Dinnington bow out in style with victory
YORKSHIRE ONE Dinnington 4 Bradford 2
DINNINGTON went out on a high on Saturday when they won their last ever game of hockey.
The club has folded after 29 years of existence and a number of former players from throughout the club's history pulled on the jersey one last time and were part of a 4-2 victory.
Player of the year and influential forward Tom Oldale explained that the time was right for the club to come to an end after struggling to put out a competitive side this season.
He told the Guardian: "It needed doing, in fact it came a little too late. We could have done with folding after last season but we carried on and got through the year at least."
"It was nice to go out with a win, everyone was happy with that and for once there was no arguing on the pitch and we don't finish bottom of the league now, we'll finish second bottom."
The decision to fold the club was taken at Christmas with the average age of the side being over 40 and a number of squad members being unavailable for match days.
Oldale, who has been involved with the club since 1990, said it was an emotional end to the club's history.
He said: "It was quite emotional for a lot of the players. Our goalkeeper John Radford is the longest serving and he's been playing, umpiring and then playing again for 25 years."
With only eight or nine players able to turn out for some away games this season, Dinnington have been unable to compete with the better teams in Yorkshire One but Oldale is proud of the club's performance in recent years.
"We went from Division Six to Division One in five successive years and it was nice to beat Rotherham and take them down with us this year, with them being our rivals."
"The highlights for me were the promotions and three league titles under captain David Hill."
The lack of schoolboy hockey in the area is one of the contributing factors to the downfall of Dinnington Hockey Club, according to Oldale.
"I teach at Wales High School and there is no men's hockey played there, or at any of the area's schools, so there are no youth coming through and at 31 I was one of the youngest on the team."
"I think one or two players were a little out of their depth in Division One because of the age and fitness factors, but we still didn't finish bottom," he added.
Dinnington's last ever game was at home to Bradford and with the luxury of 16 players available for selection, the club went out with a victory.
They started well in poor conditions and were 1-0 after 10 minutes when Oldale and Tim Lloyd combined to leave top scorer Mark Vaughan with the task of slamming the ball home.
Soon after it was two when Oldale fired in.
Dinnington were playing with the relaxed manner of a team who knew there was no pressure and scored their third after good work by Martin Edwards gave Vaughan the chance to score his second of the game.
There were good performances all over the pitch and Dinnington were solid at the back with Kev Sell, Paul Gilbert, Geoff Avery and Chris Flude holding firm.
Dinnington made numerous changes midway through the half and this disruption allowed Bradford to come back into it and pull one back despite the brave attempts of veteran ‘keeper Radford.
The second half began in disjointed fashion with Bradford scored again. Dinnington reverted to a stronger line up and Keith Paddock did a great job shoring up the midfield with captain Richard Marriott and former captain Neil Hobson.
Then came the move of the game when Andy Robinson picked up the ball near the Dinnington goal line and played it to Edwards who released Oldale down the right wing, he beat the full-back and crossed for Vaughan who unselfishly slipped it to Lloyd to tap into the empty goal.
Bradford came back well and Radford pulled off a string of remarkable saves using all of his huge frame to stop the visiting attackers finding a way past, and earned himself man of the match in the process.
Oldale says many of the players have already found themselves new teams to carry on playing hockey next season.
He said: “Some of us are going to Sheffield, some to Chapeltown and a couple to Rotherham. One or two will be giving up to focus on family life and other things.”
“I’d like to thank some players who were absent on Saturday for their part in our success and they are David Hill, David Fretwell, Ralph McIver, Mark Boon, James Shaw and Pete Jepson."
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Weather for Dinnington
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy snow
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
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