WE MEET AGAIN - Heather St Johns

[Alan Beckett]

WE MEET AGAIN – HEATHER ST JOHNS


The Saints were formed in 1949 and moved to their current home St Johns Park, in 1993, and you can't help but be impressed with the set up there. Heather have hosted several Midland Combination Finals and representative games due to their excellent facilities. Heather moved to the Midland Combination in 2003 after previously playing in the Leicester and District League and gained promotion to the Premier league for the start of the 2007/08 season the year Coleshill decided, after 33 years of trying, it was their turn to win the league. So, after only one season doing battle Coleshill stepped up to the Alliance and St John joined them for the start of the 2011/12 season, therefore Town have only met their opponents six times before in the league. They have also met once in the F.A Cup, in 20010/11, when Coleshill beat St Johns on their way to the 3rd Qualifying Round where they were finally beaten by Nuneaton in front of a 900 strong crowd.

Town have the upper hand as they have beaten Heather five times in all competitions and have only lost the once. Heather are currently second bottom in the league, with just one win and three draws from their thirteen games so far. In fact their only win came last Saturday when they beat Tipton 2-1. Now second bottom is not a nice place to be but to beat Tipton, something Coleshill have never managed to do, they must have something about them, so “Watch Out Coleshill”!

Results

MIDLAND ALLIANCE

2012/13
Saturday 13th April 2013
Heather St Johns 0 v 4 Coleshill Town
Scorers: Luke Edwards (9) Jon Powis (12) Scott James (21) Connor Leake (56).
Tuesday 5th March 2013
Coleshill Town 1 v 0 Heather St Johns
Scorer: Chris Lloyd.

2011/12
Saturday 25th February 2012
Coleshill Town 2 v 3 Heather St Johns
Scorers:
Town: Steve Hakner 20, Richard Gregory 47.
Saints: Troy Wallen 28, Kelvin Phillips 49, Jamie Brassington 53.

Saturday 24th March 2012
Heather St Johns 1 v 2 Coleshill Town
Scorers:
Saints: Kelvin Phillips 27.
Town: Sam Wilson 44, Danny Carter pen 85.

MIDLAND COMBINATION

2007/08
Monday 27th August 2007
Coleshill Town 2 v 0 Heather St Johns
Scorers: Michael Campbell, Josh McPherson.

Tuesday 4th December 2007
Heather St Johns 1 v 1 Coleshill Town
Scorer:
Coleshill: Brian Gray.
Heather: Lee Taylorson.

F.A.CUP

Saturday 28th August 2010
F.A. Cup Preliminary Round
Heather St Johns 2 v 3 Coleshill Town
Scorers:
Heather: Matt Brown 80, 85.
Coleshill: Danny Carter 26, 66 pen, Ben Porter 54.

PLAYING RECORD

LEAGUE
P6 W4 D1 L1 F12 A6
CUP
P1 W1 D0 L0 F3 A2
ALL TIME RECORD
P7 W5 D1 L1 F15 A8

MATCH REPORT

MONDAY 27th AUGUST 2007
MIDLAND COMBINATION PREMIER DIVISION
COLESHILL TOWN 2 v 0 HEATHER ST JOHN
Scorers:Michael Campbell, Josh McPherson.

Joint caretaker Managers, Colin Strong and Neil Kitching were hoping to play the same team and the same formation for this their second game in charge. The 4-4-2 remained but Ray Scandrett came in for the unavailable Kristain Kelsall with Sam Chatwin switching to full back. Otherwise the team was unchanged. A healthy crowd of over 70 came to see what is happening at Coleshill on and off the pitch including some familiar faces who hadn’t been to Pack Meadow for some time.
Coleshill enjoyed most of the possession and the best chances in the first half, a Brush free kick deflected for a corner, a Simon Volante shot just over. Danny Carter almost got to the ball before the outrushing keeper and Volante had a shot blocked and Josh McPherson had the follow up saved. Heather hit back when McPherson had to be alert to clear a dangerous cross and Greg Allen got his fingertips to a cross and was helped out when Rob Hipkiss cleared. Brush and Dance between them sent a Sam Chatwin cross goalward then Dance crossed for Brush to head into the danger area but the effort was blocked. Coleshill were well on top at this stage and got their reward on 25 mins when a Dance corner was cleverly back heeled by Ray Scandrett and Michael Campbell swept the ball home from eight yards. Campbell had more time when he sent a harmless shot at the keeper and Carter set up Brush for a volley that was saved. Campbell flicked the ball round his marker and was only just beaten to the ball by the keeper and the same thing happened when Campbell chased a header from a defender back to the keeper.
Coleshill started the second half positively enough with McPherson shooting wide and a Dance shot cannoning off the bar but they lost their way and a decidedly average Heather side came more and more into the game. Simon Volante got back sharpish to clear for a corner and Allen punched the kick away under pressure. Allen fumbled a free kick and the follow up goal bound shot was blocked by one of Heather’s own players in a massive let off for Town. Coleshill just couldn’t keep the ball and St John kept coming back and back but luckily their end product was poor. Their only player to look capable of scoring, Russell Hawksley was upended by Ryan Gardiner on the edge of the box but from a good position Allen saved easily. One of the few outstanding performances was by Simon Volante and it was his persistence that forced a free kick that led to Town increasing their lead. David Brush sent the dead ball into the danger area and Josh McPherson somehow got his leg up near horizontal to volley into the net with little more than ten minutes remaining. Heather huffed and puffed but never troubled Allen further and the game petered out with little goalmouth action.
Two games and six points for the stand in management but the job is to be advertised this week so who will be in charge for the games to come against better opposition, who knows!

Team: Greg Allen, Sam Chatwin, Ray Scandrett, Rob Hipkiss, Ryan Gardiner, David Brush, Josh McPherson, Simon Volante, Michael Campbell (Dan Greaves), Danny Carter (Oluweseyi Morgan), James Dance. Subs not used Neil Kitching, Ant McManus, Chris Butler.