Tuesday, 6th January 2009

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28th September 2008
Review Of The Week

ILKESTON TOWN retained top spot in the Premier Division when they kept their fifth clean sheet in their last six outings to record a third successive away win with a solitary Jon Douglas strike at WORKSOP TOWN on Wednesday evening when the home side were failing to find the net for the third successive league outing.

HEDNESFORD TOWN closed to within a point of the leaders when, after beating MATLOCK TOWN 4-0 in midweek, they overcame ASHTON UNITED 2-1 on Saturday. Ashton also lost to KENDAL TOWN in midweek but hang on to joint third with GUISELEY who didn't have a league fixture and Kendal.

At the opposite end FC UNITED of MANCHESTER moved away from the relegation spots with a 4-0 win at OSSETT TOWN whilst defeat at MATLOCK TOWN left newly promoted CAMMELL LAIRD still bottom.

The top two in the First Division North, BAMBER BRIDGE and OSSETT ALBION, both enjoyed home wins to keep their positions whilst LANCASTER CITY moved up five places to third with a home win over TRAFFORD.

CURZON ASHTON almost jumped as many places in to fifth with a midweek win over RADCLIFFE BOROUGH who also lost on Saturday at BAMBER BRIDGE. At the bottom HARROGATE RAILWAY were within touching distance of their first win only to lose to two goals in the last two minutes at COLWYN BAY after a narrow 1-0 defeat on Tuesday at DURHAM CITY who have kept six clean sheets on the trot in the league.

Despite losing to STOCKSBRIDGE PS in midweek CARLTON TOWN went top of the First Division South on Saturday after twice being behind to KIDSGROVE ATHLETIC but they have played plenty of games more than the chasing pack.

BRIGG TOWN are still without a win after going down 3-0 at LEEK TOWN and GRANTHAM TOWN, despite a goalless draw in midweek against RETFORD UNITED shipped another five goals on Saturday at home to GLAPWELL to make it sixteen conceded in their last four games.

Win of the day in the FA Cup surely belonged to First Division South BELPER TOWN who beat Conference North Redditch United 4-1 whilst BUXTON also disposed of Burscough and both WITTON ALBION and WHITBY TOWN forced replays against Conference opposition.

SHEPSHED DYNAMO came within a whisker of also forcing a replay despite giving two Divisions away to Alfreton Town. RETFORD UNITED, SHEFFIELD FC and ILKESTON TOWN won against lower ranking outside opposition whilst First Division sides MOSSLEY and NEWCASTLE BLUE STAR won away at top tier KENDAL TOWN and NORTH FERRIBY UNITED respectively.

Colwyn Bay And Goole AFC Lose Points

At a Board Meeting on Sunday, 21st September the UniBond League fined both Colwyn Bay and Goole AFC the sum of £100 for playing an ineligible player in their respective opening games of the season. The Board also deducted the points won in the two matches by both teams which in the case of Colwyn Bay was three points for a 2-1 win over Garforth Town whilst Goole's point deduction was the point they had earned in a 3-3 draw at Kidsgrove Athletic.

The points deductions will not be reflected in the league tables until the period allowed for appeal has expired.

Colwyn Bay Announce New Manager

Colwyn Bay have named Neil Young as manager in place of the recently departed Steve Pope. Young was Assistant Manager at Cammell Lairds until this week when he switched to the Welsh club.

Young is a UEFA licensed coach who has been involved in management from the age of 24 after injury finished his playing career and he was an integral part of the management team that saw Cammell Laird promoted from the First Division South last season.

He will be assisted by former Nottingham Forest, Tranmere Rovers and Grimsby Town player Gary Jones who made well over four hundred first team appearances in his full time career.

Meanwhile, Young's predecessor Steve Pope has signed for Hednesford Town as player-coach to replace Mick Bayley who left recently to work in Dubai after losing his job in the building industry. Pope, however, is unlikely to feature immediately in a playing mode as he is still recovering from two cruciate ligament operations and needs to regain fitness levels.

President's Cup Gets Underway

This season's UniBond League President's Cup which is competed for by the First Division clubs got underway in midweek with goals galore.

There were two 4-3 victories for last season's League Challenge Cup Finalists Skelmersdale United and new boys FC Halifax Town against Kidsgrove Athletic and Ossett Albion respectively whilst Shepshed Dynamo and Gresley Rovers both enjoyed four goal margins over Glapwell and Leek Town.

Without a win in the league going in to today's game at Leek, Brigg Town edged out Spalding United after twice being behind and in another tight encounter Chorley tipped out the in form Clitheroe on penalties.

In the one remaining First Round tie played (the Woodley Sports and Salford City game is delayed due to County Cup commitments) Sheffield FC came from behind to beat Goole AFC whilst Belper Town moved in to the last sixteen when they defeated Rushall Olympic in a 2nd Round tie brought forward because of County Cup commitments.

The rest of the draw for the 2nd Round is as follows with ties due to be played midweek commencing 13th October.

CHORLEY v LANCASTER CITY
LINCOLN UTD v BRIGG TOWN
COLWYN BAY v TRAFFORD
MOSSLEY v RADCLIFFE BOROUGH
CURZON ASHTON v WOODLEY SPORTS
QUORN v LOUGHBOROUGH DYNAMO or SALFORD CITY
RETFORD UTD v STOCKSBRIDGE PS
DURHAM CITY v NEWCASTLE BS
ROSSENDALE U v BAMBER BRIDGE
FC HALIFAX TOWN v SHEFFIELD FC
SHEPSHED DYNAMO v CARLTON TOWN
GRANTHAM TOWN v STAMFORD
SKELMERSDALE v WARRINGTON TOWN
GRESLEY ROVERS v WILLENHALL TOWN
WAKEFIELD v HARROGATE RAILWAY

Management Restructure At Lairds

Cammell Lairds became the third UniBond club of the campaign to undergo a managerial change when Kenny McKenna stepped down just days after his Assistant Neil Young had left to take over the vacant manager's position at Colwyn Bay.

McKenna, however, will remain at Lairds working on other projects within the club structure alongside Chairman John Lynch and the Board of Directors.

The new team comprises one of Laird's senior players 36 year old Derek Ward taking over as manager with another player 34 year old Ian Cooke named as his Assistant.

Ward, who made some thirty or so appearances in the Football League early in his career for Bury has a wealth of experience in the semi-pro game having played at Wembley in the 1996 FA Trophy Final for Northwich Victoria as well as winning a UniBond Premier Division title with Stalybridge Celtic. He has also played for Southport, Vauxhall Motors and Welsh side TNS.

In the wake of the managerial changes two very experienced former Football League players Graham Branch and Dave Challinor have been released. 36 year old Branch made around four hundred appearances in the full time game mainly for Tranmere Rovers and Burnley and has followed Young to Colwyn Bay whilst Challinor, a former England Schools and Youth international now aged 32, also clocked up some four hundred games with Tranmere, Stockport County and Bury.

UniBond Success In FA Youth Cup

22 UniBond League clubs had their junior sides in action in the FA Youth Cup this week with five of the eight teams who took on outside opposition winning through to the next round.

Leading the way were Curzon Ashton who last season reached the 2nd Round Proper beating Football League club Chesterfield on the way in a penalty shoot out before losing out to Chester City by the same route.

They started off this time in keeping with the penalty shoot out theme by edging past Congleton Town after a goalless draw. They will now meet Burscough who, when members of the UniBond League had a fantastic FA Youth Cup record claiming Football League scalps when reaching the First Round Proper for some six consecutive seasons.

Curzon will be joined in the next Round by Lincoln United, Hednesford Town, Carlton Town and Retford United all of whom beat outside opposition along with Warrington Town, Nantwich Town, Marine, Garforth Town, Wakefield FC, Stamford and Boston United who won the all UniBond ties. Cammell Laird have still to play their tie against Southport.

Just like their senior counterparts all the UniBond clubs aim to get through to the First Round Proper to have a crack at Football League opposition but already Marine and Stamford have the next best thing having been drawn at home to Wrexham and Mansfield Town both of whom, of course, have been very recent members of the Football League.

The full draw for the 2nd Qualifying Round with ties to be played midweek commencing Monday, 6th October is as follows -

WARRINGTON TOWN v NANTWICH TOWN
MARINE v Wrexham
Colne v CAMMEL LAIRD/Southport
WAKEFIELD v GARFORTH TOWN
CURZON ASHTON v Burscough
STAMFORD v Mansfield Town
WORKSOP TOWN v Eccleshill United
Shirebrook v LINCOLN UTD
HEDNESFORD TOWN v AFC Telford United
CARLTON TOWN v BOSTON UNITED
Mickleover Sports v RETFORD UNITED

Fletcher Scoops Major Award

The most recent member to join the UniBond League twelve man Board of Directors, Scott Fletcher, has won The Credit Suisse North West Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the North West and North East Finals of the National Business Awards.

The awards had attracted entries from national names such as National Westminster Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and even a football club in Sheffield United and have been highly praised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Scott beat off all competition to land the prize for his work in propelling his company ANS Group, a leading IT and Telecoms solution provider which he founded and is Chairman of, to a growth in turnover of 59% in 2007/8 landing on the way a Cisco Gold Partner status - an accreditation bestowed on only 28 companies in the UK.

His success will now see him representing the region in the Finals of the Credit Suisse Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in London.

Scott, who is on the Committee of FC United of Manchester said "It is a great honour to go through the rigorous process and come out a winner in a competition that is a cross sector with entrants not restricted by age or size of business.

The quality of the entrepreneurs and businesses in the final were of an excellent standard and it goes to show what an outstanding award this is to win".

He becomes the second member of the UniBond League Board of Directors to win a major business award recently with League Vice Chairman Mark Harris capturing a prestigious national award in the travel industry awards last year.

Hoyle Back In Familiar Role At Lancaster

A familiar face on the UniBond circuit, Mick Hoyle, has returned to one of his former roles at Lancaster City as Assistant Manager to Barrie Stimpson.

The club's Chief Executive takes over from Neil Crossley who has left due to family commitments and it is the second time that Hoyle has been in that particular role at the Giant's Axe having served as second in command to Alan Tinsley during Lancaster's purple patch in the middle to late nineties when the "Dolly Blues" won two League Challenge Cups, the President's Cup and the First Division Cup in addition to the First Division title.

Well known in the semi-pro game Hoyle has also been involved with both Bamber Bridge and Fleetwood Town.

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