MANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH – MANAGER OF THE MONTH

Jason Ainsley (Spennymoor Town)

Jason Ainsley may have been in charge for 12 years, but even he won’t have had too many months better than the last. After an unconvincing August, he masterminded a Spennymoor Town revival in September.

Now fourth in the National League North, Town actually started last month slowly with a 1-1 draw against Southport.

That proved to be a spark as they secured maximum points after that, starting with a 2-0 win over Leamington, followed by a 3-1 victory versus Nuneaton Borough.

Perhaps their best performance and result of the season came against Hereford last weekend. Ainsley said the 3-0 away win against the Bulls would live long in the memory.

The National League’s longest serving manager was quoted earlier in the month saying: “we are always likely to score goals”.

How right he was. They averaged over two goals per game in their September fixtures and are now the third highest scoring side in the division.

MANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH – PLAYER OF THE MONTH

Ed Williams (Kidderminster Harriers)

What a month it’s been for Harriers’ midfield maestro Ed Williams.

With Kidderminster sitting proudly in second, the 23-year-old’s form also piqued the interest of England C manager Paul Fairclough, who selected Williams for their upcoming friendlies this month.

Harriers may have lost for the first time this season during the past few weeks, but elsewhere it’s been a perfect month. An impressive 12 points from 15 has been backed up with a resounding win in the FA Cup.

Williams has more than contributed with six goals in five games throughout September, the summer signing has helped his side to wins against Blyth Spartans and Altrincham, along with a crucial goal as they eased York City aside.

But the stand-out moment has to be an incredible solo effort against Boston United – picking up the ball before beating two defenders and firing low past the Pilgrims’ keeper.

MANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH- VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH

Roy Hackford (Boston United)

Roy Hackford has won Volunteer of the Month for Boston United in the National League North.

Roy is invaluable to the football club and performs many voluntary tasks every season. On home matchdays, Roy acts as a host of the Boardroom and welcomes all visiting Club Directors and guests, making sure their needs are met.

He is very influential around the club on non-matchdays too, carrying out the maintenance tasks that are required to keep the stadium up-and-running and, during the last two summers, has overseen a re-paint of the whole stadium.

On away match days, he helps to transport kit and equipment and helps other volunteers to meet the team coach.

MAN v FAT Football – an FA-endorsed 14 week football league exclusively for the 56% of UK men who are overweight or obese launches in Bradford from 17^th September 2018

The MAN v FAT Football scheme will run at Goals, Eccleshill Bradford on Monday evenings from 7pm – 9pm.

Local men who want to tackle their weight issues now have the chance to join this incredibly successful weight loss league. With 95% of players losing weight and some players losing up to 70lbs during the 14 week league, it’s no wonder that the Football Association have officially endorsed the leagues.

Set up by Andrew Shanahan who himself lost five stone and was fed-up with weight loss classes just for women, MAN v FAT combines football with easy to follow diet and lifestyle advice as well as 24/7 online and offline support. There’s the traditional weigh-ins before each game, but this is then followed-up by a 30 minute game of six-a-side football. Extra goal bonuses are awarded depending on the pounds lost by the players, so it becomes a real team effort.

Karl White, Regional Manager of www.manvfat.com said, “We’re thrilled to offer this to men in Bradford . We’ve seen that MAN v FAT Football can have an incredible impact on the health of our players with 95% of players losing weight and 93% reporting health improvements from curing sleep apnoea to huge improvements in blood pressure and joint pain. Across 2016 our players lost more than 7 tonnes in weight and we know that we’re going to smash that in 2017 with leagues like the one in Bradford ‘

Currently, there are over 20 million overweight and obese men in the UK, accounting for nearly 7 out of every 10 men. The issue of weight has become such a concern that a recent report suggested that the government should treat this as the number one public health concern. Despite this, funding has been cut to local authorities and men are nearly 300% less likely to get support for their weight than women. Despite this MAN v FAT Football is one of the only options for men who want to lose weight. Fortunately, with more leagues launching across the UK, men who want to lose weight and get back into football now have an opportunity to do something about it.

Jayne Spencer, Community Manager stated ‘ We are delighted to have the opportunity to be involved in this programme for Men in Bradford and we are sure we will increase interest and membership.

It costs £9.99 to register and games cost £6 per week. The only thing you have to lose is weight…

The link is

https://www.manvfatfootball.org/Home/Registration

For MAN v Fat media enquiries contact Jayne Spencer, Community Manager at Bradford Park Avenue Football club

Jayne Spencer – jayne.spencer@bpafc.com Tel 07807011948

On Wednesday 19th September Bradford’s youngsters took on Harworth Colliery in their FA Youth Cup 1^st qualifying round fixture. It was a great occasion with a record crowd down for an academy game and a real buzz around the Horsfall despite the bitterly cold weather.

Park Avenue started well with an early chance for Leahy forcing the Harworth keeper to a finger tip save. Harworth continued to look shakey at the back with a number of chances falling Park Av’s way. However, against the run of play Harworth took the lead. An Avenue hand ball on the edge of the box gave Harworth a free kick which deflected off the wall and into the net. It was 1-0 Harworth. This goal seemed to spring Harworth into life and they came at Park Avenue. Some good defending by both wingbacks kept Avenue in the game and just before half time Avenue found their equaliser. It was the first time Park Avenue strung a number of passes together down the right hand side and it opened up the Harworth defence. A great ball into the box by Conlon was tapped in by Bailey at the back post. The half ended at one a piece in a game Avenue should really have taken hold of. After half time Avenue started to settle and were rewarded with a goal. A free kick from the half way line lifted high into the box by Rowntree was met by Whitrick and headed over the keeper. However, it wasn’t long before Avenue squandered their lead. A soft free kick was given at the edge of the box. Harworth’s players straight strike went straight over Widdop’s head and it was 2-2. The game then started to get away from Park Avenue with a catalogue of individual errors arising. The turning point came when Widdop’s error left a tap in for the Harworth striker. 3-2 to the visitors with Avenue looking unable to reply. Chances for Ali, T.Ali and Rowntree were not converted and it looked like the game was just going to fizzle out. The final blow came when another silly free kick was given away on the edge of the box and was once again converted by Harworth. Avenue substitutes Mayfield, Ikram and Panwar added fresh legs and Avenue kept creating chances but with no final product. A frustrating game all round as Bradford’s youngsters failed to perform on the day, on this occasion. Nerves seem to get the better of the lads on the night as they were miles off the performance they produced at Staveley. This now means its time for them to focus on the U19 and College league as well as the local Pat Rice trophy.

Next game is down at The Horsfall on Monday 24^th September verses Huddersfield YMCA.