Saturday 29 April - Step Four/Step Five Play-Off Final

[Rhodes]

This afternoon's Step Four/Step Five Play-Off Final between Northern Premier League Division One Midlands Dereham Town and our very own Stotfold has gone under the radar hasn't it and Karen didn't bother creating a thread like she helpfully did for the SSML Division One Play-Offs however good luck to Stotfold at Aldiss Park in Norfolk:

https://www.derehamtownfc.co.uk/news/1002/stotfold-preview

[Rhodes]

The well produced match programme for this afternoon considering the time that was available as the Play-Off 'draw' was only made at FA Headquarters on Wednesday (see below):

https://www.derehamtownfc.co.uk/downloads/dereham/vs-Stotfold-(29-4-23).pdf

 

 

[Rhodes]

Joy for Stotfold on Saturday at Dereham Town with a surprisingly comfortable 2-0 win, congratulations to the Club and their huge achievement of two successive promotions:

https://www.derehamtownfc.co.uk/results/1021/20230429-tbd#report

[Rhodes]

All the Interstep Play-Off results from Saturday afternoon, congratulations also to Barton Rovers who managed to avoid relegation to Step 5 and, what would have been, a return to the SSML:

[Rhodes]

A groundhopper from another Forum was in attendance at Aldiss Park:

Dereham 0 Stotfold 2
Inter-Step Play-Off
Admission £8, Programme £2, Attendance 287
Best summed up afterwards by the home Manager, who declared: "Men against boys." Haven't looked at all the play-off results, but I imagine plenty were like this: an out-of-form home side being unable to make anything of this advantage against more confident visitors.
Visiting striker Kurtis Alleyne got in behind the Dereham defence to put Stotfold ahead after five minutes and he added a second on 31 minutes, brilliantly turning 180 degrees before expertly firing into the far top corner. And that was effectively that. Stotfold had conceded only 33 goals in their 38 league games and you felt they were never going to relinquish their lead.
Dereham did bring on an extra forward at the start of the second half but star striker Matt Blake couldn't finish off the chances which came his way. This should have been academic though, since a bad backpass had earlier left Alleyne with only the keeper to beat for his hat-trick but he couldn't take advantage.
So Dereham's 10-year stay in Step 4 is over. What did for them wasn't today, but expressing a possible interest two years ago in moving to the NPL. Consequently they couldn't really complain when they were moved last summer and found themselves facing much harder opposition and longer away trips than in the Isthmian League. Given they've beaten Wroxham in both the FA Cup and Norfolk Senior Cup this season it's hard to imagine that they would have finished in the Isthmian bottom four. They will certainly find it hard going in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division next season, not least for the fact that after today's Play-Offs nine of its 20 teams next season will come from Norfolk and they will be a sizeable scalp to claim.
Finally, having not been to Dereham for some time, a word (or two) about the programme: truly abysmal at £2 for 32 pages. A printed version of the digital effort, and after 30 years in the regional press I can tell you what works in one looks dreadful in the other. Dereham are sponsored by a digital media company and the programme reads like it was put together by someone there who neither knows anything about Non-League football nor providing interesting content for a paying audience. It was telling that there weren't many copies on sale at the turnstiles and yet still a few left at kick-off. Regulars simply aren't going to buy it on today's showing and it'd hardly be a surprise if the printed version disappears next season.

[Rhodes]

Not SSML however a groundhopper from another Forum was at Northern Premier League Division One Midlands St Neots Town's Play-Off 'tie' with Lye Town on Saturday where they were humiliated 6-1 by their Step 5 Midland League Premier Division opponents, the question is will St Neots Town be be a SSML Club next season:

Step 4/5 Inter-Step Play-Off
New Rowley Park – Official Attendance: 548
St Neots Town (0) 1 Lye Town (2) 6
Having enjoyed one of the Step 4/5 Play-Off games at the end of last season, I was looking forward to see what this season’s draw would offer up. A bit of a trek from the south coast, but St Neots quickly became my favoured option. As far as I can recall, this was only my second visit to Cambridgeshire for football – the other one being a trip to nearby Eynesbury Rovers. What I like about these games, is the fact there is no easy way to compare the teams beforehand and, therefore, really not knowing what to expect and I certainly wasn’t expecting this demolition of the hosts. My journey up had the hold-ups in the usual places e.g. western section of the M25 and took me just over 3 hours. I had left home just before 11 am, so arrived in plenty of time. The car park was full, so I parked in the square by the station – the parking restrictions there only apply Monday-Friday.
Admission: £7 (over 60s concession).
Programme: None (normally online, but they blamed the FA for not having enough time to prepare one for this game).
Even when the visitors scored with a little over a minute played, I didn’t see this result coming. That goal followed a deep corner, which was headed back into the danger area and fell invitingly for the Lye Town #5 to fire home. The visitors were certainly playing with a lot of confidence in the opening stages, but there was no reason to think that St Neots wouldn’t be able to settle into the game. However, with 20 minutes played, the hosts were two down – a low cross into the area found the Lye Town #9 unmarked and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. St Neots did create one or two chances, but failed to make them count and the score-line remained unchanged up until the interval. The question was, would the hosts stage a recovery after the break? The answer was ‘no’ and once the Lye Town #9 had, rather too easily, beaten a defender to a well-played through ball and planted the ball beyond the reach of the home ‘keeper in the 52nd minute, the game was pretty much up. Having scored twice, the visitors’ #9 became the provider for the next two goals, giving the home defence a torrid time before setting up his partner (#8) for two emphatic finishes. The St Neots #4 grabbed a consolation, before the home side were reduced to ten men – their #6 dismissed following a second booking. All that was left was for the Lye Town #9 to complete his hat-trick and round off a memorable afternoon for the side from the West Midlands.

Edited May 3, 2023 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Quite a heartbreaking post match interview with Dereham Town Manager Tom Parke following their 2-0 defeat to Stotfold last Saturday, it can be a cruel game at times. He is very critical of the FA's late draw process which isn't just sour grapes as it was a complete farce. Also see Dereham Town's match report:

Dereham Town 0-2 Stotfold - Results (First) - Dereham Town Football Club (derehamtownfc.co.uk)

Edited May 6, 2023 by Rhodes