BLUES SAFETY OFFICIALS TO ATTEND SAFETY SEMINAR

Leek Town‘s Safety Officer, Andy Reeves, and Chief Steward, Terry Boote, are to attend a Safety of Sports Grounds Seminar on Tuesday (2nd March) organised by Staffordshire County Council.

The key objectives of the day-long seminar will be to provide a broad overview of Spectator Safety spanning the last 25 years, as well as individual roles and responsibilities whilst managing spectator safety.

Specific reference will be made to the role, statutory responsibilities and liabilities of the Safety Officer and the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) when discharging their duties.

Sue Watson, recognised as the leading authority in the field of spectator safety, who is the Safety Officer at Middlesbrough FC and Managing Director of Watson Associates, will be the principal speaker.

The seminar will be certified and will count towards the continuous professional development of those undertaking NVQ qualifications.

BELPER REVIEW

Leek Town returned to action with a vital 2-1 victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Belper Town on Saturday.

The Nailers went into the game in second place in the table so a win was crucial to Blues’ play-off chances.

An excellent crowd of 315 saw Leek take an early lead on 16 minutes when Matt Johnson's shot rebounded into the path of Paul Rutter who netted his sixth goal in eight games.

Belper had two great chances to equalise shortly before half-time but Steve Hodgson made a fine save in a one-on-one situation and a Nailers’ player missed his kick in front of an open goal.

Blues suffered the loss of both Andy Taylor and Rob Hawthorne to injury during the second half but withstood heavy pressure before Leon Ashman broke clear to slot home in stoppage time.

However, there was still time for the league's leading scorer, Lee Stevenson, to fire home a free-kick after that but it finished 2-1 to Leek, a result which lifts them to eighth in the table.

Perhaps more importantly, Blues are now just four points behind Chasetown in fifth who occupy the last play-off position and seven behind the Nailers who hung on to second thanks to third placed Glapwell's surprise defeat at home to Grantham Town.

Delighted Blues’ boss Wayne Johnson said after the game, “That was an excellent result. We dominated the first 35 minutes during which we took the lead and then for some reason we took our foot off the pedal.

“You can’t afford to take your foot off against sides like Belper – they had more possession in the second half but Steve Hodgson had little to do really.

“In the opening half we played some of the best football I’ve seen for a while and although we took the lead we created numerous other chances whilst Steve pulled off a couple of good saves to keep us in it at times.

“It was a good, all-round performance, we played with grit and determination and deserved to get the points”, he added.

MORE FIXTURE CHAOS

The recent postponement of Leek’s midweek game against Glapwell has thrown the remaining fixture list into chaos.

The latest postponement of the Glapwell game - the third time the match has been off this season - means Blues are now well into double figures for matches postponed this season and still have fourteen league games to play with less than eight weeks of the season remaining.

The UniBond League have rescheduled Glapwell's visit for Tuesday 9th March replacing the game against Chasetown.which has been moved due to The Scholars’ involvement in the Staffordshire Senior Cup.

Instead, Chasetown will now visit Harrison Park on Wednesday 7th April, two days after the big, Bank Holiday derby against Kidsgrove Athletic.

In fact, Blues now face a punishing schedule of seven games in eighteen days either side of the Easter weekend that will make-or-break their promotion hopes this season.

The match at Brigg Town will go ahead at 3pm on Good Friday (2nd April) after the Zebras rejected a request from Leek to move the match to Saturday 3rd April.

BLUES EGG APPEAL

Leek Town are once again collecting Easter Eggs for the children of Horton Lodge Community Special School in Rudyard.

The annual collection is now underway and donations of Easter Eggs can be left at the club shop at every home game or at Nixon & Reeves on St Edwards Street between now and Easter.

The last day for collecting will be the Easter Monday derby game against Kidsgrove Athletic.

Please give generously and make it a special Easter for the children at the school.

IT’S KIDSGROVE NEXT

Weather permitting, Blues make the short trip to the Seddon Stadium on Tuesday for the big local derby against Kidsgrove Athletic.

Blues visited Grove earlier in the season when a Mark Ruddock goal was enough to send Leek through to the first qualifying round of the FA Trophy so the home side will be looking for revenge and the points after dropping to 7th in the table when they were topping it before Christmas.

Originally the game at Kidsgrove was scheduled for Boxing Day but the fixture fell foul of the weather.

So the game was re-arranged for three weeks ago, 2 February, but, after surviving an afternoon pitch inspection, adverse weather conditions later in the day again put the game in some doubt.

Nevertheless, Kidsgrove put their match-day preparations into affect only for the referee to postpone the game an hour before kick off due to a waterlogged pitch despite all the players turning up and with spectators beginning to queue at the turnstiles.

Kidsgrove’s game at Carlton on Saturday was postponed giving Blues the chance to draw level with their local rivals on points although Kidsgrove remain above Leek on goal difference.

Grove are currently 7th in the table on 47 points from 28 games just one place above Leek in the battle for promotion.

This game has added spice as a number of former Leek players now play for Kidsgrove as well as Grove boss Peter Ward who is a former manager at Harrison Park.
The game kicks off at 7.45.

PLAYER NEWS

Leek Town may recall midfielder Ashley Miller from his loan spell at Congleton this week as games come thick and fast in the race for promotion.

Miller has struggled to retain a place in the Blues’ starting line-up after recovering from long term injuries but has done well at Booth Street in the short spell he’s been there.

Striker Oliver Edwards, who left Harrison Park in December to join league rivals Kidsgrove Athletic, has been released from the Seddon Stadium and has now joined Blues’ ground sharers Leek CSOB.

Meanwhile, goalkeeping coach Nick Cippola, has departed Harrison Park after being offered a similar role at UniBond South strugglers Willenhall Town.

WEMBLEY: TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

Leek Town Football Club has had a good response from former players to celebrate 20 years since gracing the Wembley turf in the 1990 FA Trophy Final.

Already 30 players from the 1985 – 95 era have welcomed the chance to play a game of two, half hours on Saturday 8 May.

Crewe Alexandra assistant manager Neil Baker and his former assistant Gary Blore will manage the Wembley squad whilst veteran manager Paul Ogden will run the other side.

More details as they become available.