Team: 1. Gaz mcWatt; 2. Peter Jones; 3. Martin Mayall; 4. Jake Jacobs; 5. Lee Rainford; 6. Danny Cheetham; 7. Gareth Chew; 8. Jeff Whittaker; 9. Chris Moore; 10. Wayne Broadbent; 11. Mark Jackson; 12. Keith Martin; 13. Danny Cheetham; 14. Matt Taylor

Report: Sorry to all regular readers for the delay in submitting this report.  I won't even trouble you with an excuse.

This turned out to be a routine, if uninspiring, victory for Diggle, but it was not without its shocks along the way.

Diggle began well and found themselves one nil up within 2 minutes - Jake Jacobs (impressive throughout the game) driving home a low shot from the edge of the box following a cross from the equally impressive Wayne Broadbent.

Diggle then proceeded to control the game, toying with Wooldale's overworked defence.  However, chances came and went and Diggle were unable to add to their lead.  The longer the half wore on, the more niggly the game became, with Diggle reverting back to bad habits and getting involved in slanging matches that had nothing to do with a proper approach to football.

On the half hour mark, Wooldale struck back, and by 35 minutes Wooldale were bizarrely in the lead.  2 carbon copy goals: long punts down field, swirling wind, defensive howlers, and Wooldale's evergreen left midfield player was on hand to tap home two easy goals.

The Diggle defence should have hung its head in shame for 2 such dreadful goals.  The Manager's Under 10s team would have been disappointed with such limp efforts.

As Diggle's temper flared again, they soothed their own nerves just before half time when Broadbent lashed home a thunderous shot from 30 yards which gave the Wooldale keeper very little chance at all.

2-2 at half time, and cue a colourful teamtalk from the Manager.  Colourful and vivid was the language but the Manager was within his rights to remind his team what he did and didn't expect from a team in his control.

Probably nothing to do with the Manager's rebuke at half time, but Diggle, aided by the considerable slope on the pitch, strolled through the second period, adding two early goals to seal the match 4-2. Mark Jackson grabbed goal number 3 with yet another long range effort.  Jackson turned provider for goal number for as his looping cross to the back post found Broadbent who quite skilfully scored from close range.

Diggle played some pretty stuff in the second period but rarely got out of second gear.  Wooldale had a late flurry of possession, but it was too little too late.

Wooldale look like a side used to losing, which is a shame, because they have a few good young kids in their ranks.  Let's hope that Wooldale can stick together, narrow the defeats and turn them into draws and victories.

Diggle flattered to deceive: at times playing some excellent football, scoring 3 if not 4 tremendous goals, and 2 horror goals apart, rarely looking in difficulty.  However, if Diggle think that this is a performance that potential champions are made of, they need to think again.

Too many players have a 'musical hall/pub side' mentality to their game - preferring a good old fashioned slagging match to playing properly. The side simply does not work hard enough (compared to how they worked tirelessly against Meltham last week) and instead of having a mentality of accepting no excuses, there are too many who have too many explanations for why things go wrong.   There is too little emphasis on the need to put chances away, and the missing of chances often passes without comment.  That is the mark of a side here for the ride, not hear to win the League.

Negative as the above maybe, there is no point having a report that simply oozes praise where it isn't deserved.  Standards need to rise if we are to achieve success.

On the plus side, Broadbent and Jackson showed well in this game; Jones gave another classy display; whilst Jacobs and Martin Mayall made valuable contributions.