Home at last - Adwick put floods behind them

After being flooded out of Toll Bar, the Yorkshire League Five B club washed up at the Bullcroft Memorial Hall in Carcroft where they found some “excellent changing rooms, good facilities for hospitality and a warm welcome.”

They thought that they had a pitch in Carcroft Park adjacent to the Memorial Hall but before they could play a league game on it, the posts were taken down and the pitch was turned back into a football pitch.

For the last three weeks the club has been frantically searching for a pitch and have played all their games away from home.

Said club secretary John Sheppard: “We tried to negotiate for an extra pitch in Carcroft Park but pressure on football pitches meant that was not possible.

“We have been made very welcome at Bullcroft Memorial Hall, where facilities are great, and we wanted to stay there if we could.

“Finally we have been allocated a pitch on Crossfield Lane at Skellow. It is close enough to the Memorial Hall to mean we can continue to use it - though it is not ideal because we have to travel between the changing rooms and showers and the pitch.

“We have been told that the pitch has the best playing surface in the area and was being used as a football pitch but strangely is now available despite the pressure on football pitches.

“The club is just pleased to be playing in its home area on the north side of Doncaster - most of the players are local and quite a number of local lads have turned up at training in Carcroft Park on Monday and Thursday evenings so we have managed to recruit some new players. There is still room for more and the club is arranging floodlights for training.”

Wheatley Hills will again be without skipper Richard Storey and Tom Starbuck, who got married last weekend, but they will have a number of the players who also missed last week’s heavy Division Two defeat against Yarnbury as a result of attending the two functions, back for the visit of Pocklington.

“We haven’t played them for several years but it is a game that we will be hoping to win and get back on track,” said spokesman Dave Bibby.

Doncaster Phoenix will also be looking to return to winning ways in Division Three after being held to a14-14 draw by visiting Wath when they take on Barnsley.

“It is the first time that we have played them in the league for quite a while and it is not going to be an easy game because they have been playing well,” said coach Dave Senior.

Centre Ben Millar was doubtful earlier in the week with an ankle injury.