Blues and twos

AMATEUR FOOTBALL:

Ambulances called to help stricken players
TWO ambulances, a pair of broken bones and a severe dislocation was the sum of Diggle’s Huddersfield and District League clash away to Moldgreen.

The fixture was abandoned in the 87th minute — Moldgreen were winning 3-2 at the time — after an innocuous challenge in the centre of the park led to a home side player dislocating his knee cap.

The stricken player was shipped to hospital moments after a team-mate was also carted off in an ambulance to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with a broken arm.

And in another incident, Diggle midfielder Daniel Tomlinson fell awkwardly on the hard surface but played on regardless.

Still in pain, he later had the area x-rayed and it was discovered that he had broken a bone in his wrist.

Tomlinson’s injury came just two weeks after team-mate Jeff Whitaker suffered a badly broken leg against Berry Brow. Whitaker only returned home this week.

Diggle secretary Mark Smith said: “I’ve been involved in amateur football for 20 years and until recently I had only experienced one other break.

“Now I’ve seen three in as many weeks, as well as a dislocated knee cap.”

The outcome of the match will be determined at the next league executive meeting.

Meanwhile, Heyside lost ground on Division Three high-flyers Shelley following a come-from-behind 2-2 draw at Upperthong.

The local outfit's failure to convert a clutch of chances ensured a goalless opening period.

A disastrous five-minute spell at the mid-way point of the second half saw the visitors concede two goals. They were first caught on the break and then failed to clear a free-kick.

Forced to commit men forward in an attempt to reduce the arrears, Heyside were rewarded for their adventure with goals from Ryan Barnes and James Cummins to earn a share of the spoils.

The club's second string continued their good run of form in Reserve Division Two with a 7-2 win against Heywood Irish, with all the goals arriving in a frantic spell after the break.

Their opponents broke the deadlock, only for Heyside to score seven times in 15 minutes to seal victory. Heywood Irish added a second late on.





RYAN Hobin was in superb form as Red Star CBCC swept into the semi-finals of the D&J Builders (North-West) Ltd Oldham Sunday League Premier Division Shield competition.

He struck four times in an emphatic 8-0 defeat of lowly Failsworth Athletic.

Red Star are joined in the semi-finals by leaders FC Royton, High Crompton CC and Coppice United ‘A’.

Second-bottom Kenyon Arms, in their first season in the league, reached the Division Three Shield final thanks to a 4-3 win at Crompton Victoria. Jason Gradwell and Kieron Milne hit doubles.

Rob Murphy notched one of the Crompton goals and, at 53 years of age, still shows he has got the touch.

Springhead Liberal Club ‘A’ were crowned Division Two champions after defeating Northside 5-3.

Leighton Stevenson brought his tally to 24 for the season by scoring four of the goals.

With one league game to go, they remain unbeaten with an impressive record of 14 wins from 15 matches.

Springhead Liberal ‘B’, meanwhile, are closing in on promotion from Division Three.

They need to defeat Kenyon Arms in their final league game of the season to go up.

A 5-0 victory over Coppice United ‘B’ — Dave Hodgkins bagged a hat-trick — has left Springhead in sight of Division Two.