Stalybridge Celtic v Worcester City

"Have I left the gas on ??"

 As Christmas looms ... it's starting to get tricky on Saturdays with regard to finishing work at a reasonable time in order to dash home etc etc and then dash out to football.  No car either yesterday to whizz me home at speed - fortunately just managed to catch the 1350 train from Greenfield (next one would have been one hour later !), dash home etc etc and dash out again (having first checked on tellyweb ref postponements) - was hoping to go to Ashton United v Stocksbridge Park Steels but a frozen pitch put paid to that option.

So - to Bower Fold so see if Celtic could get a fourth successive home victory under their belt against lowly Worcester City.  However ... the visitors belied their lowly status and caught Celtic cold in the first minute - ouch !!  The visitors looked far more dangerous in the first 45 with the Celtic defence creaking alarmingly at times, although Celtic did hit the post right on half-time.

Things improved after the break - a couple of subs on just after the hour made a difference up front - but for all the possession Celtic were unable to find that elusive equaliser ... until 10 minutes from time when Obi Anoruo was felled in the box and Kristian Platt converted the penalty.  With time ticking away, it looked like a point rescued - until a comic-cuts winner came for the visitors with Celtic 'keeper Urwin colliding with his own player and the ball dropping to Daniel Nti two yards out - who couldn't miss !  A defeat snatched from the jaw of a draw ...  some pictures at

Stalybridge Celtic 1 Worcester City 2

Unlucky in the end ?? Possibly - although Worcester could have been out of sight at half-time but for some good work by Urwin and some profligacy (lovely word !) by the Worcester attack.  Rather than saying Celtic were poor (which the inevitable pessimists are doing), I'd rather say that Worcester City look to be in a very false position.  We shall see ...

Elsewhere - Hyde took the lead at home to Alfreton - and lost 1-2 (getting a bit habit-forming this !!);  Droylsden went down 0-3 at Worksop; Curzon Ashton continued their impressive unbeaten run with a 3-1 win over Kendal Town; and Mossley matched league leaders Warrington Town for much of the game before going down 2-3 ...

Checking out the "Non League Paper", midweek is looking a touch spartan for football round here ... Droylsden host FC United on Tuesday night - but I don't fancy getting shown up by the pro-snappers that the visitors bring along (!!!). Maybe a short trip out of the area on Tuesday night (Manchester Premier Cup Quarter-Final twixt Glossop NE and Trafford - haven't been to Surrey Street for ages !).  We shall see ...

Droylsden v Stafford Rangers

Cold ... at work all day (fortunately a Manager appeared in our office in the morning - and handed out some RM-issue gloves - huzzah !!).  Christmas has deffo kicked in this week - Tuesday is normally one of the quiet days - not this week ... one way of looking at it is "Thank God mail is down (QED) - otherwise I'd never get all the bloody parcels in the bag".  However we're getting everything (not forgetting of course the four pieces of **** - sorry Door2Doors) at once - and it ain't pretty.

Finished work (late of course .. O/T suitably booked) - home to warm up before heading back out to Droylsden to see the night's "six pointer" - bottom versus bottom-but-one ... and it showed.  The visitors did look the more threatening - but just couldn't finish - until Kinsella put them ahead.  Droylsden found an equaliser at the end of the first half, but the second 45 minutes was pretty similar - loads of action in and around the Droylsden penalty box - but not much in it.  Then a "Did it Cross the Line" controversy seemed to be the turning point.  Goal not given - but the pressure finally brought results with goals from Woolery and Burke.  However - true to league table position - a late goal from Droylsden made the last 10 minutes a bit hairy for the travelling fans (attendance was officially 115 - and there must have been 40-ish from Stafford ?  And they made ALL the noise !) - but Stafford held out for their first away win of the season - and Droylsden's winless streak continued.

By God it was cold - and late on the pitch was starting to crisp up nicely - again great credit to the groundstaff - one of my reasons for missing Stafford's third goal was potential frostbite (this despite wearing TWO pairs of gloves !).  Hey ho - my best efforts from the evening at

Droylsden 2 Stafford Rangers 3

So - midweek allowance used up last night, so giving Mossley v Abbey Hey a miss tonight (latest score 1-0 to Abbey Hey).  Also appears to be some controversy vis-a-vis Mossley Social Club - so probably nowhere to get a half-time shandy at Seel Park tonight either.

To be honest though - on last night's showing - we could be welcoming both teams to Seel Park next season - although I hope that the win for Stafford might kick-start their season (just a point behind Stocksbridge PS now) - and get them out of the mire they currently find themselves in.
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FA Trophy Draw ...

... made today - to be played on November 30th

Chorley v CURZON ASHTON
HYDE FC v North Ferriby United/Stourbridge
Lincoln City v STALYBRIDGE CELTIC

Reckon Hyde will be happiest ...

QUICK EDIT THREE MINUTES LATER - apparently not - pessimism is alive and well and living at Ewen Fields ...
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Curzon Ashton v AFC Fylde ...

Why is it every time I get a jobbie for the "Non League Paper" ... I end up at the wrong end ??  Always expect the unexpected I guess !!  I guess it goes down as a shock result (a 2-1 win for the home side against the team from the division above), but on the balance of play it was a well-deserved victory for the team that "seemed to want it more" ... although had the penalty shout for Fylde been upheld - or the Harry Winter "goal" allowed - it would have made for an even more interesting last 15 minutes - although what we were served was good enough !!  Some pictures from the game - i.e. the pics I sent up to the paper but were not used (!) - at

Curzon Ashton 2 AFC Fylde 1

So ... well done to John Flanagan and his team - which was incidentally decimated by injury/suspension/cup-tied type stuff - when I saw the team sheet I thought ... incorrectly as it ended up !!

Still - onwards and upwards - will certainly be checking out the draw for the next round of the FA Trophy on Monday (how about Curzon Ashton v Stalybridge Celtic ??).  'Bridge eased past Vauxhall Motors 3-0 in their home tie yesterday - league-wise, Hyde FC let a 2-0 lead slip away losing 3-2 at Woking, Ashton United let a 1-0 lead slip away losing 2-3 at home to Worksop (note ex-Mossley Tom Denton scoring for the Tigers against the Robins), Padiham let a 1-0 and 2-1 lead slip away, losing 2-3 to Mossley - and finally Droylsden's season of woe continued with a 3-7 reverse at Skelmersdale United.

Still ... maybe a chance for Droylsden on Tuesday night when they take on the team just above them viz. Stafford Rangers ... guess where I'll be that night (and it won't be watching England/Germany !) - this of course assumes that all the tales of "-9 degrees" and "25 feet of snow" are just southern-based sensationalism.

So - week's holiday over, and back in tomorrow ... but first the Sunday Quiz at the "Britannia" this evening - 'tis another one of mine !!
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Komdu á Íslandi ..

Fingur minn er krossleggja Íslands í kvöld í leit þeirra að ná World Cup Finals. Ég hef verið stuðningsmaður Króatíu í fortíðinni, en í kvöld er ég að styðja við litla liðið.

Aaah ... takes me back !! 

... and as regards England v Chile ... going out for a meal ...

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RANT ! The Economy ...

Bank of England Governer Mark Carney "The economic recovery has taken hold" ...

Bank of England Director of Markets Paul Fisher "The economy is a long way from normality"

UK unemployment  down from 7.8% to 7.6%

"Millions more working but they're earning less" - because we're all working on part-time hours.

I'll say no more ... surely you can work it out for yourselves ...
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Mossley v AFC Fylde ...

Lewis Nightingale tries to find a way through ..


... in the Doodson Cup ...

Well - after the weather on Saturday I had serious doubts about this one being on ... but one wet day and two dry ones (plus the usual heroics from the groundstaff !!) saw 102 hardy souls up at a chilly Seel Park to see if AFC Fylde could emulate their last trip to the Tameside area.

They didn't ... although it was a very professional performance by the higher-ranked visitors, who pretty much snuffed out any threats from Mossley quickly and efficiently - reckon you could count the Mossley chances on one hand - although they did include one golden chance for Dougie Carroll while it was still 0-1 - unfortunately he dragged it wide.  Good effort from the home team though, especially at the back with "rookie keeper" Christian Thewlis having a very promising start.  Fylde finished off the job with a rather soft (in my humble opinion !) penalty - and that was that for Mossley in this season's NPL Cup.  A few pictures at

 Mossley 0 AFC Fylde 2

The lazy week continues ... plugging away at some of the jobs ... today I will be "playing" with UPVC skirting board in our recently renovated bathroom - and maybe a hair cut too !!

Mentioned previously - with a Saturday off I might travel somewhere exotic ... 'fraid not folks - I've "had the call", and I'll be travelling all of 4 miles or so down to the Tameside Stadium to cover the FA Trophy game between Curzon Ashton and ................ AFC Fylde !!!
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Sunday Walk ...

What a difference a day makes !!!  Awoke to blue skies ... and frost !!!  We'd had friends over on Saturday evening - a bit of a bonfire, food and silly games, and today all off out for a bit of a local walk ... and again, it wasn't as cold as 'Mr BBC Weather' was saying !!  A touch muddy underfoot - but an enjoyable jaunt nonetheless ...

Roman Road to Dove Stone - and Back - 10Nov13

Home - to Coq au Vin ... and a snooze in front of the telly - one week's holiday starts NOW - I await the "job list" !!!
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Mossley v Cammell Laird ...

Just pics for now ...

Mossley 2 Cammell Laird 0

One WET day ... from start to finish !!  Struggled through rain, wind, hailstorms etc during the morning thinking "I wonder what - if anything - is going to be on this afternoon (apart from TV football) ??".  Home - and check out stuff ... saw a photo of Droylsden's pitch on Twitter - my mind went back to almost exactly four years ago - true to form it was called off.  Twitter was also telling us that Curzon's game against Farsley was ON - by 1430 this had been revised to OFF.  No mention of the Mossley game online anywhere - so it was down to the old-fashioned way viz. a phone call ... "Definitely ON" was the reply so up the road I went (with suitable wet weather protection) - and once again the Mossley ground staff had performed miracles to get the game on - and an excellent game it was too - given the conditions.  Mossley were comfortable throughout and should have had more than two goals to be honest. The weather worsened in the last 25 minutes or so - but Mossley continued to press as the pitch got wetter and wetter (as did the cameraman !!).  Another three points in the bag - and mid-table respectability returns, with the confidence running through the team to push on upwards.  There's supposedly a game on Tuesday night (versus AFC Fylde in the Doodson Cup) - I have my doubts on that one, but you never know !
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I Beg to Differ ...

Probably because I don't have an LWT (the golf trolley look-a-like) or an HCT ( the ice-cream trolley look-a-like) or a bloody great big wagon (the bloody great big wagon look-a-like).

When it's a bag on your shoulder - and no bugger is at home - I HATE parcels ...

(But don't tell my boss !)

Work tomorrow ... Football tomorrow ...  and then A WEEK OFF WORK !! Time to re-charge batteries, do all those things you can't do while you're at work - and steel my self for the Christmas pressure (which has to be honest already started vis-a-vis those bloody parcels !!!) .  A week off also means a Saturday off (16th) - I'll be looking for an exotic away-day football-wise - that's for sure (unless I get the "Non-League Paper" call - and then money talks ...)
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Thunderbird is GO !!

What with all the aggro that is WIndows 8 (and now they want me to upgrade to 8.1 ... should I ?) and Windows Mail ...I ducked out of Mail and downloaded Mozilla Thunderbird for my Googlemail e-mail account.  Now I discover that Thunderbird can handle both IMAP and POP3 protocols - so I set up an extra e-mail account using my old e-mail details/settings and BINGO ... 100+ old e-mails came shooting down the line !! 

A good job really - because I now can't log in to my old laptop as some of the keyboard keys have just packed up - including two numbers that are part of my log-in password - aargh.  Just another "interesting exercise" to get my rusty computer head around ...
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Mossley v Prescot Cables ...

Tonight Mossley managed to halt their run of defeats with a hard-fought 4-2 victory over Prescot Cables - thanks largely to a hat-trick from Dougie Carroll (get him on contract !!! I spotted his potential in the friendlies - and he's certainly been doing the business since then).  'Twas one of those games when you think "OK we've conceded ... but we're always going to score more than them" - and so it was - a couple of sloppy goals were more than matched by Carroll's efforts - and a late late goal from Mark Haslam after Prescot 'keeper Adam Reid had gone up for a Prescot corner in an effort to get an equaliser .... FAIL !!

Nice to see a healthy bunch of away fans as well tonight - given the weather and TV football (OK Liverpool not involved so maybe ... I'd like to think not !!).  Pics from the game at

Mossley 4 Prescot Cables 2

Also good to see the pitch holding up well after all the bloody rain we've had - credit to groundstaff indeed ...

... and that'll do for now ...
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"Plebgate"

Does anyone really give a t*ss ??  Would just love to know how many ££££s this whole sad saga is costing US TAXPAYERS ...

We don't trust MPs ... and we struggle to trust our Police Force - especially when I heard what I consider the ultimate quote that was made today by Detective Sergeant Hinton ... and I quote:

"I inadvertantly gave an inaccurate answer to the committee".

Just about sums it up ...

Meanwhile - in the real world - it's raining ... Ashton United's friendly at home to Chadderton has been called off - we still await the news vis-a-vis Mossley v Prescot Cables ...

1850 UPDATE ... Mossley game is ON !!!
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Off The Menu ...

 


... salmon that is !!!

Headed off up towards Settle yesterday - and then on to Stainforth to check out "Stainforth Force" - where the salmon should have been leaping.  However, because of the sh*tty wet weather over the last few days, Stainforth Force was in FULL force - and if I'd have been a salmon, I'd have took one look at the water and thought "sod this - we'll have a couple of days off" ... and so it was !

Hey ho - got a bit of a walk in anyway - cripes it was a touch breezy !!! A few pics at

Settle/Stainforth Walk 03Nov13

... and that was Sunday day.  Evening - round at daughter's for a "birthday meal" for Mrs S (cooked by large boy).  There was a slight problem though ... never got round to buying a card for the good lady - and I've been getting hell ever since.  I dunno - Lucy Spraggan on Monday - pictures on Wednesday (to see "One Chance" - very good by the way) - Lake District Thursday/Friday ... what more can a man do ?? OK buy a card ... I'll get round to it - honest !!!

Football this mid-week ???  Fingers crossed for Mossley tomorrow (weather-wise) for their home game against Prescot Cables ...

FA Trophy Third Qualifying Draw today ...  Curzon Ashton are at home to AFC Fylde (beware of Bradley Barnes !); Stalybridge Celtic at home to Vauxhall Motors ...
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Stalybridge Celtic v Histon ...

After that brief respite from walking with a heavy bag on back (well you know what I mean !), 'twas back to the mail-face today ... we can certainly see that Christmas is coming when Saturdays get heavy - aargh !! Fortunately managed to snatch a lift off Mrs S into Stalybridge after a late finish and got up to Bower Fold just before kick-off.

Callum Warburton tries his luck ...


Celtic - with new Manager Keith Briggs in tow - are on a roll at the moment - and you could see the new-found confidence in the team from the start, despite being up against a determined Histon side - and a fearsome wind !!  2-0 up at half-time ... with the wind and the slope to follow.  However that was it ... a few substitutions saw Celtic lose their shape a bit and a late penalty for Histon frazzled a few nerves.  Celtic held on though, to make it three wins out of three for the new management team.  Some pics from the game at

Stalybridge Celtic 2 Histon 1

Off to see some leaping salmon tomorrow ... honest !!
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24 Hours Away ...

After a particularly gruesome Thursday at work, me and Mrs S leapt into the car and buggered off up to Windermere ... an excellent meal at Francine's and a night's B&B (including a stonking breakfast !), a quick drive up to Ambleside and a 10 miler up high !!  A few pictures at

Scandale Walk 01Nov13

Yes ... I didn't work my "day off" for a change ... !

Now praying for a positive result with the 0900hrs pitch inspection at Stalybridge tomorrow morning ...
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