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Leek Town News Share 14/02/10
MILLER JOINS CONGLETON Leek Town manager Wayne Johnson has loaned out last season’s leading scorer Ashley Miller to North West Counties League outfit Congleton Town. Miller was an almost ever-present in the Blues’ side this season but a nasty tackle in the Staffs Senior Cup game against Newcastle Town in mid November saw him join the long-term injury list. The midfielder missed a penalty in the Newcastle game, before being caught by a challenge just minutes from the final whistle and was left nursing ankle ligament damage. Miller made a come-back from the bench at home to Quorn six weeks later and since then has made only two full appearances. Therefore, Miller has gone to Congleton Town to get games under his belt and he scored for the Bears in their 2-0 win on Saturday. MORE PLAYER NEWS Midfielder Richard Bailey made a welcome appearance from the bench at Glapwell on Saturday following a lengthy lay-off due to injury. Bailey, now in his second season at Harrison Park, missed a huge chunk of the opening of this season after damaging knee ligaments in a pre-season friendly at Buxton last August. He made a return to the action as a sub in the home win over Kendal in the FA Trophy on 17 October but four weeks later he was side-lined again after suffering ankle and knee injuries following a shocking challenge in the UniBond Challenge Cup win at Worksop. Now, a further two months down the line, Bailey is back and hopefully all his injury problems are now behind him. Meanwhile, Anthony Malbon has returned to Vale Park after playing just three games for Leek who took him on Work Experience terms from League Two neighbours Port Vale. The 18-year old striker netted twice in his first game and in an ironic twist to the story, Malbon set up Blues’ goal in the recent 1-1 draw against Witton Albion. Malbon is a former pupil at Holden High school where Blues’ striker Paul Rutter is a PE teacher. Rutter taught Malbon at school and lat week the pupil set up the teacher for the goal against Witton. Manager Wayne Johnson will continue to monitor the situation at Vale Park with a view to Malbon continuing his work experience at Harrison Park. BLUES FAN IN AFGHANISTAN Leek Town Football Club is arranging to send out copies of their match day programme to one of their fans who is currently serving in Afghanistan. Anthony Lowndes is serving with the Grenadier Guards on his first tour of duty in the war-torn country and members of the club have vowed to keep in touch whilst he’s away. Anthony, 21, from Longnor, joined the Guards two years ago and took part in Trooping of the Colour ceremonies before commencing his campaign training. The former St Bartholomew’s and Leek High School pupil flew out to Afghanistan last month and is not due back in the UK until the end of April. Anthony was introduced to Leek Town by his father Ian Lowndes, a local coach driver who drives Blues to all their away fixtures. Members of Leek Town Football Club send their best wishes to Anthony and his colleagues and hope for a speedy and safe return in what must be a worrying time for his parents Ian and Jane, his family and all his friends UNIBOND LEAGUE SPONSORSHIP ENDS UniBond's record-breaking 17 year association with the Northern Premier League will end at the close of this season it was announced today. The league will start the 2010/11 season with new sponsors, following the decision by UniBond's parent company Henkel not to enter into a new agreement. Dave McCann, Henkel UK Marketing Director said, “We have really valued our 17 year relationship with the Northern Premier Football League. “The brand synergy was perfect and the support given to us from the NPL unparalleled. On top of that it provided us with the perfect interface with our consumers. “Having conducted a review of our brand communication strategy we have decided to realign our investments to more closely meet the needs of the business and of our end consumers" NPL chairman Mark Harris was pragmatic in his response to the news. "All good things come to an end, and we have known for some months that there was a possibility that our association with Henkel might conclude at the end of this season. “With that in mind we put a strategy in place to approach prospective successors to UniBond, and a number of very positive discussions have already taken place. “The Northern Premier League's catchment area covers 38% of the country's entire population, and the media coverage we receive delivers 4.6 billion opportunities for a new sponsor to build its brand." "Although we are sad to be parting company with such an excellent and supportive sponsor as UniBond, we have the opportunity to establish long-term partnerships with other companies seeking an association with grass roots football. “However I would like to thank UniBond for their vital financial input to member clubs past and present, and for the heightened profile the sponsorship has brought the league”. In conclusion Mr Harris added, “We wish them and the Henkel organisation all the best for the future." GLAPWELL REVIEW Blues six-match unbeaten league run was ended in a 2-1 defeat at Hall Corner against a well-organised Glapwell outfit on Saturday. In truth Leek struggled to make many clear-cut chances throughout the game and the new striking partnership of Anthony Malbon and Paul Rutter rarely looked like adding to their tally of four goals in two games. Glapwell took the lead after 40 minutes through Jamie Clarke but Blues were handed a lifeline on the stroke of half-time when Nick Ward's speculative cross from the left looped over the Glapwell keeper and dropped into the back of the net. The second half was largely one-way traffic as Blues failed to make many inroads into the Glapwell defence. Clarke sealed the win on 80 minutes when his low shot from the edge of the box was unfortunately fumbled by Steve Hodgson into his net. After the game Johnson commented, “I’m disappointed to lose our unbeaten run but it was a scrappy game with both sides wary of each other. “They are a well organised battling side who keep pumping balls up into the box – they challenge for every ball, look to pick up the pieces and don’t give much away. “We gave them too much respect and didn’t use the width normally provided by Matt Johnson and Wayne Corden. “All three goals were scrappy – their first from a mistake and a deflection at the back leaving their lad clear and then, as Steve Hodgson went to cover his front post, the ball took a deflection and bobble right in front of him. “The lads felt as though they had let themselves down so we go to Loughborough on Tuesday looking to get back on track”, he added. Blues entertain Glapwell in the return fixture in just 9 days time on Tuesday 23 February 7.45pm IT’S LOUGHBOROUGH NEXT…. Leek travel to Loughborough Dynamo on Tuesday with both sides looking for their first win over each other in a competitive game. In their first ever games against each other last season Leek were held to a 1-1 draw at Harrison Park whilst Blues held Dynamos at the Nanpantan Sports Ground with a 2-2 scoreline. On the opening day of this season, goals from Ashley Miller, Wayne Corden and Oliver Edwards cancelled out Dynamo goals to record a third draw in as many games. Loughborough are currently 17th in the league table with 29 points from 33 games and are 7 places and 8 points below Leek who have three games in hand. However, it wont be easy at the NSG because Loughborough have a potent strike force and have netted 16 goals in their last six games but on Saturday they threw away a two-goal lead against Championship chasing Chasetown who salvaged a point with two late goals. ….THEN CHASETOWN On Saturday Leek travel to Chasetown to play a first ever league game against their fellow Staffordshire opponents. Blues met Chasetown for the first time in October last year and won 2-1 in the League Challenge Cup with goals from Leon Ashman and Dan Cope. However, Chasetown have gone on to top the table since and are still in with a strong chance of promotion come the end of May. They showed their resilience on Saturday when they battled back from two goals down to force a draw at Loughborough on Saturday. AN EVENING WITH ALAN HUDSON Leek Town Football Club will hold ‘An Evening with Alan Hudson’ in the Blues Bar next Friday 19 March. The former Stoke City, Chelsea and England legend is coming to Harrison Park to talk about his life and career and also sign copies of his new book Tickets priced £15 will soon be available on an individual basis and will include a pie and peas supper. The event is being sponsored by Wrights Pies and will kick off at 7.30pm and is open to all. WEMBLEY: TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY Leek Town Football Club is looking to celebrate twenty seasons since the club made its historic visit to the Twin Towers for the FA Trophy Final against Barrow. Club Chairman Andrew Wain is in the process of tracking down the 1990 Wembley squad to play a commemorative match in early May against some of the stars of Blues’ Conference promotion squad. Admission to the event, which will also include a hog roast, will be around the £4 mark. If anyone out there is in contact with any of Blues’ former players around the 1989/ 97 period please contact 01782 626 555. |
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