Barnsley 0-3 Lincoln City

Barnsley 0-3 Lincoln City

Papa John's Trophy

Tuesday 30th August 2022

Goals can often completely change the course of a game and two in the space of a mad five-minute spell by Teddy Bishop, plus a pointless red card for Barnsley's James Norwood, did just that for Lincoln City - and helped the Imps secure all three points in this Papa John's Trophy Group Stage match.

For the opening 15 minutes, Barnsley more than had a foothold and matched their opponents. They had an early shot and got the ball down well with Aiden Marsh involved in a lot of the play - whether it be from his 'early marker' of a strong challenge to try and win possession to dropping back to deeper areas to receive the ball and play passes. It was decent enough stuff.

However, the Reds then endured that torturous period which resulted in a sense of bewilderment right around Oakwell and contributed so heavily towards the eventual outcome.

Bishop made it 1-0 in straightforward fashion when he got goal-side of Will Hondermarck (who needs to track back more than he does) at the far-post to convert the opener from Charles Vernam's right-sided cross before matters quickly went from bad to worse when Barnsley 'keeper Jack Walton came rushing out of his area to meet a long downfield ball but shanked his clearance straight to Bishop who slotted into the unguarded net from 30 yards.

At 2-0 behind, Barnsley faced an uphill challenge and it became one of Mt.Everest-style proportions when Norwood stupidly flicked an elbow towards Jay Benn's face right infront of the dugouts. It happened 10 yards from the referee, 10 yards from the linesman and 10 yards from the Fourth Official; in that scenario the officials don't need VAR to help them because they've got eyes and can see it for themselves and Norwood was duly given his marching orders with a three-game ban now to be served for violent conduct.

Questions should be asked over why a senior player got himself sent off in such cheap circumstances because the dismissal totally killed Barnsley's hopes of getting back into the game. Lincoln retained the ball brilliantly against 10 men thereafter and always found the extra space against their opponents' adopted 4-3-2 (or 4-4-1 out of possession) formation. The Reds just had very little to go on as an attacking force.

They lost another experienced player when Herbie Kane was replaced by Joe Ackroyd in midfield just past the half-hour mark and although 'Ackers' brought some extra energy and was vocal in trying to organise things straight away after his introduction, his best contribution was at the other end when he blocked a shot to stop Lincoln bagging a third goal before half-time.

Walton prodced a flying fingertip save to half-atone for his earlier mistake but on the whole it was grim stuff and Barnsley were booed off at the break (though I'm not sure what that is meant to achieve?)

Despite a positive start to the second half; Ackroyd closing down straight from Lincoln's kick-off and making a decent interception followed by a chance which saw Matty Wolfe skew a shot narrowly over the upright after Jasper Moon's long-throw caused a few problems inside the box, slowly but surely the Imps began to settle down and dictate the game again. 

I never read anything into possession statistics (mainly because I know how it's calculated) but Lincoln always seemed to be on the ball during the final half-hour. They were good at it too and that, coupled with their extra-man advantage, meant Barnsley never really looked like getting back into the game. Although his movement wasn't the best, Slobodan Tedic seemed totally isolated to the point where he was almost anonymous. It wasn't a debut he'll want to remember!

Substitutions meant Barnsley finished the night with what is more or less their U21s team on the pitch and Lincoln got a third goal to wrap up their win in injury-time when Jamie Robson's ball across the goalmouth was simply tapped home by Jovon Makama.

It was then game over!

On a personal level, knowing the sacrifices he's made to get to where he is, it was disappointing to hear Jasper Moon come in for some ferocious criticism from his own fans (to the point where some of it was abusive). 

I've no idea how he'll respond to it emotion-wise and whether it'll be water off a ducks back or something which will eat away at him but he deserves better rather than idiots hurling out 'X, Y and Z' towards him. Granted, he didn't have his best game (and he wasn't alone in that respect) but it happens. It's part and parcel of football and even the big dogs in the Premier League will have had stinkers or difficult spells. It's in difficult times where players need support and encouragement to build up their confidence again.

I actually don't mind the yellow card he received because if he doesn't make that tackle and bring the lad down then Lincoln had the opportunity to break. It was a classic 'taking one for the team'. He probably crapped himself a minute or so later when he connected with a high boot on a Lincoln player and being caught on the ball later in the first half was something he'll want to forget, but on the flip-side he delivered two good balls into the box (one early in the first half before it was recycled and Will Hondermarck put in another cross and then one early in the second that reached Aiden Marsh). Barnsley's best chance on the night also came via his long-throw - a specific 'skill' within his make-up as a player which makes him an asset to a team and will endear him to plenty of managers around the country.

He deserves better than being scapegoated by a certain element who want to play the 'blame game' and look for an easy target, so keep your head up if you read this, Jasper, because you'll get through it and you'll have a decent enough career. I back my own opinions and trust my judgement on that.

Despite the scoreline, Aiden Marsh deserves a mention. Even though he'll always be loved at Oakwell just because he's a local lad who always has a grin on his face, he worked relentlessly to try and make something happen. In an 11v11 scenario, that effort and endeavour might have led to something. Four times when it was 0-0 in the first quarter-hour, he dropped back to link-up play; finding and receiving passes well, he was positionally aware after the red card (forming part of the midfield four out-of-possession) and his attitude, application and effort didn't go unnoticed.

Congratulations as well to the young lads who came off the bench for their first team debuts - every professional footballer everywhere can immediately recall their debuts, you've earned it on merit, and if you keep working hard, you'll put yourself in a position to potentially get more opportunities of this sort as the season progresses.

Doncaster beat Newcastle U21s on penalties in the other group game which means if Barnsley lose to the Toon Army in 90 minutes in their next fixture in this competition, they'll be eliminated - so, although this competition might not be the highest priority, there's a bit of pressure to relish and a wrong which needs to be righted.

If Lincoln win their next game which is against Doncaster - or beat Newcastle in their final group fixture, then they'll be through to the knockout stages. Separately, good luck to the Imps' Charley Kendall who has just joined Sutton United on a season-long loan; a class player who I'll be keeping an eye on and someone else I'd back to have a decent career.

Rotherham United (U18s) 1-1 Doncaster Rovers (U18s)

Rotherham United (U18s) 1-1 Doncaster Rovers (U18s)

EFL Youth Alliance

Saturday 27th August 2022

This won’t be a particularly long post because this was one of those games which just won’t live for long in the memory as a tight and often tedious South Yorkshire derby in the EFL North-East Youth Alliance ended in a point apiece.

Both goals were scored inside the first 12 minutes. 

Ethan Harrison got Rovers’ opener when he stabbed the ball home from six yards out after Jack Goodman flicked on Tom Parkinson’s cross but it was quickly cancelled out with Rotherham equalising through a well-struck free-kick from the edge of the box only six minutes later.

At 1-1, Parkinson then had a couple of efforts blocked - the latter of which was from a piercing through ball by Faris Khan who also saw a speculative pot shot caught by the ‘keeper on the quarter-hour mark, whilst Jake Oram pulled off a decent stop on 35 minutes to keep Rovers on level terms.

Harrison was forced off injured at half-time having been kicked and clattered by the hosts’ aggressive backline (who weren’t backwards in coming forwards and dishing out stuff from the dark arts) and thereafter, most of the play was scrappy to the extreme with not much in the way of either quality or good football.

Max Adamson, who replaced Harrison, went close to scoring with a header that drifted narrowly wide off Alex Fletcher’s cross and fellow substitute Harry Wood saw a speculative 25-yard attempt fly just wide in what were Rovers’ only chances of any note in the second half. Up at the other end, Oram was tested properly on only one occasion when he palmed away a powerful drive at his near-post for a corner which was subsequently cleared.

Ultimately, from about the half-hour mark onwards, Rovers fell into the trap of trying to compete with Rotherham’s style as opposed to focusing on their own ideas and getting the ball down, knocking it about, and creating something that way.

The Millers picked up a lot of second balls in midfield, they pressed and closed down really well - giving opponents next to no time on the ball, whilst their defence often had ‘free headers’ and were able to clear their lines with comfort when Rovers played into their hands and went long. Add in the hosts’ height advantage in many positions across the pitch, tendencies to be very aggressive and get ‘in your face’ and it proved to be as difficult a game as one might have envisaged beforehand.

It was just very, very scrappy!

The result definitely didn’t warrant the big smiles, high-fives, loud music and celebrations by Rotherham’s players at full-time (which was completely bizarre) but they’re entitled to do whatever they want, they managed the game well and nobody can deny they earned their first point of the season on merit - even if their style wasn't nice to watch.

The positives for Rovers is that they didn’t cave in and get beat (something which might happen with weaker teams who can’t handle what Rotherham are all about), it’s a difficult game out of the way, and the result extends the unbeaten start to the new season to three games. Who knows, the point might even prove to be a useful one later in the season.

Individually, there were some notable contributions.

Despite being kicked, targeted and ‘roughed up’ which meant he went off injured at half-time, Ethan Harrison was comfortably the best player on the pitch for DRFC. He took his goal well early on and posed a serious threat with his movement. He was a focal point to Rovers’ frontline in the first 30 minutes, wasn’t intimidated by Rotherham’s aggressiveness and was getting the better from his individual duels with Rotherham’s No.5’s before was hacked down around the half-hour mark and needed treatment on a knock which eventually resulted in him being replaced. It was a solid contribution and when he went off, Rovers missed his strength and physical presence up top to compete with the Millers defenders who then had things a bit easy.

Max Adamson, who replaced Harrison, did alright. He’ll always find an opening and on this occasion, he put one header very narrowly wide and then almost nicked the ball off a defender to go clean-through but Rotherham’s No.6 (easily their best defender) got back to his feet just in time, having initially fallen over, to make an interception. Will Flint also popped two good passes on the switch towards Tom Parkinson during the first half which didn't pay off in either instance but the idea/intentions behind it was good whilst Faris Khan was lively for a 10-15 minute spell around the same period.

But then, as stated, from about the point when Harrison had treatment for his knock, the game got extremely scrappy and very tedious. That continued throughout the second half where not a lot happened.

Team: Jake Oram, Alex Fletcher, Charlie Petch, Jak Whiting, Tom Parkinson, Will Flint, Josh Lindley, Jack Raper, Faris Khan, Ethan Harrison, Jack Goodman. Subs Used: Owen Scattergood, Harry Wood, Max Adamson, Will Green.

Warrington Rylands 2-0 Bamber Bridge

Warrington Rylands 2-0 Bamber Bridge

Northern Premier League

Tuesday 23rd August 2022

It wasn't that long ago that Warrington had zero teams in the upper echelons of England's non-league pyramid.

Warrington Town only joined the Northern Premier League in the 2000s when all the restructuring happened, whereas Warrington Rylands were nothing more than a park team up until just a few years back when a combination of big investment and big ambition sent them on a quick upwards trajectory to ‘Step 3’ for this season (the highest level they’ve ever been at).

It’ll be some occasion for the town when the two teams go head-to-head in a fortnight as both clubs harbour hopes of climbing into the National League North at some point in the future.

Rylands have significantly strengthened their squad with several players boasting Football League experience joining them for their maiden campaign at Northern Premier League (Premier Division) level. Their skipper is Dean Furman who played internationally for South Africa, Jordan Mustoe; ex-Accrington and later to play abroad in Finland, Belgium and Romania is also at Gorsey Lane right now, as is Jak McCourt who was in his second spell at Chesterfield up to only last season.

Probably their two most household names; Kevin Ellison (does he need an introduction?) and Paddy Lacey (star of the latest Undr The Cosh podcast) didn’t feature in this game where they got their first three points of the season by beating an ordinary but organised Bamber Bridge outfit.

If Felix Goddard (the away 'keeper) is reading this though, he might want to click on the little ‘X’ in the top corner and close the article now because it was his two howler's which ultimately cost his team a point.

Felix certainly wasn't 'the cat' in goalkeeping terms!

Bamber Bridge also boast a couple of names who’ve appeared in the Football League. David Perkins (ex-Barnsley) is one, with another being former Fleetwood promotion specialist Nathan Pond and after a tightly contested first 45 minutes, the big defender produced a goal-saving block to prevent a Rylands attacker from making it 1-0 who broke through, rounded the ‘keeper and was about to slot the ball into an empty net.

It was brilliant defending by Pond in that instance although both teams were generally okay at the back.

Rylands seemed to be running out of ideas going forward which is probably why David Webb (no, not the former Chelsea manager) replaced Callum Dolan midway through the second period, whereas up at the other end, Bamber Bridge showed more ideas but couldn’t find any real inroads due to how organised Rylands were.

A 0-0 stalemate was looking likely until Bamber Bridge’s very own Massimo Taibi had other ideas!

When Webb let fly with a low shot from the edge of the box on 73 minutes, it should have been routine for the ‘keeper yet somehow, instead of keeping the ball out, he let it squirm beneath his legs and into the back of the net. It was a proper ‘howler’ and not long afterwards, McCourt found the net in exactly the same way (albeit from a bit further out) which was an even more glaring error - and when ‘keepers make errors, it often costs teams dearly!

Both mistakes bore a striking resemblance to Rob Green’s infamous cock up for England against the USA in the World Cup and Massimo Taibi’s goalkeeping disaster-class for Man United back in the day; cue taunts and tormenting from Rylands fans behind the goal who probably couldn’t believe their eyes (or luck) at what happened. 'Close your legs' was the perfect advice!

With three points on the board and a good bank of experience within their squad, I can't help but feel Rylands will get better and string together a decent set of results at some point. I doubt they'll go up this season (and if they do it'd be a third straight promotion) but they'll possibly take points off teams at the top, upset a few people along the way, and surprise one or two others.

Bamber Bridge will just never, ever want to remember this night!

Doncaster Rovers (U18s) 1-0 Blackpool (U18s)

Doncaster Rovers (U18s) 1-0 Blackpool (U18s)

EFL Youth Alliance Cup

Saturday 20th August 2022

Two games played and two wins recorded - plus a first clean-sheet; it’s been a good start to the new season for Doncaster Rovers U18s.

After last week's hammering of Hartlepool, this was winning in a very different style because for large parts, it was a scrappy contest. It wasn’t pretty; it was tight, tentative and there wasn’t really anything to separate Rovers and Blackpool until Max Adamson came off the bench and bagged the match-winner on 82 minutes to send the Seasiders home empty-handed.

Bravo, Maxwell!

On a weirdly sunny but windy morning and playing on a bone dry surface, Chad Gribble made two changes to the Rovers starting line-up with Charlie Petch coming in for Freddie Allen at centre-back whilst Faris Khan (offering height) was preferred ahead of the creative Jack Raper. This was Blackpool’s first game since their pre-season trip to Bilbao and they included Jake Daniels who bagged 30 times last year and is widely regarded as one of the best players in the North-West Division.

To Rovers’ credit, they nullified Daniels’ attacking threat relatively well, but if there’s one lesson the lads can learn, it’s they showed their opponents too much respect to begin with and gave away a handful of chances which could have been punished.

Inside the opening 10 minutes, Jake Oram produced a classy fingertip save when Dannen Francis got the better of Alex Fletcher and let fly with a 20-yard drive which seemed destined for the top corner. Then Zack Littler headed narrowly over from the edge of the six-yard box after Daniels cleverly mugged Jak Whiting and moved the ball out wide for a cross, before Will Flint had to make a last-ditch block inside his own area to prevent a near-certain goal. Daniels also forced a save from Oram during another attack.

It was all rather ropey from a Rovers perspective and much of Blackpool’s early play went through Toby Oliver (No.8) who picked up several second balls and drove forward with intent. 

Slowly but surely, Rovers began to have more possession, impose their own ideas and spend some time inside Blackpool’s half of the pitch. It led to a chance when Sam Brown saw a wickedly deflected low snap-shot from Jack Goodman’s lay-off bounce an inch the wrong side of the post with the ‘keeper already beaten.

That aside, the Seasiders seemed organised and efficient in doing their jobs. They were difficult to break down; being marshalled excellently by Josh Nyame and Johnson Opawole and by the first half midway point, most of the play was scrappy, tight, and in midfield areas.

Blackpool almost bagged what would have been a seriously contentious goal thanks to the referee though.

Despite Ethan Harrison having clashed heads with an opponent which left both players on the ground and despite pleas to stop the game, he ridiculously allowed play to continue. The visitors kept possession, moved the ball forward and eventually put in a cross towards the back-post where Fletcher made a vital headed clearance under pressure from a striker who was bearing down on goal, waiting to convert, and had an almost open net infront of him. 

Had Blackpool scored then it’s likely all hell would have broken loose - and it was only after the chance (some 30 seconds after the initial head collision), that the referee finally stopped the game. More incredibly, despite a three-minute stoppage which followed so the pair could receive treatment, no injury-time was played at the end of the first half… work that one out?

When play eventually re-started, things continued to be mostly scrappy.

Flint underlined his value with another goal-preventing block as the Tangerines used the width in an effort to stretch Rovers before half-time. Shortly after the break, Daniels pinched the ball off Josh Lindley and hit a speculative shot from distance which was straight at Oram. Other bits and pieces of pressure also came to nothing - including an instance where Whiting put his body on the line inside the six-yard box following a corner and made a good block.

At the other end, Rovers’ chances were sporadic. Goodman and Harrison were kept quiet and the best openings for Rovers actually fell to Fletcher who skewed one shot from a tight angle over the upright before the interval and put one on target early in the second half although a deflection took the fizz out of that effort.  Raper (not long after replacing Brown) also side-footed a shot straight at the visiting ‘keeper with about a quarter-of-an-hour to go as the game remained goalless.

A stalemate seemed inevitable until Max Adamson’s introduction won the game for DRFC.

The nippy striker caught out Blackpool’s backline with a defence-splitting run to get on the end of a classic ‘route one’ ball over the top by Flint and with the ‘keeper committing to but losing the subsequent foot race, Adamson was left with the easiest of tasks of tapping the ball into an empty net from just a couple of yards out. Strikers score goals and it’s what Max does best - and holding his arms aloft and running to the photographer (take note lads because you get good photos when you do that), the joy was etched all over his face.

Rovers then defended in numbers during the final few minutes, limiting Blackpool to zero chances, to get their cup campaign off to the perfect start. Three other group fixtures against Accrington, Port Vale and Shrewsbury will follow over the coming months.

Team: Jake Oram, Will Flint, Charlie Petch, Jak Whiting (C), Alex Fletcher, Will Green (Tom Parkinson), Josh Lindley, Sam Brown (Jack Raper), Faris Khan (Owen Scattergood), Ethan Harrison, Jack Goodman (Max Adamson). Unused Sub: Freddie Allen.

Overall Thoughts

The lads should take confidence with how they grew into the game after a sloppy start and matched Blackpool for 80 minutes; negating certain threats and limiting them to mostly 'pot shots'. The defending as a unit was good and it's always a positive to get the first clean-sheet of the season - especially when it didn't happen until October last season. 

It shows clear signs of progress and improvement, as does 'winning ugly', and although this game wasn't pretty to watch, there are positives to emerge from it.

Last week against Hartlepool, there were some strong individual contributions from attack-minded players who demonstrated their qualities really well. This week, it’s the defenders who I feel deserve a lot of credit.

Jak Whiting led by example as the skipper. He was demanding higher standards straight after the goal (which doesn’t go unnoticed) and he even produced a fantastic ‘tactical squeal’ in the second half which achieved the desired outcome. Charlie Petch was solid and reliable in the middle of a back three; dependable and just a ‘round peg in a round hole’ who did his job well, whilst Alex Fletcher produced that fantastic headed clearance which was worth its weight in gold because it could have been a game-changer if Blackpool had scored in that attack.

Jake Oram made his best saves during the dicey early spell and he’ll be happy to have kept a clean-sheet and Will Green (outstanding last week) had a few runs but wasn’t able to get on the ball that much - which makes me strongly believe Blackpool did their homework and saw Will as a very specific threat.

Nevertheless, the ‘Man Of The Match’ was Will Flint because he was superb!

He was put under lots more pressure in this game compared to last week and responded with a mature display. He made two vital interceptions in the first half to stop certain shooting opportunities (which would most probably have been goals), he was composed under pressure (e.g. in one instance when Jake Daniels was closing him down, he got out of it through reading the situation and being quick with his feet to turn out of danger) and then he got an assist late on. It’s testament to his quality that he’s already made the right centre-back position his own and looks so comfortable in this team. Keep it up!

Elsewhere, Sam Brown was lively in snippets for a period before Blackpool got a handle on him, Faris Khan and Josh Lindley competed well in their respective midfield roles with Josh doing lots of the dirty work (i.e. standing players up/closing down and his running stats should be good). Individually they’ll both be pleased to have got lengthy game-time.

And, of course, Max Adamson came on and did exactly what he did last week - showing athleticism and a pure willingness to make runs between the lines. It makes him difficult for defenders to track (especially when they’re tired and he’s coming off the bench), it paid dividends against Hartlepool when he caused problems and got an assist; it paid off here with his match-winning goal and he’ll put himself in contention for a start before long. He can take a lot of satisfaction in his contributions so far.

Blackpool have some good players and some mentions for their players are as follows:

Josh Nyame (No.6) and Johnson Opawole (No.5) both looked accomplished in defence, read the game well bar the goal they conceded, and (similar to how Rovers did a job at the other end), they kept two good players in Ethan Harrison and Jack Goodman quiet for much of the game.

Toby Oliver (No.8) was very influential in the opening period; Jake Daniels (No.10) whilst not as much of a goal threat as he’d have wanted to be (mainly due to the job the Rovers defence did), still left an impression with how he twice nipped the ball off opponents to create something. That was down to his own sharpness and alertness and recognising when to seize an opportunity to do it, plus he had a decent run late on at 0-0 when his strength took him past two players only for his momentum to see him fall over at the vital moment. I didn’t mind his defensive contributions; three near-post clearances at set-plays and although this just wasn’t the game for him to shine with how it so scrappy, I’d still back him to rack up a reasonable goals tally for the season. He's not a bad player and he’s achieved what he has already for a good reason.

Zack Littler (No.11) was direct on the ball and decent at times with his running; Dannen Francis (No.7) probably went closest to scoring for the Seasiders and Bobby Bjork (No.3) made several intelligent overlapping runs which was a threat and that will pay off at some point in future games without a shadow of a doubt.

Nobody should get carried away after just two games but there are reasons to be optimistic that this DRFC team might have a good season and the most pleasing thing after 180 minutes across two matches is that different players have stood out and made some solid contributions.

Next up is a trip to Rotherham - everyone knows precisely what to expect (because Rotherham never change) and it’s down to the lads to deliver another display with certain characteristics. 

The first goal could be vital...