the onion bag Craig Dobson’s take on the last seven days in the Allotment garden
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HIS season, the green and white hoops of West Allotment have triumphed over a rainbow of Division Two teams. We briefly halted the red machine of Seaham Red Star, put down Birtley Town’s greenhorns, inflicted the blues upon Willington and shaded it against Thornaby. Only two hues have prevented us from dominating the footballing spectrum; violet, its imperial splendour apparenty lost on the league, and yellow. We haven’t forgotten the 5-0 demolition of Norton & Stockton - how could we? but a quick consultation of the colour charts suggests that the Ancients play in a subtle shade of amber. Less sunshine, more sunset. The winless streak could be forgiven if the opposition resembled their Brazilian counterparts in more ways than one, but comparisons stopped at shirt colour. Esh Winning certainly didn’t require any samba skills at Whitley Park, a hapless header from our own centre-half gifting them a point. A long-distance trip to Whitehaven - the Rio de Janiero of Cumbria, don’t you know - ended in a deserved 3-1 win for the western hosts.
A little closer to home, Chesterle-Street ground out a goalless draw, and frustrated Allotment once more in our own back garden. Into 2014, the League Cup game at Marske was no trip to the seaside, their yellow having too much in the second half for our away day red.Yellow is, for want of a better term, our bogey colour. Thankfully, the largely incidental hoodoo was lifted at Blue Flames on Saturday afternoon. Whitehaven have historically proven to be stubborn and capable opposition both home and away, So it proved on the day, as Haven thrice came within seconds of opening the scoring, only for shotstopping extraordinaire Ryan Beal to deny them at every turn. In the second half, it was a different story. as Allotment came out with a little more colour in their cheeks. Rob Nolan’s first ever Celtic goal followed by the third of David Henderson’s entire Allotment career - finally ended our blues against the yellows. Tonight’s opponents have been off the Northern League spectrum, but are angling for back to back promotion, ending their twenty-seven year spell in the Alliance. Unlike
their home kit, the situation regarding the Stan’s ground requirements have hardly been black and white, but the club have made every effort to get the floodlights and extra seating in place. Fair play to them. It’s great to see another Tyneside team in the division, and is arguably more entertaining for both sets of fans than an away trip down to County Durham on a gray midweek evening. Both sides would have been watching closely at two of the other promotion frontrunners last night. The Roofers and the Star relied upon late goals to snatch a draw and a win respectively, both within minutes of dropping valuable points. As things get tighter at the top and teams start to tail off a little, games like this become vital. We both still have to meet Shields and Roofing once more in April, but a victory here could sustain or kickstart the promotion push for either side, depending on which way it goes. Allotment have, by their own admission, been winning ugly, but we have played our most attractive football against the best sides. We hope - and expect - to see Celtic’s true colours tonight.
goal of the week
man of the week
Henderson’s game clincher was the result of some decent, direct build-up play, with Hudson supplying the right pass at the right pace.
Nolan did well on his first start, but it has to go to Beal. The ‘keeper single-handedly kept Celtic in the game with three top-drawer saves.
West Allotment Celtic v Heaton Stannington
the onion bag
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