Stansfield should have been sliding in for that cross. You’ve got to gamble. MacAtee should he buried that chance he got. It would have been over. Now it isn’t. You can’t let them play balls into the box like that when they have two giants up front.

Just watching John Fogerty now at Glasto on BBC 2. Nothing is for ever.

My tickets for the Accrington game came yesterday. Not long now before we get to see all our new signings.

Sense and Rovers in the same article ? That’s not something you see very often.

I’m not bothered about Weimann, this season could easily be a season too far for him. Baath is a loss. Sanderson was a handy bench player.

I never felt the same about Clive Lloyd after that game I mentioned earlier where his bowlers were really trying to hurt the English batsmen, especially Close and Edrich. I think he went beyond what crickets stands for that day and it was a miracle nobody was seriously injured.

Jay And The Americans - Living Above Your Head

How about Fuku ?

I just looked up Ellis Achong up on wiki. Apparently when he was the pro for Burnley against Todmorden he once took all 10 wickets. When he batted he made 0. That’s cricket for you.

That Poku who plays for the Dutch U-21 team looks to be a real player. The next Doku. If we had any real money we should have been over there with the cheque book. Magic beans won’t do the trick.

I look forward to the international breaks. At least my weekends aren’t spoiled then.

Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour

Another ex workmate of mine captained Castleton Moor back in those days. He lived near the ground and was in the nets every night. The pro at the time was Ellis Achong, of “ Chinaman “ fame. In one game Achong was bowling and the wicket was doing nothing, the opposing team were scoring quite freely off Achong. So, with some trepidation, my pal approached Achong and said - “ I think it’s time for a bowling change Ellis “. Achong, quick as a flash said - “ I agree, put Bill Jones on at the other end ! “. He told another story about a New Zealand pro called Badcock. He’d batted quite well in the first innings and had got a collection. The tea break was interrupted by a rain shower so Badcock had spent some of the collection at the bar ! When the game re-started Badcock came on to bowl, and ran up straight into the stumps and fell over. He had to be helped from the field.

I see Kerkaz has signed for Liverpool. I think that means Beck will be available again.

We do seem to get more than our share of these type of injuries.

The injuries today are different. When did we last lose a player with a broken leg ? It was a regular occurrence back in the day. You’d normally get one a season.

I was thinking how much faster the game is today as I watched the latest bout of walking football with the ball being passed between the keeper, centre backs, fullbacks, into midfield, back to the keeper etc etc. Zzzzzzzz.

The new Adam Armstrong. He’d be ok playing off a “target “ man but nobody plays like that anymore.

I remember going past one of the grounds - Haslingden ? And there was a big poster advertising Clive Lloyd as the pro. This was before he played for Lancashire. If you look back at history of the Central Lancashire League and the Lancashire League the only top player that didn’t come over as a pro was Don Bradman. He was coming over until the Aussie cricket authorities put a stop to it by buying him off. A old workmate of mine played for Milnrow in the CLL. The pro there was an Aussie all rounder called George Tribe who’d had a bust up with Bradman ( just like another great Aussie CLL player Cec Pepper ) and came over to England to try his luck. He later had a long career at Warwickshire. They were playing in the Wood Cup final and Tribe bowled out about 7 of the opposition to win the game. As was the custom he got a collection. Back then it was all three penny bits , sixpences, shillings etc. All in buckets. Instead of standing all the rest of the team to a round of drinks at the bar after the game Tribe tipped all the buckets into the boot of his car and drove off without a word ! Cec Pepper was a long time CLL stalwart before he became a first class umpire. Towards the end of his career his was driving up to the ground at Castleton Moor in his car through the fans. It was a hot day and he had the windows down. One guy shouted out to him - “ Bloody hell Cec, you’re not still playing are you ? You must be past it “. Cec replied - “ Past it ? , I’ll give you my address after the game, you can send your wife round . I’ll show you who’s past it ! “ Vinoo Mankad, the Indian all rounder , was the pro at Castleton Moor in the early 1950’s. He was on £50 a week when the average wage was about £10. He left the Moor to go to one of the Lancashire League clubs ( Haslingden ? ) for more money ! The Leagues were buzzing then with really large gates. All the pros were household names, top Test cricket internationals. You had to get down to Dane St in Rochdale early to get a good seat. Becoming a member was really difficult. Within 10 years all that had gone and crowds were quite sparse and becoming a member was easy.

Championship will be his level Chaddy. Like Armstrong. What exactly did he do against Spain apart from run around a bit and miss two good chances ? Don’t just listen to what the commentators are telling you. Use your own eyes. Last night he was invisible. Every ball played up to him was lost. Delap missing could be the difference between us winning and losing.

Yeah, newly promoted teams are a no/no first up. They’re still full of confidence, all their squad to pick from and an enthusiastic following cheering them on. Best time to play them is after a few months when they’ve had a few bangings, lost a few players to injury and suspension and their fans are getting restless.

Could be. Let’s hope he can play for more than 20 minutes a game though.

I watched most of the previous game against Germany and it could have gone either way. We were worth a draw. We badly need a centre forward who impacts the game though. The lad from Big Club is ineffectual leading the line. He looks like a poor man’s Adam Armstrong.

Yeah he was. I thought he was trying to play the ball with his left foot when it really needed a right foot touch. It gave the Dutch a chance to clear a ball they should have never had. Then our centre half ( Cresswell ? ) got in a tangle and gave their striker a chance of a run and shot at goal which he took really well. Just an example of how small mistakes in the opposition half can lead to a goal. That was the only mistake the centre half made though. He was outstanding. The Dutch defence parted like the Red Sea for our second goal.

Two good goals from Elliot. We need to find a striker though, the lad from Big Club never touched the ball.