Chairman announces AGM date
Swifts Chairman Pip Hanson has announced this year's AGM will be on Wednesday 18th December in the Clubhouse, starting at 8.00pm
Townsend signs two more players
Swifts manager Quentin Townsend swooped this week to sign two more young players, Kartel O’Neill- Martin 20, from Boldmere St. Michaels, and Taylor Caudell 20, from Worcester City. “We are on a good run at the moment, but one thing that is apparent is that if we suffer any injuries, we look a bit thin on the ground.” said Townsend. “ Both these guys are young, fit and hungry with good potential, and will be useful additions to the squad”. Both players come into contention for Tuesday’s match at home to bottom club Gresley, kick off 7.45pm.
Midland Football League newsletter
From Gary Hazlehurst 4th December
The draw has been made for the 4th Round of the Buildbase FA Vase. In the Northern half of the draw, the ties involving MFL clubs are as follows: -
Worcester City vs Coventry United
Stockton Town (Northern League) vs Atherstone Town
Longridge Town (North West Counties League) vs Newark Flowserve
West Auckland Town (Northern league) vs Walsall Wood
South Normanton Athletic vs Wroxham (Eastern Counties league)
Sporting Khalsa vs Kirkley & Pakefield (Eastern Counties League)
Ties to be played weekend of January 11th
Buildbase FA Vase Round 3 Review
Sporting Khalsa travelled to former MFL side Heanor Town and progressed into Round 4 with a 4-2 victory. Gurjit Singh scored twice.
Walsall Wood eased past league rivals Lye Town, winning 2-0 at The Sport Ground with goals from Stuart McNaught and Connor Deards. Atherstone Town were involved in a thriller at Hellenic League Malvern Town. The Hillsiders led 1-0 and 3-1 but the Adders were not to be denied and a late Kyle Baxter goal earned a replay at Sheepy Road. South Normanton Athletic entertained Step 7 Clay Cross Town and a Ryan Nadine goal in extra-time saw the Shiners through with a 2-1 win.
There were two fantastic results in the FA Vase on Sunday for the MFL. Ten man Worcester City overcame United Counties League leaders Shepshed Dynamo, Luke English with the vital goal in extra time in their 2-1 victory. Coventry United twice came from behind to beat Grimsby Borough 4-2 at The Butts Park Arena. Chris Camwell was the hero with a brace in the last few minutes to send the Red & Greens through to Round 4.
Newark Flowserve became the 6th MFL side into round 4 as they came from behind to beat AFC Mansfield 3-1. Jamie Lloyd, Ben Hutchinson and Danny Meadows were the scorers for Flowserve.
Atherstone Town made it a remarkable seven teams into Round 4 with a 10-0 thrashing of Malvern Town in the replay at Mark Webster Community Stadium. Malvern were reduced to ten men after just seven minutes and the Adders took full advantage with both Joe Obi and Alex Naughton scoring three, and Sam Belcher two
Premier Division Review
Only 3 games survived the weather. Romulus missed the chance to go top as they went down 2-1 at on-form Stourport Swifts who are now just four points off the top two. Owen Parry scored twice as Boldmere St Michaels beat Racing Club Warwick 3-0 at The Trevor Brown Memorial Ground. A Jake Evans penalty thirteen minutes from time earned AFC Wulfrunians a 1-0 win over Haughmond at The CKW Stadium.
Stourport Swifts move into the top 6 after a 2-0 win over bottom club Gresley at Walshes Meadow, with goals from Lewis Clarke and a screamer from Joe Billingham.
Premier Division Preview
With five points separating 1st and 8th, the Premier Division is tighter than ever this season. It’s a bottom versus top clash at The Moat as Gresley entertain Walsall Wood. On the opening day of the season, Wood ran out 4-2 winners with Chris Acott scoring a hat-trick.
2nd placed Sporting Khalsa travel to The Coppice to face mid-table Highgate United. Highgate’s form has improved in recent weeks and they are proving tough to beat at home. Khalsa have picked up ten points from their last four league games to strengthen their promotion credentials.
Two consecutive away defeats have slowed 3rd placed Romulus’ charge to the top. They travel to Townsend Meadow to face Racing Club Warwick who are without a goal in three matches. 4th placed Coventry United entertain 8th placed Long Eaton United for their third encounter in recent weeks. Long Eaton won the corresponding home league fixture while Coventry were victors in the FA Vase at The Butts Park Arena. Both games were won by the odd goal and this should be as tight.
Lye Town have lost six of their last seven in the league and they host former leaders Heather St John’s who themselves have lost four of their last five. With neither side showing any form whatsoever, this is nigh on impossible to predict.
Four wins in the last five games has lifted Stourport Swifts to 6th place and they are now just 3 points off the summit. They travel to Shrewsbury to face Haughmond who have won their last three at The Sports Village.
Two of the successful FA Vase sides meet at The Victoria ground with Newark Flowserve the visitors to Worcester City. Newark have dropped 5 points in their last two away games while City have found a rich vein of goalscoring form particularly at home. Should be a cracker.
19th meets 17th at Parish Hall with Selston hosting Coventry Sphinx. Selston are without a win since August and have lost their last three conceding 3 goals in each of their last fur matches. Sphinx had a morale boosting win last time out following a difficult run of results.
10th meets 11th at The Trevor Brown Memorial ground with Boldmere St Michaels entertaining AFC Wulfrunians. Two successive 1-0 wins has re-invigorated Wulfs’ season while the Mikes continue to climb the table following the change in management. South Normanton Athletic made progress in the FA Vase last weekend and they get back to league action with a trip to Tividale. Tividale are without a win in five and will be hoping that a return to the Beeches can put an end to that run.
Midweek Fixtures
TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER 2019
Coventry Sphinx v Haughmond
Gresley v Sporting Khalsa
Newark Flowserve v Racing Club Warwick
WEDNESDAY 11th DECEMBER 2019
Worcester City v Romulus
| Midland Premier League - Attendance Statistics 2019-2020 | ||||||||
| Team | Lowest | Highest | Average | +/- | ||||
| 1 | Coventry United | 0 | 400 | 352 | 93.41% | |||
| 3 | Worcester City | 0 | 360 | 274 | -14.91% | |||
| 4 | Gresley | 116 | 206 | 157 | -24.52% | |||
| 5 | Racing Club Warwick | 127 | 177 | 154 | 10.00% | |||
| 6 | Selston | 0 | 204 | 128 | -15.79% | |||
| 7 | Boldmere St Michaels | 0 | 163 | 123 | 12.84% | |||
| 8 | Walsall Wood | 84 | 174 | 117 | -24.52% | |||
| 9 | Tividale | 85 | 144 | 115 | N/A | |||
| 10 | Coventry Sphinx | 0 | 204 | 113 | -8.13% | |||
| 11 | Sporting Khalsa | 0 | 130 | 94 | -4.08% | |||
| 12 | Lye Town | 71 | 110 | 89 | -5.32% | |||
| 13 | Long Eaton United | 44 | 142 | 80 | -20.79% | |||
| 14 | AFC Wulfrunians | 65 | 93 | 76 | -21.65% | |||
| 15 | Heather St John's | 0 | 104 | 75 | -3.85% | |||
| 16 | Stourport Swifts | 61 | 82 | 74 | -25.25% | |||
| 17 | Highgate United | 0 | 96 | 73 | 7.35% | |||
| 18 | Haughmond | 0 | 78 | 72 | N/A | |||
| 19 | Romulus | 0 | 124 | 66 | -32.65% | |||
| 20 | South Normanton Athletic | 42 | 90 | 65 | -5.80% | |||
Non League Pyramid sees major re vamp
There will be significant changes in the non-league structure at the end of the coming season with new leagues at Step 5 and Step 6 reducing to 17 leagues. The Midland Football League submitted a credible application to be allocated an additional Step 5 and Step 6 division. Unfortunately, that application was unsuccessful, and the MFL will continue to run one Step 5 and one Step 6 division next season. Two of the traditional feeder leagues, West Midlands Regional League and East Midlands Counties League have lost their Step 6 status, and this implies that the make-up of the top two MFL divisions next season will be very different.
Promotion and relegation this season will again be clouded by points per game. Promotion from Step 5 favours Northern clubs with three promoted from each of the Northern league, North East Counties league and North West Counties League. The winners of the MFL Premier Division will be promoted to Step 4. This is where it gets messy. The four best placed runners up from Combined Counties League, Eastern Counties League, Essex Senior League, Hellenic League, Midland league, Southern Counties East, Spartan South Midlands, Southern Combination, United Counties League, Wessex League and Western League, on a points per game basis will be promoted to Step 4. The remaining 7 runners up will play one of the bottom Step 4 sides in a play-off to be hosted by the higher placed side.
Relegation will also depend on Points Per Game. The Clubs in the bottom place in each of the fourteen divisions at Step 5 at the end of the Regular Season will be ranked on a points per match basis (then goal difference, then goals scored if required) - the twelve lowest will be relegated and placed in the most geographically appropriate division of Step 6.
Promotion from Step 6 is much simpler. The top four clubs from all Step 6 leagues (apart from the two South West divisions which are promoting two only) will be promoted to Step 5. The bottom two clubs will be relegated to Step 7. All Step 7 Clubs seeking promotion to Step 6 must make an application using the prescribed form direct to The Association, copied to their existing League, by 31st December in the relevant year. In order to be considered for promotion Clubs must finish in 1st position in their Step 7 league.
If the Club finishing in 1st position does not wish to be promoted or fails to meet the entry criteria, then the club finishing in 2nd position will be eligible for the promotion. If the club in 2nd position does not seek promotion or fails to meet the entry criteria, then clubs down to 5th position may be considered for promotion provided that they meet the appropriate entry criteria. Clubs finishing below 5th position may not be considered for promotion and, for this season only, more than one club may be considered from each League.
Stourport Swifts Sunday
| Kidderminster Sunday Premier League as at 1st December 2019 | ||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
| 1 | Namaste Tigers | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 12 | 19 |
| 2 | Green Man Inn | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 6 | 18 |
| 3 | Stourbridge Athletic | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 32 | 23 | 18 |
| 4 | Wombourne Pool Bar | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 13 | 17 |
| 5 | Stourport Swifts | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 31 | 29 | 16 |
| 6 | Pure Sport Foundation | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 26 | 14 |
| 7 | Areley Kings | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 18 | 14 |
| 8 | Windmills End | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 19 | 11 |
| 9 | Netherton | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 10 |
| 10 | Netherton Colts Seniors | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 24 | 3 |
| 11 | Club Inter | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 34 | 0 |
Stourport Swifts U21’s
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Stourport Swifts Under 18’s
| Midland Floodlit League Southern Division as at 5th December | ||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
| 1 | Stratford Town Juniors | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 43 | 14 | 27 |
| 2 | Stourport Swifts | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 50 | 11 | 23 |
| 3 | Kidderminster Harriers Juniors | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 13 | 17 |
| 4 | Lye Town | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 11 | 15 |
| 5 | Malvern Town | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 29 | 30 | 15 |
| 6 | Boldmere St. Michaels | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 32 | 18 | 9 |
| 7 | Pershore Town | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 19 | 22 | 8 |
| 8 | Alvechurch Juniors | 12 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 20 | 49 | 6 |
| 9 | Bromyard Town | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 34 | 4 |
| 10 | Gornal Athletic | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 58 | 3 |
