Month: February 2016

Ashington 1 Shildon 4

A Micky Rae hat trick gave Shildon  all three points in the re-arranged game against Ashington because of playing Anthony Bell in the first game without international clearance.

Shildon were a goal up inside the first 2 minutes before adding a second before half time. Micky Rae completed his hat trick before substitute Lewis Wing added the fourth in injury time at the end of the game.

The win moves Shildon 11 points clear at the top of the Ebac Northern League Division One.

Full Match report to follow

 

Ashington Preview

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Venue

Woodhorn Lane
Ashington
NE63 9FW

Match Day

16th February 2016
Kick Off: 19:30

Admission Prices
Adults £6.00
Concessions £2.00

Current League Position –  9th ENL1
P 22  W 9  D 5  L 8  F 43  A 40  Pts 32

Last Match Played

10th February 2016
North Shields 2 Ashington 1
Northumberland Senior Cup Quarter Final

Facts
Founded: 1883
Nickname: The Colliers
Record Attendance: 13,199 v Rochdale, FA Cup 2nd round 9/12/1950
Joined Northern League: 1970-71
Home Colours: Black & white stripe shirt, black shorts and socks
Away Colours: 
Website: Ashingtonafc.com
Twitter: Ashington FC Twitter
 Facebook: Ashington Facebook

Short History of Ashington FC taken from AshingtonAFC.com

Mention Ashington to any football follower and the chances are they will have heard of the birthplace of World Cup winning brothers Bobby and Jackie Charlton. Jackie Milburn, a legend at Newcastle United also played for the town’s team, known unsurprisingly as the Colliers.

Ashington AFC was formed in 1883 making it one of the oldest Clubs in Northumberland. Despite it’s minor status it entered the FA Cup as early as 1887. After joining the Northern Alliance in 1892, the club soon switched to the East Northumberland League where it remained until 1902 when it returned to the Northern Alliance. The Colliers played in this league until 1914, winning the League Title in 1913/14, as well as the Northumberland Challenge Bowl in 1913. They switched to the North Eastern League in 1914/15, finishing the season in ninth place. The outbreak of World War One brought an end to the League.

With the Great War over, Ashington returned to the North Eastern League. After finishing seventh in 1921, the Colliers were elected to join the Football League Third Division North with fellow North Eastern League sides Darlington, Durham City and Hartlepools United. In 1921 Portland Park was upgraded from a typical Non-League venue to a stadium designed for 20,000. It had a re-laid pitch, new pavilion, tearoom and large press box added, as well as new signing Knowles from Manchester United. Thompson was also signed from Leeds and Foster was brought in from Sunderland. Ashington’s play ers were now ready for their professional debuts. An opening day crowd of 10,000 saw Dickinson fire in the only goal of the game, as Ashington defeated Grimsby Town 1-0 at home. By the end of the season the Colliers finished in a respectable 10th place. After finishing second bottom the season after, Ashington were successfully re-elected and finished the 1923/24 season in a superb eighth position, hosting Aston Villa at home in the FA Cup with a crowd of 11,837 packed into Portland Park, to see the Colliers lose 5-1. The Colliers remained amongst the Country’s elite until the 1928/29 season when a disastrous campaign saw the Colliers finish bottom and become one of the first clubs to miss out on re-election. A struggling team and the miner’s strike, hit the Colliers hard as crowds dropped dramatically to under 1,000 for the final few home games in the Football League.

After losing League status, the Colliers returned to the North Eastern League and reached the FA Cup first round again, going down 3-0 to former Football League opponents Rotherham. With the War ended, Ashington returned to the North Eastern League and again reached the FA Cup First Round in 1950, with Rochdale making the trip to Portland Park. A club record attendance of 13,199 saw Ashington narrowly lose 2-1. When the North Eastern League folded Ashington joined the Midland League for the 1958/59 season. Ashington were runners-up to Peterborough United in their first season and were third in their second season . Despite the success the amount of travelling became a big problem and Ashington joined the North Regional League. The club then joined the Northern Premier League for the 1968/69 season facing the likes of Macclesfield Town, Wigan Athletic, Boston United, Altrincham and Northwich Victioria but financial problems meant the Colliers couldn’t afford to play at that level for more than the one season and in 1970 Ashington FC joined the Northern League.

Ashington’s League form was hardly superb, but the Colliers did reach the FA Amateur Cup Semi-Final in 1974, before losing to eventual winners Bishops Stortford in a replay at Brentford. After finishing third in 1979, Ashington were relegated to the Northern League Second Division in 1984/85. The worst period in the Club’s history followed as Ashington struggled, the club hit rock bottom in 1994 when they were unable to raise a team against Crook Town resulting in the whole committee resigning. A public meeting saw a new committee formed and to celebrate, a group of supporters launched the highly acclaimed fanzine ‘The Pit Pony Express’.

Success soon switched to the team as the Colliers won their first trophy in 19 years, defeating Evenwood Town 1-0 in the 1999 Craven Cup Final and winning the Second Division Championship in 2000/2001. Relegation followed, but Ashington fans were soon celebrating again after winning the Craven Cup in 2003 with another victory over Evenwood under new manager Tony Harrison. 2003/4 saw Ashington have one o f it’s most successful seasons in the past 25 years, an FA Cup run saw Ashington reach the Third Qualifying Round, another Craven Cup final appearance, as well as winning the Second Division Championship after a run of 18 straight wins in 2004. After the shock resignation of Tony Harrison in December 2004, ex-Shildon manager Ray Gowan was appointed manager taking Ashington away from the relegation scrap and into a top half finish by the end of the season as well as two cup semi-finals.

Unfortunately a difficult few seasons followed both on and off the pitch. A few close scrapes with relegation saw the club frequently changing managers and with increasing uncertainty surrounding the clubs Portland Park ground, Ashington FC made the worst start to a season in the clubs history in 2007/8 which saw only one point gained from the first ten matches. In came manager Andy Gowens, a former Ashington player, who worked wonders in keeping the Colliers in the Northern League First Division. On Friday 15th February 2008 Ashington played their final game at Portland Park against Seaham Red Star. A bumper crowd of 1,954 – the biggest attendance at a Northern League game in over 25 years – saw Seaham spoil the party with a 3-2 win.

In the summer of 2008 a new executive board took control of the club led by National Union of Mineworkers President Ian Lavery. In early August 2008 the new ground Woodhorn Lane was opened and on Saturday 30 th August 2008, Ashington played their first game at the new ground defeating UniBond League side Ossett Albion 2-1 in the FA Cup with a crowd of 341. Striker Gareth Bainbridge, scorer in the last match at Portland Park against Seaham Red Star had the honour of being the first goalscorer at Woodhorn Lane.

A number of ex-Ashington players have gone on to make a name for themselves, not only nationally but internationally. Patrick O’Connell, an Irish international centre-half signed from Dumbarton during Ashington’s Football League days went on to manage Real Betis, Sevilla and FC Barcelona! More recently, in 1981 Tony Lowery was sold to West Bromwich Albion. Another player Dave Walton joined Sheffield United before joining Crewe, Shrewsbury and Derby County. An England International also emerged from the clubs ranks – at cricket. Steve Harmison, ranked as the World’s best fast bowler after demolishing the West Indies as he took 7 wickets for only 12 runs at Sabina Park, played central defence for Ashington until 1996 before giving up to concentrate on cricket.

Dunston UTS Preview

 

dunston

 

Venue

Dean Street
Shildon
County Durham
DL4 2EZ

Match Day

13th February 2016
Kick Off: 15:00

Admission Prices
Adults £6.00
Concessions £4.00

Current League Position –  5th ENL1
P 22  W 11  D 5  L 6  F 47  A 24  Pts 38

Last Match Played
6th February 2016
Dunston 2 Ashford Utd 3
FA Vase 5th round Replay

Facts
Founded: 1975
Nickname: The Fed
Record Attendance: 1,550 v Sunderland, Shipowners Cup
Joined Northern League: 1991-92
Home Colours: Blue Shirt, Shorts & Socks
Away Colours: 
Website: http://www.dunston-uts-fc.co.uk/
Twitter: Dunston UTS on Twitter
 Facebook: Dunston UTS on Facebook

A Brief History from Dunston-uts-fc.co.uk

The club first saw the light of day in 1975 as a humble works outfit when former Chairman, John Thompson, with some of his colleagues at HMSO on the Team Valley Trading Estate, decided to form a football team. The club joined the Newcastle City Amateur League and early success inspired the club to progress and a piece of land was leased from Gateshead M.B.C. and the committee began to develop what is now the UTS Stadium.

The club were now gaining much success in the Northern Combination and with aspirations to progress further they approached the Federation Brewery to become the club’s main sponsor. With the Federation Brewery as their main sponsor the club joined the Wearside League in 1987 and after another period of success the club felt a need to seek new opportunities and an application was made to join the prestigious Northern League.

The club had now realised one of its main ambitions and entered the National Pyramid of Non League Football. In its second season in the Northern League the club won the Second Division and was promoted to the First Division. Since joining the Northern League the club has won the Second Division, been First Division Champions twice, League Cup winners on five occasions and JR Cleator Cup winners on five occasions. Included in these successes were back to back First Division title winners and League Cup winners in seasons 2003/2004 and 2004/2005. A magnificent achievement.

However the club’s greatest achievement came in the season 2011/2012, when the club won the coveted F.A. Carlsberg Vase. The Final was played at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 13th May 2012 against fellow Northern League side West Auckland Town. Dunston won by two goals to nil.  Winning the Vase was a magnificent achievement and a reward for people who had been in the club since its formation in 1975 and also for manager Billy Irwin who had been with the club for fifteen years as player, captain, assistant manager and manager. The experience at Wembley is something we shall never forget.

Season 2007/2008 had seen the club lose the word Brewery from its name as sadly it lost the main sponsor. After a period of 18 years of continuous sponsorship the Federation Brewery was taken over by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries who continued to sponsor the club for a further two seasons and after a period of twenty years the club had lost its main sponsor and had no association with a brewery. In our hour of need two new companies became involved with the club to partially compensate for the loss of our main sponsor. Dunston Van and Truck Centre became our home shirt sponsor and Astley Signs became our away shirt sponsor.

Both companies are still with us at the present time.

Sason 2008/2009 a company, UTS Engineering (Utility Technology Services), became involved by sponsoring the player’s travel and training kit and during the close season of 2009/2010 they kindly agreed to become the club’s principal sponsor.

The club name was changed from Dunston Federation F.C. to Dunston UTS F.C., the name of the ground was changed to the UTS Stadium and company owner, Mr. Shaun Sadler became Club President.

Over the years the club has always recognised that success on the field must be coupled with success and hard work off the field and the efforts of the people behind the scenes at the UTS Stadium has ensured that the stadium is a credit to the club. Many of the committee of the club have been involved since it was founded in 1975, some as former players and some as management on the playing side.

It is a tribute to their commitment and hard work that the club has become one of the most successful in the North East.