Matchday Programme: Issue 1 Kevin Bolam's notes

Well it all begins again tonight, and what better way to start the season than under the lights in the FA Cup? We would like to wish a very warm welcome to all players and staff of Hemsworth Miners Welfare FC for the game tonight. I believe it’s the very first meeting between our two clubs and we hope it will be an enjoyable one.

It has been a very strange time for everyone since Covid-19 took a stranglehold on the country in March. People have lost loved ones during what has been a very testing time so we would also like to take time to reflect on those close to us. Myself, Mick and all the staff and players send our condolences to those people who have unfortunately lost loved ones. We would also like to take time to thank the NHS and all front line workers for their fantastic efforts during the peak times of the pandemic, you have been our heroes throughout all of this.

Back to football and we welcome Hemsworth to Hebburn tonight for what should be a cracking FA Cup tie. For once we come out of the hat with a home tie. It doesn’t happen often for us in cup competitions! Our opponents have had a very successful

preseason and have taken scalps from teams higher up the pyramid, most notably Ossett United, so we know we will have to be at our best tonight to come through the tie.

Onto ourselves and firstly I would like to wish a warm welcome to our new signings Amar Purewal who joins us from West Auckland, Damen Mullen who joins from Blyth Spartans, Luke Salmon who joins us from Whitley Bay, and Andrew Coulson who will provide back-up to Mark Foden in goal after joining from Esh Winning. All the lads have settled into the group really well and I have no doubt they will all contribute to strengthening our squad for the season ahead.

We have also enjoyed a very positive preseason which started out with a draw against NPL side Morpeth Town FC. We were leading the game 2-1 but when we couldn’t see it out after being reduced to 10 men. We conceded an equaliser and played out a very entertaining 2-2 draw.

We followed that up with a good 4-2 victory over West Allotment Celtic who would now be in our league had it not been for Covid-19. We then produced a brilliant display against our local rivals South Shields, winning

1-0 against a side who should now be in the National League North had the pandemic not put an end to their promotion-chasing campaign. We actually played against two XIs that night which made the result a little more rewarding.

We then played another local Derby against Jarrow FC and another very good performance saw us come through with a 4-1 victory. We finished our preseason with another win, this time against National League North Side, Blyth Spartans, where we ran out 3-0 winners. I am not naive enough to know that nothing is won in preseason but what we have done is prepared the right way against high-quality opposition.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our preseason opponents all the best for their respective campaigns as well as wishing everyone good health during these tough times.

Let’s hope both teams put on a great game tonight. Enjoy the game,

Kevin Bolam