35. High Noon
Board Confidence
The board are largely pleased with my
performance and their only grievance is that I have not played a direct style
of football and do not make the most of set pieces. I have met their objective
of making the playoffs.
That's great and pretty much as expected.. I wonder what the "mood on the terraces," or in our case behind the white painted fence is??
Supporters Confidence
Oh! It's like that is it????
Meanwhile the supporters are nothing short of disgusted with my performance as manager as they expected me to win the title.. ?? I’ve got us into the playoffs and a cup final?? Some people are just never happy!
“Thas nowt as queer as folk”.. as the old Yorkshire saying goes..
I thought
there was a sudden silence down the Farriers Arms when I popped in for a pint
the other day....
Match 40: Morley Town v Chadderton –
North West Counties Division One North Playoff Semi Final
So here it
is, the narrow path to Level 9 starts here with a showdown at The Shay with
Chadderton. Third against fourth a roll of the dice, the lottery of the
playoffs, no matter what level you are playing at. I am strangely confident,
we have been in good form recently and for now the dressing room is harmonious.
The only concern has been the form and attitude of Aaron Smith, who has not
scored in ages and has been only a shadow of the player he was last season.
This means he is dropped to the bench with the in-form Harry Wood partners The Angel Ellis up front.. the man for the big occasion. We have received a
boost before kick off with the news that Chadderton’s top scorer, Jordan
Lashley who has scored 26 goals this season is out with a pulled hamstring. So, I go in
with my trusted 4-4-2 formation with what is the best team at my disposal.
Team: Thompson, Cotteril, Wilkinson,
Bentley, Morley, Wright, Henderson, Preston, Wood, Ellis, Gutzmore
Subs: McLachlan, Haylock, Smith,
Bett-Wildsmith, Clery
Chadderton:
Oldham, Meta, Gecchele, Daniels, Cevenni, Agyeman, Hamilton, Allister,
Winfarrah, Ata, Read
Match Action
The crowd in
the stands of The Shay roar as we kick off as Nathan Morley bombs up the left
wing. We look up for this. The opening exchanges are even. A Winfarrah corner
is flapped away by Thompson but Allister’s shot is blocked. We create the first
clearcut chance. Henderson bursts forward from midfield and feeds Ellis whose
fierce shot is beaten away by Oldham for a corner. Daniels then heads just over
from Winfarrah’s corner. It’s a battle in midfield, Wright and Henderson beaver
away and win the ball back and Preston is released down the right flank. He
plays in Gabriel Ellis, unmarked with the goal at his mercy!! Off the crossbar
and bounces clear.. What a miss! Then, a swift move in midfield from Chadderton
releases Liam Reed. Reed clear on goal.. Makes no mistake... 1-0
Chadderton... He finds the top
corner as cool as a cucumber... Against the run of play it has to be said. We
rally. Sam Wright bursts forward from midfield and shoots just wide. He waves
to the Morley support trying to rally them.. Gutzmore receives the ball on the
left touchline and tries to dance his way past his full back but is tripped and
stays down. After a few minutes with the physio he cannot continue and is
replaced by Karlos Bett-Wildsmith. We win a free kick which Sam Wright takes.
He floats it into the penalty area. The ball goes over everybody but Ellis is manhandled
in the box.. Penalty Morley!! The Angel picks himself up and places the ball on
the spot.. The Chadderton fans whistle., Ellis steps up.... Belts it into the
top corner!!! 1-1! We have the bit between our teeth now. Wright has been
dominant in midfield. He lays it right to Cotteril to Wilkinson on the halfway
line, back to Jayden Cotteril on the right touchline. He spots the run of Bett
Wildsmith down the right channel and he finds him with a superb ball down the
line. The substitute’s instant low cross finds ELLIS!! He rifles the ball home
from close range! What a great goal and 2-1 to Morley Town! Wilkinson finds
Wright, who looks up and spots the run of Ellis. He picks him out.. The Angel
leaps and heads home at the near post.... but he moved too early.. offside. 2-1
after a breathless first half here at The Shay...
Into the
second half and inevitably Chadderton start the brigher. They win an early
corner and Daniels heads powerfully towards goal, Thompson dives and parries
the ball but only into the path of Gecchelle who whacks the ball in from close
range. 2-2. Chadderton suddenly look more dangerous. Agyeman bombs down the
right and his dangerous low cross is cut out by Bentley just in time. Winfarrah
then drifts infield and whacks a low shot which Thompson saves brilliantly low
down to his right. We come back into it though. Ellis holds the ball up
brilliantly and lays off to Henderson who drives forward, but is tackled by
Allister, but Bett Wildsmith picks up the loose ball. KARLOS BETT-WILDSMITH
slots the ball into the far corner. What a finish from the youngster! 3-2
Morley Town! We are not finished. On 70 minutes Morley swings in a corner,
which is cleared but only as far as Kevin Preston. The youngster strides into
the penalty area before unleashing a fierce drive through a crowd of players.
It takes a wicked deflection and ends up in the top corner! 4-2 Morley! I take
the liberty of making two subs. Smith replaces the quiet Wood, while Haylock is
on for Henderson who has a yellow card. Chadderton are not finished though. Sub
Kyriakou plays a sumptuous through ball for Allister to poke home. 4-3. Then..
Kevin Preston pulls up with an injury.. look like his hamstring.. we have used
all our subs.. Down to 10 men.. Fiddlesticks! Aaron Smith reluctantly moves to
a left midfield role as I seek to contain the Chadderton juggernaut, which is
getting heavier. They win a free kick, which Cevenni fires in. It goes over
everybody’s head except sub Mike Smith’s who stoops to nod the ball past
Thompson. All the Morley players appeal for offside.. surely... Referee!
Linesperson or whatever they are called... No VAR at Level 10.. I look up and
breathe the biggest sigh of relief as at the very last moment the flag is
raised. He was a mile offside and thank god common sense prevailed.. Chadderton
press, the ball is launched into the box. Wilkinson heads away again.. He’s been brilliant all game. Smith plays the
ball long for Ellis to chase.. This is wasting valuable seconds... Oldham picks
up the ball and launches it long, flicked on by Smith.. but nobody is there and
Wilkinson lets the ball go out for a goal kick. Thompson kicks the ball long...
and the referee blows the final whistle... Morley Town are in the playoff
final!
Final Score: Chadderton 3-4 Morley
Town
Read 24 Ellis 38
(pen), 41
Gecchele
51
Bett-Wildsmith 62
Allister
76
Preston 71
North West Counties Division One North Playoff Final
We will take
on Holker Old Boys in the playoff final in just three days time. The match will
be played at the Wham Stadium, home of Accrington Stanley. CareIess Whisper it
quietly, but I will be telling my team to go and play with Freedom and it will
be a return home for our man, Gabriel Ellis, who started his career here.
Hopefully our Young Guns will Go For it and win..
Kevin Preston & Marlon Gutzmore
injured
One young gun who sadly won’t be appearing at The Wham Stadium is my star young winger, Kevin Preston, who is ruled out of both the playoff final and First Division Cup Final after tearing his hamstring in the 4-3 win over Chadderton. It will also be a race against time for Marlon Gutzmore as he was taken off with a thigh strain but is out for 2-3 days.
Board & Supporters expect Defeat
They are not
an optimistic bunch in West Yorkshire, but at least if we do lose they were
expecting to.
Match 41: Morley Town v Hollker Old
Boys – North West Counties Division One North Playoff Final!
So here we
go. Just 90 minutes away from promotion to the North West Counties Premier.
Standing in our way is our first opponents at this level, Holker Old Boys who
finished second to champions, Charnock Richard. I make two changes for the
final with Smith replacing Harry Wood and Bett-Wildsmith starting on the right
wing to replace the injured Kevin Preston. Gutzmore has passed a fitness test
and will start on the left wing. Holker have the dangerous Livesey Mason up
front and Josh Lindley a skilful midfielder who will need watching.
Morley Town: Thompson, Cotterill, Wilkinson,
Bentley, Morley, Wright, Henderson, Bett-Wildsmith, Smith, Ellis, Gutzmore
Subs:
McLachlan, Haylock, Clery, James, Wood
Holker Old Boys: Owens, Bjork,
Kamara, Morse, Alasttal, Atkinson, Lisi, Lindley, Culshaw, Davies, Mason
Match Action
Holker kick
off and knock the ball around like Barcelona. We finally get the ball and punt
the ball straight downfield and give it straight back to them. Not a good
start. Then, a nice move by them releases Bobby Bjork from right back, but he
fires wide. Then after we clear a free kick, a stunning long range effort from
Lisi smacks the crossbar, Thompson didn’t move.. Every highlight begins with a
green shirt. We have not even been in their penalty area, just defending
defending defending.. This is starting to annoy me. Another sweeping move from
Holker ends up with Oliver Davies cutting in from the left flank and smacking
the post with a fierce drive.. Another let off. We just cannot get into this
game at all. But.. football is a funny old game. It takes us 25 minutes to even
launch our first attack. Wright releases Ellis down the right channel.. He just
keeps the ball in and plays in the underlapping Bett Wildsmith. The youngster
checks inside before playing a perfect slide rule cross to the onrushing
Gutzmore who sidefoots the ball firmly under the diving goalkeeper and into the
net. Smash and Grab! 1-0 Morley. Holker respond. Lisi has a shot which curls just
wide. Then we win a free kick and Sam Bentley heads just wide. Alasttal throws
the ball in for Holker to Lindley who turns and fires in a low cross for
Mason.. who got between the two Morley defenders to fire home from close
range... 1-1.. Then a blow... Alastall wins a corner and Kamara runs across the
near post and his bullet header flies into the roof of the net... Sucker punch
2-1 Holker.. 2 goals in 2 minutes.. Half time..
Into the
second half and I change to a 4-3-3 with Gutzmore, Smith and Ellis forming a
three pronged attack. This almost pays off when Smith and Ellis combine to
release Gutzmore. His fierce drive is acrobatically stopped by the keeper.
Unlucky. From the resulting corner the ball is cleared to Bett Wildsmith who
unleashes a fierce half volley which is tipped over somehow by the keeper. We
just seem to have run out of steam and the game ticks on and its back to a
green tide... Corner after corner conceded.. This is so frustrating the ball
should be in their half not ours. I throw on Harry Wood for the strangely
ineffectual Ellis. Then from yet another corner, which is drilled in low, their
player is upended as our player tries to clear the ball. Penalty. Sub Degabriele
fires it home- 3-1 to the Old Boys. I hate this stupid game....
We rally and
respond well as Holker sit back. On 90 minutes, sub Lee James skins his full
back before putting in a peach of a cross for Harry Wood to divert home high
into the roof of the net. 3-2 with 5 minutes of stoppage time to play. Suddenly
we have the bit between our teeth and cheered on by the travelling ultras we
attack again. Wright to Smith, to KARLOS BETT-WILDSMITH... Saved by Owens..
That was the chance.. The final whistle blows.. Our promotion dreams are over. The
Morley Town players sit dejectedly on the Wham Stadium pitch as the Holker Old
Boys team celebrate... As the Scottish always say.. “It wasnae ta be.” The
better team won on the day and congratulations to Holker Old Boys.. At least we
won’t have that long trip up to Cumbria next season...
Morley Town sign George Wilkinson
I’ve decided to start doing business early and we have snapped up this promising young defender, who was released by Conference North Spennymoor Town. This will boost numbers at the back which have been a bit sparse of late.
FIRST DIVISION CUP FINAL
Morley Town v Campion
So here we are
our first cup final and strangely we are not at a neutral venue, but enjoy home
advantage at Glen Road. The ground is set to be busier than usual with an
expected attendance of 300 with Campion bringing 100 down the A650 from
Bradford to create a partisan atmosphere. The St John's Ambulance tent and burger
van are being installed.. it must be a big game!
We start as
clear favourites and have never lost to Campion with three wins to us and one
draw in our four meetings.
In the
league Campion finished in 7th and enjoyed a good season. They bring
their annoying inverted Christmas Tree formation but stuff the yew tree, my
inner Mike Bassett says 4-4 flipping 2, so that’s how we will play. George
Wilkinson makes his debut alongside Joe (no relation). Wood partners Ellis up
front. Here goes nothing, let’s salvage something from our season by bringing
home some silverware.
Team: Thompson,
Clery, J.Wilkinson, G.Wilkinson, Morley, Wright, Henderson, Bett-Wildsmith, Ellis,
Wood, Gutzmore
Subs:
McLachlan, Cotteril, Haylock, James, Smith
Campion:
Robinson, Weiss, Harrop, Liversedge, Davidson, Sampson, Winder, Clarke, Day,
Hull, Osadebe
Match Action
We get to
seven minutes and after having little or none of the ball Campion, who are
doing some decent Barcelona impressions score through an Archie Day volley form
the edge of the area. We respond. A fine move down the right sees Bett-Wildsmith
cross form the byeline and Gutzmore’s far post header is well saved. On 13
minutes Thompson punts the ball downfield and their defender misses the header.
Harry Wood latches onto it and sidefoots the ball confidently past Robinson
1-1. We suddenly relax and start to dominate. A fine move down the left involving
Gutzmore and Morley sees the ball arrive at Sam Wright’s feet on the edge of
the area. He dribbles forward before unleashing a low piledriver straight into
the bottom corner. Pick that one out! 2-1 Morley! Campion respond and we once
again cannot get the ball off them. Gutzmore loses the ball in midfield and we
are punished. Day to Osadebe, back to Sampson, who pokes the ball through to
the onrushing Hull who screams the ball into the top corner 2-2. Now we
respond. Wood flashes one just over the bar, then fires just wide after a slick
move involving Henderson and Ellis. It’s end to end. Archie Day forces a good
save from Thompson, while Gutzmore sees his bullet header saved after good work
from Bett-Wildsmith. This is anybody’s game with both teams looking likely to
score with each attack. It’s two each at the break after a pulsating first
half. We start the second half strongly. Gutzmore roars down the left and is
upended. George Wilkinson heads just over from the resulting free kick. Then,
we attack down the right with Karlos Bett-wildsmith whose cross is blocked, but
shows tremendous improvisation to head the ball to Henderson as it rebounds
back to him, who flicks the ball cleverly on into the path of GABRIEL ELLIS..
He rifles the ball home on the half volley to make it Morley 3 Campion 2! For
the first time the game hits a fallow period and we are seemingly in control.
Don’t write off Campion though they can play. A smartly worked move from them
sets Osadebe on his way with only Thompson to beat, but he smacks the post and
it rebounds clear. Could this be our day? I freshen things up by bringing on
Haylock for the tired Sam Wright, who as usual has put in a shift in defensive
midfield. Lee James replaces the impressive Bett-Wildsmith who again looks
heavy legged. We win a corner which is floated in by Nathan Morley, but is
cleared to the edge of the area where Clery knocks it to ELLIS!! The Angel lets
fly with a stinging half volley which booms into the top corner. Glen Road is
delirious as he is mobbed by the Ultras behind the goal.. Surely we can win
this 4-2 Morley! Campion inevitably attack, but Henderson intercepts at the
crucial moment and he sets Harry Wood free down the left flank. He checks
inside and flights the ball to where Ellis is lurking, but his header is
brilliantly saved by Robinson. It’s time for a bit of “Ole” football as the
ultras shout every time we get the ball. There is a party atmosphere as
Henderson who has been brilliant, toys with Campion before releasing Ellis, who
shoots over. What a goal that would have been. Campion are gone. There is only
one team going to win today and it is the home side. The final whistle blows..
Morley Town are the Division One Cup Winners! The fans invade the pitch.
Gabriel “The Angel" Ellis is chaired around the pitch in jubilation. What scenes
here at Glen Road! A brilliant result and performance to end the season on a
high with a trophy.
Final Score: Morley Town 4-2 Campion
Wood 14 Day 7
Wright
21 Hull 25
Ellis 47, 84
Morley Town Given 1.09K Prize Money
It’s hardly
the answer to our financial woes but as the saying goes, “Every Little Helps!”
First Division Cup Stats
Most Goals Scored: Morley Town 18
Top Goalscorer: Gabriel Ellis 7
Final Attendance: 430
Highest Average Rating: Gabriel Ellis 8.35
After the disappointment of losing in the playoff final to Holker Old Boys, Morley Town did manage to win some silverware to end the season on a high. If the best players can stay at the club for next season, surely Morley Town must be favourites to go one better next season... Find out next time how we get on as we prepare for the new season on the Ultimate English Pyramid Game!
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