Hallam FC

A grateful and warm welcome to HP Construction, the latest member of our fantastic group pf sponsors and partners here at Sandygate. In this week’s sponsor feature, www.hallamfc.co.uk spoke with HP Construction Director David Hutchinson, and started by asking him a little about the Company.

“HP Construction are industrial and commercial building contractors and work mainly on design build contracts” David told us. “We are always very competitive with our pricing. Local jobs that we have completed are the Sheffield Assay Office and the two Big Yellow storage units on Penistone Road and London Road. We have also recently completed schemes at the Advanced Manufacturing Park for X-Cel Superturn, at Chapeltown for Neways, and at Halfway for Stokes Tiles. 

In a mirror image of the reverse fixture at the Fast Frame back in January, defences dominated in a goalless encounter between Hallam and Ollerton Town at Sandygate yesterday, write Ian Jones and John Wiseman for www.hallamfc.co.uk. The draw keeps the Countryman in eighth place, but they are now fifteen points adrift of that vital fourth and automatic promotion berth in Toolstation NCEL Division One, albeit with three games in hand on North Ferriby. Another useful point for Town takes them up to 14^th place.

With skipper Sam Smith and Tom Wilson up front for the hosts, and watched by another good crowd of 229, it was Wilson who went close with just a minute played; but Ollerton, through Sam Foulds and Kyle Ludlow, had two decent chances just five minutes later. A deflected Wilson shot, well saved by Town’s Levi Owen, was the only other real opportunity in a first half badly affected by blustery conditions, and the teams went in level at the break despite an excellent performance from Harry Bamforth in the home midfield.

Last week, our beloved volunteer Ann Holland featured on ITV’s Calendar News “My Sporting Life” which took a look back at Ann’s six decades at Sandygate -yet more deserved recognition for the lady frequently described as “NCEL Royalty”.

We thought , then, that it might be worth revisiting a www.hallamfc.co.uk feature all about Annie back in February of last year. We hope you enjoy it. 

Hallam-like every other club- places great value on the fantastic volunteers who are the life blood of our Non- League game. Up and down the League, supporters give up their time and effort in support of their local club, and usually once people get involved, they stay involved and become a valued part of the fabric of the club. The best clubs tend to create an environment in which volunteers are welcomed and appreciated, write Ian Jones and John Wiseman for www.hallamfc.co.uk

Brave Emily -with Dad in tow-raises over £1200 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

You may have seen in a recent match programme-and here at www.hallamfc.co.uk- that some of our supporters have been raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Emily Burdett and her dad James (Joe’s family @hallamites) walked 26 miles of the Limestone Way over 3 days at half term, from Castleton to Matlock. At the time of writing they have raised an amazing £1211.34!

They had to delay the walk a few days due to Storm Dennis, but the weather was still pretty dodgy as Emily and James set off on the following Thursday, with hail blowing horizontally in strong, cold winds. The first day involved an 8 mile walk to Millers Dale, but as James says, ‘thankfully the weather improved as we walked, with the main difficulty being flooded and swamp-like footpaths. This slowed us down and we had to run for the bus into Buxton, which we made by about 5 seconds!”

Hallam returned to Toolstation NCEL action after a hiatus of over three weeks when they shared the points in a 1-1 draw with North Ferriby in front of a crowd of 203 at a chilly Sandygate last night, write Ian Jones and John Wiseman for www.hallamfc.co.uk. The draw moves Hallam up to eighth in the table, thirteen points adrift of the Villagers, who occupy fourth spot- the final automatic promotion place- although Hallam still have a few games in hand on the leading group.

Kicking downhill in the first half, and on a soft but perfectly playable surface, an attacking-looking home side -including debutant Jack Haslam- got straight on to the front foot. Nine minutes in, Ferriby keeper Lewis Exall produced a stunning save to deny Micha Bishop’s effort from the edge of the box ; Exall was called upon again three minutes later to deny a cross shot from Danny Booth, and saved well again from Haslam’s half-volley on twenty minutes.

Hallam FC has recently successful passed its FA Annual “Health check” and so retained its "Charter Standard"  status; but what does this mean?                        

The FA Charter Standard Programme is The FA’s accreditation scheme open to all grassroots clubs and leagues. It aims to raise standards in the grassroots game, supporting the development of clubs and leagues, recognising and rewarding commitment, quality and achievement.

The FA Charter Standard accreditation is for clubs who can be proud to be places where people want to play. These are the clubs who demonstrate they offer well-run and sustainable football. Clubs which achieve The FA Charter Standard status are proud to prioritise qualified coaching and safeguarding as well as the values of The FA’s Respect campaign as part of their game.

Despite a dominant first half performance, Hallam had to come from behind to secure an important three points with a 3-1 win over a stubborn Brigg Town in yesterday afternoon’s Toolstation NCEL Division One clash at Sandygate. In doing so, and by completing a league double over the Zebras, the Countrymen moved up to ninth in the table, still ten points adrift of the final automatic promotion place but with games in hand to play, write Ian Jones and John Wiseman for www.hallamfc.co.uk Brigg Town stay seventeenth.

Ian Jones and John Wiseman from www.hallamfc.co.uk caught up with Joint Manager Ryan Hindley following Hallam’s 2-1 win at Worsbrough Bridge Athletic on Saturday. Goals from Tyler Bradley and Tom Wilson clinched an important three points for the Countrymen to see them improve to tenth in the Toolstation NCEL Division One table

Ryan, up to tenth after a good win today with justice maybe done after the floodlight failure earlier in the season. Did you feel that the late penalty distorted the score line a little? Park Road is always a tough place to go and the home side play the pitch well, so how convincing was the win?