Mickleover preview.

On Bank Holiday Monday we make the short hop into Derbyshire to play Mickleover, at a ground we never appear to do well. In 5 visits we have won 2 and lost 3, with the most recent visit last season that saw us cruising to a 2-0 lead as well as hitting the post. A second half fight back saw Mickleover score three to send us home dejected in what was a nail biting “6 pointer”. For those who have not been to the Mickleover ground, it is shared with a cricket ground giving no access to half a goal line and half a touch line. We did however witness a “funny” incident in our first ever visit. The cub bar is behind a goal and in the warm up a player lofted a shot over the bar and the ball flew through the open door followed by the sound of breaking glass as it bounced over tables and hit the trophy cabinet.

Mickleover’s ground is on Station Road, so that may have got some fans interested to do a repeat of the train trip to Lancaster last week. However good old Dr Beaching put paid to that idea by closing the line through Mickleover in 1964. Had he not then thanks to the Great Northern Railway company you may have been able to catch a train direct from Stafford. However, being a bank holiday, the line would have been closed for essential engineering works.

Neither side has made a good start to the season with Mickleover beating Stalybridge 1-0 at home and then losing 1-0 at Witton in midweek. Due to their league position last season, Mickleover have had to play in the FA Cup preliminary round and on Friday at home they defeated Coventry Sphynx 3-0. Do you remember our FA Cup encounter with Coventry Sphynx. The less said about that the better. In the fledgling league table, Mickleover lie 15th with three points from their two games while we lie in the dreaded 19th position with 1 point from our 3 games. I say the dreaded 19th position, because at the end of this season each step 3 league will relegate their bottom three, 20th, 21st and 22nd. However, two further sides must be relegated so it will be the two 19th sides in the 4 step 3 league with the worst points per game ratio. Complicated, yes, and I hope I do not have to explain this predicament again as it puts extra pressure this season on relegation.

Do not forget but we had a similar start to last season, losing at Workington and South Shields with a home draw in Grantham in between. The Bank Holiday fixture with Mickleover was played at Marston Road with a 1-1 draw the result. So, with the anticipated heat wave expected on Bank Holiday Monday, please refrain from going anywhere to be stuck in traffic jams and put the barbie away till after the game. Don your shorts and splash on the sun cream and cheer the team on to that much needed first win.

Games played 26th August this century

2000 Worcester A 4-2 Southern League
2002 Halesowen A 1-1 Southern League
2006 Crawley A 2-1 Conference
2013 Rushall A 0-2 Northern Prem
2015 Kidsgrove A 3-0 Northern Prem Div 1 South
2017 Workington A 0-0 Northern Prem

    It is that time in the season when games come thick and fast as we play our third fixture in eight days. Matlock come to town, much as they did last April to end the 2018/19 season, when we finished the league season with a convincing 4-1 victory. As the saying goes, it appeared that on that game, Matlock were already on the beach.

There have been big changes over the summer at Matlock Town. At the end of last season manager Dave Frecklington left and his replacement was Steve Kittrick. Steve Kittrick is a well-known manager in non-league football having managed at all levels with Ossett Town, Guiseley AFC Telford and Scarborough Athletic. He led Scarborough to promotion to the NPL Premier Division in 2017/18 and they were in and around the top six or seven for long spells and were league leaders before he was dismissed as the Seadogs manager in March 2018. Kittrick’s assistant is former Grimsby Town midfielder Chris Bolder who was with him at Scarborough and has had previous managerial experience at North Ferriby United.

Matlock kicked off the season with a home win over Baber Bridge, However it was Monday night when things changed as they travelled to Basford and came away with a 1-0 win, which put them top of the league before the Tuesday night games which put Matlock in 4th place of the embryonic league table as one of four teams with a 100% record in two games. According to their match report few Matlock fans would have expected this win especially as Basford pout 6 past them last season. Hopefully we will put their mini run to an end on Saturday. Apparently, the crowd of 501 at Basford was their highest in recent history.

As we have experienced in recent years a new manager sees a big player movement and this summer Kittrick has brought in 14 new players with 8 making their debut on the opening day. However long-established Matlock player Adan Yates is still with the gladiators although he was injured and unable to play in the win over Basford.

It will be interesting to see what Matlock expect on Saturday as according to their website, their next game is against Stafford United. Well, we certainly do not expect repeat of last season’s score, but you never know, as Jimmy Greaves once said, “football is a funny game”. So see you on Saturday, and do not forget that the new fans bar will be open under the stand with its tempting early offers

Games played on 24TH August this century

2002 Chippenham                      H           0-0            Southern League
2004 Nuneaton                           A           3-4            Conference North
2010 Ilkeston                               A           2-0            Conference North
2013 Corby                                  H           0-0            Northern Prem
2016 Trafford                              H          1-4             Northern Prem

Déjà vu is the case for our first home game of the season with Grantham as this was the exact scenario last season. In fact, there are many similarities with this season and last. Last season we travelled to the North West for our opening fixture but returned empty handed with an odd goal defeat. On Saturday we again travelled to the North West and again returned home empty handed after an odd goal defeat. So, does this mean that the game with Grantham will be yet another draw like last season. Only time will tell.

Last season this game finished 1-1 with our goal from Louis Briscoe on 61 minutes cancelled out by an equaliser 5 minutes later. Briscoe is one of only 7 of that squad that are still with us now. However, a more appealing result would be a repeat of our victory away at Grantham last season, which saw us record a 5-0 victory, with all 5 goals coming via headers from 5 different players.

Many of the fans who travelled to Lancaster Saturday were not happy with the first half performance, but we all saw a spirited second half fightback which showed the potential of the squad, and had lady luck gone our way we could easily have turned the game in our favour. The Lancaster game was certainly a game of two halves and perhaps a draw would have been a fair result. That was not to be, so we start again to get some points on the board against a Grantham side who beat many peoples title favourites, F C United. A crowd of 821 saw them win by the odd goal in five with a winner two minutes from time. The scorer of their first two goals was from new signing Craig Westcarr. We will remember him last season playing for Matlock, ending the season as the Gladiators’ top scorer. He will no doubt be one to watch, but he is only one of several new signings in the Grantham squad.

All the predictions appear to add up to potential thriller that could go either way, so let’s ensure the Shed end and yet again be the 12 man. See you all on Tuesday.

Games played on August 20^th this century

2001      Ilkeston                A             2-2         Southern League

2002      Ilkeston                H            2-0         Southern League

2005      Hyde                     A             3-1         Conference North

2011      Stocksbridge       A             0-1         Northern Premier League

2013      Barwell                H            2-3         Northern Premier League

2016      Frickley                H            3-2         Northern Premier League