Latest news: Southern League and Conference North & South stats are included on my new Non League stats page. The stats now include a new league table by month section and records against teams in the top and bottom half of the table.
55 since '55! It's 55 years since the Yeltz trounced Dudley Town 10-0 with Ronnie Dugmore scoring seven times. Read L3's account here.
Added Sunday 28th February
Yesterday's result
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 1 Brackley Town 1
A draw against the 2nd place team in the league is not a bad result. But is it good enough? Possibly not but the unbeaten run is 21 games now and there is a very realistic chance now of going through the season unbeaten at home. Carl Palmer equalised an early Brackley goal and from then on it was fairly tight. We had the odd chance, they had the odd chance but a draw was fair enough. Matt Clarke showed his positive intentions by finishing with three up front as he realises only wins will do from now on. Cambridge next week is a big game.
Added Wednesday 24th February
Yesterday's result
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 3 Nuneaton Town 2
Part one in the required victory trilogy duly accomplished. Thoroughly deserved it was too on a horrible, snowy and above all, cold evening. The referee, in his infinite wisdom, postponed kick-off until 8.10, apparently to wait for the snow to stop so there'd be no need to sweep the touchlines clear during the game. All well and good except nobody actually swept the touchlines between 7.45 and 8.10, so the end result was merely that we were all 25 minutes closer to hypothermia. These trifles are easily forgotten when you win though. Goals from Stefan Moore and Jimmy Edwards provided a 2-0 half-team lead. Nuneaton stormed back into it in the second half and when they pulled a goal back I feared the worst, but Aaron Griffiths settled the nerves and their last goal was practically the final kick of the game. Bring on Brackley.
Added Tuesday 23rd February
The next three games will be crucial. All three are against teams in the play-off places, Nuneaton at home tonight, Brackley at home on Saturday and Cambridge away on Saturday week. To have any hope of the play-offs we need to win at least two of them. Nineteen games unbeaten so what have we to fear?
Added Monday 22nd February
Saturday's result
Southern League Premier Division
Hemel Hempstead 3 Yeltz 5
Well there was some karma involved but not enough to affect the result which, when you think about it, is what we're all after really. Stefan Moore appears to be back to his "too good for this level" best and with his second hat-trick of the season took his overall league tally to 25. Can he make 40? If he does, we'll make the play-offs. One thing that may stop this, Stefan's goals or otherwise, is the alarming number being conceded at the other end. That is one thing that has to improve and fast but frankly any criticism at all this season seems cruel. Let them get on with it I say.
Added Wednesday 17th February
Some player news - on which I have been slack lately. Firstly, Simon Johnson has left the club. Apparently keen to get back into full time football he has recently had a trisl with Burton Albion. Following this he has signed for, wait for it, Solihull Moors. I assume there is method in his madness but seldom can have a move up been more like a move down. Jamie Smith has also gone, in his case to Airbus UK to progress his coaching career. And elsewhere, ex-Yeltz striker and part-time punchbag, Dean Brennan has joined Hemel Hempstead. Our next opponents are...Hemel Hempstead. Anyone believe in karma?
Added Saturday 13th February
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 3 Truro City 2
The unbeaten league run goes to 18, the run of draws is ended and Stefan Moore is scoring again. As obscure Black Country band 'The Sandkings' once sang: "All's well with the world, start singing". There's no need to sing particularly but the faint dream of the play-offs has been re-ignited. If we are to achieve it perhaps we'll look back at this game as the one that got Stefan Moore firing again. It's amazing how much of a confidence player he seems to be. Unable to hit the proverbial barn door in the first half, he was transformed in the second when he got the first of his two goals. Hopefully he'll end the season as he started it. There's still a worrying tendency to give away silly goals and were it not for Nick Bussey's brilliance we would have been looking at a sixth consecutive draw this evening. Quibble not though - we have won, that's enough for now.
Added Wednesday 10th February
Yesterday's result
Southern League Premier Division
Evesham United 0 Yeltz 0
It was a goalless draw. That, I feel, is about as much as needs to be said about that particular offering.
Added Tuesday 9th February
I've had a thought. Instead of wasting public money on Guy Simpson's trial for importing dodgy fags, why not enforce the time honoured punishment, much favoured by strict dads, for all contraband cigarette misdemeanours. Make him smoke them! I guarantee that after puffing his way through twenty odd million Regals Mr Simpson won't be able to look at a cigarette, much less contemplate smuggling them into the country.
Ah yes, the football. We drew 2-2 with Hednesford on Saturday to extend the unbeaten run to 16 games, and make it eight draws in 11. Our intrepid boys travel to Evesham this evening where they will almost certainly draw again.
Added Saturday 30th January
Southern League Premier Division
Bedford Town 1 Yeltz 1
The run continues. Or should that be the runs continue? It's now 15 league games unbeaten - the best by any team in the SLP - and we are still the only side to have scored in every game this season. And still we hover outside the play-off places so, despite the 10 point penalty, all is rosy. The frustrating part though is we keep drawing. It's three consecutive draws now and seven in the last ten games. Clearly Matt Clarke is beyond criticism for what he has achieved this season but I reckon he'll be more frustrated than anyone at our inability to hold on to a lead. Part of that failure in recent times may be due to Stefan Moore's goals drying up. He was never going to carry on at the same rate at which he began the season but it's four games since he last scored and he's not even the league's top scorer any more. I hope it's only a temporary lull because when he's not scoring he's not doing anything else either.
Added Tuesday 26th January
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 2 Clevedon Town 2
Whilst Saturday and Farnborough wasn't quite the Lord Mayor's show, the performance tonight was definitely veering more to the poop cart end of the spectrum. Clevedon played better than their lowly league status suggested and scored two excellent goals, but if Halesowen want to get into the play-offs then these are games that must be won. Saturday's draw was a point gained, this was most definitely two dropped. Two goals from Carl Palmer had given the Yeltz a 2-1 half-time lead and it should have been enough. So, it's now 14 league games unbeaten - the club's best run of the century - and still unbeaten at home but it's still a disappointing (and cold) evening. The upside? Stourbridge lost 6-1.
Added Saturday 23rd January
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 1 Farnborough 1
I'm not sure about the pink piping on Farnborough's away kit, and some of their prima donna-ish behaviour indicates that being top of the league and clearly the best side in it has gone to their heads somewhat, but they are undeniably a very good side. Despite being down to ten men for 87 minutes they more than held their own against the Yeltz, who couldn't quite make their numerical advantage count. That said there was enough from Halesowen to suggest that they will make a serious assault on the playoffs as the unbeaten run stretches to 13 games and the undefeated home record remains in tact. Simon Johnson, after a little dip in form before the big freeze, looks back to his best whilst Alex Cowley, making his third (or is it fourth?) debut for the Yeltz was, well, just Alex Cowley. Get Stefan Moore scoring again - starting against Clevedon on Tuesday - and the Yeltz juggernaut could prove unstoppable.
Added Saturday 16th January
There were two games at least. Farnborough took another step towards their inevitable title with a home win over Clevedon and Merthyr moved away from the relegation zone with a decent win at Bedford. My Southern League stats are up to date and you can download them here or from my fledgling stats page.
Added Friday 15th January
Tomorrow's game at Swindon Supermarine has also been called along with a host of other games. The ongoing thaw has obviously left everywhere waterlogged so it's now three weeks without a game. How far behind are we with the season now? Well, the season is currently 45% complete, whereas this time last season it was 48% albeit a full weekend of full fixtures to come, which clearly won't happen this year. Halesowen aren't affected as both this and last year we had played 21 matches. Nuneaton and Truro will have a difficult time making up the fixtures though as they have both only played 16 times. The team who had played the fewest at this time last year was Brackley with 18, and they found it difficult to cope with the fixture backlog that resulted. All in all then we probably aren't that far behind but clearly some teams are harder hit than others.
Added Wednesday 13th January
Still nothing doing on the football front as the snow continues. This week's midweek games have all been called off, and with heavy rain expected to coincide with the imminent thaw we'll all probably be under water at the weekend. On top of that, next Tuesday's home game against Clevedon has been postponed because they've got to play in the tin-pot tournament that is the Southern League Cup. It's all grim.
But at least our problems are only weather based. Chester City's come in the shape of Morell Maison, who seemingly strengthens his grip on the club daily. Listen to his interviews (if you can stand it) and he has clearly dusted off the script he used when he was at the Grove. He sounds like a bad corporate manual.
Added Friday 8th January
It will be a Southern League free day tomorrow, as all of the fixtures have bitten the dust. Apparently it has been quite cold of late. Haven't noticed it myself - it's not like it's been on the news or anything.
Added Wednesday 6th January
The "Big Freeze" continues and all scheduled mid-week games have been postponed. I can't imagine that there will be any this weekend either, so one or two teams are going to end up with quite a hefty fixture pile up when everything eventually thaws. The league is only about 10-15 games shy of where it was this time last year though so it shouldn't be a major problem yet, although if you believe the metereological types the snow and ice is here for another couple of weeks. Withdrawl symptoms are imminent.
It's all quiet at the club as well with no indication that the Ingram takeover has gone through yet. What does it mean? Who knows...In fact most of the news is being made by the couple of characters who used to "run" the club. Guy Simpson is currently on trial for his alleged minor indiscretion with twenty odd million Chinese cigarettes, whilst Morell Maison is spouting his now trademarked bullshit about his plans for Chester City. I don't know about you but when someone starts talking about "projects" and "driving the club forward" I run for the hills. And when that person is Maison then I dig myself into a bunker and thank God that he has nothing to do with Halesowen Town any more. I've said this before but it defies logic, belief and probably physics that he is allowed anywhere near another football club.
Added Saturday 2nd January
A big thumbs down to the referee who carried out an early morning pitch inspection and advised Evesham that the game was definitely on. Consequently we all travelled the admittedly short distance to Worcester only to find out the match referee had called the game off due to a frozen pitch. It certainly didn't become more frozen between the two inspections so god knows what the first ref was thinking. Because there was no game I had an extra couple of hours drinking time and consequently have felt bloody awful all day. And referee number one it's all your fault.
Truly disturbing news from Chester in that Morell Maison has reportedly "assumed control" of the club. What has happened to the FA fit and proper person test? If this man is still deemed acceptable then surely they can't turn anyone down?
