a facility called "Disk Utility/First Aid". Running that on external drive 01 found "surface damage" on the drive so a repair wasn't possible. The upshot is that I've bought a new external drive but this time, a Solid State Drive rather than another external HDD so I've spent the last couple of days copying files from external drive 02 to the new drive which is faster and more reliable (fingers crossed)

Eliminating all of the technical jibber jabber - one of my external hard drives was knackered so I've bought a new 'un.

So it's on to next Saturday when we host Goole AFC in a league fixture.

Here's hoping for a fine, dry afternoon!

COYA🧡🖤⚽👊

Ain't technology wonderful?

A week and a half since my last blog entry because the external hard drive where I store my photo files decided it didn't want to play any more and so I've spent most of my week restoring files from a back up drive. Since there's almost 300,000 pictures on the drive plus all sorts of other data files, it's taking a while as you might imagine! Anyway - I'm almost there - hopefully.

So, since the Senior Cup win against Wombwell Main, The Ambers have played two more games with decidedly mixed results.

First up was a League Cup tie against Eccleshill at Oliver's Mount. A close encounter saw Handsworth come out on top, winning 3-2 with a late goal from Leon Howarth.

Eccleshill had taken the lead in the first half but 2 goals from Alfie Dodsworth early in the second half put The Ambers in front. 

Alfie celebrates the first of his 2 goals

The visitors equalised in the 84th minute and the game looked destined for a penalty shoot out until Leon popped up to score the winner and take Handsworth through to the next round.

It was an exciting game but as Ian Robinson said in his match report, Eccleshill must be sick of the sight of Handsworth because we'd already beaten them twice in the League this season before this win.

Ian's Match Report is here:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/0-5785684/report

And my pictures are here:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2023-11-08-ambers-32-eccleshill-lc-rd-2-1082115.html

Three days later, on Saturday 11th November, we made the long journey to Pickering Town to see if The Ambers could add another win to make it 3 in a row. 

This was our first visit to Pickering and involved a round trip of some 170 miles so we decided to travel on the Saturday and stay overnight at the Premier Inn after the match, driving back to Sheffield on Sunday. That plan worked! The accommodation was excellent and we'd booked the "Meal Deal" so dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday were sorted!

However, the journey up there took just about 2.1/4 hours because I decided to believe the sat nav rather than my instinct. I'd heard of lane closures on the M1 near Meadowhall so followed the sat nav which sent us up the M18 and A1(M). A long section of the A1(M) was under contraflow (which I obviously didn't know about!) and the traffic queues began about 4 miles before that.

The Saturday weather was dry, cold and mostly bright but the outcome of the game was less than bright for The Ambers.

Pickering scored first with a free header from a  corner kick but goals from Leon Howarth and Brendan Bagley gave us a 1-2 lead at half time. The second half saw Pickering score 3 times to end up as 4-2 winners. One of their goals came from a dubious penalty award although to be fair, the ref rejected what appeared to be a nailed on penalty for Pickering a few minutes earlier. We think he realised his error and so, first chance he got, he gave them a less obvious one.

Brandon Bagley puts The Ambers in front - but it didn't last!

The defeat wasn't totally down to the referee although he had a lot to do with it. Most of his decisions were questionable (for both sides) and the game developed into a stop-start, niggly affair illustrated by a "handbags" clash involving the vast majority of the 22 players towards the end.

It became a "long ball - get after that" game and that's a tactic Handsworth are not particularly good at. Handsworth were missing leading scorer Alfie Dodsworth and midfielder Sam Fewkes but also missed a couple of good scoring opportunities.

The defeat wasn't easy to take because we all know that The Ambers can play much better than  they did on the day.

Match Reporter Ian Robinson wasn't at this one so you'll have to make do with my brief comments above and my picture album to get a feel of the game:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2023-11-11-pickering-42-ambers-ncel-prem-1082814.html

Next up was supposed to be a midweek trip (yesterday) to Tadcaster for a league fixture but that was called off on the morning of the game. We wouldn't have been at the match anyway, It's another round trip of about 100 miles and I didn't feel like another long trek back home, especially in the dark and past my bedtime!

There's another 100+ miles away trip to Silsden on Saturday 18th November but we won't be there. I have some business to attend to on Saturday morning and won't be through with that until after lunch so couldn't get there before kick off. We'll get our football fix at Olivers Mount where Handsworth Reserves have a game against Thorncliffe Villa in the County Senior League.

In other news... We didn't get our bird-watching trip. A dry day was originally forecast but the prediction changed so we decided to leave it for another time. I've said before that the weather forecasts are not to be believed and that truth happened again. It was a dry day.

However, It worked out for us in the end because our plumber called in to finally fix our leaking central heating boiler. James Noble is his name. Based in Dronfield, he's a great bloke and very good at his job! Check him out!

https://www.checkatrade.com/trades/NobleGasAndHeating?image=719869&type=1&album=40913

I also got a new winter coat! I'm ashamed to admit that when I tried on my "Craghopper" winter coat for the first time in 12 months, I couldn't fasten it properly!  I've worn it every winter since I retired (10 years in March 2024) but "idle, fat git" mode has taken over and I'm heavier than I've ever been. I blame COVID and lockdowns...

Right - I'll leave it there. If you've made it to the end, "Thank You" and if you haven't  - can't say I blame you! 

Back to Winning Ways!

On a wet and generally miserable Saturday 4th November, Handsworth and Wombwell Main finally completed their County Senior Cup 2nd Round game. The game was played at Olivers Mount because the pitch at Wombwell was still unfit.

The Ambers ran out 7-2 winners although Wombwell gave a pretty good account of themselves. They play their games in the County Senior League, Premier Division which is 2 levels below Handsworth so a win for The Ambers was anticipated.

Handsworth scored first through a Jonno Williams free-kick but Wombwell were level within a minute when a heavily defected strike beat Handsworth keeper Dylan Parkin.

Skipper Ozzie Radford restored the lead with the last kick of the first half and two quick fire goals early in the 2nd half more or less knocked the stuffing out of Wombwell and Handsworth coasted to a fairly comfortable win in the end.

Read Ian Robinson's match report for a more thorough description of the action.

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/teams/126071/match-centre/0-5785683/report 

and my photos are here:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handsworthfc/photos/2023-11-04-wombwell-main-27-ambers-senior-cup-rd2-1081370.html

It was good to see Club Captain Ozzie Radford play his first full 90 minutes in around 3 months. A frustrating injury has kept him on the sidelines. He performed very well although he admitted to cramping up in the last 5 or 10 minutes but he was determined to get through a full game.

Skipper Oz Radford obviously "bouncing" to be back!!

The other high spot of the day came when with 15 minutes left, Handsworth gave a first team debut to 16-year old goalkeeper Tom Hill. He came on as a sub for Dylan Parkin and became the youngest ever player for The Ambers first team. Tom has been involved with the first team for some time now, his primary job being to warm up the keepers prematch, both home and away. Managers Jon Froggat and Mark Ward rewarded his hard work and dedication by formally signing him to the first team squad a couple of weeks ago.

Tom Hill leaves the pitch at the end of the game - I hear he's still grinning from ear to ear!

Tom has come through the Handsworth Junior set up. He's a great future prospect and was naturally "over the moon" to get on the pitch.

Next up is a League Cup tie against Eccleshill. That game takes place on Wednesday 8th November at Olivers Mount and it'll be a tough one. We've played Eccleshill twice in the league the season, winning 2-0 at their place and 2-1 at ours so they'll be looking for revenge!

There's not much else to report from the 3 days since my last blog entry. We're hoping to have our first bird-watching session in about 4 years at RSPB Old Moor, Wath upon Dearne tomorrow. We were members of the RSPB until lockdowns stopped our visits to the Reserves so we ceased membership. Now that lockdowns are done with, we've decided to rejoin the organisation. I'm quite looking forward to photographing something other than football to be honest. Just hope the forecast for a bright, dry day is correct.

We've also had confirmation that in early December, our son is to make a short visit to see us from his home in Rotterdam. Naturally, we're really looking forward to that! 

A Football-less Fortnight.

Handsworth's County Senior Cup game at Wombwell Main, scheduled for Saturday 28th November, was postponed when a 'last minute" pitch inspection at 10:30 a.m. on the morning of the game (4.1/2 hours before kick-off) found a waterlogged pitch.  A switch to Oliver's Mount and our 4G pitch was declined so that meant a blank football Saturday.

The match was put back a week to Saturday 4th November. It has to be played on a Saturday because there are no floodlights at Wombwell Main but this time, the NCEL and The County FA have insisted that if Wombwell's pitch is unfit again, the fixture must be moved to Oliver's Mount.

This rearrangement means that our home league fixture against Barton Town will now be played on Wednesday 6th December.

The fixture shuffle leaves us with only 2 home games in November and only one of those is a Saturday fixture. Saturday games tend to draw bigger crowds so the club's income stream will likely be affected.

In addition, all of this fixture rescheduling means The Ambers face 3 long away trips in the space of a week:

Saturday, 11th November - away at Pickering Town - a 166 mile round trip

Tuesday 14th November - away at Tadcaster Albion - a 94 mile round trip

Saturday 18th November - away at Silsden - a 112 mile round trip 

Nothing can be done about it of course. Maybe we should hope that a "waterlogged pitch" might postpone one of these excursions?

The absence of a football match to comment on has made me think about the content of this blog. Looking back at my blog entries from 10-12 years ago, I recall I didn't just comment on football but noted other things we'd been up to.

I've decided to resume that sort of content and so, with no football pictures to show you, here's a couple I've taken of the Autumn colours around Norton Towers. Can't remember the last time I photographed anything other than football so it made a nice change. I'm working on a Flickr album which I'll post ASAP.

Over the football-less period, we've had a leaking central heating boiler to sort out and we've both had a haircut. We've dined out at Chester's Fish & Chips in Chesterfield and I've had new spectacles. We've rejoined the RSPB and are planning some bird-watching expeditions.

I'll not go into any more detail here but events such as these will be recorded if and when they happen so you may see what a full and active life we lead! (Or not?!

Back to football tomorrow though! COYA!!

Laters!