East Riding County Premier League

South Cave 1

AFC Woodlands 2

SATURDAY saw second placed Woodlands travel to top of the League South Cave in what turned out to be a well deserved victory to send Woodlands top of the league.

The first half saw the Woodlands playing up the slight incline with the wind also blowing a gail into there faces. However the Goole side adapted to the conditions playing some great football all starting from the back with Kinghorn and Clark at the helm.

The midfield was the telling factor as Constable, Gibbon, Woodall and Heywood were no match for their counterparts at times as the Goole side got to grips with the Cave midfield. It was the same story up front as the Cave defence seemed frightened of the Woodies’ front two of Davidson and Gill and it was Gill who should have put is team in front after 15 minutes but blasted high over the bar from 12 yards out.

It was one of those chances which the Woodlands have come across a lot this season as composure in front of goal was non existent yet again. Cave started to use the wind to good affect knocking the long ball into the box, however Kinghorn, Harrison and Clark defended brilliantly throughout the first half clearing thee lines. Cave looked to try and beat Stannard from distance but saw their shots sail high and wide.

The first 45 minutes ended goalless with Munday the Woodies manager more than happy with his team’s performance. The second half saw the Woodies attack from the off with Constable firing in a ferocious shot which nearly caught the keeper unaware. The goal wasn’t long in coming though as Woodall sent in a beautiful flighted ball into the box for Davidson who showed great composure in bringing the ball down at the far post with the keeper bearing down on him and several players he side stepped a couple of players before smashing the ball into the roof of the net to give the Goole side a deserved lead. Cave had no answer for the dominance of the Woodlands midfield with Woodall and Constable outstanding throughout. Gibbon the Woodlands captain then showed why he’s still one of the best talents in amateur football with a piece of magic.

As the Cave keeper took goal kick it fell to the feet of Gibbon who from 40 yards out brought the ball down on his chest and in one move volleyed the ball home into the net over the helpless keeper who was left in a heap on the floor. At 2-0 the Woodlands were in total control with Cave not at the races. Then controversy when a Cave defender passed the ball back to his keeper who was coming out of his goal. The player chipped his own keeper only for it to bounce and hit the cross bar back into the keeper’s arms.

A free kick to the Woodlands it should have been but the ref had other ideas. The keeper then from his resulting kick up field saw his player clean through on goal only for Lee Harrison to put in a great last ditch tackle to clear the ball. A great tackle by any standards, however the referee deemed this as a tackle from behind and gave a penalty and yet only showed Harrison a yellow.

Up stepped the Cave striker who only just managed to tuck the ball away under the body of Stannard in goal. Cave now back in the game with ten minutes to go saw Andrew and Huntington introduced for the Woodlands for the tiring Gill and Heywood. A nail biting last ten minutes ended up being 20 minutes as the referee for some reason added more time.

The Woodlands though rode the storm and should have scored a third with another rasping shot from Constable narrowly going wide. A great all round team performance was greeted with cheers at the final whistle by the Woodlands’ travelling army of supporters as the Goole side leap frogged over South Cave to take over top spot in the league.

Ellwood Electricals Man of the Match award went to Stuart Clark who was outstanding throughout.

Harold Robinson Cup quarter final

Newbald United 4

AFC Woodlands 3

THE reserves meanwhile pushed the self destruct button in their quarter final. After leading 3-0 at half time with goals from Bucknell and Rothery 2, they somehow conceded 4 goals in a second half to send them crashing out the cup and cast aside all hopes of reaching the final.

This week Woodlands’ 1st team travel to Beverley Town while the Reserves travel to Skirlaugh Res. All players to meet for 12-15 at the Woodlands Pub.

]]> 1.4274118 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:08:43 +0000 http://www.goolecourier.co.uk/stars_tweet_with_more_birdies_1_4249882

Our tweeting golf stars continue to make me chuckle as they seek out new ways of scoring birdies through this form of social media, writes Charles Gardner.

And I’m glad to say the information has extended beyond the banal discussion of restaurant menus and the like.

Colourful English pro Ian Poulter, now based in Orlando, Florida (hope you’re warm enough, Ian), has let us know that his grandparents are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

“Now that’s what I call a good effort,” he tweets.

And in another intriguing entry, he says: “Just got introduced to George W Bush. I have to say that’s very cool.”

Meanwhile World No 1 Luke Donald, still to win a major, took a swing at Fabio Capello following his resignation as England football manager with the quip: “Not another Italian abandoning a sinking ship.”

Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy are also regular tweeters along with Selby’s own Nick Ludwell and Adam Ledger. Keep it coming, boys, but don’t forget to practice!

For the record, I enjoy tweeting myself when I finally recover from producing up to seven pages of sport each week.

Selby district junior football clubs are invited to enter an annual summer tournament being organised by York City in the Community.

It will take place at the York City training ground on June 16/17 catering for age groups from U7s to U11s from 10.15am to 3pm each day.

The entry fee is £25 per team, but places are limited.

Medals will be awarded to every player taking part in the June 16 Fun Day (for U7s and U8s) while individual medals and team trophies will be awarded to first and second-placed sides in each age group from U9s upwards.

And as an extra incentive, the winners of the U9s, U10s and U11s tournament will also be offered the opportunity of being ball boys/girls during a York City league fixture.

The event will be supported by hot refreshments, a tuck shop, first aid, an inflatable penalty shoot-out competition, a bouncy castle, photographer, ice cream van and more.

For further details call 01904 624447 ext 7 or e-mail community@yorkcityfootballclub.co.uk

DONCASTER Rovers slumped to their first home defeat in six league games against Blackpool on TUESDAY night as the Seasiders completed a league double with a 3-1 win in the return at the Keepmoat Stadium.

It was a setback for Rovers in more ways than one. For given their poor away record the vast majority of the wins that manager Dean Saunders feels the team need to retain their Championship status are expected to have to come from games played at the Keepmoat Stadium, it is imperative that their home form remains good.

Blackpool played well on the night and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.

Manager Dean Saunders was later than usual coming out to speak to the media post-match - I think it was around 10.20pm - which didn’t give me much time to compile a back page piece before the 10.30pm or so deadline.

Prior to the game I had been told off the record that long-serving Mickey Walker had been rushed to hospital, where he underwent heart surgery after collapsing at the training ground the previous afternoon.

I’ve known Mickey for many years in his various roles as youth team manager, assistant first-team manager, caretaker manager and, in recent years, director of football, and no matter what job he was doing at the time he has always been both personable and approachable. I was relieved to be told that Mickey would be okay, even though he would have to take things easy for a few weeks.

WEDNESDAY: DONCASTER Knights were put to the sword by a lively Nottingham side in their rearranged Championship clash at Meadow Lane, going down 40-14. It was Knights’ first game for three weeks and it showed in a poor first half which saw them come in 23-0 behind.

They hadn’t helped their cause by making unforced handling errors and giving away numerous free-kicks, though team boss Brett Davey did have cause to complain over some of the referee’s decisions.

Knights played much better in the second half and the final score-line looked like being far more respectable until Nottingham took advantage of PJ Gidlow’s yellow card to post two late converted tries.

Adding to Knights’ disappointment was a serious knee injury sustained by second-rower Dan Smith in his first start for the club after a long battle against a career-threatening neck injury.

The Dons got their 2012 campaign off to a winning start with a 48-10 win at Gateshead in their opening Northern Rail Cup Pool B clash. Centre Lee Waterman scored four tries on his competitive debut for the club.

THURSDAY: THE Bentley Ladies’ Thursday Charity Darts League presented their 2011 nominated charity, the Gynaecology Unit at the DRI, with a cheque for £1,300.

Rovers’ hopes of avoiding the drop received a boost as Portsmouth were docked 10 points after going into administration.

FRIDAY: I watched 2011 Super League champions Leeds Rhinos regain Rugby League’s World Club Challenge crown with a 26-12 win, which belies how close the match was, over Australian champions Manly Sea Eagles at Headingley. Although Leeds could have bettered the 21,000 capacity crowd by moving the game to Elland Road, as they have done in the past, the atmosphere generated justified the decision to play at home.

SATURDAY: IT was a red-letter day in Doncaster Knights’ history as their impressive Castle Park complex staged its first ever live televised game.

And thanks to a fair following from Rotherham, and some hard work by the club in promoting the match, the game attracted a bumper 4,000 plus crowd which, to the best of my knowledge, is a ground record.

A lot of people no doubt will have been seeing Knights play for the first time, either live or on television. But unfortunately neither the result, a 15-14 win for the Titans, or the game itself, will have done much to encourage many newcomers to give the Doncaster club another try which is a shame because most games at Castle Park are much more free-flowing and entertaining than this scrappy affair.

I watched half an hour of the match, which kicked off at 12.05pm, on Sky Sports, before recording the rest and setting off for Doncaster Rovers’ Championship derby against Leeds United at Elland Road - a stadium which has seen better days.

Regular readers of this column may remember that I knocked myself out on my last visit to the ground after walking into a low solid concrete support beam during the half-time break.

There are warnings plastered all over the said supports, in what is still a very small media room for a club of United’s stature, not that I would ever make the same mistake twice.

I was amazed at the number of media people in the packed room who remembered the incident.

I didn’t realise, nor it seemed did some other journalists, that Rovers had kicked off with only 10 men. It was only when I saw Pascal Chimbonda (who apparently was told to take off his tights) emerge out of the dressing room that I noticed the visitors were short-handed.

The main talking point after the game, however, was the bust up in the tunnel.

Exact details of what had happened were hard to find as neither team, who were both questioned by the West Yorkshire Police, were prepared to comment. But from snippets of information I was able to pick up by hanging around until nearly 6.30pm, it was clearly a fairly serious incident with a number of punches being thrown.

Boxing legend Chris Eubank was ringside at Rotherham’s Magna Centre to see his son Chris Jnr beat Doncaster middleweight Jason Ball on points in only his second paid contest. Big things are expected of Eubank, who spent three years training in tough American gyms prior to turning professional late last year, but he didn’t embarrass Ball.

SUNDAY: THE Dons left it too late to seriously challenge visiting York City Knights in their second Northern Rail Cup clash at the Keepmoat.

But at least their second half rally earned them a losing bonus point which could yet prove crucial in their bid to finish in the top four if they can win at least one of their two remaining games.

Certain comments made during a question and answer session at Barlby High School’s prize presentation by guest speaker Martyn Moxon,Yorkshire’s director of cricket, were unfortunately initially lost in translation – that is to say, the video could not be successfully accessed here due to lack of speakers.

But all can now be revealed.

Headteacher Heather Scott had asked him (on behalf of Selby Times sports editor Charles Gardner who could not be there due to another engagement) how he felt the England team would fare against the South Africans this summer (Charles is from that part of the world).

He replied, rather diplomatically we suspect: “They are a very good team and will be hard to beat. It will be a good contest.”

Before ‘playing it back’, as it were, Heather was under the impression that he said he thought England would ‘squeak it’. That’s as may be, but we shall see.

Charles, meanwhile, has plans to join his brothers at the first test when it kicks off at The Oval on July 20 (see This Sporting Life).

Australian-born Heather also (rather mischievously) asked Martyn what he thought of Michael Clarke’s stunning 329 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The answer has not been conveyed to me.

Anyway, she told us he was soon leaving for Barbados to “prepare for the summer” with the Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

“As an Australian, I’m wondering what similarities there are between the Caribbean and Headingley!

“But they deserve a bit of sunshine!” she added generously.

Newly promoted to the York Senior League Premier Division, Selby Cricket Club have been given a double boost ahead of a season which promises great things.

They have received sponsorship from estate agents York Property Shop, which also has an office in Selby and whose co-partner Richard Mustill is a keen member of the club.

And they have been awarded their club mark accreditation for another three years by the Yorkshire Cricket Board for meeting the high standards of the ECB with their up-to-date facilities, excellent coaching arrangements and having a thriving junior section.

“It’s quite a stringent process involving a lot of documentation,” said club chairman Mick Pearce, who added: “The Premier League is going to be a big undertaking for us. We will have predominantly the same team but it’s been a long time since a Selby district club has competed at such a high level.”

Pictured with the certificate (from left) are Mel Neary (junior manager), Ian Lake (cricket manager) and Mick Pearce (chairman). Photo: Gary Foster