I stopped keeping this site up-to-date many years ago, so if you've ended up here I'm afraid there's nothing much of interest to see any more.

Other Halesowen Town websites:

21st Century Stuff

I made a Yeltzland app for iPhone/iPad and Android, which lets you read all about the Yeltz in one place.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

You can also add the Yeltz fixture list into your calendar - instructions can be found here.

News Stories 1997-2006 ...

Follow Your Instinct

Even older than the original Yeltzland website, we wrote a HTFC fanzine between 1991 and 1994.

I've started scanning in the originals, and you can download the PDFs from the FYI home page.

Review of the 1995-96 season

Re-live one of the greatest seasons of the mighty Yeltz's long history in DJ's comprehensive review

Why are we called The Yeltz?

No one knows for sure, but here's an summary from the excellent Yeltzmen book that's the best explanation we have!

 


 

THREE 2-2'S IN A ROW

Yeltz 2 Bath 2

Another game, another 2-2 draw and another point nearer safety. It all sounds a bit boring , but watching the mighty Yeltz is anything but that at the moment, with brilliant attacking being cancelled out by some less than brilliant defending.

We started off like the proverbial train, so it was inevitable when they took the lead completely against the run of play through the superbly-named Fidell Richards. Thankfully we finally equalised just before the break when super-striker Rob Elmes was left unmarked to nod in a Neil Smith cross.

The second-half was more of the same; we piled forward, hitting the post, blazing it over, some mad scrambles, going behind again and then getting a late equaliser when Stevo smashed in a shot from the edge of the box into the roof of the net.

I'm off on me hols for a few days over Easter, so the site may be a bit out of date (no news there then), but I'll do what I can .

 


 

SIX WITHOUT DEFEAT

Ilkeston 2 Yeltz 2

The Mighty Yeltz continue their gradual climb to safety with another draw , this time against high-flying Ilkeston.

We were twice in the lead, first after a goal from Wayne Lloyd . Then after they'd equalised just before half-time, we went ahead again after another from the unstoppable goal machine Rob Elmes . However, they got a late equaliser which means we're now in 10th place , 9 pts above the relegation zone.

We've got Bath next Saturday , and don't forget it's a 1pm kick-off because of the England game.

 


 

STUCK IN THIS LEAGUE FOR ANOTHER YEAR

Yeltz 2 Weymouth 2

Despite bravely fighting back from two goals down, it's now impossible for The Mighty Yeltz to go up this year .

It was a reasonable game all in all. We gave them a two goal start with some awful defending , the second in particular a terrible mix-up between Forrest Gump and Danny.

I must admit we we're on the way to the clubhouse for our usual half-time ablutions when Rob Elmes finally scored his first , but from all accounts he didn't know much about it when the keeper tried to clear the ball only to fire it straight against Elmesey. Still he's deserved one (at least) for his efforts in the last few games.

We had much of the play in the second-half as we pushed for an equaliser, but it took and excellent move and a quality finish from Ada Cooper to get the point a few minutes before the end.

Other news: Evran's court case has been adjourned again, and Catalogue Man scored for Harrow Borough.

 


 

THE DOOR'S NOT COMPLETELY SHUT

Yeltz 3 Dorchester 1

The promotion race continues as another Yeltz victory means we can still catch leaders Nuneaton - with 10 games to go we're only 29 points behind them in a remarkable 8th place .

It's actually quite nice to even bother to look up the table , but a fourth consecutive victory has hopefully easied our relegation worries a little.

After a goalless first half, we took the lead with a goal from (who else) Steve Pie-arce , and then added a second from Reedy . Dorchester pulled one back soon after, but then Stevo got his 9th in four games and we'd won again.

 


 

I THINK I NEED A LIE DOWN

WORCESTER 3 YELTZ 4

I'm not sure I can cope with this! A third successive win , 10 goals in all with an incredible 7 from Stevo Piearce .

Things didn't look too good when Worcester took an early lead, and were two up by half-time. Pie-arce pulled one back soon after, but then we went 3-1 down when they scored again and were just about out of it. Unbelievably, Paul Birch got it back to 2-3, then Stevo got the equaliser and then a late winner and we'd won again. Hurrah!

Even more good news was the report in the Halesowen News that Harrow are interested in taking Paul Harding on loan for a bit. Could things get any better?

With several teams below us also winning it's crucial we keep this winning run going next week against Dorchester.

 


 

THAT WAS JUST BRILLIANT!

Salisbury 1 Yeltz 2

In one of the tensest games for many a while, The Mighty Yeltz battled to a brilliant victory against a Salisbury team that had previously gone 12 games unbeaten.

Out in the Wiltshire countryside, a strong wind was blowing straight down the pitch and we took full advantage playing with it in the first half. Steve Piearce scored the first when he poked out a foot and looped the ball over the keeper at the end of a fine move.

We then went further ahead when young Birch scuttled after a long ball down the left, put over a briiliant cross to Elmes , who headed it past the keeper for his first ever goal - although Pie-arce followed in to make sure to technically claim the goal .

When we turned around for the second half , we knew we were in for a battle when they scored early on , and it was unbearably exciting as Salisbury chased the equaliser, and we tried to hit them on the break. Rob Elmes ran himself to a standstill - although only one person in the whole ground knows why he wasn't substituted earlier - and Piearce and Birchy played particularly well.

Then they put a header over the bar from a what looked like a yard out, I'd won the sweep and my lucky socks had done the business again. Hurrah!

 


 

WOO-HOO!

Yeltz 4 Rothwell 0

This was a CRUCIAL win in our relegation battle. A loss would have dropped us into the relegation zone, but two goals from young Birch and another two from Pie-arce has moved us up a couple of places in the table to a whopping 16th.

If you haven't already heard, Delton Francis has been sold to Conference side Kingstonian for a fee of either £10,000 or £18,000 depending on who you listen to. The longstanding rumours of Evran's problems with the law have been proved true - he's in court on March 8th on drugs-related charges - so I've no idea who's going to playing up front soon.

On a "brighter" note, the Halesowen News says Hastings will be resigning from the Premier League next season as their Mr Moneybags has pulled out, which should mean one less team will be relegated . Hopefully we won't be depending on this at the end of the season

 


 

A LINE HAS BEEN DRAWN

Merthyr 1 Yeltz 0

I've had enough now. It's desperation time after another loss in the League, so it's time to get out your lucky pants , good-luck charms, whatever... the line HAS been drawn - this is where the fight back begins .

This is not the time to start blaming anyone. OK since John Chambers has come in we've only won twice in the league, and one of those was against hapless Bromsgrove . The other, as we all remember, was against runaway leaders Nuneaton so we know we CAN do it.

The only part we can play is to try and get behind the team as much as possible. I know everyone is bewildered and a little upset about how things are going, but there'll be plenty of time for recrimination in the summer if we do go down.

COME ON!

 


 

AAAAAAAAHHHH!

Yeltz 0 Gloucester 1

A rusty-looking Yeltz dropped to only one place above the relegation zone with a very depressing 1-0 loss at home to Glouceter.

You might have thought the long break would have left us raring to go , but on a very cut up pitch - what price having other teams pay us to ruin the pitch if we go down? - we struggled to get anything going .

They had one very successful tactic; give it to their big center-forward and let him run at our defence. The only plan we had was to hack him down , but unfortunately (and pretty obviously) all this led to was 3 bookings and a penalty .

We tried hard in the second half, and did manage to hit the bar (with the ball, not at half-time). However even with Pie-arce coming on (not looking fully recovered) and nearly sneaking one, we never really threatened their keeper. Very disappointing .

 


 

GLAD YOU FOUND US!

No game cos' we'd already played it

Welcome to the new, slightly more exciting world of www.yeltzland.net . I hope you found it OK - I won't be updating the old site any more so if you could update your bookmarks, links etc. to here now I'd be much obliged.

Moving the site means I can now add interactive content - for example, check out the greatly expanded Anorak Corner for loads more stats than you could possibly be interested in.

There's also Fantasy Island where you can compete against the world in showing you can predict how the mighty Yeltz will do in their battle for survival.

On a footballing front, we've been inactive for ages which unfortunately means several teams have used some of their games in hand to go above us. We're now 17th in the table , and in big trouble.

On the positive side, Paul Harding has been put on the transfer list . Grattan are favourites to sign him.