FOOTBALL: Club Thorne Colliery manager James O’Neill is urging the town’s football fans to get behind his team and they mount a serious challenge for a place in the Northern Counties East League.
It is 37 years since Colliery dropped out of that level but they have an excellent chance of returning thanks to a superb start to life in the Humber Premier League.
They sit top of the table after ten games, earning eight wins and just a single defeat.
The majority of recent games have been away and O’Neill said: “As we start to see more home fixtures upcoming, it would be great if people could come out and support us.
“At the last home game against Sculcoates the atmosphere was fantastic and definitely contributed to the players’ successful performance on the day.
“We’d all love to see more and more days like that between now and the end of the season.”
That match went in favour of the hosts 2-1 thanks to a late winner from Toby Marriott after Joe Pugh had given them a first-half lead.
Previously, Colliery had chalked up a 2-1 win at Hornsea Town and ran out 6-0 victors at LIV Supplies.
Ethan Harrison and Aiden Marshall got the goals on the coast, with Chris Spinks 2, Dominic Mellor 2, Harrison and Will Hackett on target at the Haworth Park home of LIV.
Late goals from Ben Dyer, Marriott and Lewis Austin-Scorer secured a 4-0 win in a swift return against Hornsea in the Humber Premier League Cup after Joe Pugh had scored the only goal of the first half.
Hackett and Marshall then scored in a 2-2 draw at Beverley Town Reserves to ensure the team were reminded they could not under-estimate any opposition.
Colliery’s last outing saw them win 1-0 away at Pocklington, with a goal early in the second half being enough for the Thorne side to take all three points.
“It’s been another month we can look back on and be satisfied with, particularly with so many games being away from home, which always adds another layer of challenge,” said O’Neill.
“Some days we’ve been fantastic and won comfortably, other days we’ve been below our best and had to dig deep to get something from the game.
“Anyone on the outside who was naive enough to expect us to win at a canter every week not only shows a lack of footballing knowledge but a serious lack of respect to the opposition.
“That’s not something we will be guilty of as a playing squad and management team. We knew from the outset just how competitive this league was, with many of the teams having been together a number of years and containing plenty of individuals who have experience in the league above and even higher.
“We’ll have to work incredibly hard in each and every game to get three points and if we don’t, then we’ll drop points. That’s the simple truth.
“At the outset of a season you often hear the phrase ‘let’s see where we are after 10 games’. Well we’re around that stage now and we are where we hoped to be, which is in the mix at the top end of the table.
“The next step is to try to kick on from here and a big plus will be the return of Callum Verhees in the coming weeks. He was outstanding towards the end of last season and it’s been a blow not having him available, so to have him back on the pitch will be like a brand new signing.”
Colliery are next at home on Saturdays, October 21 and 28, to Reckitts and Hessle Sporting Club respectively – see the fixtures and results page HERE.
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