From Staveley to Inter to England

Staveley u19 4-3 Sheffield FC

Monday 21st November

The week started off with some Monday night football in the shape of Staveley Miners Welfare under 19s taking on their counterparts from Sheffield FC in the Baris North Midlands under 19 league first division. 

Having heard some very impressive reports about the new look Inkersall Road (Staveley's home ground) I was very much looking forward to seeing progress that the club has made and seeing if the ground is as good as everybody says its is. I can now report that the stadium is every bit as impressive as i was told. Its been a good couple of years since i took in a match here and the place has totally changed.

The main thing you notice is the new clubhouse which is one of the best i have ever been in. There are three large screens that were showing the build up to the Spurs v Aston Villa match. The walls are covered with framed football memorabilia with the diamond in the crown being framed and signed shirts from most of the England 1966 world cup winning squad.  All of the tables have the club crest on them The food hut was open and was doing a roaring trade. Quite a few clubs only partly open up facilities for under 19 matches but Staveley open the full lot. And they were rewarded with a very impressive crowd which was around the 100 mark. Sheffield brought a good number with them but plenty of locals had turned out as well. It was £2 to get in with an excellent 16 page programme selling at 50p. Before kickoff Staveley were unbeaten and top of the division the visitors were sat in midtable.

Although Sheffield started the better as soon as Staveley got into their stride they simply blew them away. They were 3 up at the break and it so easily could have been more had the ref spotted a cast iron penalty claim when Staveley's number 9 was pulled back in the box. He did give the hosts a penalty for another offence but it didn't look as blatant as the one he didn't give.

To their credit Sheffield did make a game of it in the second half. They pulled a goal back just after the restart then scored a penalty of their own to set up an interesting finish. Staveley's philosophy on the game is simple. You score three goals, we will score four. They were award a second penalty which they converted to put the game to bed. Sheffield scored deep into injury time when they scrambled the ball in following a corner.

Staveley are a club on the up. Yes they have spent a fair bit of money but the are spending it in the right places and building the club up at all levels and not just the first team. I wish them all the best.

Tuesday 22nd November

                   

It hasn't been a great season so far for Inter Milan. Defeat in the Italian Super cup (Italy's answer to the community shield) was followed by a terrible start to the season and the exit of coach Gian Piero after only three months at the club. Former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri has been given the task of steadying the ship Although results have picked up, the club still sits in the bottom half of the league, although we do have a game in hand on the leading clubs.
So against this backdrop i was very pleased to see the club not only qualify for the last 16 of the Champions league this week but also be confirmed as group winners with a game to spare. This achievement is even more impressive when you take into the account the fact that they lost the first game of the group stage; a 0-1 home defeat to Turkeys Trabzonspor. Winning the group means that Inter will avoid the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich in the last 16. It does however mean there is a good chance that Inter could face English opposition in the last 16 as it looks very doubtful that Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City will win their groups. However given the results of those three clubs in Europe this year Inter shouldn't have anything to fear if they do indeed lock horns. It also looks like AC Milan will not win their group and could well face one of the big guns. Ha.

Wednesday 23rd November

Women's European championship qualifier

England 2-0 Serbia

Not only was this my first professional women's match but it was also my first international match. The venue was the Keepmoat stadium, home of championship whipping boys Doncaster Rovers. Admission was just £5 a bargain in anybody's books i am sure you will agree.

The traffic between Retford and the hole that is Doncaster has been very heavy as of late so we set off in good time to make sure we got to the stadium in time and enough time to collect our pre booked match tickets.
The traffic had been quite kind to us and we got to Doncaster quite early. As we walked over to the ground the Serbian team bus was just pulling up next to the players entrance. After picking up the tickets we had a stroll around the ground and were disappointed to find out that all the bars were shut. Worse still no beer was to be served inside the ground due to the UEFA regulations. As we walked round to the turnstiles the England bus pulled in and we watched the players get off. All the girls had to unload and carry their own bags into the stadium. I can't see the likes of Gerrard and co doing this. With nothing else to do we entered the ground with just over an hour to go till kick off.

Programmes were on sale inside the ground for £3 and we were the first people to purchase one. The food and drink was the normal rip off prices so we didn't bother. £2 for a cup of tea is really taking the piss. Food prices is something i certainly don't miss about the football league.
England were out for there warm up a good ten minutes or so before their visitors and you didn't need to know much about football workout which side were the more professional. England went through very well thought out and testing series of drills and exercises while Serbia just seemed to do a bit of running and a few passing moves. The two sides had drawn 2-2 in Serbia earlier in the campaign when England threw away a two goal lead. So far in the group England had drawn two and won one match and were two points behind the group leaders Holland.

Lincoln Ladies Fc were very well represented tonight. Casey Stoner had the honour of captaining the England side while Jess Clarke started in midfield. Serbia came out playing one up front and looked as if they had come for a point. As you would expect England made all the running in the first half and took the lead when Clarke finished well from just inside the box in the 41st minute.

Clarke turned provider in the 51st minute when she crossed for Arsenal's Ellen White who finished from close range to double England's lead and kill the game as a contest. Although England were camped in the Serbian half for much of the game they couldn't add to their two goal lead.

All in all thoroughly enjoyed watching this game. The standard of the England players was high and thoroughly deserved the victory. All the girls played well but I thought that Jill Scott of Everton should have got the player of the match award as she did all the donkey work in midfield and was unlucky not to grab a goal. England don't play another qualifier till June but if its not too far to travel i would defiantly go and watch them again. Who said International football isn't value for money?