CROWDS SOAR FOR JUNIOR SCRIBES
HUNDREDS of junior match reporters bidding to see their reports published in today’s
Non-League Paper ensured attendances soared on Ryman League Community Day 2017!
Gates were up by more than a third as budding young scribes aged 11 and under joined forces with fundraising fans for Comic Relief at fixtures from Heybridge to Hastings during last weekend’s annual celebration of the community work of clubs and their commitment to good causes.
The competition – staged this season to mark the end of the record-breaking 20-year Ryman sponsorship and the thousands of pounds that have been raised for charities by the Isthmian League’s 72 clubs over the years – was won by schoolboy Andrew Morrison for his report on the 2-0 win by Soham Town Rangers over Bowers & Pitsea.
Theo Paphitis, the sponsor’s managing director, retail entrepreneur and ex-Dragon’s
Den star, hailed the success of Ryman’s final community drive before predicting a bright future for the writer of the competition’s winning entry who’s also looking forward to collecting a second prize of £250 worth of Ryman goodies to help him with his studies.
Paphitis said: “The day saw attendances up 40 per cent across the 35 games, so it was great to hear of so many fans, new and old, celebrating their local sides. In our final season, after 20 years of sponsorship, this was also a fantastic way to celebrate our ties with the League and encourage more young people into the beautiful game.
“Competition was strong in the match report entries, but the winning write-up, from 10-yearold Andrew, covered all the bases and gave a real flavour of the game and atmosphere on the day – perhaps a future sports journalist in our midst!”
And the winner is...
A WARM afternoon and a positive crowd proved to be fantastic conditions for Soham Town Rangers in their 2-0 victory over Bowers and Pitsea.
Before the match, referee Nigel Smith, organised a minute silence out of respect for the victims of this week’s London attacks. Soham got the game underway and the first 10 minutes saw Rangers enjoy more possession with Sam Mulready hitting the bar.
Pitsea then took control of the match with Lewis Manor heading just over for the visitors. Before the break, Rangers earned a free-kick on the right-hand side of the box that the goalkeeper fumbled. Sam Mulready took advantage by heading it into the back of the net.
The second half was not as exciting as the first, but Pitsea were trying to draw level. This resulted in Luke Brown doubling Soham’s lead, catching the away side on the counter attack. Despite a late surge from the away side, Rangers managed to hold on for the win in what was an enjoyable afternoon’s football.
ONE down, two to go. Dover and their irrepressible striker Ricky Miller ended Gateshead’s ten-match unbeaten run, and probably their play-off chances in the process.
Now all they have to do is get the better of Aldershot and Barrow later this month.
The National League promotion race is delicious this year, and a lip-smacking subplot to the intriguing chase for the top five is that Dover still have to play the only two other sides who can get in there with them.
Miller will be in the Football League next season, with or without the Whites. Too good for this level, two glorious finishes in either half took his tally to 39 in all competitions.
Heed boss Neil Aspin knows the game is nearly up, but for Chris Kinnear? It’s game on.
The Dover manager said: “I thought we could have won by more. I think their keeper played well for them, even the post played well for them! It looks like we’ve got a bit of desire in us.
“It’s not an easy run-in, we know that. But we’ve given ourselves a chance.”
Aspin doesn’t expect. Although only four points behind, a tricky run-in and them having played a game more means promotion is improbable.
“If you think of it as a horse race, we’re big outsiders now,” he said. “We let ourselves down in the second half.
“We needed to chase the game after the break. The problem is that we went looking for the equaliser right from the first minute of the second half and we shouldn’t have done. We need patience and we were punished.”
A foul-riddled first half needed something to bring it to life, but even by Miller’s sky-high standards this season, few expected quite an awakening.
Nearly 25 yards from goal after Heed captain Liam Hogan hauled another player to the ground, the National League’s top marksman didn’t need asking twice. He hasn’t required a second invitation at all this season and he matched just enough power with perfect precision.
Gateshead’s door would always take some unlocking. James Montgomery – arguably the best goalkeeper in the league – got nowhere near it.
How far is Dover’s Mitch Walker behind him? In first-half time added on, an exceptional low save he had no right to make frustrated Paddy McLaughlin, who had connected flawlessly with Danny Johnson’s cut-back after he roamed well down the left.
Dover were unplayable after the break; Miller, Moses Emmanuel and Joe Healy all looking to secure daylight early in the half. They should have been out of sight in the 52nd minute, Emmanuel making a mockery of Gateshead’s offside trap and with only Montgomery to beat, he lifted the ball past the wrong side of the post.
How it wasn’t done a minute later nobody knew, Heed falling apart and thankfully for Aspin, Miller found post and not net.
The Gateshead fans who had made the tortuous journey needed to see better. On 64 minutes they could have been celebrating, Manny Smith came loose in the box but he nodded McLaughlin’s free-kick just wide.
Miller took aim from another special free-kick after the player who nearly levelled wiped the forward out at the other end. It was a little too near the goal if anything, Montgomery getting a great hand to it.
This season, Miller cannot be contained. He cut in from the right, dropped a shoulder and produced the type of finish he just loves – low into the bottom corner but with enough pace to put the ball firmly out of the keeper’s reach. Game over.
If anything summed up Gateshead’s day aside from being called Macclesfield over the PA, then it was Johnson’s late ballooned effort high over the crossbar.
“I won’t be too critical of the players because lately they have been fantastic, but we weren’t at it second half,” Aspin added.
“You just don’t give a player like Ricky Miller the space we gave him.”