Toolstation NCEL Division One
Glasshoughton Welfare joint manager Darren Holmes
Darren Holmes, the joint manager of play-offs chasing Glasshoughton Welfare, feels the expected season extension could give an unfair advantage to some teams.
Glasshoughton are one of a few teams who are not suffering from fixture congestion and are on course to finish on the intended final day of April 21st. Their top six rivals Hallam and Selby Town need at least an extra week to fulfil their fixtures.
“I’ve got mixed feelings on extending the league,” Holmes told Non League Yorkshire.
“We have worked hard to get our games on at Glasshoughton and for me some teams are going to benefit from the season extension.
“I don’t know how you get rewarded for getting your games on? We could miss out on the play-offs because of a game played a week after the season was supposed to have ended.
“I fully understand that players can’t be playing every single day. We want players to be safe, but I’m not sure if it is fair for teams who have got their games in.
“It sets a dangerous precedent. Next year you could have teams calling off games in February for the sake of it because they have a few players missing, thinking they can play matches after the season ends when they have everyone available.”
Holmes and Lee Vigars are aiming high with Glassshoughton
Glasshoughton have won 14 of their last 22 league games, lifting them from no man’s land to the play-offs zone
Glasshoughton ascent to being a top side has been a major surprise in itself. Welfare were in no man’s land in October and were looking over their shoulders at the bottom six. However, the dramatic 5-4 victory at Rossington Main triggered an amazing turnaround and they have since displayed magnificent form.
Out of following 21 league fixtures, Glasshoughton have won 13, drawn 4 and lost just four times – with last night’s 3-2 defeat to Campion being a rare blip.
The wins have put Glasshoughton in the top six at the front of the race for the play-offs, but all-conquering Hallam are a major threat. Still Holmes and joint manager Lee Vigars are backing their men.
“I’d like to think we have surprised quite a lot of people,” Holmes says.
“I think we were expected to be a bottom half team, but we knew we weren’t going to be. We are a top half side.
“It has always been about the three-year-plan. First year steady the ship, second year push towards top six, third year be a solid top six side. That’s always been the plan and it is going to plan.
“We’re hoping to sneak into the top six this year. We’ve done really well. You look at those first ten games, we started terribly.
“We didn’t perform at all. After about seven games, we had about four points on the board. So if we had a better start to the season, who knows? We would have been about fourth.
“But, there are plenty of games to go and we’re still confident that we can push on into the play-offs.
“Myself and Lee are backing our team. I’d rather have the points in the bag than have the games-in-hand at this stage. Hallam are on fire at the moment, but they and everyone around us has tough teams to play.
“I’m pretty sure Hallam are not going to go unbeaten for the rest of the season. They will drop some points, but it is going to be very close.”
Glasshoughton, currently in sixth place and two points ahead of Hallam who have two games-in-hand, missed the chance to put some daylight between them and their rivals on Tuesday night.
Welfare never got going until it was too late against Campion and Holmes admitted that his Vigars’ team deserved to lose.
“We weren’t at the races in the first half, we were really poor,” he added.
“The first half has killed us because we gave ourselves too much to do. It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes that we gave Campion anything to think about.
“Three individual errors cost us three goals and you can’t give teams a three-goal start before you start playing, especially against teams like Campion.
“We did go 4-3-3 towards the end to try and put them under a bit of pressure, which we did do. But the third goal killed us. On reflection even a draw would have been a point pinched.”
Glasshoughton continue their mission to reach the play-offs on Saturday when they visit FC Bolsover.
Absolute rubbish the ncel is so wide spread and when in April pro clubs are having to call games off in our area then you know it’s a freak season. Clubs have to get a fully qualified referee to do the inspection so how can they fiddle it . Think of teams with a small squad having to play Saturday, Tuesday , Thursday and Saturday possibly all away games so no team with outstanding fixtures are going to get an advantage
A good team has a good strong squad big enough to get through a tough season.Thats why they do well and is built on expecting 2 or 3 games a week at this level.We work hard with our players as do the ground staff.If the season is extended surly that makes it easier for clubs with smaller squads or use dual reg players who appear for mid week games and skew the results at the end of the season.I said my feelings were mixed non of us wants 3 or 4 games a week.