Toolstation NCEL Division One
Penistone Church manager Ian Richards
You have to go right back to January to find unbeaten leaders Penistone Church’s last league defeat and Ian Richards admits that is unforgettable.
The manager who outwitted them on that memorable night is back in South Yorkshire this week too.
Twenty-nine league games later and Penistone are currently joint top of the table with three games in hand.
The infamous 5-4 defeat to Selby Town, which included a goal after just six seconds, a four-minute delay because the referee’s whistle broke and a winner for Selby in the sixth minute of added time, is their last Division One defeat.
The Selby manager that night was Dave Ricardo, who takes his Hall Road Rangers side to Penistone tomorrow night.
“I was asked recently if I remembered our last league defeat and I said it was very hard to forget a game like that,” Richards told Non League Yorkshire.
“We lost in the dying seconds and there was a referee who didn’t have his best game. He attracted the headlines because his whistle broke and he ran off the pitch without telling anyone and the game was delayed for a few minutes.
“Me and Dave Ricardo were looking at each other wondering what was going on.
“We were 4-1 down after 30 minutes before getting it back to 4-4 until they scored in the last second. You don’t forget that.
“That’s 29 games undefeated and it is great credit to players to show that level of consistency. They deserve to be where they are.
“The league is still very tight and I’m not getting carried away. I’m not even analysing the league until we have played 21 games.
“The league is stronger in terms of depth. There is no gimmes, no free wins. We are happy with where we are, but there is a long way to go.
“Being top and unbeaten does make it more difficult though. In our first season in the NCEL, Clipstone had won ten in a row and they came here and we wanted to be that team who broke their unbeaten run.
“We did, we beat them 1-0. So we know that every time we play, every team wants to end our unbeaten run. Teams are naturally raising their game so we have to treat each game and team with the same respect.”
Penistone’s new away kit is exactly the same as Hemsworth’s title-winning home kit. Ian Richards insists that he did not buy it off his ex-Bradford PA team-mate Wayne Benn
Richards expects a difficult battle when Hall Road visit.
“He’s (Dave Ricardo) coming on Wednesday and I said in the summer when looking at the players they have brought in that they would be there or there abouts,” he said.
“They have played fewer games than everyone else so their league position is a bit false, but it will be a real good test because they have good players in (Chris) Spinks and (Scott) Phillips.
“We have to make sure we are at our best and that we match their quality. I’m looking forward to Wednesday. It will be a good game between two teams who are hoping to be in that mix at the end of the season.”
Penistone’s superb form has also coincided with the purchase of a brand new away kit – which is exactly the same as last season’s champions Hemsworth’s title-winning home kit, apart from the badges and sponsors.
Richards stresses that it came from a kit supplier and he didn’t do a deal with his former Bradford (Park Avenue) team-mate Wayne Benn for it.
“We have changed to Adidas and it has gone down well with the players and hopefully it is a lucky omen,” he added.
“I didn’t buy it personally off Wayne Benn, but if we can get his 98 points then I will be extremely happy.
“We’ve done really well in the kit and I hope that coincidence will pay off in the end.”