Hemsworth Miners Welfare have silenced the summer’s doubters by embarking on a positive start to their Toolstation NCEL Premier Division campaign.
That’s the view of joint manager Luke Danville who alongside Luke Potter has masterminded four wins out of six games.
Concern about Hemsworth’s fate was raised six months ago following widespread departures of key players.
However, Danville and Potter made intelligent signings including the likes of goalkeeper Brett Souter, midfield general Jack Wilson plus defenders Declan Dawson and Tom Cadzow and the Wells are reaping the rewards of good recruitment.
Hugely popular centre-back Harry Viggars has even returned from Ossett United as well to boost their ranks.
“We set out of the traps very well,” Danville told Non League Yorkshire.
“We had a couple of good results in the FA Vase and we beat Staveley in the first league game of the season.
“It was the perfect answer that myself and Potts wanted because the question marks that were above us. All the ‘they’ve lost a lot of the side, how are they going to do’ questions’.
“All the questions got answered in the first few games.
“But then you drop the points against Thackley when you’re 1-0 in front and lose 2-1.
“The games we have lost have been Thackley and Eccleshill – although I wasn’t at Eccleshill because I was self-isolating.
“But we’re showing we can match any team in the league. We’ve had a result against Staveley, Knaresborough Albion Sports who are taking points off people – we went and won 3-0 at their place – and obviously Mansfield.
“We’re keeping clean sheets so we’re showing we’re hard to score against.
“We’re looking good and I’d say it is a good start but we’ve only played six games and there’s a long way to go.”
The Mansfield triumph was their first league match since October and the Wells snatched a late 1-0 win thanks to Layton Swaine.
“It was a good solid performance,” Danville said.
“We went there with a game-plan and we knew what Mansfield would bring to the table.
“They have some very good players and we knew we had to have our wits about us and be very strong defensively and we played three centre-halves to deal with their threats.
“We knew we had players with pace who could hurt them going forwards ourselves.
“The lads did very well.
“It was a game of very few chances, i.e. clear cut ones, especially the second half.
“We should have had a couple of goals in the first half. If you look at the highlights we missed some very good chances.
“It looked like it was going one of those days where we couldn’t put the ball in the net.
“Mansfield had one chance in the second half at the back stick where they should really have scored but other than that we kept them at bay.
“Was it fizzling out? Probably but it was a great strike from Layton after Adam Wilson’s lung-busting run into the final third from midfield. It was great to get three points.”
Originally the NCEL campaign was earmarked for a January return – restrictions permitting.
That changed on the 10th December when the league quickly responded to the shock FA announcement about fans been allowed back into grounds.
The fixtures for the 19th December and Boxing Day were put back on the list.
But it has had a mixed reaction and Danville admits it wasn’t too pleased.
“We all want to see the leagues restart but what I would have liked is for them to have stuck to planning to restart in January as they originally said,” he said.
“That would have given us a few friendlies to warm-up. I wasn’t impressed with the announcement about the 19th and Boxing Day games, not at all.
“I think it was a rushed decision.
“I know the Boxing Day games were there originally but to come out with a statement to say along the lines of under no circumstances will games be played until January and just because they get the go-ahead to have 150 fans in all of a sudden they go against their word.
“I’m happy football is back but I think there should have been a bit of grace period so clubs can could back into the swing of things.”
The Athersley clash is full of connections between both clubs. Rec boss Shane Kelsey, who will be incarcerated elsewhere as he is suspended, is a Hemsworth legend having played a key role in their 2016 promotion from Division One.
Hemsworth’s Wilson used to play for Rec reserves while Potter was previously the Rec manager and Dawson and Ben Walker played under him so Danville expects a cracker.
“I would imagine it is going to be a good game,” he said.
“I’m good mates with (Athersley head honcho Shane) Kelsey and it is always a good game. He’ll have them revved up.
“He has a good honest side which is a bit younger than previous years when I’ve played them.
“They got beat by Yorkshire Amateur but they did well by all accounts so it will be a tough game and a good Non League spectacle.
“I think if there wasn’t restrictions on the crowd it would have a big one. There’s a lot of ex-Athersley players playing for us and there’s a lot of Barnsley players playing in our team.
“It would have been ideal if they had been allowed to have 300 because I’m sure they would have flattened that. It just a shame for both clubs really because our fans can’t go and watch.”
The Athersley game gives Danville a break from the day-to-day aspect of management which is extremely tough for all managers currently due to the uncertainty each day.
Respite for Danville has come from his and Potter’s players constant enthusiasm.
“I wouldn’t say fed-up, I’ve been frustrated,” he said.
“You have your tough days when you’re scratching about for a training facility because you don’t know if you can train week-to-week.
“You can’t block book anywhere because you don’t know if schools will be open.
“It has been tough. Obviously it is my first full season in management but you have to get your head down and get on with.
“The lads have been class. Every-time we have trained everyone has broke their necks to be there because everyone is desperate to play football. I think that’s across the board.
“Everyone has missed football, it is a big part of people’s lives – that’s players, volunteers, managers, supporters. To have it taken away for so long for something you can’t control just makes it easier to motivate players to come to training.
“It is a social as well because everyone is limited to what they can do socialising-wise.”
If Boxing Day goes ahead it could be everyone’s last glimpse for football for sometime.
The Government appear to be preparing for a further national lockdown or to roll out Tier 4 restrictions in other parts of the country.
Danville believes there will be break and he warned the FA and leagues not to try and attempt clubs to play behind closed doors if football is allowed but without spectators.
“I honestly don’t know, I’m just taking it week to week,” he said.
“We’re training Wednesday and we know we have a game on Saturday.
“After that it is anyone’s guess.
“I fully expect there to be another lockdown. Whether they let us play football during that, I don’t know.
“What I don’t want to see is them trying to play without crowds because it is not possible for any team to run at that kind of loss.
“Even with 150 crowd, no bar, no food, some teams are still going to run at a loss undoubtably – especially with the price of officials.
“There’s got to be some kind of financial aid coming soon otherwise you’re going to lose football clubs.”
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams. When we properly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.