Inter Barton take the Championship Trophy home along the M180
Social Eyes Green edge League One from Derek Dooley Blue
It’s Dooley Green by a nose from Doncaster Titans Yellow in League Two
Darren Warner Fair Play Trophy goes to Derek Dooley Blue
Bradford Greens and Derek Dooley White set County Cup Final date.
It was a glorious afternoon as the matches got under way; but first there was the little matter of the two County Cup Semi-Finals to be resolved, so a great afternoon’s football was pretty much guaranteed. Most of the Leagues were delicately poised going into the final round of matches, so it was no real surprise when most of the competitions went down to the wire, and in the case of the Premier Division, beyond the wire. More of that later.
As always, our www.southyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com editor, Margaret Gregory fielded all the match reports from pitch side. There are hundreds of photos from the afternoon in the gallery section of the website.
Bradford Greens stormed into the County Cup final with a convincing win over City Knights White on Pitch 7, watched by Bradford coach Paul Jubb. “Greens were playing a team two Leagues below them,“ Paul explained, “we won the game easily in the end and are through to the County Cup Final.”
The other semi-final, played on Pitch 10 and expertly refereed by Sean Wright, was much closer and resulted in a 4-2 win for Derek Dooley White.
Claire Cowlishaw for Derek Dooley reporting. “The afternoon started with a cup semi-final against City Knights Red. The lads started off well with a goal from Brandon, taking the lead. There was some good passing between Brandon and Keiron with some good saves from Craig in the goal. Brandon scored again taking the lead to 2 – 0. They started off again passing and good defending from Jordan to maintain the lead and Mo scored taking it to 3. Knights came back with scoring past Craig but the lads didn’t let their heads down. Some good passing again and Keiron scores in the last minute for a 4-2 win.”
“They are through to the final!!”
So, on April 24th, at a time and venue to be confirmed, the County Cup 5-a-side Final sees Derek Dooley White take on Bradford Green in an all Premier League, winner takes all shoot out.
In Premier League action, the two clubs played a dress rehearsal in the third match on Pitch 10, with Bradford Greens taking a 3-0 win. Bradford Greens were also in the hunt for the title, and needed the win, as Paul Jubb explains. “In a very close first half the game was 0 – 0 and we started to worry if we would get the win that we desperately needed to win the League,” Paul admitted. “In the second half we came out stronger and won 3 – 0 thanks to some amazing goals from Lucas, Ethan and Charlie.”
Club Doncaster Titans Blues took on City Knights Red in a friendly match. “The game started slowly, then we started to pass the ball more freely, then Conner scored to make it 1 – 0,” Titans’ John Hibbert reported. “Conner scored again to make it 2 – 0, and again to make it 3 – 0 by half time. Jamie assisted Conner and scored again, then they scored to make it 4 – 1. Then Jamie scored to make it 5 – 1 which is how the game finished.”
Titans Blue then faced title chasing Bradford City Green. “We thought we held our own but both teams were panicking and kicking the ball anywhere,” John Hibbert explained. “Bradford managed to get a foothold in the game and won 4 – 0.” Bradford Green went into that final League match knowing they had to win. “In our last game against Titans Blues we again needed to win, a draw would lose us the title,” Paul Jubb explained. “Again we struggled first half, but second half turned on the style and eventually won the game with more great goals from the team. Matt Lucas Ethan Charlie and Charlie all scored some great goals.”
Astonishingly, City Knights Red took the win in their final match with Derek Dooley White to see Knights and Bradford finish level on 19 points. “We came joint top on points with City Knights, but won the League on head to head against them, as we had won and drawn in the league games!” Paul Jubb explained. “Well done the Greens! Championies! Championies! Champonies! Ole Ole Ole Ole!!Well done Bradford City DFC Greens – South Yorkshire Ability Counts Premier League 5-a-side Champions 2022,” Paul beamed. “Into the Sheffield & Hallamshire 5-a-side County Cup Final too!”
Claire again with her report. “League action next was against the leaders Bradford Green. There was some good team work with Tom, Brandon and Luke, with solid defending from Jordan, but a great shot from Bradford got past Craig, they took the lead. The lads swapped round giving Mo & Keiron a chance to bring it back but Bradford was too strong and scored again through a mix up at the back. The lads unfortunately lost to another great shot, losing 3 – 0 but to the League winners.
Claire continued. “The last game was against City Knight Red, who started a lot stronger and they scored first. The lads kept trying and Kieron had shot high and Brandon had a shot saved but they scored past Craig and they took the lead. The lads kept trying and solid defending by Jordan again but they got another past Craig but they kept trying and a shot from Luke brought it back to 2-1. Well done lads!!”
City Knights Red were presented with their runners-up medals by Emma, the Goals Centre Manager, and Greens took the medals and the trophy. Well done though to all our Premier teams, players, coaches, and spectators.
So, the final Premier 5-a-side League table couldn’t have been closer.
Premier 5’s Final Table
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Bradford City FITC Disability Green | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 19 |
| 2 | City Knights Red | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 19 |
| 3 | Derek Dooley Football Academy White | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -2 | 9 |
| 4 | Sheffield FC Disability 5-a-side (Black) | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -2 | 9 |
| 5 | Club Doncaster Titans FC (Adult) Blue | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | -6 | 3 |
In the Championship, Barton Inclusive Inter and Sheffield FC Purple continued their season-long battle into the final day.
Club Doncaster Titans Ladies got the Championship afternoon under way with a thrilling match against Bradford Disability Womens’. “This was a good game played by both teams. Bradford started on the front foot and created many chances,” Titan’s coach Steph Hall told us. “ Bradford pulled ahead with a two goal lead going into half time. CDT came out the second half and started playing some brilliant football. Nikita scored our first goal with Helen assisting her. Kaz kept us in the game by producing some brilliant saves including a fantastic double save. We pulled level with another goal by Nikita and Helen getting the assist. CDT started pulling ahead when we scored again, this time Helen scored, and Nikita assisted her. Shortly after we scored again with Kaz assisting and Helen scoring. Bradford got a goal back which made it a nervous finish to the game, but then Helen completed her hat-trick with Nikita assisting her. CDT Ladies held on and got their first win of the season!”
Paul Jubb commented on the game, “The Fuchsias played Donny Ladies, always a great game to watch and they took a 2 – 0 half time lead. In the second half the Doncaster Ladies team came out stronger and scored 5 goals; the Fuchsias did get one back but lost 3 – 5.”
Sheffield Purple kept Inter Barton in their sights with a convincing 5-2 win before Bradford Diamonds defeated Bradford Women’s. “the Fuchsias then played our own Diamonds team who were fresh from not playing,” Paul Jubb told us. “We struggled to keep up with them losing 2-7. The Diamonds beat a very tired Fuchsias team after they had given their all against Donny Ladies,” Paul continued, “some great team play from them all, with Hashim, Harvinder and Matty all scoring goals.”
Crucially, then Titans Ladies took a point from Sheffield Purple, a game which featured some fantastic goalkeeping at both ends, watched by Titan’s Steph Hall. “This was a tough but good game,” Steph reported. “CDT started on the front foot with Helen and Nikita creating many chances, but Sheffield got the first goal of the game. Kaz then made some good saves to keep us in the game. Sheffield went into half time with the lead. Straight into the second half CDT continued creating chances with the Sheffield GK pulling off a brilliant double save. Sheffield then scored their second goal of the game. Shortly after, CDT took advantage of a mix up in the Sheffield defence and Helen scored. Both teams continued to create chances. Helen then scored again to draw CDT level. Sheffield created many more chances, but Kaz continued to produce brilliant saves to keep CDT in the game. CDT Ladies then held on for a point in the final game of the season.”
Inter Barton were closing in on the title and edged nearer to glory with a 4 – 2 win over Bradford Diamonds, watched by Paul Jubb. “In their final game Diamonds played Barton Inclusive who ended up League winners,” Paul told us. “Again they were too strong for the Diamonds, despite a couple of late goals from Matty and Hashim.”
Championship 5’s Final table
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Barton Inclusive Football Club Inter Bar | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 21 |
| 2 | Sheffield FC 5’s (Purple) | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
| 3 | Bradford City FITC Disability Diamonds | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -1 | 10 |
| 4 | Bradford City FITC Disability Women’s | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | -4 | 6 |
| 5 | Club Doncaster Titans FC (Adult) Ladies | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | -4 | 5 |
So, many congratulations to all of our Championship teams. As the League neared its final matches, there was a lovely moment where Bradford Disability Fuchsia and Club Doncaster Titans Ladies shared a photograph on Pitch 9. [Picture can be found on the League website.]
Glory though to Barton Inclusive who finished 5 points clear of Sheffield FC Purple in a closely-fought Division. Congratulations to both clubs on terrific seasons.
In League One, it was an incredibly close-run thing between Social Eyes Green and Derek Dooley Blue, who beat the Rawmarsh team in a frantic first game on Pitch 7.
Claire Cowlishaw reporting for Derk Dooley. “The team had 4 players and worked really hard in their matches and received the Darren Warner Fair Play Award for the season and came second in the League, so a great afternoon. The first game was against Social Eyes Green and there were a lot of goals. Believe was on fire and scored 5 and Reuben scored 2, there was some solid defending from Cody and Ryan only let 2 in. The team worked well together. The next game was a tighter game against City Knights White and straight from the kick off Believe had a shot saved. They did well with a player less, but they kept on trying and Believe scored taking the lead. He then scored again, then Ryan couldn’t quite save the shot from going in to bring it back to 2 – 1, but Believe shot again and it went to 3 – 1. City came back to a draw at 3 – 3 but then Believe scored twice and they came out winners. The last game was against Spartans which is always a well mannered game and they kept scoring in a 6-4 win. The team played as a team for the whole afternoon and all gave 100%.
Well done on finishing second in the League, losing out on a point.
Immediately after this game, Derek Dooley Blue were presented with the Darren Warner Fair play Trophy after the club were adjudged as the most sporting throughout the season by SYACL Committee members. Congratulations and well deserved, and you can see the presentation on the Website picture gallery.
City Knights White lost a close fought battle with Derek Dooley Blue, before the prolific Spartans took on Social Eyes Green in a rerun of one of the best matches seen in our last matchday at Goals Centre Sheffield. Incredibly, the watching spectators saw another goal festival. Spartans Coach Darren Sharp looked on, “Spartans came extremely close to gaining their first points of the season in their first match against Social Eyes Green,” Darren told us, “It was another high scoring match between the teams, but the eventual winners of the division managed to squeeze 2 late goals to secure the victory.”
Spartans then took on City Knights White. “Our next match against City Knights White was another close encounter; with Spartans losing by the odd goal,” Darren told us. “Dominic, Paul & Jake all came close to levelling the score, but unfortunately were unable to find the back of the net.”
Spartans last game was against title chasing Derek Dooley Blue. “In the final match Spartans had a close match with Dooley Blue, with goals scored by Matt & Jacob. Terrific defending by Sam prevented Dooley from overrunning the Spartans,” Darren explained.
“Despite finishing with no points at the end of the league season, Spartans players thoroughly enjoyed all the match days.”
To win the Division One title then, Social Eyes Green had to win their final match against City Knights White; and they did, by 6 – 4 in a thrilling game with a nervous finish.
So, it’s congratulations to the team from Social Eyes White and commiserations to the brave Derek Dooley Blue, who can console themselves with their medals and that Darren Warner Fair Play Trophy. City Knights White have also had a great campaign, and how Spartans haven’t secured a win, despite their goalscoring heroics, will be a mystery to anyone who watched them.
League One 5’s Final Table
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Rawmarsh St Joseph’s J.F.C. Social Eyes | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 21 |
| 2 | Derek Dooley Football Academy Blue | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 19 |
| 3 | City Knights White | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 13 |
| 4 | Spartans FC | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | -9 | 0 |
In League Two, it promised to be a thrilling race to the line between Derek Dooley Green and Club Doncaster Titans Yellow, and so it proved.
Bradford Emeralds got the afternoon off to a fast start with a 3 – 0 win over Social Eyes White. Their day was summed up by Bradford’s Paul Jubb. “The Emeralds played 3 games on the day and beat Social Eyes White, but lost the other games to Doncaster Titans and Derek Dooley – the eventual League winners.”
Next, Titans Yellow faced Derek Dooley Green watched by Titans Liam Taylor. “Derek Dooley 1 – 0 and Derek Dooley made it 2 – 0. Derek Dooley made it 3 – 0 and Titans made it 1 – 3 through Shaun and Shaun made it 2 – 3. Titans had their chances to make it 3 – 3 but Derek Dooley kept it out and Derek Dooley won 3 – 2 after a brilliant game.”
Titans Yellow stayed on and were rewarded with three points. “Titans start well, and Christian made 1 – 0,” Liam Taylor told us. “ Social Eyes White scored to made it 1 – 1. Then Christian scored to make it 2 – 1 to Titans. Christian made it 3 – 1 to the Titans [ his hat trick] and Titans won 3 – 1. A great performance for everyone and well played too.”
Claire Cowlishaw again reports. “The first game was against the joint leaders Doncaster Titans, they got off to a good start with Woody taking the ball and dribbling past the defenders and scoring. There was some good play from Ben, Stephen and Shaq with Bethany saving many shots in goal. The team went in the lead from Stephen and Woody taking it to 3 – 0, Woody came off for rest and the 4 kept trying and Doncaster got back to 3 – 2, Woody came back on and he started where he left off, scoring another, it finished 4 – 2.”
“The next game was against Bradford Emeralds and this was a good match with Woody stealing the show with 4 goals. Stephen had a good game in the goal. The last game was against Social Eyes White and this was a well even match which saw a good draw of 3 – 3 which saw more goals from Woody. The team all tried their hardest and this brought the title to the Green team. Well done to Woody, Stephen, Ben, Shaq and Bethany, promotion for them!!”
Dooley Green took a 4 – 0 win over Bradford Emeralds before sharing the points with Social Eyes White meaning that even if they won their final match, Dooley could not quite be caught.
Here’s Liam Taylor on that final match, which Titans won by 4 – 0 to clinch second spot.
“Christian scored from the kick off to make it 1 – 0 to Titans,” Liam reported. “Then Barney scored to make it 2 – 0 to Titans then Barney made it 3 – 0. Barney scored again to make it 4 – 0 and scored to clinch his hat trick and to win the game 4 – 0.”
“It was a great game and a great performance to make us runners up by 1 point,” Liam summed up, “and I am proud of each of them.”
So, it’s glory for Derek Dooley Academy Green by just that single point from Club Doncaster Titans Yellow, but our congratulations go to all our teams.
League 2 5’s Final table
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Derek Dooley Football Academy Green | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 22 |
| 2 | Club Doncaster Titans FC (Adult) Yellow | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 21 |
| 3 | Bradford City FITC Disability Emeralds | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -3 | 9 |
| 4 | Rawmarsh St Joseph’s J.F.C. Social Eyes | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | -8 | 1 |
| 5 | City Knights White | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The 5-a-side League season is over; with the Divisional Cup set for the 10th April at Goals Sheffield. For now though, the South Yorkshire Ability Counts League would like to thank all of our clubs, players, coaches, spectators, and referees.
In the meantime, Martin Taylor, Head Coach with Club Doncaster Titans has the final word. Martin, a close friend of former SYACL Chairman and Secretary asked if we would publish his letter to the League Website, which we do with great pleasure.
“Hi Colin
I would like to thank Mike and Colin from the League for a brilliant season in the 7/5-a-sides Leagues again, for all their hard work to make it work. I also want to thank all the referees too for all their hard work.
Finally, well done to all the teams involved in the 7/5-a-sides Leagues too for making today possible. Also, well done to all the Winners and Runners up of this League.
But the main winner was the brilliant game called football.
Here’s to next season!
Many Thanks
Martin Taylor (Head Coach of Club Doncaster Titans)”
South Yorkshire Ability Counts League 