Latest news with #BenWilson
Daily Record
03-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Airdrie 'accept' six-figure fee for star striker Ben Wilson
The Diamonds are reportedly set to part company with their main attacking threat from last season Airdrieonians have reportedly accepted a £200,000 offer from Welsh side TNS for striker Ben Wilson. The Northern Irishman only joined the Championship club last summer but enjoyed a prolific campaign scoring 17 goals in 46 matches in all competitions. And according to Sky Sports, TNS - who banked around £6million from appearing in the revamped Conference League group stage last season, are ready to splash the cash on the 23-year-old. Wilson made a big impression when he arrived in Monklands last summer, netting a hat-trick on his competitive debut in a thumping 8-0 win over East Kilbride in the Premier sports League Cup. He also netted in each of his first four games for the club. Now it appears the Diamonds will need to source a replacement as the former Cliftonville man looks set to leave Scotland. Airdrie have already added to their squad for the new Championship season with the capture of defender Craig Ross from Stranraer, while long-serving defender Craig Watson announced his departure earlier this week.
Daily Record
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Airdrie striker urges 'recharge' after draining season ends in play-off scrap
Ben Wilson wants the Diamonds to hit the ground running next season Airdrie striker Ben Wilson says it's time to switch off and recover from a season that was mentally and physically exhausting, as they stayed in the Championship via the play-offs. A sticky first half to the season with few wins and a raft of injuries to first-team players was vastly improved upon from January – but Airdrie would still have been relegated but for a 15-point deduction imposed on Hamilton Accies. That still left Airdrie with the Championship play-offs, which they negotiated, with wins over Stenhousemuir and Cove Rangers. A 2-1 win at the Balmoral Stadium was followed up by a tense 0-0 draw at New Broomfield in the final second leg, and Wilson, top scorer at the club on 17 goals, admitted relief. He said: 'Summer and pre-season is really important. 'Since the turn of the year our form has been really good, so we can tick that on, going into the new season. 'It's time to rest now, as well, get our minds rested more than anything, and our bodies, and in a few weeks' time we go again. 'We'll enjoy this now, and get back at it.' There weren't many chances, but Northern Irishman Wilson could have sealed it with a chance that he curled round the right post. But he says staying up was all that mattered. Wilson said: 'I thought I had scored, I worked it quite well. I think Gav Gallagher or Ricco Diack played it in to me, I got turned, and I didn't have many chances, but that one was close. 'The important thing was to stay up, and thankfully we did that. 'It was important to win up there [at Cove Rangers] to bring it back and build on that here. Thankfully we kept a clean sheet and got it over the line.' Scorching temperatures didn't help, with few chances created by both sides, and Wilson says a standing ovation from supporters was reward for a difficult campaign. He said: 'Everybody had run themselves into the ground and that's what it takes to stay up. 'All the boys, to a man, were absolutely unbelievable out there, and for 90 minutes we defended, that got us up the pitch, and we got it over the line. 'We can't thank the fans enough, they turn up in their numbers every week, and that's for them, that's a day they'll remember for a very long time, and for us, as well. 'It was important to give something back to them for all the hard times we've had throughout the season.'
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Dorset Council suffered 25% pay reduction, union says
Dorset Council staff have suffered a 25% real-terms reduction in pay over recent years, its main staff union has were told that stress at County Hall was at an all-time high, and women and lower paid workers were likely to be worse off under the next round of representative Becky Brookman made the comments at May's full Dorset Council meeting, adding that the nationally negotiated pay offer of 3.2% represented another real-terms pay member Ben Wilson said the council valued the contributions of staff and would continue to lobby the government for better funding. Ms Brookman said government grants to the council had been cut by 60% since 2010."Without dedicated staff local government would collapse and without fair pay councils will continue to struggle to recruit and retain staff," she said."Across the UK 900,000 jobs have been lost in local government since 2010, a reduction of more than 30%."At Dorset Council, we have seen cuts upon cuts, restructures after restructures due to the lack of government funding from this and the previous government."She also said staff would shortly be going through "one of the biggest cuts to staff" since the creation of the council."Any further cuts will lead to essential service cuts," she the lob losses, Mr Wilson previously said: "We are committed to a thorough and transparent process... and hope to achieve the best outcomes for the community and our employees." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Daily Record
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Airdrie won't take Cove Rangers lightly, warns Diamonds striker
Club top-scorer Ben Wilson has their League One opponents in his sights Airdrie's top marksman Ben Wilson is looking to continue his goal-scoring form at Cove Rangers tonight, but warned his side can't take their League One opponents lightly. Wilson netted his 17th goal of the season in a 2-1 win over Stenhousemuir on Saturday, providing a 5-2 aggregate semi-final score, and head north to the Balmoral Stadium this evening where they will tackle a Rangers side that beat Queen of the South 2-1. The sides will duke it out for a place in next season's Championship, and Wilson wants to make sure Airdrie come out on top. He said: 'It's in our own hands, but they're there on merit as well, so we're not going to take anything lightly. 'We'll focus on them this week. 'I don't know much about Cove personally and I'm sure the boys behind the scenes, the gaffer and his staff, are doing their homework already. 'We'll be well prepared, and I'm looking forward to it.' Wilson netted the second in a 2-1 win, adding to Alex Bannon's earlier header, when Lewis Strapp launched the ball forward, he danced past a defender and smashed a shot into the left corner. And the Northern Irishman said: 'That's just how simple it is sometimes, one long ball, but I like to make those runs, Strappy found me and I was composed when I got in there, and got my shot on target. 'Personally it's nice to be on 17 now, but we just needed to take care of business and we did. 'I had a wee knock on my hip there for a while, but I'm getting back into it now. I started the game on Tuesday and on Saturday, so I'll look to bring that into the next two games.' Injuries have been an issue for Airdrie this season, and while Wilson reckons that's a large reason for them being in the play-offs, the striker says they must take their opportunity. He said: 'In the first half of the season we were stricken by injuries and everybody could see that from the outside. 'But since the turn of the year, I think once we got a bit of a squad back together we've shown what we can do. 'We've come through all those tough times, and we've been given a lifeline now to be in these play-offs, but it's up to us to deliver, and stay in the league. 'We've hit a bit of form now, it's all about momentum for us and we'd look to take our performances from Tuesday and Saturday into the next two games.'
Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Last-minute header seals Wembley spot for Sunderland over Coventry
' 'Til the End.' It is the Sunderland play-off slogan, slapped all over the team bus, and oh my goodness, Sunderland did that all right. It had been announced that two minutes of stoppage time were to be played at the end of extra time, and the giant electronic clock in the Roker End at the Stadium of Light was at 31min 59sec when an Enzo Le Fée corner came flying into the Coventry City penalty area. It struck 32:00 just as Dan Ballard crashed his header off the crossbar and beyond the Coventry goalkeeper Ben Wilson, a Sunderland fan, and into the Coventry goal, and at that moment everything in Sunderland descended into wild chaos. All around were 43,000 Sunderland fans going crazy. The ground almost shook. In the Sunderland technical area they had charged on to the pitch. Ballard struggled but eventually managed to tear off his shirt before swinging it around his head as he ran towards the supporters like a man possessed. He was not alone in the look. Everywhere was pandemonium. All football was right there. Régis Le Bris, the Sunderland head coach, wore a look of bewilderment. Coventry players stood still, too stunned to move. Some put their shirts to their faces. It seemed to take an age to restart the game, and when it did, it was pointless. There was no time left. Within a further second the referee, Andrew Madley, had blown his whistle and at that point Le Bris was mobbed, his players rejoiced and those in sky blue fell to the turf or covered their faces once more with their shirts. Ecstasy and agony right there. Play-off football had once more conjured up something so extraordinary that it was difficult to comprehend the varying scale of emotions. Some Sunderland fans ran on to the pitch. There was a scuffle between a Sunderland fan without a top and Frank Lampard, the Coventry head coach who dragged a team who were 17th in the Championship in November to one who dominated most of the 212 minutes of this semi-final, only to be done in its final second. Lampard was diplomatic on the incident when he slapped the phone out of the shirtless fan who tried to take a celebration selfie with him on the pitch. 'There were a few silly fans that came over, a minority,' he said. 'It's disappointing.' Even Lampard had not seen anything like it. Nor did he deserve to be confronted by Sunderland supporters. There will be questions about why that was allowed to happen. It was perhaps a couple of hundred fans who made their way on to the pitch, and they were jeered, briefly, for those in the stands of the Stadium of Light were lost in the joy of celebration. They had named the main stand at the ground the Jimmy Montgomery Stand before kick-off, and that merely heightened what was a frenzied atmosphere. Perhaps it was some Monty magic that inspired such a dramatic conclusion. That moment from Ballard will live as long in the memory as Montgomery's save in 1973 that helped Second Division Sunderland beat First Division Leeds United in the FA Cup final at Wembley. More than half a century later and they are still fighting to get out of the second tier of English football. They have not been in the Premier League since 2017, relegated under David Moyes. That feels like a lifetime ago, but they are potentially only 90 minutes from a return. A squad assembled for £18.4 million must now get past Sheffield United to return to the big time. They will believe anything is possible after a night of such incredible drama. Lampard had stood, incapable of movement, when the game finished. He was alone then, on the corner of the Coventry technical area. The finish was cruel for its method but also cruel because Coventry were the better team. 'Football is cruel at times. I'm proud of what we have delivered and the way we have played from where we came from,' Lampard said. 'I hope our fans are proud of the team. It is not a nice drive home for any of us tonight.' Coventry had more possession, more control, more efforts, more corners. They had an equaliser in the tie when only 15 minutes remained. Milan van Ewijk crossed deep from the right, Ephron Mason-Clark stole in ahead of Trai Hume and cleverly placed a right-footed finish beyond Anthony Patterson into the corner of the Sunderland goal. There were the best part of 3,000 fans from Coventry, way up behind a goal, and they went wild in celebration. How that emotion would alter, how the game would change, how quickly they would want to leave when Ballard struck with the final second of a play-off game and Sunderland became an epicentre of absolute delight. 'Today the atmosphere was crazy,' Le Bris said. 'We went through difficult moments. The energy was contagious. We played with 12 men. To score this late and to win the opportunity to play at Wembley was absolutely fantastic. You play football for these emotions.' Sunderland (4-4-2): A Patterson 7 — T Hume 6, D Ballard 7, L O'Nien 7 — P Roberts 6 (R Mundle 95), D Neil 67, J Bellingham 6, E Le Fée 6 — W Isidor 6 (C Rigg 83), E Mayenda Isidor, Roberts, Bellingham, Le Fée. Coventry (4-2-3-1): B Wilson 6 — M van Ewijk 7, B Thomas 7, L Kitching 7, J Dasilva 7 —M Grimes 8, B Sheaf 7 (J Eccles 73, 5) — T Sakamoto 7, J Rudoni 8, H Wright — E Mason-Clark 8 (B Thomas-Asante).Booked Sheaf, Wilson, Thomas. Referee A Madley.
