PILSLEY AND DARLEY DALE PRODUCE THRILLER IN DREADFUL CONDITIONS

PILSLEY COMMUNITY 3 DARLEY DALE LIONS 3

HOPE VALLEY LEAGUE A DIVISION AT RUPERT ST

3 OCTOBER 2020 --- 2PM

PILSLEY COMMUNITY V DARLEY DALE LIONS ON A WET AFTERNOON

On a day of constant rain the afternoon would deliver the heaviest of the downpour during the game and it would have been so easy to stop in and watch the sports menu on the television, but its games like this that prove you should make the effort and accept a little inconvenience on the dampness scale.  The first forty five minutes served up half a dozen goals in a superbly entertaining game the second half was goalless but it remains a mystery how.

With a late start to the cricket season and undertaking just local fixtures this has continued into the football calendar with the highlight of the Hope Valley League being discovered on a more wide scale than the normal occasional Ashover FC visit.  So as travelling remains limited the constant wet stuff would entail a forty five minute walk with umbrella aloft to the Pilsley Sports Ground.  Regular viewers here will know that I was privileged to meet the cricket club this season and the football pitch shares the facility as was referred to a few weeks ago in 'A Pilsley sporting weekend' when the Sunday variety of todays hosts played a pre-season friendly.  

FORMER CLAY CROSS TOWN PLAYER ARRON LARGE IN GREEN AND WHITE

As ever a good response was received from both clubs and I would like to thank Andy from Pilsley for his advice that the game was all good to go and along with Mathew from Darley Dale for his late evening phone request for players names.  Today would also be not only a challenge to walk to the game and watch the proceedings under an umbrella but the added battle of trying to take pictures and make some notes under very wet conditions leads to some shots not being as clear as normal but boy was it wet.

Pilsley I have reviewed many times in the summer but a quick re visit shows it to be a mining village with the old pit being adjacent to the ground which also contained the now defunct former welfare on the edge of the ground.  Close by was Parkhouse Colliery in the land between Danesmoor and Lower Pilsley, the best reminder of this is a previously featured front garden on Rupert Street which has two coal tubs and memorials to the former pits.  Today it is a 'former' mining village as are so many around these parts and relies heavily on new industries and services that are away from the village unlike the 'old days' when bus and commercial body builders Reeve Burgess were based right in the centre.

ITS CLOSE CALL TO WHO IS IN CONTROL HERE

Darley Dale sits of the A6 between Matlock and Bakewell and the club play in Whitworth Park behind the institute and are situated in a lovely setting as are so many clubs within this league.  Like their hosts they were not setting the league alight with just one point so far but what was to follow showed they may be about to rise up the league with a little more conversion of chances.

LARGE ON THE RUN FOR PILSLEY

An enterprising start from both sides seemed to hit Pilsley harshly when they fell two down in the same amount of minutes just before the quarter of an hour mark firstly a deep cross off the right was headed home by Jack Stephenson and the advantage was doubled thanks to a cracking strike from 20 yards by Dan Ward.  Pilsley pulled a goal back from the penalty spot thanks to Gareth Lewin after 21 minutes but the game seemed to be being rather harsh on them although they did survive a penalty miss by Jonathon Cooper who fired over the bar but he made amends converting just over the half hour mark to re-establish the visitors two goal lead.

DARLEY DALE BRING THE BALL AWAY IN THE FIRST HALF

But as the game swung from end to end Dale Hegarty found a smart finish on the turn to again pull Pilsley right back into the game on 34 minutes and then with seven minutes to go to the break they levelled Darley Dale saw their keeper pull off a cracking save which pushed the ball away from the goal line but not the close in players and as they struggled to clear their penalty box Kian Barlow made no mistake and the game was all square.  Pilsley were in the ascendancy now and Aaron Large tested the visiting keeper while at the other end the home defence were clearing off their own goal line.  It had been a breathless first half besides a very wet one.

IS IT STILL RAINING OUT THERE

The second period was as frantic as the first half with Pilsley trying to force their way into the second period that was increasingly showing The Lions gain the upper hand in the chances count.  Home keeper Thomas Mourbey was proving vital with a couple of late saves one just before the ninety minutes were up resulted in appeals for a penalty from the visitors but was waved away by referee Ryan Handbury.  

In time added on keeper Mourbey came out and was injured when a visiting forward slid in and in the wet conditions was unable to stop.  Still as we entered double figures on the stoppage time clock another chance came and this time the Pilsley stand in keeper pulled off a superb stop from a close range shot after The Lions attacker had skipped past two defenders in the penalty box.

UMBRELLAS TO THE FORE BUT PILSLEY AND DARLEY DALE ARE IN FULL STRIDE

Moments later referee Handbury would blow his whistle to signal the end to proceedings but there was little care of how wet I now was and the constant camera lens cleaning as this had been one heck of a game supplied by two teams who lets remember had no use of changing rooms and facilities currently.  I think they had made the decision they were wet through after their warm ups and might as well go for it and so they did creating a great advert for the Hope Valley League.  I look forward to revisiting on a dry afternoon.

GREAT ADVERT FOR THE HOPE VALLEY LEAGUE TODAY