THE THIRD DEGREE - Week Ending 19th October

WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 19 2003

Boston = Manager Neil Thompson has signed former Scunthorpe winger Scott Brough and former Barry Town striker Adebayo Akinfenwa. Property developer Des Wood will not be given an extension to his option to complete a takeover of Boston United. That means Wood has only until 31 December to finalise a deal for Boston.Bristol Rovers = Bristol Rovers midfielder Junior Agogo took a significant step on the road back to full fitness with a return to training this week. Midfielder Kevin Street has signed for Conference side Shrewsbury Town.Bury = Bury boss Andy Preece says he has been delighted with the impact loan signing Phil Gulliver has made in defence. The Middlesbrough centre-back joined the Shakers on a month's loan last Friday and immediately made his presence felt in the 2-1 win at Cambridge 24 hours later. Bury are one goal away from scoring 6000 league goals. Only 20 teams have achieved this amount of goals.Cambridge = Spanish trialist Leo (full name Francisco Leo Bermejo) will train with the U's to try and earn a contract in English football. Leo has been on the books of Real Madrid and Villarreal. John Taylor has sent 19-year-old full back Jonathan Heathcote out on loan in order to gain some experience of senior football. The youngster will spend a month with Grays Athletic of the Ryman Premier League in order to help him step up his challenge to Stuart Bimson and Fred Murray for a place in the U's starting eleven.Carlisle = Paul Simpson has appointed Dennis Booth as Carlisle's assistant manager, who worked with the England under 21's and coached at Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Huddersfield, Hull and Bristol Rovers. On loan striker Kevin Henderson has extended his loan spell for another 2 months. Carlisle are to appeal the red card shown to Lee Andrews in their match against Hull on the grounds that Andrews appeared to take the ball before bringing down Ben Burgess, as well as having a covering defender beside him, Carlisle are appealing against him serving a one-match ban. Team-mate Richie Foran will miss their match against Lincoln in a fortnight after his red card. The forward was shown his second yellow card immediately after being substituted in the 77th minute and was sent down the tunnel.Cheltenham = Under fire Cheltenham Town manager Bobby Gould resigned after seeing his side beaten 2-0 by visitors Rochdale. The former Wales and Wimbledon boss left the field to supporters calling for his resignation after his side slumped to their sixth defeat in seven games. Cheltenham Town have been hit by a double suspension blow. Midfielders Mark Yates and Grant McCann have reached the five booking mark and will miss up-coming fixtures.Darlington = Quakers striker Barry Conlon is out of action for up to eight weeks. Darlo Chairman George Reynolds believes he may be able to tempt former England international Paul Gascoigne to the North East club with a unique pay offer.Doncaster = Doncaster boss Dave Penney feels his side have "exceeded all our expectations" after their promotion to the Football League. "We did not know at the start of the season how we would adapt to life in the Third Division."Huddersfield = Peter Jackson plans to start talks soon attempting to make Lee Fowler a permanent Town signing. The 20-year-old Welsh Under 21 cap is available on a free from Coventry City when his loan expires early next month.Hull = Hull City winger Ryan Williams has denied that he wants to leave the club after falling out of favour at the KC Stadium. Peter Taylor is considering loaning out two of his players after receiving offers. Conference side Accrington Stanley are interested in defender Steve Burton, while Unibond Premiership side Harrogate Town want Nathan Peat.Kidderminster = The Harriers have signed defender Wayne Hatswell from Conference side Chester City. Jan Molby could be in line for a sensational return to Kidderminster with Ian Britton's future as Harriers manager looking increasingly uncertain. Ian Britton has failed to sign Hartlepool goalkeeper Anthony Williams and an unnamed striker after the deals fell through. Ian Britton has been sacked by Kidderminster after their 0-0 draw with Swansea.Leyton O = Caretaker manager Martin Ling has signed Brighton midfielder Dean Hammond and Portsmouth defender Shaun Cooper on a month's loan.Lincoln = Lincoln defender Mark Camm has joined Dr Martens Eastern Division outfit King's Lynn on a month's loan. The 23-year-old joined Lincoln from Sheffield United in August 2000 but has yet to feature this term given the Imps' rock-solid defensive record.Macclesfield = Former Scunthorpe loanee Greg Strong has rejected a loan move to struggling Macclesfield Town. Manager David Moss was delighted after the Silkmen won their first away game of the season against Carlisle. "The spirit in the dressing room was good, Steve Macauley was ruled out at the last minute but Michael Welch and Karl Munroe did superbly as Carlisle were a real handful up front."Mansfield = Mansfield Towns young striker Craig Mitchell has been loaned out the Harrogate Town. The 18 year old is on a month's loan at Wetherby Road to gain first team experience due to the lack of a reserve team at Field Mill. Keith Curle has offered Ex-Stockport County manager Carlton Palmer a role at Mansfield Town. According to the official site Stags physio Ian Pearch has been suspended. The exact reasoning for the suspension is unknown, as the club are keeping quiet about the details.Northampton = Northampton Town manager Colin Calderwood was content with his side's efforts in the 1-1 draw with Scunthorpe United at Sixfields, but was looking for more quality. We looked nervous on the ball and I think that came down to the fact that the player on the ball did not have enough options. That leads to people hitting over-ambitious passes."Oxford = After Oxford's 4-0 win over Bury he joked, "We are such a boring side! We only ever win 1-0 don't we? That's 14 games we've had and we've only won three of those 1-0. We won a couple 3-0, won 4-0 away so how boring do you want?" "People look at us and see we've only let in seven goals in a season and think we must be negative, but anyone who has watched us can see that we are becoming a decent side. "We are competing with Hull and Swansea, and clubs like that, on half their budget and are in a wonderful position so we've got to be pleased."Rochdale = Rochdale's injury crisis is slowly improving. Manager Alan Buckley has been without a number of key players in recent weeks, but can see light at the end of the tunnel. "I would hope that one or two of our injured players will be available sooner rather than later," he said. "Everyone knows Paul Connor's importance to us but his toe is still very sore. Gareth Griffiths stood on the toe in training before the Northampton game and though we thought Paul was fit to play, he struggled and had to come off. Daryl Burgess is a very tough cookie and if there is any chance of him being available he will want to play."Scunthorpe = Scunthorpe United again found themselves ravaged by injury as they drew 1-1 at Northampton. They had a man stretchered off for the second successive game when wing-back Lee Featherstone was carried away with a badly gashed calf. They had already lost midfield man Matthew Sparrow who limped off with a recurrence of a calf injury and with Alex Calvo-Garcia likely to be a long term absentee with his ankle injury, that leaves Scunthorpe's squad fully stretched at a time with Richard Kell is now also due to start a three match suspension. "We are really going to be down to the bare bones when we go to Carlisle next Tuesday," said manager Brian Laws.Southend = Goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan is set to sign a permanent contract with Southend United next week, after impressing on his return to the club. Flahavan had been released by the Shrimpers in the summer, but an injury to Carl Emberson led boss Steve Wignall to give him a second chance at Roots Hall.Torquay = Southampton defender Mike Williamson has extended his loan deal at Torquay by another month. Gulls boss Leroy Rosenior is backing his side to continue the form, which saw Torquay hold league leaders Hull to a point, into Tuesday night's game with Mansfield. He said "We want to turn this one point into three points with a win on Tuesday. I was delighted with the performance today, but we should have been out of sight in the second half. I am not going to knock our players for having a go, because we are a side who create loads of chances. But we really should have more then one goal to show for our performance." "It was a funny game, because we could have lost," admitted Rosenior. "They scored with a lone break and could have had another towards the end."Yeovil = Yeovil Town defender Roy O'Brien has been ruled out of action for at least two weeks with a knee ligament problem. Bath City are now due the first installment of cash from Yeovil Town for Jamie Gosling. The Twerton Park club will receive a four-figure fee now that the young midfielder has reached 10 first-team appearances for the Nationwide League Division 3 outfit.York = Straight-talking Chris Brass refused to pull any punches after York City crashed out of the LDV Vans Trophy at the first hurdle to Nationwide Conference side Halifax Town on Tuesday. York got off to a winning start taking maximum points from four successive wins. But since then, the Minstermen have seen their form and fortunes dip, rise and dip again. Brass admits that unless City start putting a run of results together soon they could soon be cut adrift from their fellow play-off hopefuls. "There will be no major inquest. I did all my talking in the dressing-room after the game on Tuesday night. I am just hoping we can start to put an unbeaten run together so we can stop looking over our shoulders."

THE THIRD DEGREE IS COMPILED BY MATTHEW PHILLIPS

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