Toolstation NCEL Division One
- Current Stocksbridge chief Chris Hilton was the manager of Worsbrough Bridge between 2010 and 2014
- Hilton says he has been heartbroken to see the problems the club has faced this season and has thrown his weight behind Bridge manager Mark Joyce’s efforts to guide them to safety.
- Relegation-threatened Worsbrough Bridge will play their first game back at Park Road on the 13th February.
Stocksbridge Park Steels manager Chris Hilton is delighted to see his old club Worsbrough Bridge return to Park Road
Chris Hilton hopes Worsbrough Bridge’s return to Park Road will be the catalyst for his old club to pull themselves out of relegation trouble.
Worsbrough, besieged by off-the-field problems all season after the Park Road floodlights were condemned in July, have been ground-sharing with Grimethorpe and Maltby Main. The association that runs Park Road have now made it possible for the club to return to Barnsley so current manager Mark Joyce and his team can fully concentrate on their survival battle.
Hilton, who during his four seasons in charge between 2010 and 2014 turned them from perennial strugglers into a top ten team, is delighted to see them return home and is willing to help his old club in any way he can.
“It is fantastic news that they are moving back home,” said current Stocksbridge Park Steels boss Hilton, whose Bridge team notably went unbeaten at home during the 2012-13 season. “They should have never moved away, it should have been sorted out. I spent four years down at Worsbrough and I have a lot of time for the people down there.
“We put a lot of hard work into turning that team into a decent top ten side so to see some of the things that have been going on has been heart-breaking to be honest. It is nothing to do with the management team because I know Mark Joyce really well and I know how much time and effort he puts in, but moving to Grimethorpe, then Maltby makes it difficult to attract players. I hope they can pull out of the bottom two and I’ve already rung Mark and told him if they need any help, I’ll do anything I can.”
Hilton’s main concern Stocksbridge have enjoyed an excellent ten days which has yielded seven points out of nine, putting them back on course to challenge for the Evo Stik Division One South play-offs.
“It has been a fantastic week,” added Hilton, who takes his side to Belper Town tomorrow night. “We beat an in-form team in Kidsgrove and deserved to beat them. Basford are top of the form chart and fourth in the league so although we could have nicked it 2-2 was a good draw for us.
“We also beat Daventry with ten men so it shows that we can compete with the teams up there now. We shouldn’t be looking at those teams thinking we have done well to get a point’. We need to be looking with the squad we have got and saying: ‘we can go and get three points’.”