Central Midlands Alliance Roundup for December 30th

Central Midlands Alliance Roundup for December 30th

As seems to be the case on most Saturdays recently there were only a handful of games taking place. Hopefully 2024 will see conditions relent at least a little.

A significant result in the Black Dragon Badges Premier North Division saw Dearne and District finally relinquish their perfect record after 16 wins at the hands of Harworth Colliery who sit next to bottom with just one win to their credit. After a goalless first half Harworth took the lead as Cam Till scored from the penalty spot. Dearne drew level, Alex Wilkinson with the goal, but in the scramble to recover the ball from the net received a red card. An improving AFC Phoenix were quick out of the blocks in their home match with Chesterfield Youth. Just four minutes in Keegan Hepplestone put them one up, Brad Jones getting a second after 11 minutes. Ten minutes later Hassan Daud hit a third for Phoenix and although Chesterfield pulled a goal back through Lewis Reah, a resolute second half defensive performance from the host saw them home. Doncaster City outclassed Woodhouse Colts on their visit to the Clod running in ten goals without reply. Muhamet Gashi opened the floodgates in the tenth minute, with Shay Evans Booth and Declan Slater’s goals giving City a comfortable half time. There was no let up in the second half, a Rio A;;en double in the space of three minutes followed by sub Jonny Nyantou’s goal on the hour. Reiss Harrison also came off the bench to score a swift hat trick before Nyantou got his second in the last minute to take the score to double figures. Dinnington Town notched up their eighth straight league win at home to SJR Worksop but didn’t have much to spare, the match finishing 2-1. Jack Greaves gave the visitors the lead in the 34th minute, Jordan Turner equalising three minutes before half tIme, the same player scoring the winner in the 68th minute. Elite AFC ended 2023 with a 5-0 win at home to Yorkshire Main thanks to two goals each from Sam Limber and Robbie Wood and one for Tommy Pallett.

Just a couple of matches in the Premier South Division with leaders Pinxton stretching the gap to five points with a 3-1 defeat of Linby Colliery, The game was settled in the first 25 minutes, Nathan Benger scoring twice, his goals sandwiching a Ben Jones penalty, Linby getting one back through Mason Moore. Arnold Town’s recent run was halted at Cromford and Wirksworth Town, the home side running out 4-1 to the good. Jordan Watts gave Cromford the half time advantage, Arnold drawing level thanks to a penalty scored by Jamie Royle. Ben Cartwright regained the lead for the hosts, Luke Roper and Jake Wright ensuring maximum points.

The Division One fixture list was reduced to just two. In the West, Bakewell and Inter Belper shared the points after a 1-1 draw, Jack Heath’s first half goal for Bakewell cancelled out by a late equaliser from Tom Bednal. Meanwhile in the East, Kirton Brickworks are now twelve points clear at the top of the table following a narrow 2-1 win at RHP. Connor Steel and Jack March were on target for the Brickies, Sebastian Headley for RHP.

Although outside the normal coverage of the roundup a scoreline of 9-6 could hardly be ignored it happened in the John Preen Memorial Cup in Doncaster, South Elmsall United Services winning the tie against AFC Bentley. By the 22nd minute Bentley were six goals adrift which they reduced to four by half time. The second half was more even with Theo Mowatt and Josh Bowkett both completing hat tricks for Bentley.

Richard Lane