The following match reports are from fans. They probably have a bias (surprise, surprise).
Never the less, they provide an insight into the mind (however small!) of your average fan.
Enjoy!
AVENUE 5 - 0 Witton Albion (03/04/99) (H) 
I sat down on the nice warm comfy seat (yeah right-ed)
provided by the Avenue hoping for us to win, by maybe 2-1, 2-0 etc. After all they were above us inthe league and
beat us away from home in the league when Bally tried to be a goalkeeper, and failed. But on recent form I thought
we could do them. After all they aren't near the bottom so the Avenue weren't likely to feel sorry for them and
field a weak side and give them the points, like they have been doing in recent weeks(Great Harwood and Whitely
Bay - sorry to remind you.
YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! GET IN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These were the first words that I said at the ground today, as no sooner had the match started, BRIGGS (of all people) scored one the of the best goals thisseason. He collected the ball on his chest and as it bounced up from the ground he hit it from 25 yards out (There seems to be some variety on the distance. See the Avenue Homepage - Boon). The keeper, already standing off his line didn't move and couldn't get any where near the ball as Briggsy lobbed the keeper.The goal was that good that for me and I'm sure for many other fans, the goal happened in slow motion and everything else around seemed to pale into insignificance. Anyway back to reality - Bally tries the same shot, need I say more. I thought and being a ref myself,so I thought wrong,that Avenue should have had a free-kick inside the area for obstruction Jones, following a great ball by Bally. Well, it wasn't given, we'd used all our good luck up on the goal.So for the next 10 - 15mins, Avenue played some really attractive football (then my dad woke me up). No, seriously, it was great to watch and the passingand movement of the players was premiership standard - well not quite, but you can see what I'm waffling on about. Well, no dream lasts for ever and Witton started to get back into the game with some good shots on goal and should have scored twice. The next thing to mention - because your'e probably bored by now, was another great shot from Briggs (two in one game-ed) but this time the keeper made a good save.
HT-1-0
Up to about 60mins the second half was quite boring and the only team to have a chance was Witton and they should have scored, if it wasn't for a great save by O'connor, diving to his right and saving with his foot. So, 15mins gone of the second half and I'm bored, so bored in fact that I started to talk about the government with my dad for god's sake!!! Well that was soon to change as Bally won us a free-kick on the edge of the area and instead of Bally taking it himself (and usually wasting it), BENN came along and like David Beckham (how can you compare Benn to Beckham? Benn's a far better player - Boon)placed the ball into the top left hand corner, no thanks to the keeper, who wasn't even looking. So by now I've pretty much decided that we will win, and start looking at who we can over-take in the league apart from Witton, answer = no one. Great stuff!! The next goal came from a mistake by the Witton defence, asthe keeper came to collect an easy ball, the defender decided to flick it back to him, so much so that he flicked it past him and Brandon ran on only to see hehad to put a 20cm ball through a 4cm gap, well Brandon is Brandon, so he tried anyway, he hit the far post and Nicky HEY was there to seal the game for the Avenue. We should have scored again , if Brandon hadn't have been greedy (but I don't blame him). 2 on 1 was the situation, the 1 being the Witton goalkeeper, and Brandon blasts it over the bar. The ball is sent out on the wide right and is crossed in by Hey, deflected by a defender into the path of BRIGGS,who easily scores.Yawn!!!! By this time I was getting a bit sick of scoring goals (yeah right-ed), but what the hell, lets have another one (my fingers are hurting,hope we don't score every week). HEY walks through the right hand side of the defence and pokes ball in off the far post.5-0. But lets be fair, I didn't really think we were 5 goals better than Witton - but I don't care.
FT5-0
Team: O'Connor, Hand (Blair), Benn, Sharpe (Freeman), Grayston, Brandon, Briggs, Jones, Ball, Maxwell, Hey (Edge)
Chris's Ratings:
O'Connor: 8 - Saved us many a time! Hand: 7 - Did what he had to, can't cross to save his life. Benn: 7 - Quiet game for him, unusual, still, some good ball's forward. Sharpe: 8 - Rock, nothing got past him, but got knackered near the end. Grayston: 7 - Some good runs forward, linked up well with Bally. Brandon: 9 - Man of The Match (Again, get lost Lincoln) Skill, pace, tricks, he had the lot today. Briggs: 8 - Great goal, good battling and went forward well. Jones: 8 - Great vision, good footballing mind, some good play in the middle of the park. Ball: 7 - First Half - poor. Second Half - Good, some great runs and good work rate. Maxwell: 7 - Usual battling game, nothing's a lost cause to him, work rate second to none. Hey: 9 - Great first touch, good shooting and some great linking play with Brandon in the second half
Subs
Blair: 8 - Did well when he came on, we have missed him.
Freeman: 7 - Came on late and didn't have to do much.
Edge: Only played for a minute, but in that he made a good turn, good pass and a shot that just went over, not bad for 1min of football.
Chris Clough
Boons notes : It was certainly a nice day for it. The players gave their all and sent the supporters home happy. NINE goals in 2 home games? - Nurse, pass me the tablets! One nice touch before the game involved none other than chief car park attendant and Brighouse madman, Mad Pete Hearns. He led the team onto the pitch (everyone wondered who the old git in the hat was - was he a new signing?) and was then presented with a shirt for his dedication to his job at Avenue (often under ridicule and abuse) and for the fact that he had managed to reach the ripe old age of 50. AARP salutes you, Mad Pete Hearns, the maddest person in Brighouse!
Bye the way Chris, who is Ed? (Tee Hee)
Afterthoughts
Speaking as an unbiased spectator, who is well known for his balanced overall objective view of matches and incidents (quiet Martin), Witton, your boys took one hell of a beating. They might claim to be tired but I for one am quite tired of the pathetic excuses given by other teams after we beat them. What next, The Farsley Shopper or whatever rag they are seen in using fire, flood, disease and witchcraft to explain the "lucky" 2-0 win?
James Northin (08/04/99)
After Geoff posted news of photos of our game on the Witton side, I had a look and found, to my amusement, that the reason they lost 5-0 to us was because they were tired out from all the games they had played in the preceding couple of weeks.The same players then went on to win 1-0 on Monday and win 1-0 away at Hucknall last night.Perhaps the real reason they lost so heavily on Saturday was because they met a far superior side?
Martin Worthy (08/04/99)
Farcely Celtic 0 - 2 AVENUE (05/04/99)
(A)
The game started very promising for the Avenue, and we had a rare
sight in Wayne Benn playing in midfield, his best position, but Trevor seems to think differently about that (about
everything-ed). It's was Benn who took the
Avenue's first chance with a shot from out side the area from about 20yards (or was it 25, or maybe 30) anyway,
the shot went flying over the bar so it doesn't matter.
And that was it, nothing else happened.Well not for the next 15min anyway. You could tell today, how much this
team has come along in recent times, because we completely out played Farsley in every department, and to think
they beat us at home is a joke. Farsley were awful, we weren't that much better, but they really were dreadful.
They never made a pass, the marking was terrible, it was really like watching Sunday League Football. So what did
the Avenue do about this, well I'll tell you what they did, they played to the same level as Farsley, well
more or less. So you get the picture, I WAS BORED! "This is as exciting as clipping your toe nails",
quoted Madman Pete. We have now got another team to add to our cloggers list, the list now reads:Hucknall Town,Flixton
and now Farsley, they couldn't play football, so they kicked us instead. Anyway, by this time, Avenue had started
to get on top and all Farsley could do was blast the ball out (Wimbledon style) for one attacker to chase. It was
only a matter of time before Avenue scored and it came on the 17min when a great ball through by Wayne Benn sent
Jason MAXWELL on to score with a shot across the diving goalkeeper.
The game went into another drought and I was once again bored. All through this time though, the Avenue were still
on top but it took until the 32min for Hay to beat the offside trap and run on to a goalkeeper that just stopped,
and HAY was left to score easily. And if anyone was unsure about the linesmans (assistant referee) decision, well
I was right on line with play and it was defiantly onside. The game now started to get a lot better and on the
35min Connor battled well to win the ball to play a smart, Brandon like, one two with Maxwell only to be pulled
to the floor, result - no penalty.
A rare chance for Farsley in the 40th min happened when O'Connor slipped to let a Farsley Striker shoot at an empty
net only for Sharpey, who was a rock all game, to head of the line. A minute later we (the fans) had something
to cheer about when Derek O'Connor decided that a diving header was the best way to clear the ball. Another shot
came in from Benn just before the end of the half.
HT:0-2
I'll apologise in advance for the second half report, if you think
it's crap.Basically, the reason is because I spent most of the half waiting for
some chips being cooked. "It'll only take a minute", she said, 15min later I got my chips, typical!!!
(quite speedy at Farsley! - Boon)
Anyway, on with the match. Grayston must have been taking lesson's from Briggs and he tried to lob the keeper and
it just went over. From then on it was really one way traffic and Avenue were killing them with lot's of chances
going begging. A Bally goal as given offside, Sharpy got a shot clear from in his own half, Maxwell had his shot
saved after good work on the ball.
With 10min to go Farsley had their no 10 sent off. So all in all, we should have won by 4,5 goals, we just didn't
take our chances.
FT:0-2
Team:
O'Connor, Blair, Connor, Sharpe, Grayston, Briggs, Benn, Jones, Ball, Hey, Maxwell
Subs
: (not used) Freeman, Bagshaw, Edge
Ratings:
O'Connor-9(Man of the Match), Blair-7, Connor-7, Sharpe-7, Grayston-8, Briggs-8, Benn-7, Jones-8, Bally-8, Hey-8,
Maxwell-8
Chris Clough
Boon's notes : I think Farcely showed yesterday why they
are dangerously close to the drop zone. They were absolute crap, apart from a few forays in the second half. They
had very little to offer. Avenue weren't at their brilliant best on a very hard, bumpy pitch, but their class told
and they won comfortably. The Farsley player who was sent off (Blackstone?) was apparently responsible for breaking
the leg of a Workington player last season. Do we need players like that in the game? I don't think so. One final
thought - WAYNE NOTEMAN - Englands only registered footballing domino! (and he has six elbows!). I sincerely hope
that Avenue are not considering re-signing him. He is useless.
Alfreton Town 2 - 2 AVENUE (10/04/99) (A) 
(read on, you will find out why)
When we played Congleton, I thought they were the worst team we have had to play this season, the week later I
decided that I was wrong, and that Farsley were the worst team we had played, but yet again, today Alfreton were
pathetically rubbish!!!! And although my match reports are a bit bias, this is the truth. Alfreton were awful and
most of the team looked old and unfit and had as much control over the ball as our (ex) goalkeeper Atkinson. Anyway, the game started
off with a fantastic turn by Maxwell and the cross
flashes past the goal, with nobody there put the ball away. From then on Avenue dominated the game and shots were
coming in from all angles, Connor blasted over the bar when it would have been easier to score than miss, another
chance came from great work in midfield by Benn and `Nezza` to leave Bally to cross into the box - this resulted
in two players missing the ball on the line. 26mins gone and a great turn again by Maxwell, leaving Briggs to score
with only the keeper to beat. I started to jump up and down with joy, then realised he'd missed, just proves that
his other goal must have been a fluke(joke). The next move came from a great Jones ball to Hay and he played it
to Bally who converted from 2 yards, scrappy, but they all count. Well, the lead didn't last long as 5 minutes
after we had scored, a diving header by Alfreton's number 7 brought the game level following a poor save by O'Connor.
More shots follow from the Avenue but they couldn't take the lead before half time, may I recommend shooting practice
Trevor!!!PLEASE!!!
HT 1-1
Minutes into the second half Briggs shoots into the corner, at last
a shot on target! For the early part of this half I was thinking over figures around 5,6 maybe 7. More shots rained
in from Jones and Hay and even Bally, none tested the keeper, in fact, none went on target. Surprise, surprise!!!
With 15minutes left and Avenue playing awful, a big difference to the 1st half, Alfreton scored. The ball was crossed
in to the area and then dropped to the Alfreton number 10, he the lobbed the keeper from 5 yards while the
entire team, Avenue that is, including O'Connor, watched it slowly float into the net. Pathetic, crap ,awful. All
these words spring to mind, including some others, but I try not to use that type of language. For the rest of
the game nothing improved, and all our hearts sank with 5min to go as O'Connor missed kicked a back pass and it
went straight to Alfreton's number 10, open net , O'Connor on the floor, 18 yards out, good job he's rubbish
All in all, we should have won by 10 clear goals.
FT 2-2
Team:
O'Connor, Blair, Connor, Bagshaw, Grayston, Briggs, Benn, Jones, Ball, Maxwell, Hay
Subs:
Hand
Brown (Legend!! Legend!!!)
Freeman
Ratings: First Half Second Half
O'Connor- 6 6
Blair- 7 6
Connor- 7 6
Bagshaw- 7 7
Grayston- 7 6
Briggs- 6 5
Benn- 8 7
Jones- 9 6
Ball- 7 5
Maxwell- 9 7
Hay- 7 4/5
Chris Clough
Boon's notes: Unfortunately I couldn't make the game today, but on reflection perhaps I was one of the lucky ones! Avenue have this season failed to produce a decent display against poor teams on many occasions. This is a problem that must be addressed if we are to be taken seriously as promotion candidates next season. Don't give me the old "There's nothing to play for" crap. What about pride. What about those loyal supporters who travel all over the bloody place, often standing in council rubbish dumps masquerading as football grounds? What about...................(shut-up!)
SATURDAY FOOTBALL
UNIBOND LEAGUE DIVISION ONE 10/04/99
Alfreton Town 2-2 Bradford P A, Ashton Utd 1-0 Matlock Town, Belper Town 2-1 Congleton Town, Burscough 1-2 Stocksbridge
P S, Eastwood Town 1-0 Gretna, Farsley Celtic 1-2 Harrogate Town, Flixton 2-0 Whitley Bay,
Great Harwood Town 0-1Droylsden, Lincoln Utd 5-3 Trafford, Radcliffe Borough 1-1 Netherfield Kendal, Witton Albion
0-2 Hucknall T
AVENUE 0 - 3 Ashton United (13/04/99) (H)
No match report has eminated from our scribe (as yet!) for this game. It may be he was as tossed off as most of the crowd that night............. Oh well.
AVENUE 3 - 1 Eastwood Town (17/04/99) (H)
After Brigg's goal in the opening minute a few weeks back, you wouldn't think avenue
would have the luck again. But we did. Brandon got the goal after poor work by the Eastwood defender who headed
thin air and Brandon blasted the ball past the keeper from 6 yards out. This goal rocked the visitors, but they
still managed to get a good save out of Avenue's Irish U-21 international keeper after only 3mins. Avenue continued
to press and the pressure paid off, as great skill by (Ginola like) Brandon found Maxwell and when he fell to the
floor, there was a big sigh as most fans, including myself, thought that another chance had gone begging, but this
time things happened a little differently. Maxwell, while sat on his back side, kicked the ball out wide to Jones,
who eventually found Bally in the middle and after a bit of a goal mouth scramble Bally powered the ball past the
Beckham look alike goalkeeper (shame he wasn't a good as Beckham). So, 15 mins gone and Avenue are 2 goals to
the good, rare? yes, deserved? yes. The first half was just one way traffic and I personally thought we should
have doubled our lead easily, but still, I'm not complaining, unlike some people I had the misfortune to sit near.
The next effort was from Nezza, who had a shot from about just inside the area, really should have scored, but
didn't. 20min gone and Hey felt sorry for the Eastwood defence (who just let Avenue run at them) and blocked a
shot that looked destined for the far corner by Brandon (who's side is he on anyway). Another shot from Brandon
came a few minutes later as he beat 2 and again someone got in the way of the shot. The Eastwood defence sat back
and let Avenue run at them so much that we even saw Clive Freeman in attack and when he received the ball, just
outside the penalty area, he had so much time that he did two kick up's (the defence still hadn't closed him down,
in fact they were just watching!) and blasted the ball on the half volley to see it actually hit the target, the
keeper saved. Usually Clive's shots end up clearing the ground. The game levelled out going into half time, but
Eastwood still didn't look like scoring.
HT 2-0
This half wasn't what I had expected. For one I expected Eastwood to have a real go at it, they didn't, I also
expected Avenue to score 2 or 3 goals, they didn't. In fact it took up till 61mins for something to happen. Hey
ran into the area and looked to have lost the ball, but was still pulled down by the defender, penalty! So Clive
stepped up to take it, pictures of Colwyn Bay entered every head in the stand (not mine, I wasn't there - Boon) but were soon forgotten (hopefully
never to return) when Forrest smashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net (aiming for Telford, who was standing behind the net doing his impression of a ball
boy). A mess up between David Beckham and a defender left Jones to score from
about 40 yards out, well you already know the score, so he obviously didn't, but it was close as it scraped the
post, I think! Nothing else happened in the game apart from a great free-kick by Morgan (top scorer in Unibond
Div 1) with 15min left. Oh, and a great cross by Hey gave Maxwell the chance to score, but his stretching foot
just sent the ball wide of the far post. So, the game was dominated by Avenue and Eastwood weren't 6th place material.
FT 3-1
Ratings:
O'Connor-7, Blair-8, Benn-8, Bagshaw-7, Freeman-8, Grayston-8, Ball-8, Jones- Brandon-8, Maxwell-7, Hay-7
Subs: Connor-6 (only played 5min), Hand-6 (only played 5min)
Chris Clough
Today's Results (17/04/99)
UNIBOND LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Belper Town 1-1 Radcliffe Borough,
Bradford P A 3-1 Eastwood Town
Burscough 2-1 Lincoln Utd
Congleton Town 2-2 Ashton Utd
Great Harwood Town 2-1 Whitley Bay
Gretna 0-0 Farsley Celtc
Harrogate Town 1-3 Droylsden
Hucknall Town 1-1 Trafford
Netherfield Kendal 1-2 Matlock Town
Stocksbridge P S P-P Witton Albion
Table correct at 17/04/99 (supplied by Geoff Northin)
UNIBOND Div.1
|
TEAM |
PLD |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
PTS |
PP |
|
Droylsden |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hucknall Town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ashton Utd |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lincoln Utd |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Burscough |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eastwood Town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-6 |
|
|
|
Radcliffe Borough |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AVENUE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harrogate Town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Witton Albion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gretna |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-1 |
|
|
|
Trafford |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-6 |
|
|
|
Stocksbridge PS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Belper Town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-1 |
|
|
|
Netherfield Kendal |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-12 |
|
|
|
Flixton |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-13 |
|
|
|
Matlock Town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-15 |
|
|
|
Farsley Celtic |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-16 |
|
|
|
Congleton Town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-25 |
|
|
|
Whitley Bay |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-21 |
|
|
|
Great Harwood Town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-26 |
|
|
|
Alfreton Town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-27 |
|
|
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