Central Midlands Alliance League
Premier Division North
Friday 13th October 2023
Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.46
Dearne & District 5 Elite 0, attendance 376
8’ 1-0
10’ 2-0
45’ + 2, 3-0
47’ 4-0
59’ 5-0
@ Welfare Community Stadium
Goldthorpe Green (B6098)
Goldthorpe
S63 9EH
£3 Admission
£1 Programme, 12 pages.
I had only visited Dearne & District back in February, when they had beaten Dinnington Town 3-0 (att.115), in a game that was also played in Goldthorpe, but at their former ground in Kingsmark Way. They have since moved a couple of miles away and are developing a nice ground adjacent to Dearne Cricket Club. It is still a work in progress. There is a small section of cover. Hard standing is already laid along the entrance side and cleared ready for laying the concrete behind the right hand goal end too. More importantly though, is the fact that they have been able to erect floodlights here. They now have a ground with the potential to progress up the pyramid, although the changing rooms being 50 yards outside the ground may be a problem? Despite the recent rain, the pitch was in superb condition. I’d called in at lunchtime to check things out and the pitch was being readied then! At least I could check-in at a hotel safe in the knowledge that the game would go ahead.
Not only is the ground one that could soon be hosting Step 6 football, but the team certainly look good enough for the step up. They had finished runners-up to Retford United last season, but there looks to be no stopping them this time round. They had a 100% win rate coming into this, sitting top of the table, having won all eleven games, amassing a +41 goal difference in the process. Elite were fifth.
The reverse fixture has already been played. Dearne had won that 4-2 and they were out of the blocks quickly tonight, going two up after just ten minutes. Elite did settle into it and created a few chances of their own. Dearne didn’t add their third goal until stoppage time at the end of the half, when a cross from the right was finished with a looping header over the ‘keeper. Any chance of a comeback for Elite soon disappeared, as Dearne made it 4-0 two minutes after the restart and goal number five came on the hour, coolly lobbing the ‘keeper after latching on to a through ball.
Anyone planning a visit here would do well to ignore the information on the more than useless F.A. Full Time website for this league. It shows all previous Dearne home games this season, including this one on the updated results page, as having been played at the old ground!
