South Yorkshire Ability Counts League defies the cold at Goals Sheffield
Sheffield FC (Black) are Premier Division pacesetters
Club Doncaster Titans (Blue) out in front in the Championship
Barton and Hornets neck and neck in League One
Bradford Emeralds easing away in League Two
Another cold day for our South Yorkshire Ability Counts family at Goals Sheffield on Sunday, with the later rounds of the day’s sixteen League fixtures being played out under the floodlights.
As always, our top-class reporters went the extra mile to bring you the action at www.southyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com
Before we start our usual round up of the action, it was a special day for Club Doncaster Titans Martin Taylor, who pulled his goalkeeping gloves back on for the friendly match with Hillsborough Hornets and the League game with Bradford City Diamonds. Martin is a regular contributor to our match reports, and this time he has produced one of his own, which we are delighted to publish in full.
“Hi All, pleased as punch to be back!
Today a 55 old keeper come out of retirement to play his first competitive match for three years. I am proud to put the Club Doncaster Titans top and gloves back on today and enjoy doing what I love. The opponents were a lot younger than me but once I got back in the swing of it, it felt like I had never been away from the sport.
I would like to thank Hillsborough Hornets for a brilliant game and a brilliant return to it. And thank you to Bradford City and Paul Jubb too, because it was great playing them again, because they were the team I last played before I retired.
Many Thanks
Martin Taylor (Head Coach Club Doncaster Titans)”
The day started in dramatic fashion, with the Bradford teams delayed by traffic on their way to the venue. Paul Jubb’s players made it to Sheffield after the 13.40pm kick-off time, but with the minimum of preparation time the teams from West Yorkshire got stuck in and made the best of their misfortune.
It was the delayed Bradford City Claret who were first in action against City Knights Red in the Premier League and despite being outnumbered battled to a 2 – 2 come-from-behind draw in their first game.
Bradford City DFC v City Knights Red. We started the game 1 – 0 down after arriving late, plus the fact we only played 5 minutes of the 1st half we drew 2-2 both goals coming from goals from Jack. The goal difference cost us!
Bradford City DFC v City Knights Red we lost 4 – 0, we were well beaten in this game, a head injury to Toby the goalkeeper meant we had to play with just 4 players, it proved too much on the day.
Player of the day goes to Anna who battled on despite being injured.
Well done Bradford City DFC Diamonds who beat Doncaster Titans Ladies 6 – 1! Playing most of the game with just 4 players.
Ben scoring 4 Matt scoring 2
We then lost by the same score to Doncaster Titans Blues 6 – 2
Ben & Matt scoring 1 each again lack of substitutes cost us dear!
Well done to Mark Dalton today’s player of the day, making lots of saves!
“Turning up late and the lack of substitutes cost us all on the day, hopefully we will have a full squad for the next round of games!” said Head coach Paul. Well done to Bradford City DFC Emeralds who won both their games again! They beat Doncaster Titans DFC yellows 5 – 4 in a very close game, scorers were Alyssa 3 & Hashim 2.
The second game they beat Spartans 8 – 5 in another end-to-end game. Ruhina Kapdi 2, Alyssa 3 & Hashim 3 were the goal scorers. They are top of their league having played 4 and won all 4! Star player on the day was Ruhina who is improving all the time!
City Knights coach Sharon Lavendar takes up the story of the second game. “In the first half, our lads gelled well together,” Sharon reported. “Not long into the first half Mark Boyes assisted Jack Challenger to score his first goal of the match; shortly after he volleyed another one in. At half time we were winning 2 – 0.”
“Bradford gave us a great game considering they only had 4 players,” Sharon went on. “We came 3 – 0 up by Lewis Mansell scoring, assisted by Adrian Bingham; we went 3 touches, then shortly after Jack scored his hat-trick assisted by Lewis Mansell we decided to take a man off. I removed our striker, and we went down to 4 men for the remainder of the game. Final score 4 – 0.”
“Our player of the day was Jack Challenger. Well done, Jack!! Well done to Lewis Mansell on his match debut, he played great, one goal, 2 assists and supported the team well. Well done, Lewis!!”
“I’m really proud of all the players today. Well done all!!” Sharon added. “Thank you, Bradford City Claret, for giving us two great games, thank you to the manager & players. Hope your goalkeeper is feeling better. Thank you to Sean, match referee, and thank you to all who supported us on the day.”
Pitch 4 then saw two tremendous games between Barton Inclusive Inter Bar and Derek Dooley Academy White, covered for www.SYorksACL by Claire Cowlishaw.
“The first game was quite even with some good passing from Jordan to Keiron but his shot went wide,” Claire reported. “Birthday boy Mo went in the goal and played well saving some shots, passing out to Jordan and Tom in the middle, whose shot was saved. Barton stepped up and passed between themselves and Mo saved the shot. The heads didn’t go down and there was a good pass from Tom to Luke who scored, giving Dooley the lead. The match was even for a time and then Barton came back and shot past Mo to bring it back to a draw. The second half started with good pace from both teams and Keiron had a run up and shot over. Barton responded with some good play and scored the winner at the last minute. A close match but they lost 2 – 1.”
“The lads were straight back into the second game,” Claire continued. “Keiron went in goal. Mo had a good run and shot over; the lads kept passing and some good defending from Jordan. They took the lead, but not for long as Barton got back to a draw. Keiron decided to come out of the goal and passed the gloves to Mo who took them with a smile. This was a solid performance from the lads who tried to the end and got the reward of an equaliser to finish 2 – 2.”
Inter Barton FC cheered on by Captain Wills!
Inter Barton FC, arriving in Sheffield on Sunday 20th November 22, were keen to build on their positive start to the season. The team are training well, and really beginning to take their game to the next level, responding to the demands of Premier level football with commitment and grit.
The travelling team were joined by Captain William, who is still recovering from ligament damage in his ankle. William cheered on his team throughout the two games, providing excellent encouragement. In the interim, Vice-Captain Matt is leading the team with integrity and passion.
Prior to the first KO, Inter manager James Branford set up his team and briefed them on their task. The first game saw Inter go 1-0 down however with the belief of their coach James, the awesome support from the side-lines, and an excellent team work ethic, Inter were able to draw back level with a superb strike from Callum. With Inter enjoying the majority of possession, they soon capitalised scoring the winner with only seconds to spare in the form of another Callum wonder goal. Inter deservedly won the game 2-1, and although they found it hard to break down their opponents defence, a brace for Callum secured the three points. A fantastic start to the day.
After a short break and a team talk from manager James, Inter were back in action against the same team. This time, their opponents came out stronger, more aggressive and the possession was shared equally. In a thrilling four goal spectacular, the points were shared at 2-2. At the end of game, both teams shook hands, and spoke highly of each other, showing excellent respect. Scott deservedly took home player of the day for Inter, after an intelligent, professional display in the heart of defence.
With four games played, Inter are still undefeated in the league and under the guidance of James Branford, they are keen to push on and remain as competitive as they can at the top end of the 5-a-side Premiership table. Inter currently sit in second place on eight points, four behind league leaders Sheffield FC black.
Barton Inclusive FC would like to thank Mike, Colin and all the volunteers from the league for a fantastic league day.
In the other two Premier Division games, Sheffield FC Black came out on top in two high-scoring games with Wath Stars 4 – 2 and 5 – 2 to take maximum points on the day. As a result, Sheffield Black leads the way with four wins from their four games, chased by Barton – unbeaten with two wins and two draws – on eight points. Bradford Claret has seven, City Knights Red five and Derek Dooley White opened their account with that excellent draw with Barton. It’s still early days for league newcomers Wath Stars, who showed plenty of potential in their two games with Sheffield (Black).
Five games in the Championship on Sunday, with Titans Ladies taking on Bradford Diamonds in their first game. Titans coach Steph Hall watched the action.
“This was a hard-fought game by both teams,” Steph told us. ”CDT Ladies defended well and kept Bradford out. Both teams were creating many chances, but Bradford settled into the game first, which led to Bradford scoring a couple of goals in the first half. CDT Ladies continued working hard to keep Bradford out for the rest of the half. Bradford started the second half quickly which led to them scoring three goals in a short space of time. CDT ladies tried their best and continued to create chances. Karen came close on multiple occasions for CDT Ladies to get them back into the game. In the end Bradford scored near the end and won the game.”
Club Doncaster Titans Blue took on Bradford Diamonds in the second Championship game of the day. “First it was end to end,” Coach John Hibbert explained. “Conner scored our first goal; we seemed to be the stronger team and were winning 1 – 0 so then we started passing the ball about. Conner scored again to make it 2 – 0 then they started to get back in game. But then Brad scored his first goal for our team, then we had half time – I took Conner off and replaced him with Jamie. We started and they scored their first goal to make it 3 – 1 then Danny got on the score board 4 – 2. Then Brad scored from halfway line to make it 5 – 2. Danny scored to make it 6 – 2 so then I took Danny off. We tried to make it fair, but it didn’t matter we were still a stronger team. I would like to mention Ashley, who made some cracking saves. Well done mate!”
“The Bradford keeper pulled some great saves, or it could have been a lot more; well played all the keepers today. Could not be prouder of all my players today and yes Martin Taylor that means you as well! So, a brilliant day at the office!” Titans Ladies were back in action for a friendly with Hillsborough Hornets, again watched by Steph. “This was a good game that was enjoyed by everyone involved. It was end to end with both teams creating chances. Hillsborough went ahead early on with two quick fire goals. CDT ladies continued to battle on, defend well and play some nice football but Hillsborough scored again just before half time. In the second half CDT ladies defended brilliantly and made it difficult for Hillsborough to break them down. This limited Hillsborough’s chances and forced them to shoot from harder angles. CDT ladies kept pushing and creating chances and this paid off when Kaz quickly rolled the ball out to Sheridan who then played a brilliantly ball across the pitch to Nikita who finished the move off with a great finish. Both teams continued to create chances, but ultimately Hillsborough held on for the win and scored with the last kick of the game. This was a very good performance by CDT ladies and was an enjoyable game played in the right way by both teams.”
There had been a Championship fixture played out between Titans (Blues) and Titans (Ladies) the previous day, Saturday 19th, with the Blues taking the three points.
“This was a good game played by both teams and was end to end,” Steph Hall told us. “Both teams created many good chances in the first half. Kaz performed a number of brilliant saves to keep the ladies in the game. CDT Blue were more clinical with their chances, scored three goals in a short space of time and went into half time in the lead. In the second half CDT ladies battled hard, defended really well, played some nice football and came close to getting back into the game. In the end it wasn’t to be, and CDT Blue held on for the win.”
The Championship afternoon was completed by two cracking battles between Rawmarsh St. Joseph’s Social Eyes and Sheffield Purple, with each team taking a win. In the first game, Social Eyes took a 7 – 5 win, with Kyle and Joseph in great form for the Rawmarsh side; in the second game, Sheffield Purple was hampered by injuries, but fought brilliantly to take the points in two games played in fantastic spirit.
So, Titans (Blue) head the table with a one hundred per cent record from their four games. Bradford (Diamonds) and Sheffield (Purple) are both five points further back. Social Eyes took their first win of the campaign, with Titans Ladies sure to get their first points soon enough.
Titans (Blues) and Hornets played out a friendly at the start of the days play, watched by John Hibbert. “The play was end to end; they scored first, and they were well organised,” John told us. “My players didn’t mark their players, and keepers on both sides played well, but we lost 3 – 0.”
There were three games in League One all watched by Derek Dooley Coach Claire Cowlishaw.
“The very depleted Dooley Green side started with high hopes and Bethany started in the net,” Claire explained. “Barton was a very strong side and shot past Bethany. Archie started his first game on the side and tried his best passing to the middle to Stephen who lost the ball. Barton was strong and scored again. Dooley Green were not strong enough for the 5 players of Barton against our 4. Barton went to 2 touches as it was 3-0, Natalie and Bethany kept trying, Stephen let another in and the heads went down, but at half time we had a rousing team talk from Nathan. Barton was very generous and offered us a couple of players to aid ours, Bethany started in goal but couldn’t stop the shot. Our borrowed team members helped our team to score. Archie passed into the middle and scored. I think both teams enjoyed the game as there was a sense of enjoyment.”
In the next game, Dooley Blue team took on Barton. “Dooley started well with some good saves from Ryan, solid defending from Adursh and Cody, Tanisha up front and Matt in the middle who ran up and down the pitch showing his skills in his first game with us,” Claire told www.SYorksACL.com. “Barton showed their strength and scored past Ryan and again a few times the heads went down, but they kept trying.”
The final game of the afternoon saw an all Derek Dooley battle, Blue v Green, which Claire enjoyed a little more. “This was a much more relaxed game playing against each other, with birthday boy Mo stepping into the net for the Greens so the 4 players could try out against their friends,” Claire reported. “The Blues took the lead from a single run up from the defence by Cody and she scored past Mo. Tanisha was upfront and shot from the side, but it went wide. There was some good work from Matt. Bethany and Natalie did well defending. Archie went well on the wing and Rhino did well in goal. The Blues went 4 – 0 up so Cody came off for a rest. Tanisha had another shot followed by shot by Stephen. The second half Mo came out of the net and Natalie went in and Matt swapped sides to hopefully grab the Greens a goal. It was a fun game for all Dooley with the Blues coming out winners.”
In League One, it’s Barton Vikings and Hornets Gold who share the lead; both have impressive one hundred per cent records. Dooley (Blue) have two wins, and City Knights White and Dooley Green will be looking for their first wins in December.
In League Two, there were also three games. Titans (Yellow) began the afternoon with a narrow defeat to the delayed Bradford City Emeralds, watched by Liam Taylor.
“The game was end to end from the start. Titans were 2 – 0 up because Bradford were late turning up, “Liam told the Website. “Bradford scored to make 2 -1 and then on the quick break to make it 2 – 2; then Bradford scored two quick goals to make it 4 – 2 and Christian scored to make it 4 – 3 and Barney made it 4 – 4 followed by a goal from Bradford to make it 5 – 4 and that’s how it finished. Bradford won the game 5 – 4.”
In the second League Two game of the afternoon, the entertainers, Spartans FC lost a thrilling 13-goal game to Bradford City Emeralds, before taking on Titans (Yellow ) for another 11-goal cracker, watched by Liam Taylor.
“A good start from both teams,” Liam told us. “Spartans scored to make it 1 – 0 with a good goal and then Spartans made it 2 – 0; a quick break from Spartans made it 3 – 0 and a goal from Barney made it 3 – 1; then Spartans scored to make 4 – 1 and a goal from Matt made it 4 – 2; add in 2 more goals from Spartans 6 – 2 and a goal from Christian made it 6 – 3 and a good goal from Barney made it 6 – 4; and the last goal from Spartans made it 7 – 4 and that was the final score.”
“I am really proud of each and every one of you,” Liam concluded. “To say there were just 4 of you, you all played excellently. I am so happy and proud of you all.”
So, in League Two, Bradford Emeralds one hundred per cent record gives them a six-point lead over Titans (Yellow), Spartans gained their first three points of the season and are level with Wath Stars Blue, who have only played two games. Social Eyes (White) missed the weekend due to illness and absence.
So, it’s a break now for the SYACL until December 4th, when the Junior Leagues are back in action at Goals Sheffield.
This also sees the start of the Stocksbridge Food Bank drive, so if you can donate foodstuffs or cash, anything would be much appreciated.
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More photos in the gallery.
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