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Wednesday 14th September 2022
NCEFL Premier Division
Albion Sports   2  v   0   Eccleshill United
Lee Hodgkinson (RAF FA); Louie Parker, George Paterson.

The League's website is usually very reliable, so it must be assumed that the officials were as listed. Clearly, though, neither assistant was the ... er...mature George Paterson remembered from seasons past. I recall once remarking that there must be a younger AR of that name, but was assured that he was simply wearing well.

The minute's silence was observed quietly, but unlike the two previous ones, very many people remained seated.

Either of the two strips on display would have been most welcome at the previous night's fixture at Golcar:  Albion in their usual pale lemon shirts, while Eccleshill, for whom a win would take them to the top of the table, sported a change strip with a bright candy pink shirt.

On just 4 minutes a defender made a typical Albion challenge - never mind the ball, just clatter the opponent's legs - and seemed surprised to be summoned to receive a yellow card. If so, he was in a minority of one, even his team-mates telling him just to take his medicine. Things proceeded quietly thereafter, the main moment of excitement coming when Eccleshill broke and netted on 24 minutes, but were correctly denied by AR1's flag. In the latter stages of the half there was a lecture for an Albion player and his captain, presumably for dissent, followed a minute later by one for the visitors, minus captain (or maybe he was the captain.) A minute into added time Albion took the lead  Play continued and the ball went out for a throw. Mr Hodgkinson knew how to annoy JCFC - wait for the ball to be retrieved, wait for the player to be ready to take it, encourage with a "Let's go" and blow his whistle the moment the ball left the thrower's hands.

Six minutes into the second half there was a curious tangle between two players on the edge of the Eccleshill area, with the defender apparently emerging with the ball, but it broke instead to a lone attacker, who easily scored his side's second. Things continued quietly thereafter and JCFC was thinking that Mr Hodgkinson was looking one of the more convincing Level 4s, when, on 83 minutes, Eccleshill thought they had scored. Mr Hodgkinson initially seemed minded to award the goal, but the home side protested (led by the noisy guy in the centre circle.) The referee then ran over to AR2, who didn't appear to have flagged, though JCFC might simply have missed it. After a conversation, Mr Hodgkinson returned to disallow the goal. It may well have been the right decision - who knows? - but it was not arrived at in the most convincing manner. There was quite a delay, during which Mr Hodgkinson did a decent job of dealing with Eccleshill protests, taking the captain to one side and clearing others away, both from himself and the assistant (though the latter continued to receive unsolicited advice from a distance) and managed to sell his decision at length to the captain. At the final whistle there were no obvious complaints from the players, but Mr Hodgkinson led his team off the pitch with the players still out there, before the managers could reach him.

That little incident perhaps took some of the gloss off an otherwise good evening's work, but generally Mr Hodgkinson's manner and triage impressed. In a quiet ground, what did not impress was the language of the two sides, which repeatedly carried into the stands. I do wish they knew better - but then I am an old puritan.