Holker Street Newsletter 319 - 17th March 1999

This edition reaches 317 people around the world.

SOME THOUGHTS FROM DEREK WILSON
I presume you noticed the deliberate mistake in both the MATCHfacts and Soccernet reports on the Farnborough game? It was Farnborough who went 2-1 up just before the break and Barrow who equalised later through Hayward. Overall, I thought the game was a point won for Barrow, with Farnborough certainly finishing the stronger side and having more possession. We were lucky when they hit the post in the dying minutes but we had hit the bar in the opening few minutes to balance that. Our first goal was a well-worked corner (rather than head tennis, as stated in the report). Eddie Kennedy put the corner to the near post, Lee O'Keeffe flicked it on and Eddie Johnston was coming in behind to head powerfully in from six yards, straight off the training pitch and very effective. Our second goal was just the opposite with the Farnborough defender completely missing the ball with his attempted clearance, the keeper nowhere and the ball trickling past everyone, rolling onto the post and crawling over the line. At least this made up for our own defensive ineptitude of earlier that led to both Farnborough goals, we had the chance to clear on both occasion but failed to do so. Davies, in the Barrow goal, had a bit of a stinker. He made a couple of dodgy clearances early on and the home fans got on his back about it. This seemed to get to him and he looked nervous for the rest of the game with many of his kicks going straight to touch.

Don't get me wrong. Farnborough are no great shakes. Barrow worked hard, with Dawson in particular running all over the pitch chasing the long balls into the corners that Barrow now rely on. Paul Jones looks a completely different player to the one that started the season (i.e. he is playing well) with Higgins and Johnston doing a splendid blocking job at the heart of defence. O'Keeffe did well early on but tired towards the end and I was surprised that Foster didn't come on in the latter part of the game. I thought his pace might have caused Farnborough some trouble and would have freshened things up again at the front. It's difficult to judge the performance of the midfield as they tend to be bypassed with our current style of play, but Hayward did quite well whilst Andy Hill had a quiet full debut.

The important thing was that Farnborough didn't close the gap. The Welling result was good but pity about Telford and Southport. It looks as though Leek are being dragged into the scrap though.


AN UPDATE OF THE SURVIVAL FUND

To date the survival fund has raised approximately UKP6833, and the following payments have been made.

22/1/99 UKP500 - Towards players’ wages
8/2/99 UKP2000 - Towards players’ wages
26/2/99 UKP1500 - Towards players’ wages
13/2/99 UKP50 - Golden Goal Prize
20/2/99 UKP50 - Golden Goal Prize
6/3/99 UKP50 - Golden Goal Prize
19/2/99 UKP35 - Registration for a Lottery (Big Raffle)
28/2/99 UKP10 - Expenses for Quiz Night
9/3/99 UKP250 - Printing costs for Barrow AFC Prints

This leaves a balance of UKP2388.81.

This does not include all the profits from the sale of the prints or the income from the Poolathon (UKP500 - estimated).

Events in the planning stage include: A big raffle - prizes such as: A week’s free loan of a 4x4 vehicle, a mountain bike, etc. A "Duck Race", further quiz nights, a fashion show and another race night. The fund are continuing with quiz sheets, golden goal, matchday raffle. The assistant chairman of the Survival Fund is now on the Barrow AFC (1999) Board. Thanks to all who have donated towards the fund. The aim is to build up a reserve for when the club might need it.

John Shepherd
Assistant Treasurer


A LITTLE BIRD TELLS ME

It appears there may be a problem with the Holker Street floodlights, the reserves played Altrincham reserves on Monday night and the pylon at the Cross Bar/west terrace corner only had a couple of lights working. If it had been a Conference match the game would have been abandoned. I don't know what the exact problem is but if anyone can offer any assistance, can you contact me on . The result of the reserves game? Barrow lost 2-1 and Foster missed a penalty.

If you were wondering why there were ten places available on the team coach to Farnborough,
Virgin trains closed the West Coast (railway) main line that weekend as they were replacing a bridge in the Lancaster area. As a result the rail company have hired virtually all the coaches in the area so they could bus the passengers past the blockage. As the total travelling time for the trip is over twelve hours, two drivers are required, but that’s not the end of it, the coach takes a somewhat circuitous rout from Barrow to the south coast. First the coach Barrow hired has to come from Carlisle, so it comes down to Barrow, then picks up in Ulverston and then Preston. From here it goes down the M6 to Knutsford to pick up the Liverpool based players, then across the M62 to Leeds to pick up Davis and Heywood, then down the A1 to pick up Westley and Beck at Newark before continuing on to Farnborough. Total coach cost approximately UKP800-850.

It appears Lee Prior has come back to the club to make the midfield a little more physical.


PEN PICTURE

Lee Prior (Defender/Midfielder)
Joined Liverpool as a trainee and was a regular in their reserve team and featured in their 1995-96 FA Youth Cup winning team. Joined Barrow in the summer August 1997 following his release from Anfield, and moved to Prescot Cables in December 1998.


CONFERENCE 15-16 MARCH 1999
Monday 15 March: Hednesford Town P Kingstonian P
Tuesday 16 March: Cheltenham Town 0 Farnborough Town 0, Leek Town 0 Southport 0, Northwich Victoria 1 Doncaster Rovers 3, Rushden & Diamonds 2 Dover Athletic 2, Welling United 1 Stevenage Borough 1, Woking 0 Kettering Town 0.

P W D L F:A Pts
Kettering Town..............36 19 9 8 52:30 66
Cheltenham Town.............32 17 12 3 56:25 63
Rushden & Diamonds..........32 17 9 6 55:28 60
------------------------------------------------------------
Hayes.......................33 16 6 11 45:44 54
Dover Athletic..............34 13 12 9 47:38 51
Kingstonian.................31 13 12 6 45:38 51
Yeovil Town.................29 13 9 7 45:35 48
Stevenage Borough...........32 11 15 6 42:35 48
Hednesford Town.............30 11 13 6 36:30 46
Northwich Victoria..........32 13 7 12 40:39 46
Woking......................30 12 7 11 33:31 43
Forest Green Rovers.........28 10 9 9 43:32 39
Doncaster Rovers............34 10 9 15 40:46 39
Hereford United.............34 10 9 15 36:42 39
Kidderminster Harriers......33 10 8 15 41:41 38
Morecambe...................33 10 7 16 46:64 37
Telford United..............33 7 13 13 35:50 34
Southport...................31 7 13 11 38:46 34
BARROW......................33 8 9 16 33:49 33
--------------------------------------------------------
Leek Town...................32 8 8 16 39:47 32
Farnborough Town............34 6 10 18 38:73 28
Welling United..............34 5 12 17 31:53 27


UNIBOND LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION, 15-16 MARCH 1999

15 March: Emley 1 Winsford United 1.
16 March: Guiseley 2 Colwyn Bay 2, Lancaster City 0 Altrincham 0.

P W D L F:A Pts
Bamber Bridge...............34 16 12 6 56:40 60
------------------------------------------------------
Altrincham..................31 17 8 6 55:25 59
Gateshead...................34 16 9 9 61:46 57
Worksop Town................32 16 7 9 46:37 55
Hyde United.................32 14 8 10 51:33 50
Winsford United.............34 12 13 9 47:40 49
Gainsborough Trinity........33 14 6 13 48:45 48
Guiseley....................29 14 5 10 48:38 47
Whitby Town.................29 12 10 7 57:47 46
Leigh RMI...................29 11 11 7 51:44 44
Emley.......................29 10 12 7 37:33 42
Marine......................36 9 15 12 53:58 42
Blyth Spartans..............34 12 5 17 46:53 41
Bishop Auckland.............36 10 11 15 44:60 41
Stalybridge Celtic..........32 10 10 12 52:50 40
Frickley Athletic...........30 8 14 8 41:45 38
Lancaster City..............33 9 11 13 42:50 38
Colwyn Bay..................29 10 7 12 42:49 37
Spennymoor United...........34 9 8 17 44:62 35
Runcorn.....................29 7 12 10 30:40 33
Chorley.....................33 5 13 15 38:58 28
Accrington Stanley..........32 5 5 22 28:64 20

RYMAN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION, 15-16 MARCH 1999
15 March: Dagenham & Redbridge 1 Harrow Borough 0.
16 March: Aldershot Town 1 Purfleet 1, Bishop's Stortford 1 Heybridge Swifts 3, Dulwich Hamlet 2 Billericay Town 4, Hampton 0 Enfield 2, Hendon 0 Sutton United 3.

P W D L F:A Pts
Aylesbury United............31 20 7 4 56:24 67
----------------------------------------------------------
Sutton United...............30 20 4 6 63:30 64
Purfleet....................34 18 6 10 58:40 60
Enfield.....................31 16 7 8 59:35 55
St Albans City..............31 14 11 6 55:39 53
Dagenham & Redbridge........30 15 7 8 56:37 52
Billericay Town.............33 14 10 9 42:34 52
Gravesend & Northfleet......30 14 4 12 40:35 46
Aldershot Town..............30 12 9 9 62:30 45
Boreham Wood................32 11 12 9 45:47 45
Hendon......................30 12 8 10 52:49 44
Slough Town.................32 12 7 13 44:43 43
Basingstoke Town............30 11 8 11 45:40 41
Harrow Borough..............33 11 7 15 45:54 40
Chesham United..............28 10 6 12 46:51 36
Dulwich Hamlet..............32 9 7 16 37:48 34
Heybridge Swifts............30 8 8 14 33:58 32
Walton & Hersham............33 8 6 19 35:66 30
Bromley.....................31 7 8 16 42:54 29
Carshalton Athletic.........33 7 8 18 37:70 29
Hampton.....................33 6 10 17 30:63 28
Bishop's Stortford..........31 5 8 18 39:74 23

DR MARTENS LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION, 15-16 MARCH 1999
15 March: Atherstone United 2 Salisbury City 0.
16 March: Bath City 0 Worcester City 0, King's Lynn 0 Bromsgrove Rovers 0, Rothwell Town - Grantham Town 1.

P W D L F:A Pts
Nuneaton Borough............34 22 7 5 77:27 73
----------------------------------------------------------
Gloucester City.............34 17 10 7 49:38 61
Ilkeston Town...............33 15 9 9 54:40 54
Salisbury City..............34 14 10 10 46:47 52
Boston United...............31 12 13 6 54:34 49
Crawley Town................31 14 7 10 46:43 49
Bath City...................30 13 8 9 43:29 47
Weymouth....................32 12 10 10 47:42 46
Grantham Town...............32 14 4 14 44:44 46
Atherstone United...........31 11 11 9 42:35 44
Halesowen Town..............33 12 8 13 49:47 44
Worcester City..............33 12 8 13 41:44 44
Tamworth....................30 13 3 14 46:49 42
Hastings Town...............31 11 8 12 32:33 41
Burton Albion...............32 12 5 15 42:45 41
Merthyr Tydfil..............34 11 6 17 43:56 39
King's Lynn.................32 10 8 14 42:44 38
Gresley Rovers..............33 11 5 17 39:58 38
Dorchester Town.............33 8 12 13 42:50 36
Cambridge City..............32 9 9 14 37:53 36
Rothwell Town...............31 9 8 14 32:50 35
Bromsgrove Rovers...........34 6 5 23 29:68 23

Thanks to Stephen Mulrine
Results, tables, club information & archive:

BARROW AFC OFFICIAL SURVIVAL FUND SPORTING NUMBERS QUIZ NUMBER 2
Bearing in mind the new members on this list, I thought I’d repeat the details of the latest quiz being run by Barrow supporter, John McKay. To take part, complete the following and send a cheque for UKP1, made payable to Barrow AFC, to the John. His address is 7 Calder View, Beckermet, Cumbria, CA21 2XY. Can you also say that you heard about it through the Holker Street Newsletter. The closing date for entries is 26 March.

First Prize: UKP25
Second Prize: UKP25 meal voucher
Free draw prizes: Five bottles of wine

1. 22 = L of a CP in Y
2. 6 = HS on a D
3. 15 = N of R on a ST
4. 5 = N of E in the P
5. 170 = HS in F
6. 11 = LE in B
7. 5 = T in the RUFNC
8. 24 = P in a G of D
9. 27 = V of the C in S
10. 8 = W of the G in F in Y
11. 25 = OB in D
12. 60 = HS with OD
13. 3 = N of M in a R in B
14. 8 = S on DF in D
15. 6 = N of D in a GR in UK
16. 10 = N of E in the D
17. 1 = P for a DG in RL
18. 22 = TLD in B
19. -3 = A in G
20. 6 = B in an O of C
21. 16 = N of P in C
22. 13 = U for S in B
23. 9 = P in a BT
24. 1 = N of P for a D in F
25. 32 = P in a G of C


GRASSROOTS GETS CHOPPED
NLOTN, 15 March, .

The cable television broadcaster, LIVE TV has pulled the plug on the weekly Grassroots programme, thus ending the magazine style format dedicated to coverage of the Nationwide Conference. NLOTN being unable to contact the producers of the programme, are not going to speculate on the reasons, except that we feel certain it won't be long before fans can view Conference footie on TV again. NLOTN spoke to Grass Roots on many occasions, and knew that it was a low budget attempt to air the pyramid game, alas the programme was never going be as professional as the major broadcasters. One single gantry (if you were lucky) camera, often provided by enthusiastic fans who rarely, if ever, got paid for their time and effort (just like us) was destined to fail. So the only Conference TV slot has gone from the airwaves, but the passing of Grassroots will be missed we feel by few, not because it was bad or not so, but with a minuscule one percent of total TV audience, their viewers seemed to prefer topless darts, the weather forecast in Norwegian and a whole host of other dubious offerings. Another reason for its demise, perhaps, was the scheduling, not even Sky or The BBC would risk another match if there was a European Cup-tie on the other channel.

Ralph’s note. With refernece to Conference football on the TV, I have a heard a rumour that Sky TV is interested in showing some Conference material, but if you have any more information, please get in touch.