A sell-out crowd (well, 150 people anyway!) flocked to Church Street to witness a closely-fought contest, with Cameron Barnett coming off the bench to play a key role in Rozzo's last-minute equaliser which earned them a point in a 1-1 draw.
Rossington fielded a plethora of former Rovers youngsters in the game including Conner Williamson who was making his 'debut' (of sorts) having recently rejoined the club from Armthorpe. Josh Meade, part of the DRFC team which won the Youth Alliance Cup in 2011/12, also completed his first full 90 minutes since suffering an ACL injury around 18 months ago, whilst two title-winners from last year's youth team in the shape of Kian Johnson and Elliott Walker also featured.
Jack Watson was absent through injury for Rozzo and Armthorpe's new boss Lee Morris (sporting some very questionable attire on the touchline) didn't name either Adam Lee or Jordan Linley although both have featured for Welly this season.
Unfortunately, there was no 'battle of the brothers' in the 'Donny Derby' as Elliott's older brother, Tyler Walker, recently left Armthorpe to join Selby Town on loan. The right-back did complete 45 minutes on Boxing Day in Selby's clash with Harrogate Railway before floodlight failure resulted in the game being abandoned. Incidentally, Brett Lucas is Selby's captain.
Elsewhere, Staveley Miners Welfare completed two league games before local football was paused indefinitely and both Myron Gibbons and Rieves Boocock were on the score-sheet. 'Gibbo' bagged in a home defeat to Albion Sports whilst Boocock netted the late consolation a 4-1 reverse to Handsworth on Bank Holiday Monday.
As has been said many times before, my old acquaintance Brett Marshall knows a good player when he sees one and Staveley is something of a second home to old Rovers lads with Matty Davies, Cameron Foulkes and Matt Parkin amongst the familiar names at Inkersall Road, whilst Joe Pugh was also there before he departed for Knaresborough Town a few months ago.
Not too far away from Staveley are Northern Counties East League rivals AFC Mansfield and one-time youth team skipper Morgan James played his part as The Bulls drew 2-2 with Silsden at the Forest Town Arena on Boxing Day.
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| Will Longbottom on his Bradford Park Avenue debut (Photo: York City FC). |
In other news, Will Longbottom is back - not at Doncaster, but the forward has returned to England following his spell at Waterford in the Republic Of Ireland and he's penned a short-term deal with National League North outfit Bradford Park Avenue.
The now 22-year-old was yellow carded on his BPA debut in a resounding 4-2 success over York City on Boxing Day and would have featured in the last ever game to be played at Bootham Crescent yesterday, had it not been postponed due to bad weather. Park Avenue are mid-table in the division and at some point, Longbottom will get to play alongside Mitchell Lund again, who is on the road to recovery after suffering a horror facial injury in November.
Several other ex-scholars are still competing at 'elite level' nowadays and, for the majority, their fixtures have been relatively unaffected by Covid issues which have wreaked havoc at a lot of places.
Andrew Boyce remains pretty much an ever-present in Eastleigh's backline in the National League and will know if his team-mates can turn draws into wins; they've had three in succession in recent weeks - including two against Brian Stock's Weymouth, they could quite easily make the play-offs come the end of the current campaign.
Since the last update, Liam Mandeville has been used mainly as a substitute as Chesterfield have had something of a revival under new manager James Rowe. Jack McKay's game-time has been extremely limited and, in desperate need of minutes, he's joined Blyth Spartans on loan.
Jack's twin brother, Paul McKay, has continued to be a regular for Airdrieonians in Scottish League One; their most recent result being a 4-2 success at near rivals Clyde on Boxing Day.
In the Football League, Jack Muldoon bagged the winner as League Two newcomers Harrogate Town earned a surprise 2-1 win at Exeter City just before Christmas. The Grecians 'keeper that night, incidentally, was Jonny Maxted and he's now made 35 appearances since joining Exeter in 2019.
James Husband also came off the bench as Blackpool remained mid-table in League One after their defeat at Bristol Rovers yesterday, whilst Danny Amos, Lirak Hasani and Louis Jones have all been included in Rovers' own matchday squads before a Covid-19 outbreak put paid to the festive schedule.
Last, but by no means least, there's mentions for two lads who haven't previously featured in these round-ups before...
Ben Greasley (who has just become a dad - congratulations pal) limped off injured whilst playing for Thorne Colliery in the Central Midlands League last week, whilst Aron Gordon is back at Waltham Abbey (currently top of the Isthmian League Division One North) following spells elsewhere - including one at Grays Athletic - in the past few seasons.
For whereabouts on any lads not mentioned check both the November and December updates, but in the mean-time have a good New Year and hopefully it won't be too much longer before everyone is back playing/watching football every weekend!
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