VIEW
THE
Evostik Division 1 North
SEASON 2015/16
PROGRAMME 21
Main Club Sponsor
MATCH SPONSOR
WITTON ALBION OFFICIAL MATCH PROGRAMME Kick-off 7.45pm Monday 7 March 2016 2015/16 - 80th Anniversary
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4
Harrogate Railway AFC Station View, Harrogate HG2 7JA CLUB OFFICIALS Chairman
NIGEL CORNER Treasurer
CHRIS PARKES Club Secretary
ANN KIRK
Football Secretary
DAVID SHEPHERD
14
Commercial Manager
ALAN SMITH Committee
GARY JOHNSON, SIMON MERCER, ALAN SMITH, BEN DRURY, CHRIS WATT
22
Media/Press Officer
MARK P DOHERTY,
HAL BOXHALL-DOCKREE Clubhouse Manager
GARY JOHNSON
29
FIRST TEAM
33
Manager
LEE ASHFORTH Assistant Managers
SIMON WOOD MARTIN POWELL Director of Football
STEVE GRIME Physio
ALEX FARRELL
@THERAILFC
8 Railway Players
13 Witton Albion
7, 11 Match Reports
35 Witton Players
Who is in the current Railway squad - find out more!
Find out more about Witton Albion’s great history.
Match reports from the Warring- Find out about the Witton Albion ton and New Mills games. players in the current squad.
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HARROGATERAILWAY
3
THERAILFC
LEE’S VIEW Welcome back to Station View
Welcome to Station View
That would not happen at many other clubs, and it makes me proud to be involved with this club and the people around it.
Today we welcome Witton Albion, we hope that they have had a safe journey over and that they enjoy the facilities our great club has to offer.
We are realistic, the Northwich game and the performance we put in took a lot out of the team and then to come against a performance that Warrington produced was a step too far.
We are now in the business end of the season and we are involved in a relegation fight to keep Harrogate Railway FC in this division.
Warrington are the league leaders for a reason, they are the best team with arguably the biggest budget of around £4000 a week, now it wouldn’t be professional of me to tell you what ours is but I assure you £4000 would cover a lot of weeks.
We have at the time of writing these notes 13 games remaining, 9 at home and 4 away and we play matches that we can pick up points from. We played our toughest two tests last weekend and gained a point against Northwich before being on the end of a 7-0 defeat to Warrington.
Now for the odd person out there who says its 11 v 11, yes I agree it is, and thats why in football you get some shock results, but they are few and far between. Thats why we love the game.
For those that were at that game, I want to thank you, not once did I hear anything negative towards my team and they were in fact clapped from the pitch and words of encouragement shouted.
I am learning a lot this season in my first year as a manager, and its taken me a long time to realise things that matter. An example is, what can I now do about the
4
Lee’s View
Chandler Hallwood
defeat, nothing, its gone, so I need to plan for the next game and make sure the players lift themselves and put in a performance that can gain points and that they are capable of.
Darlington and is a fantastic player, scoring two on his debut against New Mills before picking up a slight injury, hopefully he wont miss many games and he will be back in the team.
Thats why I will have planned for the Prescott game and win, lose or draw will have spent Sunday planning for this one, and then onto the next.
Then we saw the return of Robbie Youhill, he’s a club man and a local player and he is another player who can win games for us.
I think earlier in the season I probably spent three or fours days analysing the last game and thinking only negative about where it went wrong.
Hopefully we can get these two linking and with Chris Ovington, Nathan Curtis, Tom Owen and Dan Barrett all fighting it out for games we now have a potent attacking threat and all of them will play there part.
So hopefully we will have got 3 points at Prescott but if we didnt lets get them tonight.
I hope you enjoy the run in and we will be doing everything possible to get ourselves safe and up the table,
We have signed a couple of really good players over the last two weeks, Amar Purwell has come on a 28 day loan from
Enjoy the game
th
r Lee Ashfo
3:00 6:00 6:00 8:30 9:45
Nottingham Forest v West Ham United Manchester United v Arsenal Hearts v Hibernian Real Zaragoza v Real Madrid Udinese v Juventus
npower Championship Barclays Premier League Scottish Premier League Spanish La Liga Serie A
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ust 0:00
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tember 9:30
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mber 8:30 9:30 9:30 9:30 9:45 9:45
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Friday 26th August Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers FIXTURE Braintree FIXTURE Town vTIME Lincoln City 19:45 Fleetwood Town v York City Saturday 27th August 12:00 15:00 v England U21 17:00 19:45 21:00
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Udinese v Juventus
Barclays Premier League npower Championship Barclays Premier League Scottish Premier League Spanish La Liga Serie A
ESPN (12:45-15:45) Sky Sports 1 (13:00-15:00) Sky Sports 1 (15:30-18:30) ESPN (15:45-18:00) Sky Sports 1 (18:30-21:00) ESPN (19:45-21:45)
Monday 29th August 20:00
Barcelona v Villarreal
Spanish La Liga
Sky Sports 3 (19:55-22:00)
Thursday 1st September 19:30
England U21 v Azerbaijan U21
International Football
ESPN (19:00-21:45)
Friday 2nd September 18:30 19:30 19:30 19:30 19:45 19:45
Bulgaria v England Northern Ireland v Serbia Republic Of Ireland v Slovakia Wales v Montenegro Stockport v Luton Town Germany v Austria
Euro 2012 Qualifiers Euro 2012 Qualifiers Euro 2012 Qualifiers Euro 2012 Qualifiers Blue Square Premier Euro 2012 Qualifiers
Sky Sports 1 (18:30-20:30) Sky Sports 4 (19:30-22:00) Sky Sports 3 (19:30-22:00) Sky Sports 2 (19:30-22:00) Setanta Ireland (19:30-22:00 Ireland Only) ESPN (19:30-21:30)
Saturday 3rd September 17:30 19:00
Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers Braintree Town v Lincoln Tel: City
Monday 5th September 19:00
England U21 v Israel U21
International Friendly
ESPN (18:30-21:15)
Tuesday 6th September 19:30 20:00
Denmark v Norway England v Wales
Euro 2012 Qualifiers Euro 2012 Qualifiers
ESPN (19:15-21:15) Setanta Ireland (19:55-22:00 Ireland Only)
Hearts v Hibernian Tel: 01423 525354 521066 Real Zaragoza v Real/Madrid
Relax, Eat, Drink, Enjoy.
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Harrogate Railway 0-7 Warrington Town
League Leading Yellows Show Their Class at Station View Warrington Town showed exactly why they sit 13 points clear at the top of the Evo-Stik NPL D1N last Monday night as they inflicted Harrogate Railway’s heaviest defeat of the season.
Devine threatened again at the other end with an effort on target but it was scorer of the first goal, Kinsella who stole the show in the 57th minute with a sublime volley from outside the box that flew into the top left corner.
Lee Ashforth named the same starting XI that had earned a point at 2nd placed Northwich Victoria two days earlier as Rob Youhill made his first start back at Station View.
With the result far beyond doubt Warrington continued to show their class and added a sixth 15 minutes from time when substitute Steven Gillespie placed a penalty into the bottom right corner after Railway sub Jack Stockdill had been penalised for a trip.
No doubt aware of the upset, Warrington started with a real purpose and took the lead in the third minute when Gerard Kinsella was first to react to Harry Coates’ goal line block and placed the ball high into the goal.
The visitors got their seventh and final goal in the 79th minute when a cross from the right wing was headed back across goal and into the opposite corner by Ciaran Kilheeney.
Nathan Curtis tried to create an equaliser; running at the Warrington defence only to be denied by Alastair Brown before the visitors found a second in the 11th minute.
Youhill continued to fight for the Railway cause, bursting into the box and forcing Metcalfe into some defensive work but, in truth, Warrington were
superior from the outset and fully deserved the three points.
Following a clever advantage from the referee, Alex Metcalfe broke free down the left hand side and arrowed a left footed strike across Chandler Hallwood and into the bottom corner. Daniel Devine had shown promising signs going forward for Ashforth’s men, but it was Warrington who struck next when the pacy Joseph Holt shot from the right side of the area and beat Hallwood via the post. Just as they did in the first 45, Warrington got on the scoresheet almost immediately in the second half when Metcalfe’s free kick cannoned back off the post into the six yard box and was scrambled in by Ben Deegan.
7
The Harrogate Railway Team
Lee Ashforth
John Fletcher
Charlie Clamp
Vincent Dhesi
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Angela & Dennis Wise
Lawrance Hunter
Jack Stockdill
Terry Sharrocks
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New Mills 0-3 Harrogate Railway
Debutant Purewal Fires Railway to First Win in Eleven An Amar Purewal brace and Chris Ovington goal helped Harrogate Railway to their first win in 11 games as they overcame New Mills 3-0 at Church Lane.
act and came agonisingly close when the former Ossett Town man shot inches wide on two occasions before the break.
Railway signalled their intentions from the word go when, in the first few seconds, Ovington raced into a one-on-one position but was quickly closed down by Oliver Martin.
Ovington then put the result out of sight on the stroke of half time when Curtis had delivered another accurate cross, this time low from the left wing that Ovington slid in to meet at the far post and register his first Railway goal.
Debutant Purewal didn’t waste any time finding the score-sheet for his new club; converting from close range after 18 minutes thanks to Nathan Curtis’ dash to the right by-line and driven cross.
Railway’s man of the half was undoubtedly Purewal, but the striker had to be replaced four minutes after the restart after feeling a twinge when bearing down on goal from Dan Thirkell’s through ball.
With just under ten minutes until the half time whistle, Railway were awarded a penalty when, after a neat flick from Purewal, Ovington made a trademark burst into the box before being brought down.
Railway then responded well to some second half New Mills pressure; being denied by some excellent goalkeeping as Martin managed to divert Tom Owen’s shot/cross away from goal and save Curtis’ follow up strike.
With the confidence of his opening goal, Purewal took responsibility for the kick and placed his shot into the bottom right corner.
Charlie Clamp had another impressive game for Harrogate, and almost rounded off the evening with an outstanding goal in stoppage time as the midfielder evaded two defenders with his first touch but shot into the side netting.
Curtis was desperate to get in on the goal scoring
11
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12
WHO ARE WITTON ALBION? Formation and Grounds In the 1880’s the district of Witton, situated in the mid-Cheshire salt town of Northwich, had several different teams using the name ‘Witton’ as a prefix. The name Witton Albion itself can be traced back to a match played on October 26th 1887. No record of any matches has been found for 1889 and as such 1890 had long been regarded as the year when the current club was actually formed. Albion’s first ground was adjacent to the Parish Church Vicarage. In 1897 they moved to Magdala Place near the Station Bridge. 1910 saw them move, paying the princely sum of £15 per annum, to a new ground adjacent to the Victoria Saw Mills just off Witton Street. July 1920 saw the club buy the ground outright for £750. Renamed appropriately the Central Ground, this was to be their home until 1989, when a Sainsbury’s Supermarket was developed on the site. The club then bought a 14 acre site off Chapel Street, Wincham and had the then very impressive Wincham Park stadium built. Leagues and Honours Witton Albion entered the Northwich & District League in 1892 before quickly moving to the Crewe & District Junior League and then to the Cheshire League where their first ever championship was secured in 1896/97. 1901/02 saw Witton spreading their wings as they joined The Combination where the opposition consisted of the likes of Bangor, Burslem Port Vale, Chester, Tranmere Rovers, Wellington (now Telford) and Wrexham. A move to the Manchester League was made for 1904/05 where they played Altrincham, Macclesfield, Hyde, Buxton and Northwich Victoria on a regular basis. As leagues became stronger and stronger Witton decided to join the Lancashire Combination in 1912 and the decision was rewarded the following season when they carried off the 2nd Division championship. Unfortunately, with the outbreak of World War One, Albion only had one season in the top flight, finishing a respectable 10th. Following the war Witton Albion became one of the founder members of the Cheshire County League. It was not though until after the Second World War that championship honours were
achieved. The following ten years saw them arguably become one of the best non-league sides in the country. They won the league three times with the league and cup double attained in 1953/54. They were also League and Cup runners-up during this period as well as a long spell of consecutive appearances in the Proper Rounds of the F.A. Cup. Witton were denied founder membership of the Northern Premier League due to the entry qualification relating to the season two prior to the formation and so had to battle on before eventually gaining promotion, when finishing Cheshire County League runners-up in 1978/79. They almost won the NPL at the first attempt but were pipped by Mossley by just one point. The second season after moving to Wincham Park saw them as runaway champions with a sixteen point margin over Stalybridge Celtic. Season 1991/92 therefore saw them compete with the cream of the non-league world in the Football Conference. Cheltenham Town, Colchester United, Dagenham & Redbridge, Macclesfield Town, Wycombe Wanderers and Yeovil Town, future Football League clubs, were amongst their opponents in the three year spell as members. The end of the 1993/94 season saw the club relegated, for the first time in their history. With the club’s much publicised financial problems the end of the 1996/97 season brought a further relegation to the NPL First Division. Finding eventual stability the club finished comfortably in the top half in the succeeding seasons. In 1999/2000 Witton were only denied promotion on goal difference when they finished level on points with both Accrington Stanley and Burscough, along the way only suffering four defeats! A 5th place finish in 2003/04 ultimately, under the re-construction of the non-league pyramid, earned Albion a place back in the NPL Premier Division. 2007 saw the tightest ever finish in the NPL’s 39 year history with Albion missing automatic promotion by just one goal and then losing to AFC Telford in the play-off final in front of a Wincham Park crowd of 2,281. Albion suffered a similar fate the following season, with the title seemingly won, a tremendous run from Fleetwood dashed hopes of automatic promoContinued Page 17
2015/16 EVO-STIK LEAGUE ONE NORTH FIXTURES
2015
2016
August
Sat 15 Tue 18 Sat 22 Mon 24 Sat 29
1-1 1-1 3-1 0-6 0-0
D D L L D
Droylsden Spennymoor Town Brighouse Town Scarborough Athletic Spennymoor Town
H A A H H
2-0 4-1 2-0 6-0 3-2 2-1 2-4
L W W L L L L
Spennymoor Town Radcliffe Borough Mossley Trafford Burscough Ossett Albion Glossop North End
A H H A A A H
EMIRATES FA CUP REPLAY
1-0 4-1 6-3 0-1 2-2 1-1 3-0
L W L L D D L
Mossley Glasshoughton Welfare Warrington Town Northwich Victoria Scarborough Athletic Brighouse Town Clitheroe
A H A H A H A
FA TROPHY PRELIM WRCC EMIRATES FA CUP 3Q
2-3 W 2-3 L 1-3 L Postponed Abandoned
Droylsden Stocksbridge Park Steels Kendal Town New Mills Ossett Town
A H H A H
EMIRATES FA CUP 1 INTEGRO LEAGUE CUP 1
Postponed Postponed 1-3 L Postponed Postponed
Kendal Town Trafford Ossett Albion Farsley Celtic Clitheroe
A H H A H
5-0 L 1-0 L 3-1 L 0-0 D Postponed
Witton Albion Lancaster City Farsley Celtic Radcliffe Borough Burscough
A A A A H
5-0 L Postponed 5-1 L 0-4 L 1-2 L 0-3 W 1-1 D 0-7 L
Bamber Bridge Warrington Town Glossop North End Spennymoor Town Bamber Bridge New Mills Northwich Victoria Warrington Town
A H A H H A A H
Sat 5 Mon 7 Sat 12 Sat 19 Mon 21 Sat 26 Mon 28
Prescot Cables Witton Albion Lancaster City Clitheroe Burscough Mossley Farsley Celtic
A H H H H A H
Sat 2 Mon 4 Sat 9 Sat 16 Mon 18 Sat 23
Ossett Town Prescot Cables New Mills Trafford Ossett Town Kendal Town
A H H H H H
September
Tue 1 Sat 5 Mon 7 Sat 12 Sat 19 Sat 26 Mon 28
October
Sat 3 Mon 5 Sat 10 Sat 17 Tue 20 Sat 24 Sat 31
November
Sat 7 Mon 9 Sat 14 Sat 21 Sat 28
December
Sat 5 Sat 12 Sat 19 Sat 26 Mon 28
January
Sat 2 Sat 9 Tue 19 Sat 23 Sat 30
February
Tue 2 Sat 6 Sat 13 Mon 15 Sat 20 Tue 23 Sat 27 Mon 29
March
April
May
Sat 21 Sun 22
EMIRATES FA CUP PRELIM
EMIRATES FA CUP 4Q
EMIRATES FA CUP FINAL FA TROPHY FINAL
HW
HD
HL
AW
AD
AL
W
D
L
F
A
Diff
Pts
Adj
31
14
2
1
11
2
1
25
4
2
85
24
61
79
0
Northwich Victoria
28
11
2
1
10
1
3
21
3
4
72
26
46
66
0
Spennymoor Town
29
8
4
2
9
5
1
17
9
3
69
23
46
60
0
Glossop North End
30
11
3
2
5
5
4
16
8
6
55
27
28
56
0
Burscough
29
10
1
5
6
2
5
16
3
10
47
32
15
51
0
Ossett Albion
32
8
2
5
8
1
8
16
3
13
41
40
1
51
0
Mossley
30
9
2
4
5
3
7
14
5
11
56
44
12
47
0
Clitheroe
28
8
0
5
7
2
6
15
2
11
66
58
8
47
0
Farsley Celtic
30
9
2
5
4
5
5
13
7
10
56
31
25
46
0
Lancaster City
32
7
5
4
4
8
4
11
13
8
50
47
3
46
0
Trafford
31
8
3
5
5
3
7
13
6
12
54
38
16
45
0
Brighouse Town
29
8
3
4
4
4
6
12
7
10
50
44
6
43
0
Bamber Bridge
27
5
6
2
6
3
5
11
9
7
51
33
18
42
0
Witton Albion
29
5
3
6
7
1
7
12
4
13
59
50
9
40
0
Prescot Cables
28
6
3
6
5
1
7
11
4
13
49
61
-12
37
0
Kendal Town
28
4
3
6
5
4
6
9
7
12
39
53
-14
34
0
Scarborough Athletic
30
4
3
10
3
2
8
7
5
18
30
49
-19
26
0
Droylsden
29
4
2
7
3
3
10
7
5
17
48
94
-46
26
0
Radcliffe Borough
29
2
4
6
5
0
12
7
4
18
31
50
-19
25
0
Ossett Town
28
2
5
9
3
0
9
5
5
18
29
76
-47
20
0
Harrogate Railway Athletic
29
2
2
8
2
4
11
4
6
19
32
81
-49
18
0
New Mills
28
0
0
14
0
1
13
0
1
27
17
105
-88
1
0
THIS WEEK...
EVO-STIK LEAGUE ONE NORTH
Pd Warrington Town
TUESDAY
Monday 7 March 2016
19:45 Harrogate Railway Athletic v Witton Albion
Tuesday 8 March 2016
19:45 Bamber Bridge v Brighouse Town 19:45 Burscough v Clitheroe 19:45 Droylsden v Warrington Town 19:45 Kendal Town v Prescot Cables 19:45 Spennymoor Town v New Mills
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tion before Witton this time lost at the play-off semi-final stage. After finishing runners-up for two consecutive seasons in the Premier Division, the failure to secure promotion saw a mass exodus of management and players from the club with all but two squad players departing, only stalwart Brian Pritchard and the popular striker (and Manchester United & England masseuse) Rod Thornley remaining! Nigel Deeley, previously the popular assistant, was the unanimous choice as the new Manager with the task of rebuilding the playing squad. After 7 points from an opening 9 the Manager’s fortunes changed and after a run of nine consecutive defeats the Board decided to appoint former manager Gary Finley in his place. Finley and assistant Lee Coathup (a member of the Wembley FA Trophy squad in 1992) looked to have steered Albion away from relegation, however only 3 points from the final 8 games saw Witton slump to 3rd from bottom that relegated them to the NPL Division 1 South. The 2009/10 season saw Witton travel more than 3,000 miles in a mixed league campaign. Ever present in the top half of the table Witton touched the summit and appeared to be putting together a side capable of returning at the first time of asking to the Premier Division. Lack of consistency, injuries (including a bad leg break to striking hero Mike Moseley) and a high turnover of players ultimately lead to the club missing out on the play-offs by six points and finishing 7th in the league. Manager Gary Finley departed on the final day of the season. In May 2010 Witton appointed the experienced Paul Ogden as Manager. With more than 40 years management experience his appointment was part of an overall restructure of the club’s football activities by Chairman Mark Harris and the Board. Former fan’s favourite Dave MacPherson returned to the club as Assistant Player/Manager, moving up later in the season when Paul Ogden relinquished his role, whilst Brian Pritchard stepped up to the position of Assistant Player/Manager following a record breaking previous season where he increased his number of games for the club to well over the 700 mark! At the end of the 2010/11 season and with Dave
MacPherson’s departed, Brian Pritchard was appointed Manager with Mike Moseley his Assistant and Nigel Deeley was added onto the coaching team. These full members saw their just rewards along with the rest of the “Witton Family” when their charges won both their Play Off semi and final 3-0 to earn their place back in the NPL Premier Division for season 2012/13. With virtually the same squad the following season saw the team achieve a marvellous 4th position only to be beaten at FC United of Manchester in the Play-Off semi-final. 2013/14 however saw a very different scenario as the team skirted around the relegation positions for a good while until early March when a good set of results saw them eventually finish in 16th spot. On the 2014 August Bank Holiday, Manager Brian Pritchard made the shock announcement that he was leaving the club after a total of 19 years with Witton. A massive decision for him but with his work commitments, together with his personal life to consider, then the club very reluctantly accepted his resignation. Anthony Sheehan stepped up from his role of Player Coach to manage the club and initially results went his way but a disastrous run of defeats saw him leave. Tony Sullivan was brought in from Cammell Laird at the beginning of October charged with ensuring Premier Division status was maintained. It took over four months to finally establish a run of good results and by the end of March the team were finally out of the drop zone. April though brought just a single point from six matches the final one being at Stamford when 2-0 up at half-time against fellow relegation candidate an awful second period consigned the team to the First Division. Tony Sullivan duly stepped away but the club were able to take advantage of NPL First Division South Norton United’s sad demise to recruit their manager Scott Dundas along with almost his total backroom staff and a sizable contingent of players. However just two months into the campaign and following a poor set of results Dundas and his staff were relieved of their duties leaving Paul Ogden to step in once more along with stalwart Terry Murphy to take temporary charge of team affairs prior to the appointment of former player Carl Macauley who along with his assistant Gary Martindale were the management team at Conference North Vauxhall Motors until the club’s resignation.
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WITTON ALBION PLAYER PROFILES
CARL MACAULEY – MANAGER, Liverpool born on 29/10/70 who returned in mid-October to the club where he was one of our key players in seasons 1994-96 making 90 appearances and winning the then prestigious Cheshire Senior Cup in both seasons. He then went on to play for Lancaster City, Telford United, Barrow, Southport, Burscough and then Vauxhall Motors in 2005. Appointed the Motormen’s Player-Manager within his initial five year spell he then left for a brief period to work within Liverpool’s Academy. He then returned as Manager at Vauxhall Motors in November 2011. Upon their demise he briefly went to Chester FC as assistant before taking over the reins at Marine in May 2014. Carl also features highly within the Liverpool FC Foundation coaching set-up.
clubs including Rhyl, Runcorn and Altrincham as well as spells at Witton including helping during the recent management upheaval. DANNY ANDREWS – ATTACKING RIGHT SIDED WING BACK born in Chester on 14/10/86 who joined us at the start of the 2011-12 season from Cammell Laird. THEO CHRISOKHOU – DEFENDER born in Ormskirk on 9/5/97 who joined us towards the end of last season. JON DAWSON – AN ATTACKING MIDFIELDER born 14/9/91 in Warrington who joined us for the 2013/14 season having previously plied his trade to good effect in the Cheshire League.
THE KEY WORKS
GARY MARTINDALE – ASSISTANT MANAGER, born in Liverpool on 24/6/71 ANTHONY GARDNER – RIGHT WING KEY who began his football with Burscough. He BACK born in Birkenhead on 26/2/91 who CUTTING then joined Bolton Wanderers before makjoined us in early January 2011 from his SERVICE ing 159 appearances and scoring 42 goals local team Cammell Laird. Queens Head Inn whilst with Peterborough United, Notts LOCKS ETC. Kettlesing North Yorkshire County, Mansfield Town and Rotherham DOMINIC GARNER – GOALKEEPER HG3 2LB 01423 527921 Tel: 01423 770263 United, before returning to non-League born in Liverpool on 13/11/96 who whilst THEthe KEY LiverWORKS with Telford United, Burscough and on Bootle’s books was called into (HARROGATE) LTD Vauxhall Motors. In May 2003 Burscough pool Representative Under 18s Squad. 4 COMMERCIAL STREET SUPPORT THE BUSINESSES reached the final of the FA Trophy against HARROGATE HG1 1TY SUPPORTING YOUR CLUB 01423 527921 Tamworth. Having started the competition as 400–1 outsiders they pulled off a shock 2–1 win, with Gary scoring both their goals. Appointed Player-Manager of Formby in 2010 he later took on a coaching role with Prescot Cables before becoming number two at Vauxhall Motors in June 2011. He RESTAURANT & WINE BAR then assisted Carl at Marine last season. RESTAURANT & WINE BAR 6 Cold Bath Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG2 0NA The Queens Head at Kettlesing is a traditional stone built Yorkshire pub. Good Quality, Good Value, Real Ales With a Friendly Atmosphere.
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WITTON ALBION PLAYER PROFILES
ROB HOPLEY – STRIKER born in Crewe on 2/1/85 who was a youth player at Macclesfield Town. DARRHYL MASON – FORWARD born in Manchester on 3/8/94 joined from New Mills. JAY MATTHEWS – FORWARD, born on 17/6/95 who initially this season joined our Development Squad. RYAN NEILD – GOALKEEPER born in Warrington on 26/9/95 who after making seven appearances for North West Counties outfit AFC Liverpool, signed for Witton in mid-November.
TOM OWENS – MIDFIELD PLAYER LIVERPOOL born on 20/9/94 Tom joined from Marine. JAKE PARKER – MIDFIELDER born in Manchester on 3/11/94, previously with Droylsden he was signed initially in mid-February 2015 and re-signed in mid-December. KYLE PARLE – DEFENDER born 24/2/95 in Hounslow, London who was on his home town Wrexham’s books in 2012 where he got to make two first team appearances. TOM SCHOFIELD – MIDFIELDER born 24/11/90 in Wythenshawe who back in 2011 we snapped up from Cheshire League club Knutsford.
JOE NEWTON - WARRINGTON born on 17/9/95 Joe is a Youth loan signing until the end of the season from Wrexham FC.
ALEX TITCHINER – STRIKER born in St Asaph on 13/6/91 who was initially loaned to us in January 2011 by Colwyn Bay.
CHRIS NOONE – MIDFIELDER born in Liverpool on 25/10/84 who has previously been with manager Carl Macauley at Vauxhall Motors and was signed from Colwyn Bay in mid-February.
MICHAEL WILSON – DEFENDER born in Liverpool 24/1/95 who spent six months of the 2014-15 season at Colwyn Bay having joined the club in January 2015 on loan.
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Returning Rob Youhill Sees Squad Similarities Rob Youhill is a firm favourite at Station View, and Harrogate Railway supporters were delighted when the winger recently decided to return to the club to help secure their Evo-Stik status. The 29-year-old was an integral part of last season’s record breaking 8th place finish, to the extent that Youhill earned a Summer move to Darlington 1883; following in the footsteps of Nathan Cartman. Injury in pre-season prevented the attacker’s Quakers career ever taking off however, and Youhill reflects on why he sought a move back to his local club, albeit via a spell at Shaw Lane Aquaforce. Youhill explained: “A few things made me want to come back really, a little bit of distance, trying to find the right chemistry and just wanting to go back to enjoying my football. “My mind might have come off the game a little bit travelling so far and Railway are obviously in a bit of a relegation fight so I thought I’d come back and see if I could help out. “It was class making my return against Northwich, I really enjoyed it! If we can continue going like that I think we’ll be able to get somewhere.” Since returning to the club in February, Youhill has seen similarities between Railway’s current crop of players and the highly successful 2014/15 group. He added: “We still have that same ethos
of people wanting to play for not a great deal of money but wanting to work hard for each other. “Having the likes of Matt Heath and Cartman for half a season helped the others out a little bit, but I think we have got a good thing going this year and we still have 13 games to go. “A big part that comes from Dan Thirkell, but Lee Ashforth and Simon Wood have really impressed me too.
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“It’s a young team so the positivity that gets put through every comment from the coaching staff is class, because that’s what these young lads need. “They don’t need someone ripping into them, they need positivity all the time and that stems down from above.” It is fair to say Youhill has been impressed with Harrogate Railway’s newly assembled young squad and always had confidence in Ashforth to bring the right type of players in. The winger had some words of encouragement for his young teammates and special praise for Bradford City loanee Luca Mellor who had been operating at right back behind Youhill. He said: “I knew straight away that Ash would bring people in that want to play football and that want to work hard. “The lads here are young, enthusiastic, willing to graft and willing to die for the cause. “Mellor just grew into the game against Northwich, he had a go at the left back and it didn’t quite work out the first time, then after a few times attempting it he bulldozed through him. “That youthful grit and determination means the players are not scared of anything because they don’t know any better, it’s really encouraging.” Youhill will be hoping his youthful teammates can show that same passion today against Witton Albion that they did against 2nd placed Northwich and edge closer to Evo-Stik survival.
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“I knew straight away that Ash
would bring people in that want to play football...
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Points From the Past WHILST I was looking for something not in the least bit connected with football I came across an old programme from March 1984, some 32 years ago.
Selby were always game and it wasn’t until the final minutes that we finally tied it all up with a truly magnificent goal from Tony Canham. Our two other goals were very good as well and we were pleased with our defence who back to a clean sheet again.
We were in the Northern Counties East Division 2 North (what a mouthful) and not doing too badly under the auspices of manager Freddie Cliff. We were about to take on Pilkington Recs here at Station View. I wonder if they are still in existence. Let’s have a look at who were involved here at the Rail’. Our chairman was Denis Bentley, the clubs general secretary was John Render and the football secretary was Alan Potter. In charge of the first team was the aforementioned Freddie Cliff, he was assisted by John O’Byrne, and Derek Kempster was looking after the reserves. Dave Whitehead was the club physio and our treasurer was Jim Robinson. Jim had a history of bailing the club out of dire straits on more than one occasion. The previous game had been a hardfought 3-0 win away against Selby Town. Here’s Freddie Cliff’s review as printed in the programme: “After last week’s match I can certainly feel a little easier. We took a bit of a gamble and shook the team up after a few lack-lustre performances and were rewarded with a good all-round show.
Bobby Sadler had a good game, as did Tony Roe until he tired, but the return of Neil Parker made a tremendous difference. As we enter the final straight things are really hotting up and all the lads have the bit between their teeth. Everybody is confident we can come out on top.” Amongst the other players in the squad were goalkeeper Malcolm Roffe, defenders Martin Tetley, Paul Render, and Mick Edwards and forwards Cliff Spurr and Davie Whyte. The victory at Selby put us within three points of league leaders Armthorpe Welfare with a game in hand. Armthorpe were due here the following week and an exciting tussle was anticipated. The three goals at Flaxley Road also put us back into the division’s top scorers position with 43 goals. Incidentally, the referee for the Pilkington match was a regular visitor to Station View, Karl Zanft from Shipley, assisted by Messrs Smith and Horsfall from Pudsey. Hopefully they all came through in the same car!
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Half Time Quiz A FEW FOOTBALL QUESTIONS TO WHILE AWAY THE INTERVAL 1. In which Scottish city is St Johnstone based? 2. Who became the first World Footballer of the Year in 1991? 3. Which current Premier League club was formed in 1887 as Ardwick FC? 4. Which English footballer won a European Champions League medal in 2001 playing for Bayern Munich? 5. Why was Matthew Simmons in the news in 1995? 6. From which club did Liverpool sign Kenny Dalglish in 1977? 7. Which was the first Dutch club to win the European Cup? 8. With which club was Alan Ball when he played for England in the 1966 World Cup? 9. Which was the only club that Michel Platini played for outside France? 10. What was the name of the ground where Wimbledon played their home games between 1899 and 1991? Answers - Bottom Page 34
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Answers: : 1 Perth. 2 Lothar Matthaus. 3 Manchester City. 4 Owen Hargreaves. 5 He was on the end of Eric Cantona’s kung-fu kick at Selhurst Park. 6 Celtic. 7 Feyenoord. 8 Blackpool. 9 Juventus. 10 Plough Lane.
Harrogate Railway
Witton Albion
Match
01 Chandler HALLWOOD 02 Luca MELLOR 03 Matthew LOVEGREEN 04 Alex LOW 05 Harry COATES 06 Dan THIRKELL 07 Daniel DEVINE 08 Charlie CLAMP 09 Rob YOUHILL 10 Chris OVINGTON 11 Nathan CURTIS
01 Andy FIRTH 02 Anthony GARDENER 03 Jon DAWSON 04 Michael WILSON 05 Ryan ELLISON 06 Billy REEVES 07 Michael BREWSTER 08 Tom SCHOFIELD 09 Rob HOPLEY 10 Jay MATTHEWS 11 Danny ANDREWS
Referee James Price
12 Dan BARRETT 14 Ryan SHARROCKS 15 Tom OWEN 16 Simon PARKES 17 Jack STOCKDILL
12 Jake PARKER 14 Craig RODDAN 15 Kyle PARLE 16 Darrhyl MASON 17 Dominic GARNER
Manager Lee ASHFORTH
Manager Carl MACAULEY
officials
Assistants Martin Saville Joseph Phillips Assessor George Pye
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