Former Steelmen skipper Mick Jones will make his 1000th non league appearance tomorrow when he captains his current side Bottesford Town vs Eccleshill in the NCEL Premier Division game on Saturday 4th September.

Mick played for The Steelmen under former manager Steve Adams and played alongside current manager Andy Dawson in that era.

We spoke to Andy Dawson about his time playing alongside Mick Jones

AD “Strangely I knew Mick prior to playing with him as he actually played alongside my brother when he was 17-19yr old so I remember watching him as I was 6 years younger (I hope that makes him feel old now).

Mick is the type of player you rarely see around now. Very physical, very vocal and a real leader in the dressing room and on the pitch. You look at some players now and think “are they actually affected by a loss after a game or being behind at half time”, but not Mick. I know he goes into every game with the same winning mentality and the fact he is still playing at a good level at his age is a credit to his dedication and fitness.

I bumped into him recently at the Worsbrough vs Humber Utd game, he had gone down to watch as he wasn’t training that night and he was telling me he was still loving playing and had no plans to call it a day, you can only admire that and long may that continue.

Congratulations Mick on behalf of myself and everyone at Parkgate.