West Yorkshire League Premier
Robin Hood Athletic 2-0 Boroughbridge
Goals from Joe Clulow and Steve Hancock put the smiles back on threadbare Robin Hood faces again after gloomy few weeks.
A horrendous injury list has made the West Yorkshire League’s ‘return to play’ competition a bit of a “drag” for Leeds-based Robin Hood and their manager Matt Wright whose victorious side was mostly made up of reserve team players.
The victory was their first since the middle of April.
From the starting eleven for the visit of Boroughbridge, only Clulow and goalkeeper Paul Diamond started Hood’s ‘opening fixture’ at Hunslet in early April.
Familiar faces such as former Glasshoughton Welfare stars Chris Coupe and Johnny Forsyth are among the long list of players on the treatment table so Wright admits the past six weeks have been testing.
“The win is a good reward for the club because we have stuck together,” Wright told Non League Yorkshire.
“I keep telling people and it is correct, but we’re missing so many people from the traditional first team squad.
“It is testament to the whole club that every single week we are putting out a competitive team.
“Yes we have been missing out by the odd goals in recent weeks, but actually we have been really competitive which puts us in good stead for when everyone is fit.
“I’m really proud that we haven’t thrown in the towel (by quitting the shortened league campaign).
“It is easy to say ‘we’re not playing’ and ‘what are we getting out of it’?
“As a club what we stand for is important and we’re a competitive West Yorkshire League team and we want to fulfil what we have been given.”
When football was given the go ahead to recommence in March, the West Yorkshire League went the opposite way to the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League who organised a successful League Cup competition and are looking forward to some epic knockout matches.
The WYL chose to complete a shortened league campaign and most of the Premier Division agreed to participate despite the option to opt out.
The interest levels soon waned and some sides have dropped out – rendering most of the games in the final few weeks absolutely meaningless.
“When we talked earlier in the year I think I said it would be nice to have a group phase like the Sheffield & Hallamshire League have done.” he said.
“You get your games in and if you don’t go through (to the knockout stages) you don’t go through.
“We beat Carlton 1-0 here and they dropped out of the (shortened) league (campaign).
“We lost those three points and we lost three players to injury in that game as well.
“Whatever the league do they are going to get it wrong because they will always be some who say it isn’t right.
“I’m in a position where I have a lot of injured players whereas someone like Beeston who have a lot of fit players, they are quite happy with it.
“But it has been a drag for a few weeks. The positive is how the boys have stuck together and the reserve lads have come in and we have put some competitive performances in.”
With neither side having nothing to play for, the game was never going to have the drama and excitement that the County Senior League Cup will have next week when the knockout stages will capture the imagination of those involved.
Combined with the heat, proceedings blossomed into a typical pre-season friendly.
Boroughbridge started strongly, but looking back over the 90 minutes, they rarely troubled Hood stopper Diamond.
Robin Hood pounced midway through the first half with the game’s best moment of quality when Clulow sent a rocket into the top corner.
The second goal came seven minutes into the second half and it felt like a death knell for the visitors who were the masters of their own downfall on this occasion.
A loose pass was intercepted by Hancock who strode forward and struck gold with an effort from the edge of the penalty area.
The home side should have perhaps added to their tally. Several times Hood broke clear, with a lack of quality when it matters being the only missing ingredient in the search for the third goal.
Not that it mattered in the end as Boroughbridge never looked like scoring.
Whilst agreeing it was a deserved victory Hood chief Wright also praised his side for their handling of Boroughbridge.
“They play a particular style and our lads switched onto it after five or ten minutes,” he said.
“We spoke about it at half-time that they had one way of doing things and I told them not to get bored of doing the same thing to nullify their threat.
“We did nullify them and we did look quite lively on the counter attack every single time we went forward.
“It was a more than deserved win. I was talking to their assistant and he said we looked like a really tight unit and in that starting line-up we had about seven reserve team players.
“In that respect it is an exceptional win, but it shows the reserve team is strong.”
The Teams
Robin Hood: Paul Diamond, Paul Mitchell, Alfie Hill, John Tunney (captain), Lewis Richardson, Jamie Claughton, Ryan Ferguson, Kane Withington, Steve Hancock, Joe Clulow, Corey Eaton. Subs: Mark Temple-Baker (unused), Ange Fete, Ash Parker, Billy Boseley-Yemm.
Boroughbridge: Jamie Halsall, Jack Herron, Callum Rodgers, Dan Berry, Stephen Walker, Ash Atkinson, Jordan Atkinson, Phil Wix, Liam Whyte, Alex Ingham, Harry Lee. Subs: Joel Fireman, Bailey Calvert, Jimmy Buchanan, Daz Elkin, Alastair Hogg.
Who Was In Charge
Luke Tompkins
Man of the Match
Lewis Richardson (Robin Hood)