AFC DIDSBURY: Bannister, Lee, Bolas, Mackie, Vasko, Williams (Benson-May), Whiteley (C), Ferguson (Wallace), Menghini, Agyeman, Smith.

GOALS: Menghini, Agyeman, Smith (2), Whiteley (3)
ASSISTS: Ferguson (3), Smith
MAN OF THE MATCH: Whiteley

DIDSBURY SIGN-OFF WITH SEVEN

Another glorious Sunday morning in Didsbury. Perfect weather for a game of football. As the players arrived off the team bus tensions were high in both camps. Dolphin Inn were looking for a win following a 3-3 stalemate the week previous. Whilst the Didsbury camp had been unsettled following rumours in the local media that Tom Whiteley would be quitting the club after 4 years of service, if he was not promoted to captain following injury to 1st team captain, John Battersby.
 
Didsbury manager Adam Musson had a difficult decision to make:
 
1) Should he give the captain's armband to Stu Williams who undoubtedly had the most years of experience to his name.

2) Should he give it to Ross Menghini who  has been linked with Manchester United this summer following his return of goals, in order to show that he is a key member of the team.

Or
3) Should he give it to Tom Whiteley, who was clearly unhappy pre-match at the lack of appreciation of his contribution to the team. 
 
During the pre-match interview Mr Whiteley was overheard saying 'the only way you ever get MOM in this team is if you score goals. What about me? A box-to-box midfielder who gives 110% every week, I put my body on the line week-in-week-out but never get MOM'.
 
Tom Whiteley was handed the captains armband. 
 
And the rest was history. 7-0 victory, 3 goals, 1 assist, 3 assists to assists, free-kick taker, penalty taker. Substituted to a standing ovation.

Words by Adam Ferguson

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AFC DIDSBURY: Bannister, Blackburn (Plowright), Birtwistle, Reynolds, Garcia, Cook (Kelly), Connolly, Rohman, New, Adcock (Wallace), Quaye.

GOALS: Cook, Quaye, New
ASSISTS: Kelly, Wallace
MAN OF THE MATCH: Rohman

DIDSBURY FIRE TORPEDOES AT THE GROVE

Match report to follow...

​AFC Didsbury accepts no liability for the content of this match report, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided, unless that information is subsequently confirmed in writing. If you are not the intended audience you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.

AFC DIDSBURY: Quaye (C), Owen (Garcia), Kelly, Birtwistle, Mackie, Gowrie, New, Cowley, Williamson, Rohman, Adcock.

GOALS: Williamson (2), Rohman
ASSISTS: Garcia, Gowrie
MAN OF THE MATCH: Quaye

COMBATIVE DIDSBURY LOSE WITH HEADS HELD HIGH

Nice sunny Sunday morning to play football in Cheadle.

Didsbury faced their second to last match of the season dealing a blow before starting. With no goalkeeper available to defend the net, Ollie Quaye offered himself to defend it.

The matched kicked off with Chris and James playing together in the midfield for first time. That did not stop them to do some really good combinations although none of them were finalising near the opponent´s goal.

None of the two teams was dominating the match, although Quaye had to do a couple of De Gea interventions with his feet to save long range shots.

Given Didsbury was struggling to trespass the defensive line, Chris had a go with a powerful shot from out of the box which the keeper did not even see. 1-0 for the visitants.

The advantage for the visitants did not last too long. Poynton FC drew the match with some lack of concentration from the limes.

The half finished with a flurry of activity as first there was a penalty in favour of the locals that was saved by Quaye but the ref asked for it to be repeated. The locals did not miss the second chance.

Didsbury was forced to make a change on the stroke of half-time when Jonny Owen, who had been struggling with his knee, was replaced by Oscar Garcia.

The second half could not have started better and Didsbury scored a goal on a counter attack after a triangle combination between Gaz New, Garcia and Sham Rohman. Match started from zero once again and the feeling was that Didsbury had fresher legs than the opponents.

It was that time of the match when Didsbury seemed to be playing better than Inter Cheadle, that a long pass between the lime green centrebacks landed to the opposition striker, who did not forgive the visitants mistake.

There were still 20 minutes to play and Didsbury had most of the possession of the ball.

Just a few minutes later, what seemed to be a far distance free kick for a Sunday league match ended up being a screamer from Chris, who put the ball next to the spider web on the top right corner of the goal.

With just a few minutes to play and when the fairest result seemed to be a share of points for both teams, the home side kicked off a corner and scored a goal after a couple of rebounds in the area.

With only 3 minutes left to play, Didsbury did not have time to look for the miracle.  

Words by Oscar Garcia

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AFC DIDSBURY: Carr, Mackie, Hield, McDonald (New), Walker, Quinn, Williams (Adcock), Bishop (C), Rohman, Menghini, English.

GOALS: Menghini
ASSISTS: English
MAN OF THE MATCH: Hield

DIDSBURY JUST CAN'T GET PAST THE HIGH LANE 

High Lane turned up to DSG to meet Didsbury for the third time in just under two weeks on a bright sunny morning. Having been thrashed earlier in the week Didsbury started the game well soaking up long periods of pressure at the back. A tall, powerful High Lane had their usual tactics of punting the ball long from the back with the strikers running onto the ball.

After about 20 minutes the Didsbury defence finally cracked with yet another long ball down the wing, which was picked up by one of the forwards. A quick cut inside and a lofted ball into the middle of the box landed on the head of their number 10 and was then guided into the bottom corner.

Didsbury had a few chances before the end of the half but were unable to convert when it mattered and we entered the break 1-0 down.

A positive half time team talk and Stu Williams being replaced by Gaz New and the second half was under way.

Didsbury were passing the ball around well and were more than a match for High Lane looking very likely to get the all important equaliser. Some great build up play by Joel English; weaving past 1, 2, 3 men, finding a cross field ball and then into the box to Ross Menghini, who expertly rounded his man cutting inside him and slotting the ball into the back of the net.   1-1, come on Didsbury!

Only ten minutes later and another ball over the top catching the defence sleeping, a cute ball across the box and New slotted the ball into the bottom corner with a cool finish…….unfortunately, past our own keeper! 1-2

Didsbury pushed for another equaliser and were looking much the better team but again couldn’t convert their chances. Other than Williams throwing a tantram in the middle of the pitch nothing much more to note, other than another goal by High Lane as Didsbury were down to ten men and pushing for the equaliser. The match ended 3-1 and then a demoralising but still somewhat complimentary comment of "you lads are a great addition to the league".

​Words by Mark Hield
 
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AFC DIDSBURY: Battersby (C), Cook, Birtwistle, Hield, Bermingham, Agyeman, Williams, Whiteley, Gowrie (Quaye), Menghini, Adcock.

GOALS: -
ASSISTS: -
MAN OF THE MATCH: Hield

BATTERSBY HEROICS NOT ENOUGH TO STOP RUNAWAY LEADERS 

With Didsbury's injury and unavailable list hitting obscene levels, it was left to a poor man's 2nd team to look to inflict the first defeat of the season on table topping High Lane FC.

This could have been the day that the names Claude Birtwistle, Ciaran Bermingham, Mark Hield and Ross Menghini stopped being the punchlines to hilarious jokes and started being the names associated with heroic victories.
 
Today was not that day.
 
1-0 down within 30 seconds meant it felt like Didsbury’s bare 11 were in for a hiding.  If not for two point blank saves by Didsbury's stand in #1, it could have been over within 30 minutes.  Instead, it was Didsbury who ended the half in the ascendancy with Menghini guilty of missing an open goal and a one-on-one. The backline were kicking lumps out of High Lane’s forwards and special praise to James Cook, who forced High Lane into substituting their best player at half time.
 
Sadly the lack of substitutes meant fitness was going to be crucial and with Whiteley injured for the 17th time this year, our midfield were left exposed to the counterattack.  A disgraceful 10 minutes where three identical goals were shipped meant the game was up.  At this point heads could have gone down and a cricket score was on the cards.
 
Credit to all the lads though as Didsbury fought back again and ended the game creating guilt edge chances for Menghini and Jack Adcock.
 
The result not reflective of the performance and Whiteley could be heard repeating his favourite mantra “Next year fellas, next year is gonna be…”

Words by John Battersby

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AFC DIDSBURY: Hield (C), Plowright, Birtwistle, Reynolds, Owen (Garcia), Wallace, Walker, Cook, Rohman, New (Quaye), Adcock (Ferguson).

GOALS: -
ASSISTS: -
MAN OF THE MATCH: Rohman

DIDSBURY CAN'T STOP THE DUKE

Let me start by saying that this wasn’t a game that deserves an after action report.

I think we can all agree that getting a team together for a mid week game is challenging at best of times. Especially when Ferg decides that he is too cool to turn up for kick off.

It was a standard two’s game with periods of playing good football mixed with periods of utter uselessness, and I would stick the Ref in the latter.

Forgetting that as a team we didn’t perform very well, the Ref definitely took the biscuit with some extremely dubious decisions (I should probably thank him for not sending me off for a blatant penalty though). It was a civil game with no real issue yet the ref could not be heard anywhere on the pitch. I think the highlight was when the ref was about to award the opposition a throw in when it was obviously Didsbury’s ball. Lucky, by shouting ‘Don’t you dare ref’ he changed his mind.

The game ended 2-0 to the Duke, but there were some entertaining moments during the game to distract us from the poor home performance:

• Ollie turning up with white socks and no shorts
• Oscar offering up a very Spanish reaction after someone stepped on his foot only to get straight back up and carry on.
• Plowright’s free kick that Jonny Wilkinson would have been proud of.
• Cook's attempt at a quick throw in that flew down the wing but didn’t make it on to the pitch.
• Cook's second attempt that should have been given as a foul throw.

While these events mildly entertained the masses, the incident that won the TFC award had me in stitches. Duke's second goal (scored by a lad who has never scored before, EVER) was a lob from 40 yards out. In most circumstances, the keeper would eat these up. However, between the sticks on this occasion was none other than Mark"The Body"Hield. Clearly off his line, the ball flew over the tallest man on our team’s head. As soon as the penny dropped, Mark turn to me with the biggest grin on his face knowing full well big fines were coming his way. 
​
Words by Dave Reynolds

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AFC DIDSBURY: Carr, Musson (Smith), Birtwistle, McDonald (C), Battersby (Ferguson), Bishop, Williams, Quinn, Walker, Peat, Menghini.

GOALS: Smith
ASSISTS: Menghini
MAN OF THE MATCH: Birtwistle

BARE BONES DIDSBURY LEFT DIZZY IN DISLEY 

This game couldn’t have been more Sunday league…….on a Tuesday evening.
 
With their ground being situated on the edge of the Peak District, players were arriving in dribs and drabs after work and quite quickly, it was apparent that we probably wouldn’t have 11 players for kick off. Manager, Adam Musson, took on many different roles – picking up straggling players from the local train station, corralling the squad for what would be a tough match and fashioning a pair of shorts out of some old tracksuit bottoms with some scissors for Stu who had forgotten to pack his own.
 
From afar, it seemed as though the pitch would be a decent playing surface for us to be able to knock the ball around and enjoy the contest – this was not to be. The previously cut up pitch had now dried out in the recent sunshine which made any sexy football impossible – it would be a long ball kind of game.
 
High Lane FC looked well organised – all of them were there early enough to make us wonder whether they had actually taken the whole day off for this fixture?! In stark contrast, John Battersby (injured) & Musson (now thinking about a career in fashion design) were forced to start as there were only 10 members of AFC Didsbury present for kick off – some casual flirting with the referee bought us a few more minutes but it couldn’t delay the whistle any longer.

Thankfully, the latecomers arrived after 10 minutes, restoring the game to 11 v 11 but by that time, High Lane had their tails up (oy oy) and they were looking to capitalise on the pressure that had been building. Didsbury however remained resolute at the back despite a couple of close encounters and kept High Lane’s shooting to long range shots which left Nate Dogg (Nathan Carr) slightly concerned that one of these efforts would hit a huge divot on the way through and end up in a random corner of the goal.

It was Didsbury who broke the deadlock first though – with a passage of play which originated with Adam Ferguson down the right hand side, Ross Menghini stayed strong inside their box and with some fancy feet, he drew the foul resulting in a penalty. Kieran Smith convincingly dispatched. 0-1. The half time whistle followed shortly after.
 
Didsbury played some better football in the second half – Ferguson & Rick Peat were having some more joy on the wings, Conor Quinn & Stu Williams were marshalling the middle, Chris Bishop organising the back line. The referee however spoiled this with a dubious penalty against Bishop, which I’m certain was outside the box. In any case, their midfielder stepped up and put it away. 1-1.

With many of their team being quite a bit taller, they were odds on to win the first ball in the air but we were challenging hard for the second. With them spending a lot of time in our half though, it wasn’t too much longer before there was a goal line scramble (which seemed to go on for an eternity), which eventually found its way into the bottom corner – a scrappy goal which epitomised the game really. 2-1.
 
It was the final 10 minutes which I thought was our best spell – playing out from the back, committing men forward, threatening balls in behind for Menghini & Smith. It had all the hallmarks of an equaliser until they broke with a decent through ball and their striker tucked the ball away. 3-1.
 
We always knew this would be a challenging game with them being unbeaten this season but it was a closer game than perhaps the scoreline suggests.

​Words by Guy Walker

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AFC DIDSBURY: Leighton, L Darlington, Bolas, McDonald (C), Ward, Williams, Harrison,
Peat (Agyeman), Menghini, English, Smith.

GOALS: Menghini (2), Bolas, English
ASSISTS: Smith (2), English
MAN OF THE MATCH: Harrison

DIDSBURY ON POINT AGAINST POYNTON FC

After a recent run of poor results, AFC Didsbury were looking to get back to winning ways against a buoyed Poynton side, who in contrast had recently been in good fettle with a shock result against undefeated league leaders, High Lane. On a fine day and with one or two Aintree hangovers lurking, the Gaffer's instructions were clear. This was a must win game!

Didsbury started positively, setting the tempo to the game and immediately causing problems for the away team. It didn’t take long for the home side to break the deadlock, Kieran Smith provided the assist by whipping in a cross to find Ross Menghini, who took a fine first touch then coolly slotted home past the oncoming Keeper, 1-0.

Didsbury soon made it 2-0 when Joel English delivered an inviting corner for Warren Bolas, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Gareth Barry, to tower above his man and nod home.

The back four of Lloyd Darlington, Garth Barry, Colin McDonald & Tom Ward were looking a solid unit and you’d be hard pressed to find a better looking back line in Sunday league football :-)

Matt Harrison and Stu Williams were providing the intensity in midfield and dictating the play. English and Rick Peat were providing some neat foot work on the wings and Smith was working tirelessly up top, bullying the opposition centre halves.

The third goal came when Harrison won the ball in midfield and the front two combined once again, Smith supplying Menghini for his second of the game with another quality finish to make it 3-0.

Moments later, Didsbury were awarded a free kick about 20 yards out from goal. Williams and English stood over the ball and English unleashed a magnificent Beckham-esque curling strike up over the wall for the games champagne moment... Top Bin!

Shortly before half time Poynton were applying some pressure and were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area. The Didbsbury wall were warned by the referee to keep their hands down but Peat decided to completely ignore this advice and raised his arm to protect his face. As the ball struck, the ref immediately blew for a penalty. Poynton were odds on to pull one back before half time but were thwarted by James Leighton, who produced a fine low save to his left to deny Poynton. 4-0 the half time score line and Didsbury were in complete control.

Adam Musson’s half time team talk was a call for more of the same, to maintain the intensity and to keep on the front foot. Having sustained an injury during the first half, Leighton was replaced by Matt Kennedy, who hastily stripped from his civvies to fill the big man’s gloves. Peat was replaced by Eugene Agyeman to provide a pair of fresh legs down the right flank.

In the second half Didsbury completely took the foot off the gas and the away team came out of the blocks much sharper and were mounting pressure on the home side. It seemed as if the Grand National hangovers were really beginning to kick in. Poynton soon scored 2 well deserved goals in reply and had Didsbury up against the ropes.

Eventually the home side began to get back into their stride and broke down the right flank, Agyeman beating his marker and squaring the ball into the 6 yard box for Smith to tap into the net. However, much to the home side’s dismay, the referee disallowed the goal for ‘playing the ball forward’. A questionable decision, which will surely leave the promising young referee referring back to his rule book. It was also questionable whether or not Williams was old enough to be his dad!

Poynton desperately tried to push for a third to make it a nervy finish and it seemed likely to get one following a goal mouth scramble, had it not been for some resolute defending with Harrison clearing the ball off the goal line.

As footballing clichés go, this was certainly a game of 2 halves and question marks will be raised regarding the team’s fitness and second half performances of late. However, the home side’s clinical finishing in the first half was enough to see the game out with a much needed victory.

​Words by Stuart Williams

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AFC DIDSBURY: Carr, Mackie, Birtwistle, Reynolds, Bermingham (Blackburn), Rohman (Garcia), Cook, Gowrie (Owen), Kelly, New, Adcock.

GOALS: Mackie
ASSISTS: Kelly
MAN OF THE MATCH: Carr

DIDSBURY FAIL TO GET INTO THE GROOVE AS THEY TRAVEL TO THE GROVE

On a morning that can only be described as ‘arid’, AFC Didsbury 2nd team travelled south down the A6 for a head to head with FC Torkington, who lay 2 points behind Didsbury boasting an impressive goal difference despite playing a million games less than everyone else. With Torkington having what can only be described as an eager fan club, the 12th man was out and the odds weren’t ever in our favour. However, with 3 Division 3 games kicking off on the same park there was a lot to play for, including the affections of our lovely female referee.

After an even start with neither team getting into any kind of rhythm it was the home side who broke the deadlock with a gifted goal courtesy of the aforementioned ref who decided the ball went over the line and handed the 1-0 regardless of whether they actually thought it went in themselves – or even appealed. That’s Sunday League and that’s 1-0 FC Torkington.

The game continued being messy with the ground similar to Atacama Desert (Google it boys). With the heat getting to everyone there was the constant asking of how long’s left and tempers boiling with Sham Rohman partaking in customary handbags. It all petered out and play continued. With the sun facing Didsbury it was all in all a difficult half but only 1-nil down due to an atrocity ain’t too bad.

No changes at half time saw the game continue in a similar fashion. Bouncy, bobbly and not at all pleasing on the eye.

A few Didsbury corners glimmered a small amount of hope with Dave Reynolds getting on the end of most of them but to no avail. As a result, it was a swift counter attack from one of said corners that dug the hole a little deeper. 2-0 and it’s looking hard work now.

Hard work paid off though and Didsbury found themselves back in the game with a Chris Kelly free kick being spilled into the path of Jonathan Mackie steaming in on the follow up. Cue the first of several ‘injuries’ after several spills by the Torkington keeper, which only appeared to be nothing more than a bruised ego. As one of their players put it - ‘Get up you “silly person”, it’s the same every “flipping” week’.

With Didsbury looking to snatch the equaliser it had the opposite effect and the result was condemned fairly late on with a long ball pelted forward catching an attacking Didsbury on the back foot. 3-1. Game over.

After an unbeaten stretch extending over 6 weeks it’s disappointing to lose a game we could have won. We move on though as the season draws to a close with 3 games to go including top of the table. Bring it on.

​Words by Dave Gowrie

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