County Cup Semi-Final line-up confirmed at Concord Sports Centre
Sheffield FC Red stay at the top of the Premier Division
Barton beat Brunsmeer and lead the Championship
Wheatley head League One and are so close to a County Cup shock
The seven-a-side teams brought the curtain down on another calendar year of South Yorkshire Ability Counts League football at Concord Sports Centre in Sheffield on Sunday. The action centred on the quarter finals of the County Cup competition, but there was time for a full League programme in the Premier Division, important fixtures in the Championship and League One and a couple of friendlies. As you’d expect, our roving reporters were pitch side to sum up the action, leaving www.southyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com website editor Margaret Gregory to pick the bones out of another fantastic day.
Before the action started on a cold and damp afternoon, the SYACL teams produced yet more fantastic food and cash donations in favour of the Stocksbridge Food Bank ahead of the Stocksbridge Park Steels derby with Sheffield FC on the 27th of December, where there will be a final opportunity to contribute to this important cause. Thanks to all of our clubs, in all three Leagues, for their generosity; we are proud of all of you!
The SYACL was also delighted to welcome Julie Callaghan, the Disability and Inclusion Officer at Sheffield and Hallamshire FA, who watched the action from start to finish.
The County Cup quarter finals got the afternoon underway; there was one upset, and so nearly another.
Sheffield FC Red saw off Aston Swallownest Red on Pitch Three, watched by Sheffield’s Peter Duxbury, who told us, “We played Aston Swallownest in the Cup and started well, by scoring early goals, to take full control of the game. We played with intensity and energy against a weakened team, with some good interplay with crisp passing and movement creating scoring opportunities. We showed plenty of pace with goals from George, Jordan (3), Taighler (2) and Paul to take us through to the semi-finals.”
Barton overcame Club Doncaster Titans White to book their semi-final berth, which takes us on to the near upset, when Premier side Bradford Amber was taken all the way by a brilliant Wheatley Wanderers. The game ended goalless, but Bradford won the tie 2-1 on penalties. Bradford’s Paul Jubb was happy to get past Wheatley. He told www.southyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com “Bradford City Ambers struggled against Wheatley Wanderers, a team two leagues below them, and drew 0-0 but eventually won 2-1 on penalties; thanks to Jordan and George scoring. There was a big sigh of relief -rather than celebrations – at the end. They will play City Knights Blues who beat our Blue team in the semi-final.”
City Knights Blues produced the giant-killing act of the afternoon with a one-goal win over Championship side Bradford City Blue. Bradford’s coach Danny told us, “On paper the Bradford City Blues should have won this cup tie but missed lots of chances; in reality, City Knights Blues put one of their chances away and won 1-0. We would like to congratulate them on reaching the next round in the County Cup.”
Well said, Danny.
City Knights Warren Foster, Manager, gave his take on the match. “It was a very good even match, very close game the guys worked well together to keep it 0-0 before half time!
Second half the guys stepped it up and Kyle Hancock scored the winning goal for us.
Final score 1-0 to City Knights FC 1 – Bradford Blue 0
The semi-final line up is complete; City Knights Blue will face Bradford City Amber – and Barton Inclusive will face Sheffield FC Red, with dates and times to be confirmed.
The action then turned to the Premier Division. City Knights Black enjoyed an impressive win over Aston Swallownest Red before being held by Bradford City Amber.
Steve Gould, Vice Captain of City Knights, sent us his view on the match against Aston Swallownest Red.
Our first game I thought we were slow to start, but as the game went on we got better and better with some great passing from all the lads. They took all their chances and it ended up being the best we have played all season. It was a equal game, first 5 minutes we had 6 players they had 6, some great goals and they played some good football.
Final Score: – City Knights FC 8 – Aston Swallownest Red 0
Steve continued with his report on the match against Bradford Amber. “The second game was a different story though, we really struggled against Bradford as they had an extra man and it showed. It was hard to create chances with a man down, and the chances we did have we didn’t make them count. However, Bradford did have a game plan saying, we were too quick for them, so they just kept fouling. They were lucky to get their goal, a mistake from us, that cost us 3 points; but we managed to get a goal back and now we move forward as a team and focus on our next games. Forget about that game and challenge for the title.
Final Score 1-1
Bradford’s Paul Jubb gave his take on the match. “In the League games it was the Ambers turn to produce a shock. They drew with joint top of the League City Knights Blacks 1-1 in a hard-fought game, thanks to a deflected goal from McKenzie who did well to close down the keeper!”
Titans White shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw with Aston Swallownest.
Next up was an all-Sheffield affair as Sheffield FC Red took on Sheffield FC Blue, watched by Red’s Coach Peter Duxbury. “The first League match was against our fellow Sheffield Blues Premiership team,” Peter told us, “as you would expect from a club derby there was lots of passion shown by both teams with every tackle made with full commitment. Initially it was a tight affair: however, some good movement by our attacking players opened up a lead. Sheffield Blues then experienced an injury to their goalkeeper which made it harder for them to get back into the game allowing Sheffield Reds to run out comfortable winners. Goals from George (3), Taighler and Jordan sealed the match.”
Bradford Amber took the three points in a tight contest with Sheffield FC Blue watched by Paul Jubb. “We beat Sheffield FC Blues 3-2 thanks to a hat trick from George with his trade mark long shots! The Ambers were 1-0 and 2-1 down but battled back to win. Star player was Henry who was brilliant in defence.”
The final Premier Division game of the day saw Sheffield FC Red take another three points – and the lead in the league table – with a well-earned win over Club Doncaster Titans White. “We played our last League match against Doncaster and with results secured earlier in the day we played with confidence,” Sheffield’s Peter Duxbury explained. “Again, we started strongly to take full control and looked organised in defence to neutralise break away attacks. Goals from Jordan 4 and George made it 3 wins in 3 and with 3 clean-sheets making it a good day all around for Sheffield Reds.
After six games each in the Premier Division, it’s a close-run thing between Sheffield FC Red and City Knights Black. Sheffield FC Blue has three wins and nine points; Aston Swallownest Red, Bradford City Amber and Titans White all have four points each.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Sheffield FC Red (Disability) | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 16 |
| 2 | City Knights Black | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 14 |
| 3 | Sheffield FC Blue (Disability) | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| 4 | Aston Swallownest Juniors Disability Tea | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 4 |
| 5 | Bradford City FITC Disability Amber | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 4 |
| 6 | Club Doncaster Titans FC (Adult) White | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 4 |
Just the one game in the Championship and what a fantastic game it was between Barton Inclusive and Brunsmeer Awareness; two teams in brilliant form and a match which didn’t disappoint. The game was level at 1-1 going into the last few minutes, but two late goals from Barton clinched the points and consolidated their position at the top of the table.
Barton lead the way with a one hundred-per-cent record, chased by the ever-improving Brunsmeer Awareness and Bradford City Blues. The two Derek Dooley teams had an afternoon off.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Barton Inclusive Football Club Barton At | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 2 | Bradford City FITC Disability Blues | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | Brunsmeer Awareness Awarness | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | Derek Dooley Football Academy Sheffield | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 3 |
| 5 | Derek Dooley Football Academy Orange | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
Just one game in League One and Sheffield FC White took the three points with a win over Aston Swallownest Blue.
“In the League game against Aston Swallownest, Sheffield FC took an early lead through a Lewis Shaw goal. Lewis went on to get a second a few minutes later and then completed his hat-trick just before half-time with Jordan Barton-Moore unselfishly setting it up, when he had a chance to score himself. In the second half the defence kept it tight with James Milia, Luke Marsh and goalkeeper Thomas Brown-Bromley making sure they kept a clean sheet.”
Four games in and Wheatley lead the way by five points over Sheffield FC White, with City Knights Blue, Aston Swallownest Blue and Titans Red all on the scoreboard.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Wheatley Wanderers SYACL | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| 2 | Sheffield FC White (Disability) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | City Knights Blue | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 4 |
| 4 | Aston Swallownest Juniors Disability Tea | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -2 | 3 |
| 5 | Club Doncaster Titans FC (Adult) Red | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -2 | 3 |
There were three friendlies played on Sunday. Bradford City Blue beat Wheatley, watched by coach Danny. “Wheatley Wanderers started really strong and went 1-0 up; then Bradley scored the equaliser to make it 1-1; a goal from Wheatley made it 2-1 to them.
Bradford City scored again through Dale and made it 2-2 at half time. In the second half we came out stronger and made it 3-2 Luke scoring. The final goal of the game came from Dale, making it 4-2. Our player of the day was Ethan.”
Sheffield FC White from League One took on Brunsmeer Awareness. “The game was an even contest with chances at both ends, with Brunsmeer scoring the first goal with Lewis equalising soon after,” Kevin Marsh told us. “The second half was much the same with the game eventually decided by 2 goals in the last 90 seconds for Brunsmeer. A draw would have been a fairer result in the end, but a great effort by the lads.”
7v7 Premiership Black team league games
This Report is from Steve Gould Vice Captain
Against: Aston Swallownest Red
First game thought we was slow to start but as the game went on we was getting better and better some great passing from all the lads took chances and thought it ended up been the best we played all season was a equal game first 5 minutes we had 6 players they had 6 some great goals and played some good 2 touch football .
Final Score 8-0 to City Knights FC
Against Bradford Amber
However the second game is a different story thought we really struggled against Bradford they had an extra man and it showed was hard to create chances with a man down and the chances we did have we didn’t make them count however Bradford did have a game plan saying we was to quick for them so they just kept fouling and they was lucky to get there goal a mistake from us what cost us 3 points but we managed to get a goal back and now we move forward as a team focus on next games forget about that game and challenge for title.
Final Score 1-1
So, as the seven-a-side Leagues go into Christmas, it just remains for all of us here at www.southyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com to wish all of our players, officials, coaches, and spectators a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The Food Bank Drive continues, so if you are at a loose end on December 27th, why not get yourself up to Stocksbridge Park Steels v Sheffield FC on 27th December. Kick off at 3p.m.
South Yorkshire Ability Counts League 