Staveley MW 2-2 Dunston (2-3 Agg) FA Vase Semi Final 2nd Leg

A Saturday side was formed in 1989 at their current home of Inkersall Road, they finished runners-up in the Chesterfield Amateur League in their first season. In 1991 the club moved up to the Sheffield County Senior League. They won Division Three, then Division Two in consecutive seasons. Staveley by passed Division One and were welcomed into the Central Midlands League in 1993. They finished 3rd in 1996-97 and were accepted into the Northern Counties East Division One in 1997. In their first season they finished runners-up, and claimed their place in the Premier Division. After three seasons of struggling, they were relegated back to Division One in 2000–01, having finished bottom of the table. They finished bottom of Division One in 2002–03, but were re elected. Several seasons of mediocre league finishes followed until 2010–11 when the club won Division One to return to the Premier Division.

From Nottingham Victoria the Red Arrow (every hour) will take you to the terminus at Chesterfield, Beetwell Street. From stop B6 on Beetwell street a 77 bus heading for Worksop will drop you off at Market Street, Staveley. After getting off continue in the direction the bus was going but turn right onto Inkersall Rd. Walk along Inkersall Rd and second right is the ground. Buses return from the stop the other side of Market Street.

I got to the ground early and was one of the first inside. Took a few photo's and noticed that terracing had been extended all along the far end. Also from the seated stand that is centred on the halfway line either side now has terracing going up to the corner flag.

Dunston (wearing White shirts) had a 1-0 advantage from the first leg and started this game off brightly, they were particulary good attacking along the left flank. But in the sixth minute it was Staveley who took the lead. From a free kick the ball was worked to the left edge of the Dunston area where the ball was rifled across the front of the keeper and into the net. Dunston continued to attack down the left wing and a cross was narrowly headed wide of goal on eight minutes. The Dunston left winger was hacked down around fifteen minutes and from the resulting free kick to the far post the ball was headed back into the box and booted into the net. 1-1.

It was a good contest and Staveley were beginning to get the upper hand. Dunston were struggling to keep Staveley at bay and were resorting to giving away too many free kicks. On the half hour the referee had enough and the red card was shown for a rash challenge. Five minutes later Staveley took the lead after a flowing move along the 18 yard area, a shot was going wide until a Staveley player ran in to score from 12 yards out. 2-1.

Dunston came back with an attack just before half-time. Staveley defenders hesitated clearing the ball from the area, this gave the Dunston left winger the chance for a shot on goal, luckily for Staveley a player had covered and cleared the ball off the line.
HT 2-1

As in the first half it was the visitors who started off brightly. Staveley lost their first half momentum and one of their influential midfielders to injury and were still struggling to stop attacks along the left wing. To make matters worse for Staveley they too had a man sent off. This for a fierce challenge in the visitors area. In the melee that followed the Dunston keeper clearly headbutted the Staveley substitute, the incident was brought to the attention of the referee by the lino but no action was taken.

Dunston began to take the initiative and from a long throw the ball flew across the front of the Staveley goal, but there was no Dunston player there to finish. The game became scrappy for a period until almost inevitably Dunston scored in the 85th minute. The ball was played wide to the left of the 18 yard area and the ball was centred for a forward to hit the ball into the roof of the net for 2-2. The visitors held out for the remaning minutes for a visit to Wembley and the final.

                         CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE