Goals flow in as The Hope Valley Amateur Football League gets underway

The Hope Valley Amateur League kicked off their 24/25 season in style, with the annual Sue Walker Memorial Trophy starting the campaign on August 23rd. The fixture saw the 23/24 Premier Division winners, Dove Holes 1st’s, face off against the runners-up, Chapel Town FC.

The game was soundly won by Chapel Town, who took the trophy home with a 5-1 win. Goals from Josh Wood, Tyson Elwin, Lewis Coates, Josh Edwards and Tyler Arnfield proved too much for Dove, with Connor Golden providing a glimmer of hope a little too late.

Chapel Town FC also played the first league fixture of the season, as they welcomed Premier Division new boys Hayfield to Rowton Park. An explosive fixture which finished 3-3, Chapel’s Lewis Coates got his first of two in the 31st minute, before Hayfield’s newest signing Alfie Hodges replied 8 minutes later. Hodges then nudged Hayfield ahead to complete his brace, before Coates replied less than 60 seconds later. Ollie Wyatt expertly dispatched a penalty in the 58th minute, however, Hayfield’s lead again didn’t last long, as Chapel’s Josh Wood evened the scores up and secured a point for both teams.

Dronfield Woodhouse were looking for a good start, but this was always going to be difficult against the experienced and established Buxworth Firsts. A goal in each half for Buxworth gave them their first points of the season, as the game finished 2-0 to ‘Buggy’, thanks to goals from Andrew Ramwell and Sam Cowley.

The 19th Hole finally made the step up to the Premier Division this season after a 2nd placed finish in the A Division last year took them to a league they most definitely deserve to be in. Baslow FC notified the league that they wished to merge with Dronfield FC, who are affiliated with the Sheffield FA.

This was agreed with the league, and the merge appears to have worked as the newly named Dronfield FC took all the points with a 2-0 win in their first ever fixture, with their goals coming from Scott Austin and Lewis Talbot.

The A Division saw 3 fixtures played this weekend. The league saw the newly formed Hayfield Reserves play their first ever fixture, as they made the short journey to Dove Holes to play their reserves side. The game was close but ultimately, the experience of Dove Holes Reserves secured the 3 points, thanks to goals from Joel Donnelly and Jonathon Thorpe respectively.

Calver faced a very tough opening home fixture against a strong Chapel Town Reserve side and fell short, losing 6-2 at Polly Froggatt Lane. Chapel went 3-0 up before Calver replied, with goals from Owen Berry, William Porter and Tyson Elwin. A brace from Calver’s Noah Steer wasn’t enough to ignite a heroic comeback, as Chapel found another 3 goals in the second half courtesy of Lewis Jodrell, Josh Edwards and Seth Riley.

Buxworth Reserves also succumbed to an opening home defeat, losing 2-0 to Hathersage on a sunny afternoon at the picturesque Western Lane. Two clubs from the A Division are yet to play, with Blazing Rag and Youlgrave United itching to get their seasons up and running. Four teams in the Premier Division await their first fixture, with Bamford, Tideswell United, Furness Vale and Dove Holes Firsts also ready and raring to go.

It is still early days in all aspects, and the league is only going to get more exciting as the weeks go on! The next round of fixtures contains more guaranteed action, and you can plan your day out by checking out the fixtures, kick-off times and beautiful locations all in one place by visiting https://fulltime.thefa.com/index.html?selectedSeason=702095994&selectedFixtureGroupAgeGroup=0&selectedDivision=520481459&selectedCompetition=0 for a full breakdown of the action ahead!