Where are all the fans?
One defeat in eight games in the league at home,14 goals scored and last-minute winners by the bucket load.
Tigers are on their best run of form at home for many a year and yet the people of Worksop are taking no notice.
Attendances are falling fast at Sandy Lane, down around 20% since the start of the season.
Only a combined 1,000 people have seen the last four league games at Sandy Lane, when the team earned 10 points from a maximum 12 to continue their climb from the lower reaches of the UniBond Premier Division to the sanctuary of mid-table.
Granted, it is a run that means Worksop Town are no longer involved in a potentially nail-biting fight against relegation.
And the damage caused by a poor start means they have too much ground to make up in the chase for the play-offs.
But this current crop of players are playing with confidence, Tuesday night's first half against Ossett demonstrating their self-belief - although the less said about the second half the better.
And they deserve to be watched by more people, more local people especially.
They aren't going through the end-of-season motions at Sandy Lane, no player has got his mind on a beach in Barbados.
Footballers at this level are too honest for that.
Everyone at Worksop Town is building towards next season and the early signs are it could be a memorable 2008/09 campaign.
But the football club need the people of Worksop to get behind them, so get down to Sandy Lane and cheer on the boys.
Published Date:
19/03/2008
Modified Date:
19/03/2008
Where are all the fans?
One defeat in eight games in the league at home,14 goals scored and last-minute winners by the bucket load.
Tigers are on their best run of form at home for many a year and yet the people of Worksop are taking no notice.
Attendances are falling fast at Sandy Lane, down around 20% since the start of the season.
Only a combined 1,000 people have seen the last four league games at Sandy Lane, when the team earned 10 points from a maximum 12 to continue their climb from the lower reaches of the UniBond Premier Division to the sanctuary of mid-table.
Granted, it is a run that means Worksop Town are no longer involved in a potentially nail-biting fight against relegation.
And the damage caused by a poor start means they have too much ground to make up in the chase for the play-offs.
But this current crop of players are playing with confidence, Tuesday night's first half against Ossett demonstrating their self-belief - although the less said about the second half the better.
And they deserve to be watched by more people, more local people especially.
They aren't going through the end-of-season motions at Sandy Lane, no player has got his mind on a beach in Barbados.
Footballers at this level are too honest for that.
Everyone at Worksop Town is building towards next season and the early signs are it could be a memorable 2008/09 campaign.
But the football club need the people of Worksop to get behind them, so get down to Sandy Lane and cheer on the boys.
Published Date:
19/03/2008
Modified Date:
19/03/2008
Where are all the fans?
One defeat in eight games in the league at home,14 goals scored and last-minute winners by the bucket load.
Tigers are on their best run of form at home for many a year and yet the people of Worksop are taking no notice.
Attendances are falling fast at Sandy Lane, down around 20% since the start of the season.
Only a combined 1,000 people have seen the last four league games at Sandy Lane, when the team earned 10 points from a maximum 12 to continue their climb from the lower reaches of the UniBond Premier Division to the sanctuary of mid-table.
Granted, it is a run that means Worksop Town are no longer involved in a potentially nail-biting fight against relegation.
And the damage caused by a poor start means they have too much ground to make up in the chase for the play-offs.
But this current crop of players are playing with confidence, Tuesday night's first half against Ossett demonstrating their self-belief - although the less said about the second half the better.
And they deserve to be watched by more people, more local people especially.
They aren't going through the end-of-season motions at Sandy Lane, no player has got his mind on a beach in Barbados.
Footballers at this level are too honest for that.
Everyone at Worksop Town is building towards next season and the early signs are it could be a memorable 2008/09 campaign.
But the football club need the people of Worksop to get behind them, so get down to Sandy Lane and cheer on the boys.
Published Date:
19/03/2008
Modified Date:
19/03/2008
Red light, spells danger
The warning signs of relegation that flashed far too late at Sandy Lane last season, have already flashed this season.
With a little more than two months of the season left and more than a dozen fixtures, manager Peter Rinkcavage already had the alarm bells ringing in his head and the red lights flashing in his eyes.
And rest assured, he was making sure they were ringing and flashing in the dressing room as well.
Rinkcavage has learned from the lessons of last season, when Worksop didn't realise they were in a relegation fight until they were already plummeting towards the bottom three.
He wasn't in charge then, but sat chatting with him after Saturday's 1-0 win over Marine, it was obvious he didn't want to fall into the same trap as the club did last year.
"The alarm bells sound in January and February for me," he told me, "not in March and April when games are running out and you're putting pressure on yourselves to win games."
It seems rather pointless to be talking about the dreaded 'R' word after two impressive wins over promotion-chasing teams.
But had they lost both of those games, Tigers would have been staring a relegation dogfight in the face.
Instead, they have six points in the bag, and with promotion and relegation issues set to be fought away from Sandy Lane, Rinkcavage and his team can start to play a bit of pressure-free football.
As anyone in football will tell you, that is a rare luxury.
So why not enjoy it while you can.
In the last two months of the season Worksop Town can play with a lot more freedom, they can play more attacking football, they can enjoy it, and they can entertain the fans.
Let's hope they do so, and build a platform for next season when we want the pressure to be firmly on come 12 months time - when Worksop are fighting for promotion.
Published Date:
03/03/2008
Modified Date:
03/03/2008
Fantasy football fans
I am the manager of a table-topping side.
CookPassBabtridge FC are currently 82 points clear at the top of the Worksop Guardian fantasy league and I feel this proves my tactical nouse and managerial skill - I have a right to voice my opinion on the beautiful game.
Others justify their right to have a say by counting up the years they've been attending games, and some are lucky enough to have playing experience at a decent level, but all of us truly believe we know how it should be done.
We've all been there, watching our team lose and tearing our hair out because the manager hadn't brought on the player that we knew, with complete conviction, would make the difference.
On Saturday, at Sandy Lane, there were a minority of home supporters who cheered ironically when manager Peter Rinkcavage replaced Kevin Sanasy in the seventh minute of extra-time, bringing on his first substitute of the match - Curtis Bernard.
Those who cheered must have felt that a change was overdue and at long last the manager had caught up to their way of thinking.
Something they obviously discounted was the goalscoring record of Sanasy, who has only needed one or two chances to put the ball in the net on many occasions this season. You can understand why Rinkcavage would be reticent to bring off a player with 15 goals to his name in 20 appearances for Tigers.
Although he often looks tired because of the way he plays the game, Andy White was clearly giving the Frickley defence something to think about, winning countless headers and drawing men towards him to create space. Rinkcavage obviously saw enough in White's performance to leave him on the field for 104 minutes.
So the question is - who would you have brought off and how early? With the game entrenched in a midfield battle, it seemed likely that it would reach 90 minutes goalless. Frickley used all three substitutes by the 82nd minute, so perhaps Rinkcavage had one eye on extra-time and the luxury of fresh legs.
A change for the sake of a change isn't good enough reasoning to send on a substitute at any level of football and the ironic cheerers might consider next time that the manager has a game plan or that he has faith in the players on the pitch.
On Saturday it just didn't go Worksop's way and while it's an opportunity missed, the signs are still there that Tigers will be well equipped for a promotion charge next season.
Everyone's a manager, but only one man has the job - let him do it.
Published Date:
11/02/2008
Modified Date:
11/02/2008
Coming of age
First it was the strike force that was sorted out, then it was the midfield, and now they look to have got the defence ship-shape and ready for action.
Things are looking up for Worksop Town.
Saturday's 2-0 win at Stamford - a performance to match the effort at Guiseley and Gateshead in November - underlines how much this Tigers team is growing.
When they win games it is through hard work, professionalism and a new ruthless streak, embodied by red-hot strikers Andy White and Kevin Sanasy. Stamford were chasing shadows for 90 minutes.
In my 18 months of following this football club, things have never looked so promising.
Gone is the despair and the desperation of 12 months ago when Worksop sunk without a trace out of the Conference North.
Gone is the lack of self-belief evident at the start of this season.
In its place is cohesion and confidence, maturity and momentum.
At a rural outpost in deepest Lincolnshire on Saturday, Peter Rinkcavage's Worksop Town came of age.
They have self-belief in abundance - they've just got to add that little bit of consistency that can transform a promising team into a good team.
To follow Worksop Town's progress, read the Worksop Guardian every Friday, visit our website and keep texting in your thoughts to 84070.
Published Date:
04/02/2008
Modified Date:
04/02/2008
Help us to help you
The landscape of journalism has changed dramatically since the advent of the internet and here at the Worksop Guardian we are doing our best to keep up to date, and keep you, our audience, informed as best we can.
Having our own website has made this newspaper and this sports desk a 24-hour news organisation, instead of a once-a-week publication.
We can now update you whenever and wherever.
We can now bring you videos of the Tigers goals, an exciting addition to our online service this month.
For the last four months we've been broadcasting a podcast every Thursday aftermoon, something my colleagues Graham Smyth, Chris Burton and I have really enjoyed putting together.
All last week and through the winter months we've been able to update you regularly on the state of the Sandy Lane pitch and other sports grounds in our area, as the torrential rain threatens the fixture list.
Two or three years ago we could only do this when you picked up the paper on a Friday morning.
A blog, for instance, was something unheard of a few years ago. Now we can use it to add that little human perspective on match reports, and interesting things we witness in the world of sport.
But we can't do it alone.
We need your help - you the sports fan.
We need your thoughts on the matches, the personalities and the talking points.
There are a number of ways you can get in touch with us.
Email us at sport@worksop-guardian.co.uk
text us your thoughts after the Tigers match on 84070,
comment on our stories at the bottom of articles on the website.
Or there's the old fashioned way, pick up the phone and call 01909 543017 or 543012.
Enjoy your sport.
Published Date:
21/01/2008
Modified Date:
21/01/2008
Full of goals
Writing about Worksop Town has become so much easier since the ball started hitting the net on a regular basis.
Tigers went eight entire games without scoring from open play, with supporters having only one goal to cheer in the month of September at Sandy Lane.
Fans like to see goals and so do journalists. I'd much rather describe how a player picked up the ball on halfway before sending a 40-yard screamer into the top corner, ala Dave Cockerill on his debut for Tigers against Whitby Town in November, than pen a story about a glut of missed chances.
Kevin Sanasy has brought Sandy Lane, and the back pages of the Guardian, to life since he signed for Worksop. Thirteen goals in 15 games is a phenomenal record and has made the world of difference to a team who had scored just four times in eight games before his arrival.
Tigers strikers appeared to have the worst luck in the world during the earlier stages of the season, but Sanasy has made his own luck. His pace takes him past the last man and his finishing is clinical.
In the last month has has been joined in the goals, and the headlines, by a player who is hard to pigeon hole. Step forward Andy White. The lanky striker can look awkward, and at first glance you'd be forgiven for thinking he's just an aerial threat, but White has begun to show some silky skills and finishing every bit as sharp as Sanasy.
Confidence can take a player a long way and White is full of it, making the number nine jersey his own and creating havoc for opposition defences.
Sanasy and White don't win games on their own however. Strikers need service, and in Dave Cockerill they're getting chances thick and fast. The big winger assisted all three goals against Ilkeston and set up Sanasy in the Challenge Cup at North Ferriby United.
Cockerill may look like a solid unit, but he can shift, and he is very hard to stop. Having watched him for two seasons at Stocksbridge I'm well used to his accurate delivery and stirring runs and he's exactly the kind of player Sanasy and White need around them.
Tigers are scoring plenty of goals and winning games, and making it easier to fill the back pages - long may it continue.
Published Date:
07/01/2008
Modified Date:
07/01/2008