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... pretty much as "first thoughts" ... but with added photographs (these damned night game pix still need a tweak here, a tweak there and a little bit of TLC - but I'm fairly pleased with this lot !!)
Stalybridge Celtic 4 Droylsden 0
Other observations - it was BLOODY cold - just what you need after a day out in the bloody cold - and being a skinny wretch I have very little extra "baggage" to hold onto any extraneous heat !! Now if I was a REAL Celtic fan, I'd have been well warmed by that performance. Sometimes the words "local derby" can mean very little to players (especially if they ain't local ...), but the message had certainly got through to the Celtic squad last night - they hustled and hassled and competed for the full 90 minutes (I was thinking of saying "competed like Tigers" - but that probably wouldn't have gone down very well !!!). So much so that Droylsden were very much second best ... and towards the end, Celtic were ripping through the Bloods defence at will - all "stuffing" had been completely knocked out of the visitors. I won't say too much more about the game - check out the official report from the Celtic website.
Another cold day today - however I finally got my new "playing out" coat - and judging by the time I finished today (after a "touch" of o/t) the colour is probably about right !!! Check out ...
There was a large pile of boxes all containing lots of other bits of the "new uniform" - but apparently we're NOT allowed to have them .................... yet ................. reasons - unknown !! Rest of the week will involve getting cold, getting warm - and vice versa !!
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... blimey !
Tear up form book - turn-up - shock - unexpected- and all that sort of stuff. It was an easy 4-0 win for the home side against a team that had hammered Boston United 4-0 only three days earlier. Don't care what they say now, but the Celtic fans amongst the 626 crowd could NEVER have expected that. Celtic didn't make Droylsden look ordinary - they made them look poor ...
Pictures tomorrow night - only just got home after mercy dash to Tesco before catching last train home ...
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... I'd be looking at these and rueing those missed chances ...
A Harrogate Railway-eye view of the Mossley game - 13Nov10
Been to quacks - apparently I'm still alive - although it's blood test and chest x-ray time (I appear to have lost rather a lot of weight over the last 12 months - even though I look and feel healthier than I have for a good few years !) - so I need a bit of an MOT.
Now ... off to Ashton to print some piccies, buy some clobber, check out vino and buy tonight's tea ...
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... sorely tempted to do another album from Saturday - from the Harrogate point of view ...
... in fact I will.
... but not yet.
Day off = loads to do - first doctors, then sort out some photos for a famous Stalybridge Celtic player (to pass on tomorrow night), then head for Ashton to print same, buy some "winter wear" for underneath postie uniform - and check out cheap chateaux wines in Aldi !!! Oh and sort out dentist appointment.
It's a wonderful life ...
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... some pictures from today at
Walking above Dovestone - 14Nov10
Not the best of walks - especially at this time of year - and I've certainly "tweaked" a couple of muscles ... good job I've another day off tomorrow !
Football this week ? Has to be Bower Fold on Tuesday where Stalybridge Celtic will be taking on Droylsden ... might take my mind off Saturday afternoon ...
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What can I say ?
... it was £15-30 day return ...
... the trains to Harrogate ran to time ...
... the trains home did not ...
... it got colder as the day went on ...
... when I got home, our evening visitors had not yet arrived - a slight problem on the motorway involving the car bonnet "flying off" at 60 mph !!! This meant I had time to add a couple of extra "hot starters" to the evening menu, viz Chorizo in Red Wine and Patatas Bravas, before they eventually arrived. Believe it or not we finally finished our evening meal at about 0045 hrs ... !!! Went for a walk in the Dovestones area today - not the best, but a walk's a walk (especially without a heavy red bag on the shoulder !) Will check out the day's snaps quite soon as well ...
Oh yes the football pictures ...
What can I say ?
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Mitch Benn (comedy) or Joe McElderry (Christmas lights "switcher on") - think we got the better deal !!... for nearly cocking up my Friday night - and on behalf of all those families and other people "left on the platform" at Ashton-under-Lyne for COMPLETELY cocking up their Friday evening. We (me, Mrs Smiffy and daughter) were off to see Mitch Benn (from Radio 4's "Now Show") at the Dancehouse in Manchester - many of the unfortunate people stranded at Ashton (and those crammed into an overcrowded and 20 minute late train) were hoping to see the "Christmas Lights Turn-On" in City Centre Manchester. We were 25 minutes late for our "pre-match meal" at Zouk (excellent food - and once they knew we were in a rush they pulled out all the stops) - and made it to the Dancehouse with seconds to spare. Excellent gig - probably helps if you know who Mitch Benn is and what he does (musical topical satire/comedy in various styles is probably the best way to put it), and fortunately daughter had gone straight from work "in her car" so we didn't have to face the trials of Northern Rail to get home.
So what can Northern Rail do later today - yes it's Harrogate RA v Mossley and we're all going on the train ... (suffice to say - we're leaving ourselves plenty of time !!)
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"Hope it's tomato soup tonight - it's bloody freezing !"... well it took a time coming - but 4-0 in the end was no more than Mossley deserved - after getting off to a flyer with Callum Byrne's screamer (I was still "setting up" hence the poor snapper effort), Mossley then contrived to continue what they've been doing all season i.e. create loads of chances and put bugger all in the onion bag. they were certainly comfortable for most of the 90 minutes (OK Ossett had one disallowed but it WAS the right decision) - comfortable enough for Ossett to "adjust" their game plan from "nice but harmless" to "roughhouse" - it failed as Mossley managed to get three more goals in the last 10 minutes to make the score more realistic. Some pictures atMossley 4 Ossett Albion 0As I mentioned last night/this morning (!) this win moves the Lilywhites up to 14th place - and there are still some games in hand which brings the play-off positions into view (but it IS only November - so enough of that !). Time to get a bit of a run together first - and Saturday will be an interesting test at Harrogate Railway who've had something of a resurgence lately (including a win at high-flying Chorley). Remember me saying my Saturday "days off" never coincide with a decent away game - I was wrong ... a nice train trip to Starbeck beckons ...
A bit of overtime this afternoon saw me out in the dark in an unknown area of Oldham checing my A-Z under street lights - time to indent for a head torch I feel ... and I'm starting to get that "Christmas is coming" feeling - not only loads of bloody catalogues but an increase in packets/parcels as well - I guess the word is "eek !"
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Debutant Callum Byrne celebrates his early goal ..... check it out tomorrow afternoon/evening folks. The 4-0 win takes Mossley up from 21st to 14th place however - and was well deserved !
... and yes - it was friggin' cold !!
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My "winter wardrobe" ?? No bloody chance !!!
... was Monday and Tuesday at work (learning how to wrap up warm now- fingerless gloves to the fore, plus the "hat that makes me look like a plonker ... but a warm plonker !!").
So - having just defrosted from today's efforts (one and a bit walks - o/t - Christmas IS coming) - 'tis time to go out and get cold again up at Seel Park where Mossley are taking on Osset Albion (minus Darren Barrick !!). "Plonker Hat" will be on show as well !!!
Maybe some piccies tonight - maybe not ...
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... a long day indeed ... up at 0530 for work, knowing full well I wasn't going to make to Chester for the Mossley game (a real bugger - at the moment my "Saturdays off" are just not coinciding with the juicy away games), so I did a bit of "over-overtime" to follow the early doors o/t and normal time - getting home about 1350 - just time for quick change, grab bag and off out on the 1411 bus to Hyde - got there about 1457 to hear with ref's whistle (the early start was just the beginning of his "catalogue of cock-ups" !!).
Hyde have struggled this season - and were propping up the Blue Square North table at 1500 hrs - but they started brightly enough. However the ref soon made his mark by continually ignoring the foul challenges on Dale Johnson - which got Tigers' Manager Neil Tolson "a mite upset" - upset enough to eventually be given the red card and banished to the stands (terraces ?). Despite all the efforts of Johnson and (my MOM) Shaun Whalley, the only goal of the game came from midefielder Dean Stott who hammered home through a crowded box just after the half-hour. Many more chances were fashioned - but bad luck, bad finishing and "linesman interference" didn't help - personally I reckon a bit more width up front would take some of the pressure off Johnson and Whalley as well. Hyde were under the cosh for a good part of the second half, but seemed fairly comfortable at the back ... until the last couple of minutes when the ref "lost it" completely. There were shouts from the Harrogate players for a penalty - and it looked as though the ref had signalled same. However an over-long "discussion" with his assistant saw an offside decision given instead - much to the chagrin (good word !) of the visitors.
So Hyde climb off the bottom - a victory which I think they just about deserved - and here are some pictures from same ...
Hyde FC 1 Harrogate Town 0
A couple of Stalybridge "connections"- Harrogate had ex-Celt Lee Ellington up front - Kieran Gonzalez (young keeper who trialled @ Bower Fold at the start of this season) was on the Harrogate bench - and I reckoned their number 5 Jake Picton was the spitting image of a "young Paul Sykes" - see what you think ...
Home (via the "Sportsman" for a swift one) before out again to a 50th birthday party in Stalybridge (Christine and Adrian - old friends from the Buffet Bar) before catching the last "rail replacement bus" (some things NEVER change !) and fiddling about on the pc for an hour or two ... knackered and bed !
Sunday - a few jobbies to do after this - recycling, shopping, cooking etc etc (it's a wonderful life on your one day off - done 6 days out of 7 this last week - moneygrabber !!) - so I'd better get on with it ...
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... some product later today ... it's been a blur of work, overtime, some football (Hyde v Harrogate Town) and a birthday party in Stalybridge ...
... but first ... some kip (it is 0330 !!)
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... for services "over and above" apparently ...
You need to read the Mossley Message Board to get the full SP - but for the uninitiated, it's a "loyalty thing" that seems to crop up every now and again on the Mossley Board - to be honest it's probably the same on 99% of footy boards - Are you a loyal fan ? Will you go through hell and high water to get to a game ? etc etc etc. Fact is these days people will say "No" for so many reasons - so many valid reasons as well - so it just seems pointless churning out these "Where were you ?" posts ... supposes it makes some people feel good (superior ?) - but all it does for most people is p*ss them off !!!
(No doubt there will be a special award ceremony to the "Elite 4" who made it to Ossett last Tuesday - I'll probably give that a miss as well ...).
Back later ...
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... but after getting totally wet through this afternoon (I thought I'd get away with it - but unfortunately 14 "sign fors" - recorded delivery - and 2 "specials before 1pm" put paid to that - involved a lot of re-jigging of the walk 'on the fly' to get to the two "before 1pm" addresses - and a lot of "dead walking") -so yes wet through. Home at a sensible time mind - and now drying out, but the weather is, if anything, getting worse - so I'm staying in, and cooking a chicken and chorizo stew - if necessary I CAN get a note from my Mum ...
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... and if you're looking for the result of the Manchester FA Youth Cup game between Mossley Youth and FC United of Manchester Youth ... this is NOT the place. I offer up the following ...
Ho ho ho ...
(EVENING UPDATE- Make that "TWO WINS for Mossley !" - the Youth team beat FCUM Youth 4-1 this afternoon ... nice one !)
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... and it all started so well ...
... end of October ... end of Mossley's interest in all Cups for the season ... unlike last week though, the game finished with 22 players on the pitch (and a substitute goalkeeper on the Mossley bench !).
Personally thought Mossley gave a good account of themselves today - but a combination of bad luck, missed chances (really need more of a killer instinct at times) and some very questionable offside decisions meant that another "beatable team" went away with the honours. We've shown we CAN compete with teams from a higher level - the next step (in "now we can concentrate on the league" mode) is to transfer the good bits from the last month - and hopefully to learn from some of the bad bits. We're EIGHT games behind AFC Fylde (!) and six behind most of the others - time to start moving up that league. In the meantime- some pictures from today at
Mossley 2 Nantwich Town 3 (FA Trophy)
(One notable result from today was Curzon Ashton putting one over FC Halifax Town today to the tune of 2-1 ...).
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Wonder if this animated gif will work ?
... "de-lousing" small boys pc which was awash with "win32/callitwhatyoulike" type viruses (virii ??). In the end it boiled down to a "sod it ALL off and start again" type of 'fix' - and have now spent the last few hours attempting to re-build (it's an XP machine so we're starting from several years ago and working forwards ...) - we're getting there !!
FA Trophy versus Nantwich Town tomorrow - hoping to be there for 1500 hrs - but first some work - and I've also offered to "help out" with a touch of overtime- just hope I'm not inundated on my own walk first !
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Orrest Head
... went up on Wednesday straight after work - well almost - first job was to clean up a pile of cat sh*t (our aged cat is slowly going loopy - Catzheimers Disease or something - and had managed to "download some brownware" behind the TV - as in all over the four-way plug and its constituent pluggage - a right royal mess !!! Ended up driving through monsoon conditions after leaving the M6 near Kendal arriving about 2000 hrs in time for food etc ... Today a gentle five miler to the top of Orrest Head and down towards the Troubeck valley before turning sharp left back towards Windermere. Lazy afternoon watching people make tea - before eating it (!) and catching the 1815 train back home (left car up there with Mrs Smiffy) together with small boy who also came back. Finally got round to buying him his 18th birthday alcoholic beverage (only one month late) at Stalybridge Buffet Bar before getting home about 2100 ... some pix from today at
Orrest Head Windermere - 28Oct10
Notice that Darlington "did the double" over Mossley by beating our Youth Team 3-0 in the FA Youth Cup last night - hey ho ... other than that, it might be worth seeing what's happened in the world today - so I'm off to the BBC website - now ...
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Matty Kay goes close ...
... our second meeting in 7 days ... and our third cup exit in a similar time ... A much-changed side from the Darlington "episode" went behind after 10 minutes when Danny Shannon find both time and space to put Curzon 1-0 up ... and after that, many chances were created - but many chances were missed before Shannon made it 2-0 right at the death. It's late - again - so I'd wait for the official word (Mossleyweb.com) for more words ... here's some piccies to keep you busy though ...
Mossley 0 Curzon Ashton 2 (Presidents Cup)
Later today (Wednesday) the Mossley Youth team have a chance to atone for the failure of "big team" when they visit Darlington in the FA Youth Cup - I wish them well. Me - work and then back up to Windermere for another 24 hour "whistle stop visit" (day off on Thursday). October's "cup month" ends on Saturday with the visit of Nantwich Town in the FA Trophy - let's hope for a positive in this one eh what ?
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