Buxton 3-1 BFC Under 21, Tuesday 8th July 2025

Buxton 3-1 Barnsley Under 21s, Friendly, Tarmac Silverlands Stadium, att. 647

The Club World Championship (the WHAT!?) is still in full swing and yet here we are, dawning of a new season. I’m back from my summer holidays, so it MUST be the new season, right? The Super Reds have just played their opening friendly (a one-all at Worksop) and I’m breaking my own rules by coming to what is, in essence, a training kickabout. But I’ve never seen us at Buxton, and the drive is THE most glorious thing, from the Yorkshire Pennines through the Peak District,up hill and down dale, past rivers and reservoirs, along windy and windy (!) roads. Just to watch the Under 21s. At the highest ground in the land.

Yes, despite being billed as a first team friendly, it’s just the Under 21s out. Worse, 5 of the team are trialists, and when an opposition fan (well, father of an opposition player) asks who in our team has played for the first team, I can only really point at keeper Flavell – and even he only got a few games last season after 3 keepers got injured (2 loanees) and a 4th fell out with the coach and was sold despite being the most in-form player in the team at that time. (The coach was to lose his job by season’s end.) Thus, it was a predictably disjointed performance with no-one standing out for the Super Reds.

Having been before, I parked 5 minutes from the ground, having turned the car around for an easy escape. £10 in, a bit steep for Under 21 friendlies but that’s on Barnsley not Buxton. Indeed, the first team WERE here tonite, bizarrely forced to watch the opening half from the stand. What was the point in THAT? Anyway, standing with Eric, we found out why the first team were pulled. A Reds fan (and Sky cameraman) walking around the pitch stopped for a chat. Turns out we’re playing Glasgow Rangers on Satdy, behind closed doors. Of course it is. Our pre-season consists of Worksop, Buxton, Harrogate and York City. It woulda been nice to play Rangers at Oakwell, though my recollection of Rangers coming to Sunderland in the 80s was of 6,000 Glasweigans wrecking the place. I suppose we could do with avoiding that.

I’ve already had a beer in the social club, on the right as you enter, as well as shaking hands (hoofs?) with the mascot, ‘Bucky’. (‘The Bucks’, see. I know, it’s no ‘Ron Corn.’) He was sweltered, he told me. I advised him to stay in the shade. It wasn’t the evening for dressing up in an animal outfit and being out in the sun. There was a smattering of Reds shirts around. Like me, Eric had no idea it was an under 21 game, though XXX did. Late notice, apparently, though too late for either club to mention it on their social media. But how did XXX know? Given she’s ‘had relations’ with more Reds footballers than I’ve shaken hands with (apparently) maybe she still has her contacts, despite her youth having disappeared long ago.

By now, I’ve walked around the pitch to lean on the fence on the far side. The home end, just past the social club, has a cluster of youngsters, obviously missing their football badly enough to be chanting. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard chanting at a friendly. Mind, I haven’t been to that many. But ‘if you are a Matlock fan surrender or you die’! (Will this attitude prevail at a pre-season meeting of the two? I suspect not.)

On the long side opposite the Main Stand a low propped roof and a couple of steps of terracing lay behind me as we leant on the fence and basked in the sun’s rays. No sign of Bucky. Perhaps he was having a well earned drink. Or maybe sat with the cluster of red track-suited individuals in the Main Stand. Buxton take the lead on 14 mins, as a throughball is slotted easily past Flavell. So much for 1st team experience. Soon, a trialist is injured and forced off. That’s a blow for him. Reds junior Kieron Graham then dispossesses the last defender and is through on goal. Mind, he’s still 35-40 yards out, but absolutely no-one makes an effort to close him down (too hot?) and he runs forward and calmly finishes. He’s perhaps the best of a bunch, keen, closing down, direct. And small. I’ve seen his type fail too many times at this club.

Half-time we’re level, but to prove anything they can do, we can do just as well, our centre half attempts to sidestep the opposing forward and loses it. Hapless. Is he one of the trialists, I wonder? If so, he’ll fit in well at Oakwell. Sub keeper Ravenhill tips round a shot before saving a penalty, diving to his right. I have no idea what the penalty was for. Not cos I disagree with the ref, I was too busy chatting/daydreaming. By now I’ve taken to having a wander round the ground.

Buxton seal it with a few minutes to go, hammering it from close range as the young Reds fail to clear a corner. The ref adds exactly zero minutes to the 90 and I’m off, looking forward to another glorious ride home, in the dusk. Such a pity I’m not capable of simply driving the same route I came, and somehow I miss Glossop and end up in Stockport. Still, it’s nice to have a drive out...

The Damage:
£10 ent
£10 SALT Alpacalypse Session IPA x 2
= £20

Emley 3-2 Barnsley Under 21s, Wednesday 22nd January 2025

Emley 3-2 Barnsley Under 21s, Sheffield and Hallamshire Cup, Welfare Park, att. 275

This week’s midweeker is an easy one to choose. My team Barnsley’s under 21 side are playing at Emley, one of the most local sides to where I live. I also enjoy Emley, a tidy little ground with a tallish main stand that commands good views, a social club, and a local real ale pub (shut tonite). It’s also an adventure, criss-crossing the countryside along back roads I couldn’t navigate without a satnav, despite the village being next to the tallest freestanding structure in Britain (Emley Moor transmitter station, to give it its proper title; Emley Moor mast to the rest of us.)

The original plan involved meeting up with a mate who’s just been given his cards…but he’s forgotten/is too busy dealing with employment agencies. Another mate later tells me he’d forgotten too, though he hadn’t committed. He’s got a commitment phobe. So it’s just me and nearly 300 other folk with nothing better to do. I get there 15 mins before KO and park on the street outside the ground, nice and easy. (Turns out I could have parked in the football club’s car park, numbers being down on a typical league fixture.)

4 quid in, bargain, and programmes to boot. For once, they’ve not sold out on me. I should probably have consulted the line ups, as I spent the game wondering who was playing for the Under 21s, beyond a couple I recognised. However, I prioritised my hands’ warmth. The programme did though confirm one thing...the big name player this evening would be the referee...the Premiership, and Sheffield’s, very own Craig Pawson. (It’s the County Cup.) The discussion next to me revolves around whether it’s him, as two of the lads don’t believe their mate. I could intervene, but I’m enjoying it, as well as their refusal to buy a programme to find out. Eventually one relents and toddles off. ‘See! I told you it was him!’

As for Craig’s performance...I was intrigued by the crowd and players’ reaction. Barely a murmur to any decision, I guess the players thought ‘well, he must know best, he’s a Premiership referee.’ Pawson definitely wanted to keep his cards in his pocket, ignoring 2 blatant yellows for fouls on the kids, while I don’t know how it wasn’t an Emley penalty when their centre forward headed a ball off the bar as the Reds keeper flattened him. Where’s VAR?

I spend the 1st half in front of the Main Stand, by the perimeter fence. Barnsley are constantly attacking down their right, in front of me. For half an hour, Emley barely see the ball. The Reds take the lead, a move orchestrated by stand-out performer Vimal Yoganathan, whose last start for the first team was away at Old Trafford (lost 7-0). Yoganathan, at 6 foot 4, is literally head and shoulders above anybody on the pitch. His run, his pass, a shot blocked and it falls to Nzondo to sidefoot in from just inside the box. Cruising!

However, I’ve seen this before, and I know how it turns out. It does. Early second half, as I stand behind the opposite goal, Emley win a corner. It’s man v boy as its headed home from what looks like 2 yards. Minutes later, a repeat. This time the corner is swung to the back post for a big man to score. The Reds all look like little boys (as does Yoganathan, who, despite his height, is one of the skinniest footballers you’ve ever seen).

Still, the Reds fight back to equalise. The move of the match (involving Yoganathan switching the ball from right to left) sees Nzondo sliding in the resultant cross. By now though, Emley are looking the stronger side and they grab the winner. More naivety from Barnsley as they lose it in Emley’s half (I’ll be honest, it was that kid Yoganathan again). Right back Ziggy Kozluk (son of Rob) is caught miles out of position, the ball is played behind him and an Emley player runs 60 yards down the pitch, clean through, before finishing. I guess nobody wanted extra time, least of all the players.

The Damage:
£4 ent
£2 prog (x2, one for a mate)
= £8