A group of 18 Dacorum & Tring AC Road Runners took to the streets of Marlow at the weekend for the Marlow five-mile race.

Jamie Marlow placed 16th overall out of a field of 1,130 runners in an impressive time of 29:41, followed by Stephen Shaw in 32:10, for 58th overall and seventh in the V50 category.

Steve Russell finished in a personal best time of 34:12 and, together, the trio qualified as ninth men’s team out of 30.

Ken Perry was next over the line in 36:27, while Jessica Tanner was first lady to finish for the club, posting a PB of 39:44.

She was followed closely by Jason Hawkridge in 39:57, who burst through the 40 minute barrier for the first time to break his PB by 15 minutes.

John Slack came through in 40:22, followed by Clare Murray in 41:12 and Samantha Hawkridge in 41:15.

Jessica, Clare and Samantha’s times were fast enough to place them as seventh ladies’ team out of 22.

Helen Reardon finished in a PB of 42:33, ahead of Nicky Henry in 44:15, Kirsty Russell in a PB of 47:41, Rupinder Mahil in 47:47, Peter Dollman in 46:18, Pat Hayball in 49:01, Gary Sturdy in 49:26, Keeley Hawrkidge in 53:15 and club head coach John Jales, who finished the race for the 12th consecutive year in a time of 56:56.

Elsewhere, four Dacorum & Tring AC Road Runners showed their multi-sport mettle at the Hatch End Sprint Triathlon.

Catherine Davies finished the 400m swim, 17km bike and 3km run just under the hour mark in 59:52 on a cold, windy course, while Michael Lamb – in his first triathlon since his school days in South Africa – crossed the line in 1:08:10.

Rob Deane tuned up for the triathlon season ahead with a time of 1:09:19, while over in St Albans, Chris Kitchener completed the slightly longer HSV Tri-Force sprint triathlon in a speedy time of 1:17:15.

That was good enough for 55th overall and eighth in his category,as he prepares for his first half Ironman event in June.

Kitcheners played Hazells in a five-rink mixed match on Saturday and continued their winning run by triumphing 100-66.

Highest rink was Roy Murray,Steve Halsey, Joy Starling and Chris Ivin.

On Sunday they entertained Little Gaddesden in a triples match and won 72-61.

Highest triples for Kitcheners was Roy Phipps, Jan Scattergood and Ivin.

After taking a 6-3 lead and looking in control away at the Bracknell Blazers, the Herts Falcons suffered a setback in the race for the NBL title.

The Blazers rallied with four runs in the bottom of the final inning to win the first game of the double-header 7-6, but perhaps more costly in the long-run were serious injuries to Herts centrefielder Cris Hiche and pitcher Abel Salas.

Hiche fractured his wrist in an outfield collision with Mike Osborn, while Salas was taken out of the game with a hamstring injury.

The injuries meant the Falcons’ strategy had to be scrapped, and the Blazers took advantage to convincingly win the second game 14-4.

Falcons manager Lee Manning said: “We have to battle through the storm while our injured players recover and try to pick up wins along the way to stay in the playoff race.”

In the Triple-A League, the Herts Eagles lost both games against the Essex Redbacks, 11-4 and 13-3.

In the Double-A League, the Herts Hawks pulled off a brilliant comeback as they recovered from 11-4 down against the Brentwood Stags to win 14-13.

The second game, though, was comfortably won 21-11 by the Stags.

This week, all four Herts adult teams are in action. The Falcons host Essex Arrows at Grovehill Ballpark at 1pm on Sunday.

On Saturday, the club’s youth team will go into the unknown as they face several American teams, as well as a French team from Paris.

Jay Austin bagged a brace as BSFL Premier Division side AFC Boars recorded a convincing win over Park Rangers.

Curtis Donaldson, Sonny French and Lewis Cruwys were also on target for Boars in a 5-1 victory.

The other game in the division saw Flaunden win 4-2 at Drays Athletic thanks to efforts from Chazi Hokuza, Ben Adams, Graham Blyth and Josh Hutchinson-Kemal.

In Division Two, Paul Witham hit a brace and Alex Thompson was also on target for Hemel Hempstead Corinthians in a 3-1 victory at Woodhall Wanderers.

Elsewhere, it was high fives for Jack Wood as Apsley Athletic went goal crazy in Division Three.

Wood helped himself to five goals, while Ryan Rowe, Ollie Gurney and Chris Linsell notched a brace apiece and Aiden Byrne completed the 12-0 rout.

The final game in the league this weekend ended in a 4-1 win for Division Four side Greenacres II against Sporting Blackbirds.

Scott Carrington was the man of the moment for Greenacres, bagging all four goals.

Dacorum District U11 beat a gritty Stevenage District side 3-2 in the Shires Cup final to maintain their 100 per cent win record for the season.

After going a goal down midway into the first half, Dacorum fought back and equalised before half-time with a goal from winger Matheos Maneli.

After the half-time break, Dacorum started strongly and went into the lead with Alfie Williams setting up Kofi Cripps for a poacher’s goal from three yards out.

Cripps then turned provider for goal machine Louie Potton, whose deft 30-yard lob put Dacorum 3-1 up.

As the game went on, Stevenage forced Dacorum keeper David Saunders into a series of fine saves.

With minutes left, Stevenage scored to make it 3-2 and set up a very tense last few minutes of the game.

Dacorum captain Harry McHugh was forced off with an injury leaving Matthew Ellis to marshal the defence.

To add to the drama, with virtually the last kick of the game, Stevenage had a free-kick cleared off the line by Maneli to secure the win.

Dacorum co-manager Luke Nicholls said: “The boys showed a great display of guts and selflessness to come back from a goal down.

“When you have players willing to cover every blade of grass, compete for every header and every tackle it’s possible to win finals like this. It’s an honour to be associated with such a team.”

There’s some sort of big football tournament coming up, apparently. It’s in Brazil, I hear, though there hasn’t been a lot about it in the public prints.

That may be something to do with the fact that the England team, although in the Maracana mix, can only choose from a squad of second-string shufflers because all the Premier League’s big shots will be appearing for their own nations, and consequently for once our chances are not being relentlessly inflated beyond all reasonable expectation.

That won’t stop the BBC sending hundreds of staff all the way to Rio and beyond to beam back every second of every game, and fill endless hours of screen time with punditry, piffle and witless shots of keepy-uppy on the beach and gauchos tucking into huge steaks. But I’m not getting tetchy about that – well, not yet.

And even though the general view is that England will do well to progress much beyond the group stages, that won’t stop fair weather fans flying red and white banners from their cars or their bedroom windows for the duration, but I’m not getting tetchy about that, either. The flags haven’t even started to sprout yet, so I can’t really get hot under the collar about something I haven’t even seen – I’ll leave that others.

So what is the grit in my oyster this week, you may be asking?

It’s commonly accepted that the beautiful game is one of the many gifts that we have presented to the world.

The way we play it may rarely have been beautiful, it may now be ruled by a bunch of blazers in Zurich, but we came up with the rules and we exported it all over the world.

And do you know what we called it? With admirable simplicity, the game that primarily involved the foot and the ball was dubbed football. All clear so far?

Now some may lean towards soccer, but they are just wrong. Soccer was only ever used to distinguish the game from rugby by the sort of inbred idiot who insists on claiming that a game that doesn’t involve a lot of kicking and isn’t even played with a proper ball could realistically be described as football. Let’s move on.

More worrying as we head towards the world’s biggest festival of football is the creeping use of a new way to describe the game – a jokey, blokey appellation that immediately marks out anyone who uses it as a Johnny come lately bandwagon jumper who claims allegiance to a Premier League side which plays at the other end of the country and which they’ve never seen play except on a big screen.

So please be on the alert as football fever begins to build.

We may not have much chance of winning, but we can only hold our heads up high if we all resolve to show an immediate red card to anyone, anywhere, who says ‘footy’.

Travelling furthest afield for the Gade Valley Harriers at the weekend was Lesley Jugoo, who visited the Balearic Islands to compete in the Mallorca Iron Man Triathlon.

The race consists of a 1.2-mile swim across the harbour, a 56-mile cycle ride round the rugged shoreline, then a 13.1-mile half marathon run – all in the heat of the Spanish sun.

Lesley powered through the open water swim in 47:50, the cycle ride in 4:31:20 and the gruelling run in 3:17:43 – giving a combined time of 8:57:54.

Closer to home, Saturday saw the return of the Gade Valley Harriers parkrun tour, where Harriers travelled to Gladstone Park in North London and raced in the 5K event.

Dodging the heavy showers, men’s team captain Ed Price was first back for GVH in sixth place overall in 18:51, closely followed by John Lawler in 10th place in 19:23, Vince Ellerby in 20:01, Johnny Broom in 20:24, Steve Newing in 20:34, Andrew Norton in 21:15 and Luca Ramusino in 29:39.

At the St Albans parkrun, a team of five Harriers competed – with Russ Bailey first Harrier home in 23:13, followed by Paula Cook in 25:53, Karis Thomas in another PB of 26:26, Paul Mosely in 28:18 and Jenny Barnett in 30:46.

On Sunday, six Harriers pitted themselves against the Chartridge 100 challenge, a 100K cycle ride through the hills of the Chilterns.

Guy Wollett, James Lawler, John Roberts, Vince Ellerby, James McCluskey and Johnny Broom completed the ride.

Berkhamsted entertained Townsend in a friendly triples match and the result was a close-run thing with just eight shots separating the sides.

Berkhamsted’s top rink trio of Tom Presland, Anne Cutting and Brian Ralphs contributed to the winning score of 64-56.

Another friendly match, this time against Pavilion BC, also ended in a victory for the Berkhamsted team, with David Biggerstaff, Geoff Drew and Linda Ralphs leading the way.

Friday evening saw the men’s side take on Herts BC in the Herts Inter-Club Team Championship.

At one point Berkhamsted were staring down the barrel of a very large cannon but, with just two ends left, they managed to pick up seven to take a 20-16 lead and they didn’t look back.

The sides shared the points but it was Berkhamsted’s better shot difference of 70 to 66 that eventually saw them as winners.

They now entertain Hertford Castle in the next round of the competition at home on May 23.

The club is opening its doors this month for everybody to try bowls; taster sessions are available on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 2pm to 4pm, as well as on most Friday evenings from 6pm onwards.

> Elsewhere, Potten End foursome Dave Gomm, Stan Durrant, Tony Howard and Phil Bunting are through to the next round of the County Fours competition.

Elsewhere, the Potten End men played in the County Top Ten against St Albans, winning 3-1.

The club also sent a mixed team to Bushey in the Over 60s double rink, losing by eight shots.

Berkhamsted Tornadoes, the oldest club in the Berkhamsted Sunday Football League, celebrated the end of their 44th season with a presentation night at Northchurch Cricket Club.

The highlight of the season was reaching the semi-final of the Herts Sunday Senior Cup, and a current third place in the Premier Division also representing a good performance in the league.

The Reserves finished sixth in Division Two.

Trophy winners were:

> 1st team

Players’ Player – (joint winners) James Shaw and Lee Stobbs

Manager’s Player – Adam Hall

Top Scorer – Sam Jolliffe (22 goals)

> Reserves

Players’ Player – Matt Baxter

Manager’s Player – Dan Lee

Top Scorer – Dan Lee (17 goals)

David Jones Unsung Hero Award – Sam Copson

> Clubman of the Year

Tom Shaw (played in every first team game in last two seasons)

Tornadoes are now set to become the largest club in the BSFL by starting an A team next season which will mean they can offer football to players at three different levels.

New players are always welcome and anyone interested should contact Phil Hobbs on 01525 850707.

You may not realise that Godzilla is one of the most durable monsters in the history of cinema, first striding out of the sea 60 years ago to kick off a slew of successful Japanese features.

History doesn’t weigh heavily with the bigwigs in Hollywood, though – they reckon that you won’t even remember the 1998 blockbuster from Roland ‘Independence Day’ Emmerich, which was widely considered to be a turkey of the first order.

That film had the unlikely figure of Matthew Broderick in a leading role. This time around the best-known name is probably Bryan Cranston, fresh from his success in Breaking Bad.

But really it’s all about the monster – the director at the helm of this big budget blather hasn’t got a marquee name either.

Gareth Edwards made his reputation with the much-admired Monsters, when he conjured up an unsettling sci-fi story with a budget of buttons, a tiny cast and a lot of imagination.

Now he’s been given the whole gold-plated toy box to play with, and the result is a two-hour headache – all the showpiece shouty special effects are in your face, it’s slick and silly and you won’t remember a minute of it 10 minutes after the credits roll.

But the Warner Brothers machine is right behind it, so it’s sure to be a hit.

Godzilla is the big beast this week but worth seeking out is In Secret, which stars Elizabeth Olsen – also in the monster movie – in a period tale of romantic obsession, adultery and tragedy which will familiar to fans of classic French literature.

The story is based on Emile Zola’s Therese Raquin, and if a woman trapped in a loveless marriage and working behind the counter in her mother-in-law’s cramped shop before falling for a dashing artist floats your boat, it’s got great date movie credentials. And it’s all about people, with not a mutant monster in sight.

The Hemel Storm Academy showed their class to make it through to the U19 National Championship final before eventually falling 92-76 Greig City Academy from Haringey.

Playing at the University of East London, the Storm youngsters saw off Worthing College 70-59 in the semi-finals before Greig City took the honours in the final of the competition.

In only its second year, the Storm Academy – based at St Mary’s High School in Cheshunt – beat a number of schools and colleges with established basketball programmes to reach the final.

In the semi-final, the Academy – nicknamed Thunder – had to overcome a tenacious and spirited Worthing College squad and were made to fight all the way.

Top-scorer Zhenia Antimonov poured in the points, while guards Paida Mapfekap, Jelani Phillips and Jack Burnell kept cool and handled the ball well as Storm earned a deserved win.

The final tipped-off just a couple of hours later and fatigue quickly became a factor.

After a bright start, Storm fell behind to Greig City’s driving attacks and accurate outside shooting to trail 51-30 at the half-time break.

A much better second half performance wasn’t enough to get back on even terms but Storm fought hard all the way to the buzzer.

Academy head coach Dave Titmuss, who is also chairman and director of coaching at Storm, was delighted with the commitment and character shown by his side.

“This season has been a remarkable journey for us all and to reach a national final in only our second season is a terrific achievement and shows how much the students have improved since last year,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.

“The experience was extremely valuable and we’ll build on this for next year.”

Hertfordshire opened their 2014 Bill Beaumont Cup campaign with an historic first win on Gloucestershire soil.

Hertfordshire got an early score and held the lead throughout the game, despite a strong fightback by Gloucestershire, to win by 30 points to 19 and gain a bonus point for scoring four tries.

Conditions were not easy on a very windy afternoon at Cinderford, but both sides endeavoured to play enterprising rugby.

A number of handling errors resulted on both sides but that did not detract from the quality of the game.

The inexperienced Hertfordshire pack did very well against their strong West Country counterparts and more than held their own in the scrums until the last quarter when the home side got on top.

The lines out were shaded by Gloucestershire, but in the loose the visitors gained the upper hand, winning many turnovers and the back row, led by skipper Billy Johnson, frequently made gained many yards.

The attacking flair of the Hertfordshire backs was frequently thwarted by the conditions, but they excelled in defence especially in midfield, where the strong Gloucestershire centres posed a constant threat.

With the strong wind at their backs Hertfordshire had the best of starts scoring a converted try before two minutes had gone.

Following the home kick off, Herts won the first of many turnovers and full-back Henry Robinson broke up field.

From a ruck on the Gloucs 22, Herts won the ball and Matt Chambers touched down, the try being converted by Josh Sharp.

Both sides tested each other out over the next 10 minutes and Gloucestershire gradually worked their way into the Herts half.

A break from their full back took play to the Herts 22 and quick ruck ball gave right wing Leo Fielding the chance to cross the line for an unconverted try.

Making use of the wind, Herts put pressure on the home defence and were rewarded with two Sharp penalties, so that with half hour gone they led 13-5.

Then with just over five minutes of the half left, Herts won a scrum on the halfway line, Stuart Smart made a break up the right wing and put Robinson over for a try which Sharp converted.

The half-time whistle soon followed, but the pundits in the stand doubted whether a 15-point lead would be sufficient.

Playing into wind did not appear to trouble Herts at all at the start of the second half.

A Torran Macdougall break from the back of the first scrum took play well into home territory, but the subsequent forward drive was held up over the line.

Within minutes, the Herts forwards drove over the line again and this time Macdougall grounded the ball, so Herts had extended their lead to 20 points after only four minutes of the half.

Another try could have followed after a good break by Nick Hankin but a pass went astray.

Gloucestershire soon responded, using the wind to gain ground and put Herts under pressure.

Two five-metre lines out followed in quick succession and, from the second, the ball was recycled to Fielding who both scored his second try and added the conversion.

Herts then kept the ball in hand to gain ground, one 30 metre Johnson break taking play well into home territory.

Then with almost 30 minutes of the half gone Herts extended their lead. Johnson made another break from broken play on the halfway line and, when he was tackled, he gave the ball the hooker Jack Singleton, who sprinted the last 22 metres to score.

For the last 10 minutes of the game Gloucestershire threw everything at Herts. They managed a try by centre Rob Winchle, which was converted by Fielding, but Herts still had an 11-point cushion. This was enough and Herts had soon earned their historic victory.

It has been an extremely busy few months for the Dacorum School Sports Network, with plenty of events keeping school children active across the borough.

With 45 schools now members of the organisation, DSSN manager Clare McCawley and 10 sports apprentices have delivered dance competitions, sports hall athletics, tag rugby, Skip2be fit, high five, disability days and football competitions to children at primary, junior and secondary school level.

The DSSN apprentices have been working in primary and secondary schools across Dacorum to help and support with PE, as well as working alongside Clare to help deliver festivals and competitions.

A big success for DSSN this term was the tag rugby event, held in partnership with Camelot Rugby Club and the Saracens Sport Foundation.

More than 200 school children attended the competition, with Bridgewater School emerging victorious to take home the trophy.

Elsewhere, the DSSN hosted three separate sports hall athletics competitions for Year 6 pupils and one event for Secondary schools.

The overall Year 6 Dacorum winner was Bridgewater, with Kings Langley Primary coming second and St Pauls taking third place.

JFK won the Year 7 girls’ and Year 8 girls’ and boys’ competitions, with Ashlyns winning the Year 7 boys’ event.

DSSN also hosted three Year 2 sports hall events, with Kings Langley Primary crowned overall winners

Meanwhile, the organisation has held a number of Year 1 inter-school competitions, with pupils competing in obstacle relays, cup stacking, hockey dribbling, quoit throwing, jumbo speed stacking, football challenges and bean bag throwing. The Reddings Primary School were district winners.

Another highlight for DSSN this year was the dance competition held at Hemel Hempstead Sportspace in front of more than 500 spectators.

The winners of the secondary school competition were Astley Cooper, with Longdean finishing in second place.

St Albert the Great were crowned winners of the primary school competition, while Nash Mills finished second and Greenway came third.

Also this term, DSSN ran a disability taster day for pupils in mainstream schools across Dacorum, and some of the pupils were chosen by a talent ID coach for outstanding performance in activities throughout the day.

For further information on DSSN, or to find out about becoming an apprentice, please email Clare at c.mccawley@cavendish.herts.sch.uk or visit http://herts-ssco.org/Dacorum

The organisation is looking for several apprentices to support the delivery of PE and school sport with Dacorum-based primary schools. The role will begin in September 2014 and last a full year.

A police helicopter last night helped capture two men suspected of carrying out armed attacks on Hemel Hempstead betting shops.

The arrests were made after a vehicle was stopped in Adeyfield at around 6pm, while the aircraft ensured the area was contained.

Both men, who are aged 40 and 37 and from the town, were arrested on suspicion of robbery in connection to two raids on Coral bookmakers just a week apart.

The first attack took place on Monday, May 5 at the Bennetts Gate branch. {http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/local/gun-wielding-robbers-hold-up-betting-shop-1-6059867|The second occurred on Monday of this week at the Adeyfield branch in Queen’s Square, when a gun was waved at a cashier before cash was stolen.}

Both men are in police custody.

Anyone with information about either incident is urged to call Det Insp Justine Jenkins from the Hemel Hempstead local crime unit on the non-emergency number 101, citing crime reference D1/14/2831.

Alternatively call Crimestoppers, the independent charity, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The Mini and Junior section of TringRugby head en masse to take part in the weekend-long Leicester Tigers Challenge Rugby Festival at Butlins Minehead.

An army of 16 squads from across six age groups made the trip, making a total touring party of almost 300.

And a hugely successful weekend saw the club return with an impressive haul of silverware.

The U7s won both the Cup and the Bowl, the U8s scooped the Shield, the U9s bagged the Bowl, and the U12s brought home the Shield in their respective competitions against teams from as far afield as Wales and Manchester.

Westbrook Hay Prep School’s U11 footballers made their way to St George’s Park, the new home of English Football, for the Independent Schools Football Association National Finals.

The boys played excellently on their way to finishing second in their group, conceding only one goal in the process – in a 1-1 draw against eventual winners Bury Grammar – and going through to the knock-out stages unbeaten.

There, Westbrook Hay met Sussex prep school, Cumnor House. After going a goal behind, Westbrook Hay drew level with a superb header from Toby Dewick. Max Bustamante, who was a real force down the right flank, hit the bar with the last kick of the game meaning a penalty shoot-out was required.

Stuart Stedman, director of sport at Westbrook Hay, said: “Unfortunately, we didn’t emerge victorious but the boys should be commended on playing some excellent passing football and being recognised as one of the top eight independent schools in the country.”

West Herts Youth League Red Division champions Comets Blues U11 added the County Cup to their trophy collection with a convincing 3-0 win over Harpenden Colts.

An exciting day promised to produce equally exciting football and the supporters in the stands were not disappointed as a first half began in with both teams battling for a way through.

Comets then took the upper hand and had much more of the possession for the rest of the half but couldn’t quite create any clear cut chances.

The second half began with a more determined Comets piling on pressure around the Colts area and a free-kick from Harry Bailey went wide.

More pressure was piled on the Colts defence and a loose ball was seized by Max Lacey who sent a curling right foot shot into the back of the net to give his side the lead.

Comets lost a bit of their rhythm and Colts crept back in the game, however this was short lived and Louie Potton caused endless problems in the Harpenden half.

He got his reward with a stunning strike to double the Comets lead, and it wasn’t long before a glorious lob from Lacey took the score to 3-0.

The whistle finally came and the jubilant Comets could celebrate another well deserved trophy.

The successful Comets squad was: Will Hodgins, Harry Bailey, James Hutchins, Luke Wilson, Josh Rembalski, Tommy Wadmore, Jude Evans, Jacob Wylde, Taylor Barden, Louie Potton, Max Lacey and Ben Renwick.

Following on from their cup win, a relaxed Comets side cruised to an 8-0 win over Berkhamsted Raiders in the league.

Goals from man of the match Bailey, Barden, a brace from Lacey and four from Potton could easily have been many more but for a brave performance from the Raiders keeper.

It was a fine way for the side – coached and managed by Steve Hutchins Nick Hodgins – to end their league campaign as the only unbeaten team in the division.

Pupils from Abbot’s Hill School in Hemel Hempstead skied their way to victory at a national competition held at The Snow Centre.

Two teams from the Prep School competed in the SATIPSKI Championships, with the U11 A team taking the award for the top team in the country.

Team member Katie Barder also triumphed in the individual U11s girls’ competition, which has previously been won by GB Olympic skier Chemmy Alcott.

Abbot’s Hill team-mate Alexa Wilson came second overall in the age group.

The B team achieved an impressive fourth place – special mention going to Katie Molyneux for placing in the top 10 in her first ever competition.

“Given that this is a national competition for prep schools, this is an outstanding achievement,” said Abbots Hill coach Gillian Gilyead.

“The girls all skied superbly and thoroughly deserved their win”

It has been confirmed that Hemel Hempstead Town will be competing in the South Division of the Conference during the 2014/15 campaign.

It had been unclear as to whether the Tudors would play in the Conference North or South, but the issue has finally been resolved – much to the relief of the club and the fans.

Mike Appleby, leagues and clubs manager of the football services division said: “Further to my recent email, I am writing to confirm that, at a meeting of the FA Leagues Committee held earlier today, Hemel Hempstead Town FC were allocated to Football Conference South (Step 2),following promotion from Step 3, for season 2014/2015.”

This means that the Tudors will take on clubs including Sutton United, Bromley, Ebbsfleet United, Havant & Waterlooville, Bath City, Concord Rangers and Eastbourne Borough during the next campaign.

Meanwhile, the Tudors ended their championship-winning 2012/14 season at the end of year presentation evening.

Ex-Arsenal and England man Brian Talbot and former Luton star Mick Harford were on hand to present the trophies.

The winners for the first team were: Players’ Player - Danny Talbot; Manager’s Player - Kieran Murphy; Manager’s Young Player - Kyle Connolly; Club Record Clean Sheets - Laurie Walker; Supporters’ Player and Club Record Goalscorer - Ben Mackey; Most Improved Player - Ollie Thorne.

Ladies’ awards went to: Players’ Player - Gemma Darvill; Manager’s Player - Suzanne Read; Most Improved Player - Cassey Crowley

The Coen brothers Joel and Ethan are as deadpan and dry-witted as ever with INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (15: Studio Canal), one of their most soulful films to date.

A low-key, melancholy comedy of sorts, it’s about a singer trying to find a balance between artistic integrity and mainstream success.

The backbiting New York folk scene of Bob Dylan’s 1965 put-down anthem Positively 4th Street is the setting for the film.

Oscar Isaac stars in the title role as a Greenwich Village performer struggling to make it through the winter of 1961 after losing his musical partner.

Llewyn Davis shuttles between friends’ apartments and abuses everyone’s trust, particularly the unsuspecting Jim Berkey (Justin Timberlake), whose wife Jean (Carey Mulligan) he has been seeing behind his back.

But the prospect of an audition in Chicago holds the promise of a new beginning.

A rich seam of sadness comes to the fore whenever Isaac sings and the music alone will ensure this haunting, beautifully detailed film will live a long and lasting life.

>Every member of the stellar cast is given their moment to shine in the sweltering spotlight in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (15: Entertainment In Video), the screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage smash.

Meryl Streep is pill-popping queen bitc h Violet Weston, who has a strange way of dealing with her poet husband’s suicide.

Her long-suffering family expose festering wounds, rehash bitter feuds and reveal long-buried secrets in attempts to restore stability at the Oklahoma wake.

Sadly, the book’s dark satire on American society turns into a southern-fried screaming match and it’s more histrionic than involving.

Streep and Julia Roberts, who plays Violet’s oldest daughter Barbara, were both Oscar-nominated, but the expected diva fireworks are more of a damp squib.

Chris Cooper’s moving plea over his wife’s shabby treatment of their son (Benedict Cumberbatch) steals the show.

While it’s all very watchable as every crippling emotional issue of abuse, incest and infidelity is covered, it comes across as hollow and over-baked.

> Fantasy adventure I, FRANKENSTEIN (12: Entertainment In Video) is a brain-dead re-invention of Mary Shelley’s classic literary character as a reluctant action hero.

The infamous scientist’s monster roams Earth 200 years after burying his creator and is drawn into an ancient supernatural conflict.

A game Aaron Eckhart is cast as the monster, here named Adam for extra pretentiousness.

Adam has bits of other genre movies (The Matrix, Legion, Van Helsing) grafted on and winds up in the middle of the war between gargoyles and demons.

The latter are led by a shify-looking Bill Nighy as Naberius, who needs the secret to Adam’s immortality for the usual world domination reasons.

Mediocre CGI creatures are engaged in meaningless jumbles of fighting and it all ends in one of those massive wipe-the-slate-clean explosions and horrific hints of an I, Bride Of Frankenstein follow-up.