New stand rises above the weather!

Despite the weather Gods being against the building of the new stand from Day 1, work is progressing nicely. Many thanks to everyone who has got themselves bitterly cold in the development cause these past few weeks!

GNE v Alsager MATCH POSTPONED

Wednesday nights Vodkat League Premier Division game with Alsager has been postponed due to the snow. Not a great surprise really.

Novembers Player of the Month

It is time to cast your vote for Glossop North Ends Player of the Month for November. This months shortlist is as follows;

Adam Oakes
Garry Kharas
Jay Gorton
Jon McIlwaine
Richard Gresty
Rob Hartshorne

You have up to Wednesday afternoon to cast your vote and the winner will be presented with his award at Wednesday nights game with Alsager, weather permitting!

Colne postponed, Woodley on!

Todays game with Colne has been postponed because of a frozen pitch.

As a result, a friendly has been arranged with Woodley Sports which will be played at Woodley TODAY, kick off 3.00pm.

Vodkat Challenge Cup 3rd Round Draw

The draw for the third round of the Vodkat League Challenge Cup is as follows:

AFC Blackpool v St Helens Town
AFC Darwen v Glossop NE
Atherton LR v Runcorn Town
Bacup Borough v Winsford United
Formby v Bootle
Irlam v Squires Gate
Norton United or Wigan RP v Stone Dominoes
Ramsbottom United v New Mills

The ties will take place on Saturday 29th January.

HPR Interviews

Listen again to Ben Prices interview with Manager Steve Young and Striker Rob Hartshorne on Wednesday nights Football Fantime.

Steve Young
Rob Hartshorne

Colne 1 GNE 2 (aet) - League Cup 1st Round Replay

Glossop progressed to the next round of the Vodkat League Cup with an extra time winning goal from Adam Oakes, after Steve Heaton had put the Hillmen 1-0 ahead in normal time before Colne equalised.

Glossop will now travel to AFC Darwen in the next round, to be played on Saturday 29th January.

Formby 0 GNE 1

Glossop North End got a well deserved 1-0 victory against Formby on Saturday. A goal from Steven Brackenridge in the 81st minute gave the Hillmen all 3 points.

Match Report

Derbyshire Senior Cup

Following their win over Stapenhill, GNE will face Gresley in the 3rd Round of the Derbyshire Senior Cup. The game will be played at Surrey Street on Wednesday 15th December, kick off 7.45pm.

Gresley are currently top of the East Midlands Counties League (step 6).

GNE 5 Stapenhill 0 - Derbyshire Senior Cup

Glossop North End replicated their previous victory by thrashing Stapenhill 5-0 at Surrey Street on Wednesday night. A hat-trick from top goal-scorer Garry Kharas and 2 goals from Rob Hartshorne gave the Hillmen a comfortable win and saw them progress into the next round of the Derbyshire Senior Cup.

Match Report

Stone Dominoes 0 GNE 5

Your ageing scribe has spent most of the last week discussing the travel difficulties associated with getting into Glossop on a weekday morning. So what, some may say. Why, say others. Well, as the first of these is a statement and not a question I will work on the “why”. As many will know, we are having work done on the fortress Surrey Street stadium in order to improve the lot of all of us. Last week was dominated by the installation of piles for the new stand on the Surrey Street side. The two chaps doing the work had been travelling from Preston to Glossop every morning of the week by van. Tales of motorway jams, accidents, volume of traffic etc. dominate the conversation in the early morning. This gets your ageing scribe thinking about transport systems and, in particular, how relaxing or otherwise travel was in days gone by. Our destination today, Stone, Staffordshire, gives some fascinating insights into transport down the years.

In road transport, Stone was a stopping off point on the London to Holyhead stagecoach route. This rather suggests that there were many “watering holes” for both men and horses in these early years and this is largely confirmed by the presence of two brewers in the town some years ago. The most notable of these was the Joules Brewery which began way back in the 18th century. Joules Bitter was legendary but the brewery was closed in 1974 having been taken over by Bass of Burton-on-Trent. The other brewery was Bents which was also taken over by Bass and closed in 1968.

Seems to be that the town of Stone is, in many ways, “the town that beer forgot”.

Back to road transport. Stone is served by both the A34 and the A51 making it something of a crossroads in the sense of the national trunk road system. However, following the introduction of the motorway system in this green and pleasant land of ours during the second half of the 20th century, Stone was by-passed by the M6.

Seems to be that the town of Stone is, in many ways, “the town that roads forgot”.

Back in the early days of transport, canals were very important for the movement of goods between manufacturing centres. Stone lies on the River Trent and was important in being the headquarters town for the Trent and Mersey canal which was built in the late 18th century to form a navigable link between these two great rivers of Central England. Great news for Stone but the prestige of having the canal headquarters in the town did not last forever. The headquarters were moved to Stoke-on-Trent.

Seems to be that the town of Stone is, in many ways, “the town that canals forgot”.

The transport method which, to all intents and purposes, put the canals out of business was railways. In the late 1840s the railway came to Stone thus ending the era of a coaching and canal town. Railways are, as we know, much more efficient than canals and the old turnpike roads when it comes to moving heavy goods and the railway brought good times to manufacturing in Stone. However, of recent times, the train service to Stone has deteriorated somewhat as the rapid, tilting, Virgin trains from Manchester to Euston pass through Stone but do not stop.

Seems to be that the town of Stone is, in many ways, “the town that railways forgot”.

So, what does all of this mean for Stone today? Well what we have is a very pleasant small town with many amenities which makes for a great place to live. Many of the old canal side buildings have been converted into stylish apartments with the canal being used for pleasure craft. There are a good number of events organised throughout the town during the year. The next event is the switching on of the Christmas Lights by the Mayor and Mayoress next Thursday. Pity that as we will be just too early to participate in this event and have an early audience with Father Christmas. So, perhaps we could say:-

Seems to be that the town of Stone is, in many ways, “the town that Father Christmas remembered” - aaah, that's nice!

Maybe the by-passing of Stone by all of the transport systems have done the town a favour in that “peace” has been restored but where does the beer come from?

Oh, before I forget that this series of short essays is supposed to be vaguely about football, Stone is the birthplace of Stan Collymore.

The Saturday of the match starts early for your ageing scribe as it seems that I have volunteered to take the kit and the kitman from Glossop to Stone. A smooth journey in sunny weather through magnificent countryside brings us to Stone. And, indeed, this looks to be a fairly affluent, quite relaxed small town which has been forgotten by many. However, the trusty young lady who speaks from the mighty Tom Tom tells us that we have not quite reached our destination. Following the instructions precisely we leave Stone and, in due course, arrive at the Motiva Park complex near the village of Yarnfield. This is quite some way out of the town and set on flat land in, essentially, open countryside.

Looking very new and boasting some 15 pitches of differing sizes, this is an impressive football complex capable of hosting many teams. We are advised that teams associated with Port Vale have used the facilities in the past but that they now play host to youth and academy sides from Stoke City. All of the outbuildings are wooden clad and look impressive. The clubhouse is not huge but is big enough and the only disappointment is that it is “cans only” – a missed opportunity here perhaps although the sausage butties are rated as first class. And what do we see just outside the clubhouse? Well, real Stone Dominos. Only three of them but if you had 28 of the size of these any pub table I know would never be able to cope with a game.

The “stadium” pitch is the one used by Stone Dominoes and is the only fully enclosed pitch. Everything is very neat and tidy with a huge example of a scrattin’ shed running the entire length of one side of the ground. The travelling GNE arm numbers around 30 today from a crown given later as 89 – a four flag day. The teams come out of the changing rooms and line up for a minutes silence in memory of the fallen of many conflicts – tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday.

The match kicks off in glorious sunshine and after 45 minutes its half time and GNE lead 2-0. Into the second half and GNE are putting in the best performance of the season and eventually run out as 5-0 winners and, according to most, if we had taken our chances it would have been double figures.

The supporters retire to the bar and contemplate a great afternoon. Yes, the result is important but so is the performance and today we had both – excellent. As the hoolivan travellers prepare to depart amidst conversations about where to restock the van we can reflect on at least one thing in the footballing sense.

Seems to be that the town of Stone is, in many ways, “the town that GNE will remember” - for all the right reasons...

Vodkat League 3rd Round Draw

The draw for the third round is as follows:

AFC Blackpool v St Helens Town
AFC Darwen v Glossop NE or Colne
Atherton LR v Runcorn Town
Bacup Borough v Winsford United
Formby v Bootle
Irlam v Squires Gate
Norton United or Wigan RP v Stone Dominoes
Ramsbottom United v New Mills

The ties will take place on a date to be advised.

GNE 2 Colne 2 (AET)

What a tremendous game. Glossop took the lead mid way through the 2nd half when Adam Oakes slotted home a headed on Gresty throw in (!). Against the run of play, Colne levelled shortly after and then in the very last minute Alex Elliot steered the ball past his own keeper for what most people thought was the winning goal for Colne. However, with the very last attack of the game Rob Hartshorne smashed in a header to take the game into extra time.
Extra time was more of the same, real end-to-end stuff, with both sides having chances to nick it.
In the end it's a replay at Colne on Tuesday 23rd November.

Rick Bailey returns to GNE

Fans entering the ground prior to todays game with Colne were greeted with the site of Rick Bailey back in a Glossop kit.

Rick has returned to the club from Woodley and will be available for next Saturdays game with Stone Dominoes.

GNE Player of the Month

Congratulations to Adam Oakes on becoming Glossop North End's Player of the Month for October.

Adam will be presented with his award prior to the kick off at Saturdays home League Cup game with Colne.

Steve Young interview on HPR

Listen again to Ben Prices interview with Manager Steve Young on Wednesday nights Football Fantime.

Steve Young interview

Manchester Premier Cup

The storey coming out of Radcliffe Borough is that our Manchester Premier Cup 1st round game will now be played on Wednesday 22nd December!! We await confirmation from the club.

St Helens 1 GNE 0