Damage in the Box!: NORTHERN COUNTIES EAST 'DOUBLE HEADER'

PONTEFRACT COLLIERIES & HEMSWORTH MINERS WELFARE

Come on boys and girls, you should know me now...you know it would be virtually impossible for me to resist the lure of a cheeky double! This was made possible thanks to the Yorkshire water board of all people. They were doing "essential maintenence" in the vicinity of Skinner Lane, the home of Potefract Collieries and they informed the club that the water supply would be turned off around 4pm. This meant that their home game versus Scarborough Athletic had to be brought forward in order for the players to have a shower after the game. Couple this with fact that just a 6 miles down the road Hemsworth Miners Welfare were also at home, well keep the car running...

1.00pm, Saturday 4th April 2009
Northern Counties East
League Division One
Pontefract Collieries 0
Scarborough Athletic 1
Attendance: 228

In all honesty this was an absolutely turgid affair, possibly the worst game i've seen this season. Admittedly the strong wind did play its part, making any sort of passing football impossible. Scarborough, you could argue, already had their minds on their summer holidays as they wrapped up the Division One title with a win over Brighouse in midweek. The game was settled, in favour of the visitors, on 17 minutes when a corner was whipped in and after a few bobbles it fell at the feet of Mark Griffin who prodded home from four yards.

Nothing else of note, that I can remember, happened for the rest of the game, so as it was a tight margin to make kick off in the next match it made the decision to leave this game early quite easy as I simply could take no more!

and when a train goes by it's such a sad sound...

So after 85 minutes it was in the car and down the A628 to the Fitzwilliam Stadium for...

3.00pm, Saturday 4th April 2009
Northern Counties East
League Division One
Hemsworth Miners Welfare 2
Tadcaster Albion 2
Attendance: 128

The margin was tight, but roadworks right outside the entrance to the ground did not help the situation and I witnessed the kick off from this traffic jam! It wasn't that long before I was in the ground, with just two minutes of play on the clock. A very kind club official had put my programme aside and it was waiting for me on the gate.

This was a much, much better game (it would've been hard pressed to be any worse) and a real end-to-end encounter. It was Tadcaster who had the better of opening exchanges and their play belied their lowly postion in the league (they were 2nd bottom at start of play). Kevin Smith gave Taddy the lead on 11 minutes with a simple tap in after rounding the keeper. Lee Swift levelled with a header to make it all square at the interval. Tom Deighton restored Tadcaster's lead with a superb curling shot before Damion Liddle drew Hemsworth level for the second time. The game petered out in the last 20 minutes, though Hemsworth did have a few good chances to snatch the victory. Overall neither team can complain too much and the draw was a fair result.

The old double header does leave one feeling a little tired, but it is worth the rushing about and it's good to get a bit of practice in rediness for next weekends BIG Easter Hop....bring it on!!!