Saturday 17th March 2012 ko 7.30pm

Central Midlands League North Division

GLAPWELL 0

PARKHOUSE 2 (Clay 23 Wain 73)

Att 201

Entry & Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £2.50

The final game saw the hop at a club returning to the CMFL after rising as far as the Northern Premier League.

Still in North Derbyshire Glapwell is most famous for its colliery which closed in the 1970’s. Its most famous employee was current Bolsover (around 3 miles away) MP Dennis Skinner. Apparently he often tells the story of turning up back at the pit to work his shift after being elected as an MP as he still considered himself a miner, and being an MP not a proper job.

The village is listed in the Domesday Book. In 1086, the book notes that Serb holds this for William Peverall, “In Clapwell, Liefric had one carucate of land to the geld. There is land for as two ploughs. There eight villans have 6 ploughs… Serb now holds it.”

I found it hard to see the place as a colliery village, as there’s something rather quiet and rural about the place. Hall Corner was easily the best appointed of the grounds on the Bonanza, a testament to the club’s rise and fall. The club won the CMFL in 1994 and won their way through both divisions of the Northern Counties East to reach the Northern Premier League. That’s reflected in cover on 2 sides and 137 seats at the ground plus a club shop and burger bar. Despite this, Hall Corner was not deemed suitable for the NPL and for the 2010–11 season, the club had an agreement with Mansfield Town F.C. which allowed the club to play their home games at Mansfield’s ground, Field Mill. Disaster struck in December as Mansfield were locked out of the ground by their landlord Keith Haslam, and so the Glapwell reluctantly returned to Hall Corner. At the end of the season the club resigned from the NPL over ground grading issues and returned to the CMFL, opting not to enter the higher status Northern Counties East.

There was a little nugget of news about the opposition too. Clay Cross based Parkhouse are set to change their name to Clay Cross Town so as to better reflect the suburb of Chesterfield in which they play. Perhaps I should have bought one of their badges, I’d have a little piece of history.

In a scrappy game of few chances it was the visitors’ quality in the final third that was the difference with Glapwell struggling to register a meaningful shot on target.
After a cagey opening where Parkhouse went close on a couple of occasions, they took the lead on 23 minutes in fortuitous circumstances.  Ant Lynam’s through ball was headed back into the middle of the box by Michael Wain. Lee Clay’s shot was blocked by keeper Jamie Davies, but the rebound hit Clay and agonisingly the ball trickled in.
Glapwell were guilty of gifting away possession and they created very few clear-cut chances throughout the game. Parkhouse could have doubled their lead just after the break but full back Luke Beatson headed over the bar when it looked a good deal easier to score.
Glapwell had a half chance just before the hour when Jordan Johnson’s free kick was headed over by Jay Whalley. Thet followed that up when Kye Martey controlled well, before playing in Callum Green, whose low effort just slid past the post from around 18 yards out.
Alex Marsh then volleyed into the side netting for Glapwell, but the game was won for the visitors on 72 minutes when Wain beat Davies with a powerful effort from an acute angle from the right.
Clay then netted again for Parkhouse, but it was disallowed for offside while the closest Glapwell were to scoring in then remainder of the game was when Adam Jones curled a free-kick just over the bar from the edge of the area. It all looked rather laboured for Glapwell, who now find themselves second from bottom of the table, with just the unfortunate Welbeck Welfare (22 games ,0 points) below them. Hopefully this will be the nadir for this hard-working club’s fortunes, as a further relegation would I fear be fatal to them.

And so another hop finished, with goodbyes and best wishes. I finally caught up with Margerete and Jens from Germany, and made sure I found Rob Hornby to both thank him and congratulate him on another wonderful Bonanza. So now its on to the next one!