After an impressive pre-season Halesowen travel down to Wiltshire to take on Salisbury City on the opening day of the 2000/1 season on August 19th. Town featured a total of 9 players who were making their debut that afternoon. After looking very composed and elegant they fell behind to a 6th minuted goal however Andy Dodd levelled proceedings at 1-1. Another fine performance in the second half amounted for nothing as they eventually lost 2-1. The following Tuesday they lost 1-0 at home to Stafford Rangers. Picked up their first point on Saturday the 28th drawing 0-0 with champions elect Margate. But Michael Griffiths should have won it for the Yeltz but his shot hit the post having been in front of an open goal. Phil Wood netted only their second goal in Halesowen's 3-1 defeat by Newport County on Bank Holiday Monday. By now John Chambers' job appeared to be hanging in the balance. Over the week Craig Dutton is released and joins Solihull Borough.
August Record
P 4, W 0, L 3, D 1, F 2, A 6, Pts 1.
Pic: Manager under pressure, John Chambers
On the 2nd Town travelled down to Dorset to face Weymouth at The Wessex Stadium, but by now the confidence was low and the side was playing poor football. Town fell behind half way through the second half but Stuart Payne drew Halesowen level before halftime. However a rock bottom display in the second half gave Weymouth their first win of the season after a 4-1 victory. On the Sunday morning rumours that Chambers had resigned were surfacing and on the Monday it was announced by the club. Alan Moore who had resigned with Chambers stayed on as caretaker but despite signing Simon Dixon before kick off were defeated 2-1 (O.G.) by Burton Albion on the Tuesday. The following weekend Crawley were visitors at The Grove and despite being 2-0 up (Hines, Collins) with 4 minutes left drew 2-2. However a week later on the 16th those who treked down to Clevedon despite the fuel chaos were rewarded with a 4-1 victory (Hines2, Darroch, Mason) which included two of the best goals of the season from Scott Darroch and Mike Mason. Halesowen continued their good form with a 1-0 win at Stafford the folowing Tuesday night with Wayne Lloyd grabbing an 88th minute winner. Names of candidates for the managers job emerged as Craig Shakespear, Fred Davies, Joe Jackson and Gary Hackett. However to the astonishment of all Yeltz fans Alan Moore was appointed as manager before the Fisher Athletic match. But after a 2-0 drubbing by a side who had not won that season fans were left wondering what this season would lead to. That week former manager John Chambers accused Moore of stabbing his back after they had both decided to leave The Grove together. On the 30th September Burton Albion dumped Town out of the FA Cup in a 2-0 victory for The Brewers.
September Record
League
Pld 6, W 2, L 3, D 1, F 9, A 11, Pts 7
Cup
Pld 1, W 0, L 1, D 0, F 0, A 2
Pic: Alan Moore, appointed manager in September 2000
October is started in the worst possible fashion with a 1-0 loss on Friday 6th. The side included new signing Peter Sutton who joined the club from Bromsgrove Rovers in exchange for Scott Gennard who joined the club in December 1999 from Stourbridge. But Sutton was to repay his transfer fee at Newport on Saturday 14th when his two goals helped the Yeltz to a 2-0 victory over a poor Newport County side. A week later Ian Aldridge re-joined the club from Oldbury United and played in the 1-1 draw with Dorchester with a goal coming from Wayne Lloyd in the 89th minute. The following Monday Town travelled to Worcester in the Worcs. Senior Cup and went down 4-1 (Hines) in the final game of the month. Over October Andy Dodd signed for Stourbridge and Scott Darroch joined Bedworth United.
October Record
League
Pld 3, W 1, L 1, D 1, F 3, A 2 Pts 4
Cup
Pld 1, W 0, L 1, D 1, F 1, A 4
Pic: Andy Dodd departed for Stourbridge
The first game of November was on the 4th at home to Bilston Town in the FA Trophy a game on paper that Halesowen should have won. However after Halesowen displayed their "arrogant" play Bilston took the lead but Jason Owen levelled on the stroke of half time. The second half was one way traffic and Halesowen stumbled to a humiliating 3-1 loss. The next fixture was at home again in the Birm. Senior Cup to Redditch United in what was an awful display Halesowen lost 1-0. But the following Saturday Town picked up their first homw win of the season when they defeated Tamworth 1-0 with the goalcoming from Ross Collins. Collins grabbed a brace the following Tuesday at Bromsgrove in the 2-0 Dr. Martens Cup victory. Arguably the most embarrising game followed on Saturday 18th at home to Folkestone Invicta. 4-1 up, goals from Sutton 2 and Payne 2 should have given Town a comfatable victory but the descision to replace two on song strikers with midfielders was punished as Invicta pulled back to gain a 4-4 draw. The final game of November was a 1-1 draw with Clevedon Town with Ross Collins netting. Craig Mansell left the club during November after returing to Dorset.
November Record
League
Pld 3, W 1, L 0, D 2, F 6, A 5, Pts 5
Cup
Pld 3, W 1, L 2, D 0, F 3, A 4
Pic: Ross Collins who shone despite the poor performances
December started promisingly enough with a 2-2 draw with Welling United at Park View Road with goals from Ross Collins and Stuart Payne. The following Saturday's game at Havant & Waterlooville was called off due to waterlogging at West Leigh Park. Sam Bowen who had been signed in late November was still set for his debut after being injured for the Welling game and it was further delayed by the postponment of the DM Cup fixture at home to Moor Green. However he made his debut in the 1-1 draw with Merthyr Tydfil at The Grove. Moor Green were the visitors on Tuesday 12th but after a promising start Halesowen suffered a 1-0 defeat. The game also gave Stuart Corns his debut who had signed from Droylesdon. The Saturday before Christmas Halesowen played the worst game of the season in a 3-0 loss at Cambridge and Sam Bowen got a consolation goal in the 3-1 defeat at home to Worcester on Boxing Day. Ian Aldridge returned to Cradley Town during December after a fall out with Alan Moore.
December Record
League
Pld 4, W 0, L 2, D 2, F 4, A 9, Pts 2
Cup
Pld 1, W 0, L 1, D 0, F 0, A 1
Pic: Andy Quy, helpless to prevent another month of conceding.
January started with the postponment of the New Years Day clash at Moor Green which meant the first fixture of 2001 was away at Tamworth. During the week it was reported that Steve Piearce had gone on loan to Tamworth but with the departure of Paul Hendrie the move broke down and Steve joined Town on a months loan. But the golden boy was unable to avert disaster at Tamworth, leading 2-1 with goals from Jon Ford Halesowen through away three points and the one when Tamworth grabbed two quick goals to make it 3-2. Ilkeston were the visitors to The Grove on the 13th and came away with a 1-0 win. A trip to Folkestone in a must win match was greeted with a 2-1 loss with Ross Collins putting Halesowen Town 1-0 up at half time. By now fans were getting annoyed with Moore and it proved to be his last full month in charge.
January Record
Pld 3, W 0, L 3, D 0, F 3, A 6, Pts 0
Pic: Steve Piearce unable to rekindle the spirit of the run in '99.
The month started with Steve Piearce extending his contract for another month and marked it with a goal in the 2-2 draw with Welling while Wayne Lloyd grabbed the opener. However a week later another poor performance sent the Yeltz back from Bath with a 4-0 loss. By this time the pressure on the management staff was great and after an improved at Burton, losing 1-0, Town defeated Salisbury 3-0 with goals coming from Sam Bowe (2) and new signing Stuart Skidmore. The victory was the first since mid November and Moore's third in the league as full time manager. In the midweek Halesowen drew 0-0 at Havant and then drew at King's Lynn 2-2 (Sutton, Hines) but after the King's Lynn game it was revealed that Brendan Phillips was to be manager for the rest of the season.
Febuary Record
Pld 6, W 1, L 2, D 3, F 7, A 9, Pts 6
Pic: Brendan Phillips who had a mammoth task on his hands.
Not the easiest of starts for Brendan Phillips with a visit to in form Margate. The side included loan signings Richard Walker and Jamie Collins from Crewe and Carl Tranter who had joined on a months contract having been released by Worcester City. The game was lost 1-0 and with a spate of new signings the poor form continued with a 4-0 loss at home to King's Lynn. However after leading 2-1 the following Tuesday (Ince, J. Collins) Halesowen lost 3-2 with two incredibly dodgy goals which should not have stood. A 0-2 loss at home to Weymouth was reversed with a 2-1 victory at Dorchester 4 days later with goals from Sutton and Otto. The following Saturday produced a 0-0 draw at Merthyr Tydfil.
March Record
Pld 6, W 1, L 4, D 1, F 4, A 11, Pts 4
Pic: Ricky Otto who joined the club in March and netted the winner against Dorchester Town
The final nails in the coffin were inflicted on Halesowen in the first three games of the season. At Crawley they lost 2-1 (Crawford) on Tuesday 10th and then 4 days later were defeated 2-0 at The Grove by local rivals Moor Green in a very poor game. Of all places we were finally sent down at Worcester in a game we could quite easily won and in fact deserved to. But lady luck was again no where to be seen as Halesowen suffered a 1-4 loss (Spencer). However three better displays give Halesowen a 3-0 win over Cambridge (Spencer 2, Hines), a 2-2 draw at home to Haant & Waterlooville (Bailey, Otto), a 0-0 draw with Fisher Athletic and a 2-0 win over Bath City (Bailey 2).
April/May Record
Pld 7, W 2, L 3, D 2, F 9, A 10, Pts 8
Pic: Andy Spencer who's goals helped Halesowen to a decent end of season
In a season we thought we may be able to push for promotion being relegated was a bitter blow. However we may proggresing as we wern't going anywhere under John Chambers. This season will give Brendan Phillips time to build and maybe mount a promotion challenge. However the real challenge is next season. Brendan Phillips is a quality manager and we will progress under his management maybe even into the Conference or Football League. But if we have learnt something over the past season is to be patient and under the right manager we will move forward.