Ambitious Goldthorpe team aim to challenge for non-league top spot

GOLDTHORPE team Dearne and District want to keep growing to the point where they are considered the top-supported Barnsley non-league team.

The ambitious team ply their trade in the Central Midlands League and are the only Barnsley side in it.

But they see it as a more definite route into the Northern Counties East league where they feel they will one day be able to challenge the likes of established clubs Athersley Rec and Worsbrough Bridge.

Their fanbase is growing and so is their confidence after they thumped Kiveton Miners’ Welfare 12-0 on Saturday.

That result is just one very small building block in what the club is trying to construct.

Manager Keelan Hall told the

Chronicle: “We are trying to grow the club bigger and bigger.

“A couple of years ago we were at the bottom of step ten and now we are at the top of step seven and our aim is to get into the NCEL.

“To get to that level you need to have the infrastructure, the football side and the results.

“You want them all to grow at the same pace. The playing side is speaking for itself and the club is getting more and more volunteers.”

Plans for floodlights at the ground, stationed off Furlong Road and Goldthorpe Green, have been submitted to Barnsley Council.

This would boost their chances of elevating themselves up a level as they would be able to host midweek night fixtures, but realistically, they also need to win the league title.

Keelan added: “Winning the Central Midlands league guarantees promotion and the difference between this league and the County Senior League is that 70 per cent of the teams in this league are ready to step up with their infrastructure.

“We are aiming to be the best supported team in Barnsley. That’s the target.

“We are getting just short of the other two at the moment – but that’s the aim.”

Players have been drawn to the club from near and far.

The Dearne area has been largely starved of a Saturday football team and that has forced local lads to play for the likes of Houghton Main and Swinton sides instead.

“Quite a few of the lads are local, to be fair. They have played in other areas because they have had to – there hasn’t been a decent club in the area,” added Keelan.

“We have looked at players from higher too, with NCEL experience, and we have got a good mix at the minute.

“We have got a huge junior section of more than 600 players. It’s so busy down here on weekends.”

Keelan expects the likes of Retford United, Harworth and Thorne Colliery to be their major rivals this season.

The club has also enjoyed cup success too and will be in their first ever Montagu Cup final on Easter Monday.

Nick Guest scored five in Saturday’s rout.

Carlton Carty notched a brace and there was one each for Liam Flint, Enzo Guarini, Jay Paling, Callum Clark and Declan Childes. Victory moves them up to third in the table, five points off leaders Retford after six matches.