DROWNING, NOT WINNING

WSC Worcester 4 Yeltz 1

It's always disappointing to lose, but I've never been a big fan of the Senior Cups so I can't say I'm too bothered.

They took an early lead, we equalised through a Les Hines penalty, but then they scored again and with Woody being sent off that was it for our chances. Anyhoo, full details in the match reports

Unfortunately, after the weekend's results we've slipped to 21st in the table at the moment. However, Saturday lets us forget about all that when old rivals Bilston come to The Grove in the FA Trophy.

LLATE LLOYDY EQUALISER

Yeltz 1 Dorchester 1

Well we still haven't won at "Fortress" Grove this season, and only just scraped a point against Dorchester through a late Wayne Lloyd goal. Full details in the match reports .

The latest news is Gary Hackett has been appointed Assistant Manager . As I'm sure you know, Gary played for us for a few years after a long professional career. he's a Halesowen bloke, and I reckon will be an excellent appointment. Also, according to Dave J on the mailing list , we were supposed to have signed striker Lee Bullimore , but it all appears to have fallen through .

We've got a bit of a break from this depressing league action, as there's no game next Saturday as Welling are still in the FA Cup. Our next game is in the Worcester Senior Cup away to Worcester on Monday the 30th, and then it's the FA Trophy game at home to Bilston the Saturday after .

Match Report from DJ

Halesowen Town: Quy; Hines, Owen, Wood, Lloyd, Comyn, Ford, Cartwright (Mason 75), Payne (Aldridge 67), Sutton, Darroch (Collins 60).

Dorchester Town: Ormerod; Sullivan, Keeler, White, McIvor, Harris, Lonnon, Jermyn, O'Hagan, Pickard, Holmes. Subs: Groves, Radcliffe, Cannie.

Booked: None Referee: M. Williams (Hereford) Attendance: 417

As Halesowen searched for their first home win of the season, Dorchester seventh goalkeeper of the season Mark Ormerod had to race out of his goal twice within the first ten minutes but on both occasions he was beaten to the ball by striker Stuart Payne who was then unable to find the net. Ormerod then snatched the ball away from fellow striker Peter Sutton on the edge of his box as Halesowen again broke through in the 15th minute. At the other end, Dorchester man of the match Justin Keeler fired just over the bar after cleverly taking down Owen Pickard's pass in the 21st minute. In a scrappy first half, Ormerod was again on hand again to block a 28th minute effort from Payne who was put clear on goal by Sutton and Halesowen's goalkeeper Andy Quy turned away a 25 yard curling effort from Matt Lennon just before the break.

The stalemate was finally broken in the 58th minute when Keeler waltzed through the home defence and the ball eventually fell invitingly for Matty Holmes to turn home from 8 yards beyond Quy. Halesowen introduced three late substitutes as they searched for an equaliser and it was Ross Collins who caused most trouble. Firstly he had a 76th minute effort disallowed for offside and then produced a tremendous right wing cross in the 86th minute but neither Ian Aldridge nor Michael Mason could produce the finishing touch. One minute later Halesowen equalised when defender Wayne Lloyd rose above everyone to power home a header from substitute Michael Mason's corner, leaving Dorchester to survive a last minute onslaught and share the points.

In a final twist, it was later discovered that the travelling Dorchester fans managed to leave their huge Union Jack Dorchester flag at The Grove. Further developments involving a possible ransom demand for the return of the flag (Enigma machine style) can be expected.

HURRAH!

Newport 0 Yeltz 2

Boy, did we need that? Two second-half goals from new bloke Pete Sutton means we've climbed above Newport in the table and up to a fantastic 19th place. More details in the, as usual, excellent match reports .

The next game is at home to Dorchester Town on Saturday, which may well see the return of wonderboy Ian Aldridge if he gets back from his holidays

NO GOALS, NO POINTS

Ilkeston 1 Yeltz 0

It's very strange writing this on a Friday night, but unfortunately a change of date didn't result in a change of our fortunes, as we went down to a 1-0 defeat at Ilkeston . According to Dave's match report it wasn't much of a game (again), but I suppose it wasn't totally unexpected seeing they're riding high in the league, and we're, well, not. We're still in 20th place before the rest of the weekend's results.

Transfer news : Griffiths has been released after a totally ineffective spell, and we've swapped Scott Gennard with Mr. Sutton from Bromsgrove . Also, it's rumoured that we tried to get Steve Pie-arce back, but Hereford wouldn't play ball.

I'm sure you've already seen them, but there's some interesting information on YeltzTalk from various members of the board . There's also a new vote afoot in the usual place.

Next game : we've rearranged the rearranged game at Newport to next Saturday (the 14th)

IT'S A GOOD THING

FAC Yeltz 0 Burton 2

TYPICAL

Yeltz 0 Fisher 2

It was announced before the kick-off that . The two wins last week had obviously helped his case, but predictably we then went and lost to previously winless Fisher. Inspired.

Match Report from Dave Johnson

Halesowen Town: Quy; Hines, Owen (Payne 45), Wood, Lloyd, Comyn, Collins, Cartwright (Ford 68), Griffiths (Hodgetts 71), Mason, Darroch

Fisher Athletic: Munden; Powell, O'Neil, Manning, Taylor, Newson, Gamble, Tydeman, Overton, Huggins (Best 68), Barr (Adams 82). Unused Sub: Eagle

Booked: None Referee: K. Woolmer (Northampton) Attendance: 413

Halesowen unveiled Alan Moore as their new manager just before the kick-off but then produced an embarrassingly weak performance to hand no-hopers Fisher their first win of the season.

The Londoners took the lead on the half-hour when livewire striker Leroy Huggins controlled a long ball from defence before thumping a 15 yard drive past Andy Quy. Quy then punched clear from under his own bar when Hamad Barr delivered a troublesome corner. For Halesowen, Scott Darroch worked hard and sent two efforts wide of goal but it wasn't until the 58th minute that Fisher were troubled when a Ross Collins header was scrambled off the line by goalkeeper Maurice Munden.

Fisher increased their lead in the 65th minute as Huggins took advantage of another long ball to finish clinically from 10 yards. Substitute Lionel Best then almost made it three with his first touch at the far post. Stuart Payne had a 78th minute header disallowed for offside and substitute Andy Hodgetts missed two late chances but in fairness Halesowen were lightweight in attack and will need to take a long hard look at themselves and how they can move on from here

TWO ON THE TROT!

Stafford 0 Yeltz 1

Things are definitely looking a bit brighter. A second win on the trot, this time through a late Wayne Lloyd winner against 10 man Stafford. We're still only in 20th place , but at least we're not tailed off the bottom any more.

Saturday brings bottom-placed Fisher to The Grove. Come On!

FINALLY

Clevedon 1 Yeltz 4

It's been a long time coming but the mighty Yeltz finally registered their first win, stuffing Clevedon 4-1. Two pens from Les Hines, and first goals from Darroch and Mason means we've snuck up to 20th place .

No news on the manager front as yet, but according to Halesowen News interviews will begin this week looking to appoint someone before the FA Cup game in two weeks.

Matches this week: on Tuesday we visit Stafford Rangers , and then Saturday brings rock-bottom Fisher to The Grove.

Match Report from Dave Johnson

Clevedon Town: Hervin; Rollo, Haines, Peters, Coupe (Skidmore 75), Harvey, R.Ford, Badman, Mehew, Mainwaring, Lester. Subs: Llewellyn, Jeffries

Halesowen Town: Quy; Hines, Owen, Wood, Lloyd, Comyn, Collins (Cartwright 64), J. Ford, Payne (Mason 85), Griffiths (Hodgetts 81), Darroch

Booked: Owen Referee: R. Desmond (Swindon) Attendance: 303

Caretaker manager Alan Moore led Halesowen to their first win of the season at the 8th attempt with the help of two penalties strikes as Halesowen finally put their start of season nightmare behind them.

However, only 303 were there to witness it - some vague excuses about nuptuals I believe and also the Somerset shortage of fuel at a ground demanding car travel as it's in the middle of nowhere with few houses nearby. However, those that made it will now doubt annoy everyone by saying "where we you when the Yeltz won their first match of the season?". Before I forget, here's a brief stat attack - Scott Darroch's goal was the 700th for the Yeltz in ten and a bit seasons in the Southern Premier.

The visitors made an ideal start when Iain Harvey tripped Stuart Payne and Les Hines stepped up to score from the resulting penalty in the 9th minute. Jon Ford then drove just wide for the Yeltz in the 17th minute. Clevedon levelled with their first strike on goal in the 23rd minute when Danny Haines cracked home directly from a 25 yard freekick giving Andy Quy no chance. David Mehew struck the side-netting with a glancing header three minutes later from Richard Ford's freekick, but Halesowen regained the lead and control in first half stoppage time when Scott Darroch thundered an 18 yard volley into the angle of the net, taking advantage of Harvey's poor clearance. It was Darroch's first for Halesowen and a memorable strike to register the 700th goal in the Southern Premier for the Yeltz.

Clevedon were briefly excited in the 50th minute when Richard Ford had a goal disallowed for offside - the flag had been raised several seconds earlier, though the referee hadn't noticed. Jason Owen was then booked for dissent. Quy produced a fine save from Richard Ford in the 56th minute but then in a repeat of the first half, Harvey brought down Payne who had made a great right wing run and Hines again crashed home from the penalty spot to increase Halesowen's lead.

At 3-1 and the clock ticking horrid visions of Crawley briefly came back as the Yeltz conceeded midfield and gave away the ball cheaply on the edge of their box. However, the brief storm was easily weathered and with the help of substitutions Halesowen went on to record a much deserved win. Ex-Macclesfield man Michael Mason stepped off the substitute's bench to notch Halesowen's fourth in injury time after tricking his way past two defenders and curling the ball beyond Mark Hervin to make Halesowen's victory a comprehensive one.

GUTTED

Yeltz 2 Crawley 2

We were 2-0 up, only 5 minutes were left and Crawley were down to 10 men - surely we must get our first win of the season?

I can't remember a more devastating end to a game. We hadn't really played that well, but three points would have really boosted our confidence and turned the whole season around. Now we're desparately awaiting a new manager to get things going. Anyway, I'll try and summarise what happened in an unbelievably eventful game in my match report .

I was at the shareholders' meeting on Friday. News on the managerial front is:

Next Saturday we visit Clevedon Town in the League. I'm afraid news here may appear even later than usual, as The Jolly Boys will all be in Ireland on Guy Cooper's stag do.

Match Report from Poll

To be honest, it's a day later and I'm still a bit in shock. 2-0 up AND the ref an ex-Halesowen player, you've got to fancy your chances.

The team selection seemed a bit mad to me, but after our last few results I guess you'll try anything. We had hundreds of defenders playing and Les Hines on the right, but I guess it all worked out pretty well. First half was about even - well not a lot happened, except for one amazing incident where after some desparate Yeltz defending the ball ricocheted of the consistently brilliant Mr. Crossbar at about 200 mph.

The second half was completely mental. First daft thing was their defender punching the ball out and hoping no-one would notice. They spent ages arguing, but he had to go and Les Hines knocked in the pen. Next up, Ross Collins brought down a cross with perfect control and smacked it in the corner. The only flaw in what was a fantastic goal was that he'd obviously used his arm to bring it down. Mr. Scarr must have had something in his blue and white contact lenses as he was the only person on the ground (I suppose the linesmen too?) who didn't see it. Good work.

I think DJ said it was 86 minutes when they got one back, but surely with the extra man all we had to do was keep the ball? I'm hoping it was just a lack of confidence that caused us to panic as we went completely to pieces, started hacking it anywhere, and then were devastated when they somehow managed an equaliser right at the end. Not surprisingly they went completely doolahly and we consolidated our 21st place in the table. It were the worst.

NO BETTER

Yeltz 1 Burton 2

Well the manager left and not much changed. Another poor performance, another loss and we're only kept off the bottom of the table on goal difference.

All the goals came in the second half, with ours a late so-called consolation scored by Mr. O'Goal. By all accounts they were all over us for much of the game. Very, very depressing.

It's the shareholders' meeting on Friday, which should prove quite interesting. As I'm one of the select few, I'll be attending so if anyone's got any (sensible) suggestions for questions mail me and I'll try and get an answer. Full report on proceedings next week.

There's a new vote out now - who do you think should be the new manager? . It's a mega list compiled with the help of DJ Yeltz, which I suppose reflects how there's no real favourites for the job.