2 tough away games now with Fleetwood and Hednesford, what a posistion to be in to be able to say I would be happy with 3 points from those two matches[br][size=1]Posted on: March 31, 2007, 05:15:33 PM[/size][hr]UniBond Premier Division 2006/2007 Team Name P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Witton Albion 34 20 7 7 79 39 40 67
2 Burscough 36 19 10 7 69 34 35 67
3 AFC Telford United 36 18 13 5 62 34 28 67
4 Guiseley 36 18 8 10 62 40 22 62
5 Hednesford Town 36 17 11 8 44 34 10 62
6 Matlock Town 34 17 8 9 55 35 20 59
7 Marine 36 17 7 12 54 46 8 58
8 Whitby Town 35 17 5 13 54 59 -5 56
9 Fleetwood Town 34 15 10 9 61 48 13 55
10 Gateshead 36 14 11 11 67 53 14 53
11 Ossett Town 37 15 8 14 53 51 2 53
12 Ilkeston Town 37 14 10 13 60 55 5 52
13 Lincoln United 37 12 13 12 36 48 -12 49
14 Prescot Cables 36 12 12 12 47 48 -1 48
15 North Ferriby United 37 13 9 15 45 54 -9 48
16 Frickley Athletic 37 12 8 17 46 61 -15 44
17 Leek Town 37 10 8 19 40 56 -16 38
18 Ashton United 35 10 8 17 40 60 -20 38
19 Kendal Town 37 9 11 17 49 72 -23 38
20 Mossley 36 9 5 22 45 69 -24 32
21 Radcliffe Borough 37 5 11 21 32 61 -29 26
22 Grantham Town 36 3 7 26 31 74 -43 16
Great result today - not a great performance, but, in the context of the league table, a great result. Difficult conditions today, windy and bobbling pitch, but we held on to Pritch’s early goal, and finished strongly. Smart substitutions by Jim, and it was MM’s persistence that set up Cleggy’s scorcher to seal it. Thought Stevie Connors played with great determination, and it’s that spirit that we’re going to need to see us through to the end of the season.
And with the other results going well for us, we’re top of the league!
Let me just say that again! ;D ;D ;D ;D
WE’RE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!
Well done the lads - now let’s stay there!
Not a particuarly good game today but…WHO CARES!! 3 Points is what matters!!
Good goals though,good header by Pritch and great goal from Cleggy!
Top of the league,2 games in hand,couldnt get much better at the moment!
I am really fed up I couldn’t make it today, the atmosphere at the end when you lads knew we were top must have benn fantastic. Miffed I shall miss a few games, but Mallorca and the sunshine call and at my age you listen. I said we would win it by 6 points and it would be over before the Telford game, I stick by that, though fpr attendance it might be nice if Telford still have a chance when they come to us; but for my nerves, I hope for three straight wins whilst I am away and a win against Mossley the day after I get back. If that is the case we will have won the title. Isn’t it great to have it within our own hands and not be hoping for teams to lose? We can lose two and STILL win it, what a great position to be in, not so long ago we were 20 points behind Telford!!!
WHS.
RADCLIFFE BOROUGH 0 WITTON ALBION 2 att 283
Kennedy; Kearney, Pritchard, Barras, Hockenhull; Peers (Clegg 68), Lloyd, Brown, Connors; Warlow (Farquarson 68), Jones (Moseley 83)
The 150 strong Albion following that swelled the crowd to the second best of the season at Stainton Park saw Albion huff and puff their way to the pinnacle of the league come the final whistle. Swirling conditions made perfect passing a lottery and coupled with the notorious slope this was not pretty football by any means. Nonetheless Albion?s two goals though were straight out of the top draw!
Albion totally dominated the opening 15 minutes but then a long ball from Borough was only cleared to Matt O?Neill wide on the right, he delivered a perfect cross and when Jamie Miller lurking outside the far post got his head to the ball he was only thwarted by Jon Kennedy diving smartly at the base of the post to flick the ball out for a corner kick. Steve Connors, again wearing the captain?s armband, then struck a low 25 yard shot that keeper Tim Dittmer held onto having dived to his right.
Crosby referee Richard Ackers who had a superb performance of his own did well to spot Scott Wilson tugging his former team-mate Ian Kearney?s shirt on 19 minutes. Mark Peers took the free-kick just inside the touch-line and aimed the ball deep to the far left post, where BRIAN PRITCHARD duly applied the necessary header across Dittmer. Thus making it now four goals in his last five league matches.
On 36 minutes Peers cut into the box but his shot was straight at the keeper. Three minutes later Connors whipped in a ball that caught the wind but Dittmer clutched it under his crossbar. Griff Jones and Adam Warlow linked up well then to play Connors in but this time the keeper was alert enough to kick the ball away for a corner-kick.
The 2nd period, playing downhill cried out for someone to just keep the ball under control. Jones did so in the 57th minute but his resultant shot was fairly tamely struck straight at the keeper. Two minutes later and Kennedy was superbly positioned by the near post to collect a driven in effort from wide on the right by Ian Fitzpatrick. Borough?s tactics seemed to be to hit long balls in, perhaps hoping for a slip-up by Albion?s defence but this didn?t happen however Kennedy again cleanly held a whipped in effort from O?Neill.
Jim Vince changed things in the 68th minute bringing Ross Clegg on and giving striker Nick Farquarson, on work experience from Crewe Alexandra, his debut. This proved to give Albion fresh impetus and decisive attacks came with more frequency. However it was the later introduction of Mike Moseley that sealed the result. Perhaps far more used to having to contend with the Radcliffe pitch he showed all in double quick time what was required. Two minutes from normal time he?d beaten two defenders, lost possession but quickly challenged back, won the ball, got fouled in the process, but still got a pass into the box to ROSS CLEGG. Looking up the midfielder produced an exquisitely executed curling shot into the top left hand corner of the net that prompted glorious celebrations both on and off the pitch.
Needless to say the celebrations were even louder and stronger once news had come through of the results elsewhere.
[br][size=1]Posted on: March 31, 2007, 08:48:34 PM[/size][hr]Ironic ain’t it, Looks like the UniBond site has either been sabotaged or they’ve moved to our server provider!!!
[glow=red,2,300]Great Result Lads ;D Lets hope we can keep it up and have the league won before the last game x ;D[/glow]
2 good results for the town’s teams today, although I get the feeling that by the end of this season one of them won’t matter!
Next season could see Witton Albion as the town’s highest positioned team?
Well done boys was over the moon when i received a text off neil! couldnt make the match today as i was at old trafford watchin utd beat blackburn 4-1! so i had a pretty decent day all round! Top of the league! doesnt it sound good?! lets hope we stay there now! Come on Witton!
Who are you?? Are you the same ‘Simon James’ with the same Northwich C.C. logo whos always on Vics forum (yeah I do read that for a laugh) always slagging Witton off?? Now things aren’t going too well over there and weve gone top of the league are you sticking up for us now??
I know Chad gave a quick mention in the match report, but I must comment on the officials’ performance at yesterday’s game. They were excellent! We certainly went from the ridiculous to the sublime in the last two games. The ref played advantage sensibly throughout the game, and one of those occasions led to Ross Clegg’s goal. Consistent, let the game flow when possible, why can’t we have this more often?
You’ve got to love those band-wagons though haven’t you… 
What a day yesterday was! The day always seems better when there is a bus journey involved - not sure why though?!? Getting lost on the way home wasn’t perfect, and Si almost getting into a fight with a 16 year old on a moped could of put a dampner on things, but all in all quite a satisfactory day!!!
I would gladly accept 3 points from the next 2 games. Any more than that and it’s party time i reckon! We will drop points, but so will the other teams behind us. Yes, BEHIND us! Yes Telford have thrown it away, but if ourselves and Burscough hadn’t both kept picking up the points then it would still be their league. Everyone seems top have forgotten how far Hednesford have dropped since Christmas too!! The title is won over 40 odd games, so let’s hope we keep our nerve and pick up the 4 or 5 wins that will bring it home!!
Apart from fluckey 1st game wins I don’t reckon we have been top of the league since April 2000? What a great feeling it is and hopefully we have timed it about right - and with 2 games in hand!
yesterday wasn’t pretty but given the conditions and the tense run in now I expect we will get that every week from now on - lets face it results will now win us the league not a great performance.
Lets face it now on reflection - does anyone mind losing on tuesday after the last 2 Saturday’s results?We have certainly won the ones that mattered more!
COME ON THE ALBION!
The reports from yesterday’s match are a little difficult to decode in one respect. It seems not to have been a good game. But is it the case that we didn’t play as well as we should have, or did we play okay, given the bad conditions? Have we overcome the recent sticky patch, playing-wise?
You could say we picked up 3 points while not playing particularly well, which gives grounds for much optimism, or, even though we are now top, you could still be a little worried that if we don’t play well against good teams near the top like Hednesford (and Telford?) they are going to beat us. What’s the current feeling?
Burscough seemed to be the "team of the moment" until yesterday. Let’s hope they now go through a rough patch.
It wasn’t a pretty game, much of that could be put down to the wind and the hard, bobbly surface which could have done with some rain on it. Performance was fine, the team did more than enough to win. One nil is never a comfortable lead, but this was as comfortable as it gets. Kennedy made one save early on but apart from that was never troubled.
From Radcliffe’s site:
Subject: Boro 0 Witton 2
A great battling performance by Boro against a big, powerful Witton side…but, once again, no goals I’m afraid …meant that the visitors roared to the top of the table while we slipped deeper into trouble at the wrong end. I must admit the apparent "gap" in league positions between the 2 teams was not really reflected in the general play but the Witton rearguard was always in command when we threatened being well marshalled by Pritchard and Barras with Ian Kearney hardly putting a foot wrong as well…but it took a wonder strike in the 88th minute to finalise matters.
A glorious day and a howling wind blowing up the well-groomed pitch greeted the Boro’s second largest crowd of the season, thanks, in part, to a generous following for the visiting team. With Haydn having work committments, Scholesy went straight back into the otherwise unchanged team with Lee Hendley, Adam Gilchrist and Johno on the bench. Just before the game the victorious League Champions,Radcliffe U 10, were introduced to the crowd from whom they received generous applause.
After an evenly-contested first 10 minutes it was Jamie Miller who almost opened the scorig when he stooped low to head Matty’s cross , but a super flying stop from ex-Sunderland custodian, Jon Kennedy,denied him . 2 minutes later Tim Dittmer was in action to make a flying save when a goal looked certain. However there was nothing he could do in the 17th minute when the towering Pritchard rose unchallenged to head homea perfectly-flighted free-kick from the right.
Boro were giving as good as they got aganst second-placed Witton, with Matty making good runs Duffs being his usual lively self and Ian Fitzy beavering away all over the place. At the other end Fozzy was having another super game at the back with Captain Marvel alonside him smothering everything that came his way. Wheals almost equalised but his header flew narrowly wide and then Tim made a brilliant stop as he was bravely out to smother the run of Peers.
With the wind at their backs Boro almost levelled when Miggsy met a deep corner from Duffs perfectly with his head but placed it just inches wide with Kennedy nowhere. The second half was mainly contested in the middle of the park with the strong challenges from the visiting defence breaking down the Boro attacks…indeed from one of these I thought that the Witton captain, Connors, might well have received a straight red for a dreadful challenge on Duffs who was left lying in a heap…but he received the customary lecture from the ref and nowt else! Si limped off after an hour as his ankle injury flared up, to be replaced by Lee Hendley, and Adam came on for Jamie minutes later. Again Boro continued to contest the game and a measure of their success was that the Witton contingent, who were very lively in the first half, had now fallen silent.
But, despite all their effort, Boro didn’t create any real chances and looked to be going in losing by the odd goal, when up popped Witton substitute Clegg to hit a wonder-strike from the corner of the box to settle the game for good and send Witton to the top of the table as Telford had lost to Whitby.
Finally a word about the officials…I thought the female Assistant was outstanding and didn’t put a foot wrong…I thoght the ref was a little lenient with some of the physical challenges…but when you hear the other Assistant say to one of your players who has just gone down under another heavy challenge from behind "come on, get up 10" it really does make you wonder !!!
Just 5 games to go now and it doesn’t look good…but well done the regulars or turning out in such numbers when we have our backs so firmly against the wall. Well done the Witton supporters for turning up in your droves and shouting your team on…but is there really a need at this level for the "going down" chant ?..spoiled yourselves there I think …shame!
Now is not the time for the supporters or the team to get nervous. We have the best squad in the league and the best supporters so how can we fail except by lack of belief. We WILL win at Fleetwood and Hednesford, in fact we WILL win every game until the end od the season. (I dreamed it last night so it must be true).
WHS.
Seem to recall we always get a fair report from Radcliffe.
I agree with the "Going down…" comment. There really is no need for it. Like abusing the ref, we should rise above that and support the team. Despite any provocation, it really doesn’t do us any favours.
Well done to everyone yesterday. Looks like we are grinding out the results at the moment. Surprised about the Burscough result though. We’ve a tough 2 games coming up this week. Hopefully, we can pick up some points to keep ourselves in front. Although I’ve a feeling come Easter Monday kick-off we may be back in 3rd. Hope to hell I’m wrong.
Write Telford off at your peril!
Come on the Albion!!!
I dont see what the problem is with the ‘going down’ chant.It was only sung once or twice anyway.Its sang at football grounds all over the country,its not offensive,only banter!!
So glad that we are back on track, and back where we belong.
Good luck tonight, I will be awaiting texts early in teh morning as I am in New Zealand at the moment.
Cannot wait to get back and cheer the lads on during the run in.
Just keep winning lads and lets not leave ourselves too much to do when I come back.
Lets leave everyone else behind now, eating Pritch’s dust.
Up the Albion!
E I E I E I O! Up the football league we go…