Worrying times ahead.

I’m being a bit pessimistic; after all we were missing a fair few players from the previous game. Andy Turner, Chris Dixon, Mark Muers, Nick Smith, Dan Young, Nick Danks, Marc McDermont, Anth Langan and Dave Smith. In came debuts for Rhys Thoburn and Gary Heads. Tim also came back for his first game in months and Wayne Ramsay made a return.

Also worrying was Muers picking at the formation and doing the team-talk. After he fumbled his way through it, the game kicked off slightly late, as the referee was delayed. By the way, Emu had broken his wrist, after the youngsters had booted the ball at him on Tuesday.

We probably played the better football, but conceded from an excellent Andy Reay free-kick. Reay, who played for us in the past, caused no end of problems for Sassco and scored almost all of their goals. Despite this, we should have actually stopped him running everyone ragged. The worst thing was that we conceded again after everytime we scored.

Callum equalised in the second half and we looked well on top. They scored, then Lee Ramsay fired one in. They scored again, only to see Callum score again. Almost straightaway they scored and scored again before Lee Ramsay headed one in.

That was it. Even though the squad was not the normal one, I think we’d be struggling in the Premiership – which was expected anyhow. The plus points were excellent performances from Gary Heads, on the wing, and Rhys Thoburn, a player recommended by Nicky Smith. At least we seem to have plenty of decent, reliable players. It was also good to see Lee Ramsay and Callum Howe get on the scoresheet. We should have had more goals. Ramsay missed some opportunities and Anth Pearson had a cracking chance in the first half, despite playing at centre-half, which he excelled in.

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Ramsay’s second half goal gives Sassco their first win.

Quite a few chances from last week’s game against Northern Alliance Chemfica. In came Nicky Smith, Nick Danks, Dan Young, Andy Turner and Simon Mulvaney. Sassco expected a win, and got it courtesy of Lee Ramsay’s heading goal, early in the second half.

The game was at Gateshead 3G, played at the same time as an athletics meeting, so every sound resembling a shot was the starting pistol, or some grunt in Gateshead firing at us. We all arrived in time, with only Andy Turner arriving late and just prior to kick off. The start of the game wasn’t too impressive as Houghton Bethany, featuring Tim Gillespie, took control at the start. Eventually we settled and it wasn’t too long before we had some good chances.

One of them came from Chris Dixon, who’s bicycle shot cannoned off the crossbar. I told him I’d write a paragraph on it.

In the second half, Greenwell and Mulvaney came on and eventually Sassco scored, when Langan’s cross was nodded in and over the goalkeeper to make it 1-0.

The red mist then took over. Firstly, Nick Danks was told to be “replaced” before he was sent off, then Simon threw a wobbler and had to be “replaced”. Warning: excessive arguments and threatening to “chin” someone means that players won’t be invited to come back into the squad. I’ve no time or interest in be called up before committees and regulatory bodies to explain actions.

Houghton had a glorious chance to equalise, but Marc Siddall tried to lob Dave Smith and then chance went.

The rest of the game was played out without any incidents.

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Alan Hoyle
Alan Hoyle is one of only two players in the United Kingdom to score over 100 points in a game, a feat he has achieved three times scoring 113, 107 and a UK and Europe high 121 points, each in a single game.

Alan grew up in Northumberland and is an inspiration to young people in the area. Aspire 2 Achieve is a local organisation which gives young people the opportunity to participate in activities and learn new skills which they thought were ‘out of reach’ to them. Whether it is through coaching or mentoring, Alan is a positive role model to everyone he comes into contact with.

Isobelle Gibson
Isobelle Gibson grew up in Northumberland and has first hand experience of both playing and coaching in the region. Isobelle plays for the Northumberland Knightflyers senior team while coaching the junior club. She has achieved personal success this year by being named Northumberland’s Student of the Year.

Michael Fittes

Michael Fittes went through school with Alan Hoyle and shares his dream of giving back to the community. He has worked with young people in other projects around Northumberland and has experience of working with children of all ages.

All our staff have experience with coaching basketball in Northumberland and other areas in the UK. Our head coach Alan Hoyle has over 9 years coaching experience and has received training from the six time World Champions, the Chicago Bulls. Our unique experience allows us to offer an unmatched training programme to people of all abilities.

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