blue and white hoops

With the FA Vase a distant memory it’s been a return to league action for Hall Road Rangers with two games on the road. One Tuesday night, one Saturday. Net result, one win, one defeat, and 3 points. Tuesday nights trip to Handsworth Parramore saw the blue and whites run out very good 4:1 winners. Saturday’s match at Albion a 3:1 reverse. It will be interesting to see how the weeks viewed down at Haworth. Two games and 3 points. Ok, so no one wants to lose but the numbers game says you could have come out the other end undefeated for 2 points. Take the 3.

I wrote in the blog a couple of weeks ago how the fixtures start to change as soon as they are released so I had a quick look to see how September ended up for Rangers. A total of 8 games played in the month, 5 away, 3 at home. As two of those homes were cup games that meant only one league game at Haworth in September. I’m already starting to think there might be a few cold Tuesday nights on the horizon.

This week I caught up with Andrew Watts, Rangers new Assistant Manager, to see how things were going in his now role:-

“It’s going well, enjoying it. I’ve been at Hall Road 3 years now and came in originally as reserve team manager. Last year I worked with Dave Ricardo and Bill Gill, helping out with the 1st team. It was a great learning opportunity to work with them. So the chance to become Assistant Manager was one I didn’t need to be asked twice about. I’ve got a good relationship with Bill and I’m really enjoying working with him. Things are already pretty busy, I like it that way, and Bill likes to keep people on their toes!”

“I think we’ve had a positive start since taking over. We’re both passionate about the game and we’ve been looking to encourage the players to take ownership in the final third. We’ve got a team that can play good football down here and we showed that at Handsworth. You know, I think that’s the best I’ve seen us play, and against a very good Handsworth side. I think if you’d have asked me in advance I’d probably have said I’d settle for a point so it was great to get the three. It was also about the manner in which we did it, a well deserved win.”

“Against Albion, we didn’t really start the game, didn’t clear our lines, and found ourselves 2:0 down at half time. We got one back and then they caught us on the counter. Having played in midweek it was possibly a game too far, but that’s sometimes what happens in football. As a side we’ve come a long way in a short time and this isn’t an easy league by any means.”

“I’d like to think we can sit comfortably in the top 12 and with a few good results push higher as the season goes on. I’m sure that’s achievable with the team down here. The team spirit is really good on and off the field and you probably spotted we had a good evening recently at the bowling alley. Despite my best efforts I finished about 12th that night but I thought that was a creditable performance. Let’s just say It clearly wasn’t me who’d been watching you tube videos on bowling techniques or reading up on the rules beforehand .”

“Last year gave me what was perhaps the best footballing day of my life when we won the league on the final day at Campion. It was great for everyone involved in the club. I’m absolutely passionate about the task ahead and it would be great to have a few more days like that.”

 

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FA Vase

Im sure you’re all over this by now but the 1st round proper of the FA Vase includes two local teams, Hall Road Rangers and Westella and Willerby.

Hall Roads reward for a win over Skegness Town in the last round is a trek up to the North East to play Ashington from the Northern League on 21st October. This will undoubtably be a tricky one for the blue and whites but don’t forget they showed last year how to win on the road in cup competitions.

Humber Premier side Westella and Willerby keep up that north east theme up having drawn Whitley Bay at home on 21st October. This is a massive game for Westella who after disposing of Ollerton in the last round will be well up for this one.

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Humber Premier

There’s not much elbow room in the top Division of the Humber Prem this week with 1 point covering the top 6. It’s certainly building up nicely this year and it’ll be interesting to see how the table looks as we turn the year.

Still unbeaten, Hessle Rangers took all 3 points at Sculcoates whilst Crown went down 1:0 at Walkington. A good win that for the home side and yet again showing how competitive the league is this year. Hitting the top on goal difference is Pocklington Town with a big away win at North Ferriby Athletic. Elsewhere plenty of goals going in at South Cave with the home side going down at home 6:4 to visitors Hedon Rangers.

A close encounter at Reckitts saw visitors Chalk Lane come away with a 3:2 win. I talked to managers Ryan Mellors of Chalk Lane and Jamie Richards of Reckitts for their verdict on the game:-

Ryan Mellors (Chalk Lane)

“That was a good away win for us. A tough game and both sides were down to 10 men after about 20 minutes. We were on the end of a bad tackle which saw a Reckitts sending off but Nathan Peat reacted to the situation and as a result he walked as well. We’d gone 1:0 up in the first minute and also 2:1 up before Reckitts squared it on 2:2 but with 20 minutes to go we got the winner. It was a good game. We looked at the results in the changing room after and talked about getting our early losses out of the system and that the season starts from here. There’s everything to play for now and it’s about winning those individual battles and going on to win the games.”

Jamie Richards (Reckitts)

“ Chalk started quickly and scored after about 20 seconds. We knew we were up against it at that point but to the lads credit they settled after about 10 minutes and played football. We got it back to 1:1 and in the first 45 we spent a lot of time in their half. We went 2:1 down but again dug deep, equalised, but finally went down 3:2. Both sides lost players around 10 minutes, our lad for a late tackle, it wasn’t intentional, but it was a red. Unfortunately there was a bit of a reaction and Chalk had a sending off as well. They were both red card offences. After the game I said I was happy with the way the boys had battled but obviously the result wasn’t what we wanted. But that’s football, we’ll play worse this season and win. We’re just one point behind those teams who are currently joint top and there’s still everything to play for. This league won’t be won and lost in September.”

The final league game saw East Riding Rangers gain a valuable point with a 3:3 draw at Hornsea Town. It’s not been an easy start to the season for the Cottingham side but that point follows on from a win in the cup last week and Rangers I’m sure will be looking to build on that. I talked to Craig Andrews, East Riding Rangers manager about the game and the season so far :-

Craig Andrews (East Riding Rangers)

“ I thought we put in a good performance against Hornsea. It was a good game and a good standard of football. In the end I think it was a fair result for both sides and a good one for the neutral to watch. We went in 3:1 down at half time but credit to the lads we came out stronger in the second half and it finished 3:3. To be honest we nearly got the winner in the 80th minute only to be ruled offside, but that’s football.”

“ We’ve had a tough start so far this season. Although we’ve yet to win in the league we won last week against Hornsea in the cup and we’ve come away with a league point as well. A good run in the cup or a couple of league wins can make things look very different. As a season it’s still early and all to play for, and I still think we’ve got a chance of making the top 8.”

“This years my third full season with the club. When I joined 3 and a half years ago we were in humber prem division one and we’ve moved up to the top division. We’ve had a couple of top 6 finishes and then last year we finished 8th. We were looking to build on that this season but to be honest we’ve had a few of the lads unavailable this season which has knocked us back a little.”

“ We’ve still got a good mix in the squad including a couple of ex central midlands players Tom Anderson and Dean Larkin and as a team they are all working hard and sticking at it. We’ve done some in house sponsorship in the form of a raffle recently and the winner sponsors the away kit. The new home kit is sponsored by Classical Gas of Cottingham. Off the field that sponsorship is important to us in supporting the club. On the field our next game is against Beverley Town. That’ll be another hard game for us but again it offers us the chance to get our first league win on the board and start to get back up that table.”

A couple of cup games at the weekend with Bridlington Town Reserves knocking out Beverley and Westella and Willerby easing past Hessle Sporting. In Division 1 Hull United continue to snap at the heels of leaders Bridlington with a 3:0 win over Blackburn Athletic. Two points for Hall Road Rangers beating Driffield JFC whilst Howden secured their first league win of the season over Driffield EI. Keep your eye on LIV Supplies as well who remain unbeaten having won 3:1 at Brandsburton. Winning their game in hand will put them 2 points behind leaders Brid Town Reserves.

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out n about

Only one place to start this week and that’s in the NCEL division 1 and a tremendous win for East Yorkshire Carneige and Johnny Ricardo who disrupted Yorkshire Amateurs early title charge. All 5 goals in the first half with Carneige coming out on top 3:2. In the counties premier Bridlington Town chalked up another score draw with a 2:2 result at Penistone Church, that’s 3 out of their last 4 games.

In the Evo Stick premier Whitby Town have settled into a mid table berth following a 1:0 win over Barwell whilst in the Northern section Scarborough face Glossop on Tuesday hoping to build on their 4:1 home victory over Goole which sees them in 4th. Goole meanwhile did have a weekend fixture and whist remaining bottom of the table picked up a useful point against Skelmersdale.

Elsewhere next home league game for North Ferriby is October 7th at home to FC United of Manchester. With only one league win so far this season this will be a key 3 point target, up against their opponents who sit only two places above them in the league ladder. As often said it’s about beating the teams around you, so this one is particularly important for Ferriby.

 

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