Season Preview
Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Penistone Church
The disappointment of missing out on promotion twice lingers in the back of Penistone Church minds. But with the elevation of the so-called big guns, the league is wide open and Penistone will feel confident of achieving their aim.
Manager
Ian Richards
The former Stocksbridge Park Steels midfielder is nearing 15 years at the helm of Penistone – his hometown club who he has led from County Senior League obscurity to the brink of the Northern Premier League.
Opening Five Fixtures
Eccleshill United (a), Lower Breck – FA Cup (a), Athersley Rec (h), Sherwood Colliery (a), AFC Mansfield (a).
Notable Movement
In: Tom Brennan (Campion), James Young (Dodworth Miners Welfare), Leon Hurles-Brook (Campion).
Out: Sam Scrivens (Grantham Town)
One to Watch
Jordan Coduri
The former Emley AFC playmaker has been in wonderful form during pre-season and he’s always a star man for Penistone when the competitive action is underway.
Interview
Penistone Church manager Ian Richards is urging his troops to race out of the blocks.
Richards is plotting another assault on promotion and with only one automatic promotion spot available, he knows every match matters.
“We want to challenge,” Richards told Non League Yorkshire.
“Look, we were runners-up (in 2019) and we came close in the two curtailed seasons when they went for the unweighted points-per-game.
“That’s the FA’s choice, there’s nothing we can do about that.
“We have lost a couple of players, but we have gained a couple so I don’t see any reason why we can’t challenge and be up there again and do well in cup competitions.
“It is early days, but I’m confident we will be up there.
“Last season we had a good run in the FA Vase which meant we had a couple of games called off in the league.
“We lost that game at Albion Sports which potentially in the end may have cost us so we want a fast start this season and looking up on the front-foot.
“We have to plan for every scenario and we know now they will do unweighted points-per-game system (if the season is curtailed again) so we need to make sure we’re in that top two with a chance of going up.
“We go into every game to win it, but it is important we do this year.”
Prediction
Promotion Contenders
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams.
Our work is playing an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.