Around The Alliance - part seven

324. Langdale Centre

Wallsend Town 1v3 Stockdfield

North Alliance Premier division

Saturday 25th August 2012

The first game in this series took me over to Wallsend in North Tyneside, situated 3.5 miles east of Newcastle City Centre. The area takes its name as the location at the end of Hadrian's Wall, where the Segedunum fort protected the eastern end of the wall.

Wallsend’s main history is in shipbuilding and was the home of the Wigham Richardson shipyard, which later amalgamated to form Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, probably best known for building the RMS Mauretania.

Wallsend first played competitively in the Wearside League from 1973, winning the league title in 1978-79, before joining the Northern Alliance for five years from 1981.

They re-joined the Wearside League in the newly reformed Division Two in 1998-99, before again return to the Alliance two years later. Over the last two seasons the club has achieved back-to-back promotions from Division Two up to the Premier Division

The Langdale Centre is found just off the Coast Road, the ground fully railed off with dugouts and the changing rooms inside the main building.

The first piece of action of the day came off the pitch, when a couple turned up to support Wallsend’s opponents Stocksfield. Having just missed the kick off, the two of them walked behind me to take their position along from the dugouts when suddenly the gentleman disappeared! There was a manhole with a dodgy cover, so he collapsed and fell through the gap. I helped him back onto his feet and apart from a clarty pair of jeans he was ok. I then got some training cones off the Wallsend bench to put around the potential death trap.

Stocksfield made an energetic start to the game, taking an eighth minute lead with a lovely edge of the box chip from Ben Dibb-Fueller. The visitors missed a host of good chances until eventually doubled their advantage on 34 minutes, when a corner kick fell to Declan Stokle, who picked his spot with a side footed effort from the edge of the box.

The visitors should have been home and dry by half time but Wallsend got back into the game just before the break with a nice finish from Steve Matthews, firing his shot into the roof of the net.

Wallsend’s effort to get an equaliser was more by bully boy technique rather than hard work and skill. The card shy referee seemed to let them get away with murder, with the Stocksfield cockney-gaffer insisting on bringing video equipment in future matches to be used as evidence against discourteous foul play. Stocksfield finally sealed the win which their overall display deserved with a glanced header from Chris Hall, as the frustration from Wallsend festered; with at last the sight of a card from the refs pocket. Five minutes from time Matthews saw red for abusive language towards the linesman for disallowing which would have been his second goal, after a foul in the build-up to the goal. On the final whistle the Wallsend players trooped off the pitch as if they’d been robbed but they had no right to feel aggrieved, they were simply beating by a better side.

Matchday stats

WTFC 1(Matthews 39) SFC 3(Dibb-Fueller 8 Stokle 34 Hall 73)

Att.12(HC)

Admission and programme: none

For a better quality piece on football in Wallsend read Squad#119 Michael Hudson's report on his visit to Langdale the previous week, on his blog - The Accidental Groundhopper

------------------------------------------------------------
327.Amble Welfare

(Running track pitch)
Amble United 2v0 Seaton Deleval Amateurs
Northern Alliance Premier Division
Saturday 8th September 2012

The second match took me up the Northumberland coast to the seaport town of Amble. The town lies at the mouth of the River Coquet and is known as ‘The Friendliest Port'. This derives from the 1930s when upon the last voyage of RMS Mauretania to the breaker's yard at Rosyth, the ship replied to a telegram from the Amble town council with the greeting "to the last and friendliest port in England".

Amble United formed after the merger of Amble Town and Amble Vikings in 2001. The club played in the Northern Alliance for two seasons, switching to the North Northumberland League until returning in 2007-08. The following season they were Division Two champions and the Division One trophy now resides in the trophy cabinet, after clinching the title ahead of Wallsend last season.

Amble Welfare is found on the edge of the town centre on Acklington Road, in the grounds of Coquet High School. The ground itself isn’t sign posted, at the entrance off the main road there’s a skateboard park, with the pitch and dressing rooms set further back down a dirt track roadway. The pitch is fenced off around an old running track with brick team dugouts at the nearside. The rough looking changing rooms are about 100 yards away from the pitch.

The game between Amble United and Seaton Deleval Amateurs was close to becoming a personal football first, as for long periods it looked as if I was about to witness my first ever goalless draw in the Northern Alliance.

Both teams huffed and puffed in search of breaking the deadlock but it wasn’t until the dismissal of Amble’s Matthew Graham after 54 minutes that the game sprung into life. The offender was slide tackled by the Deleval number 7 and whilst both players we lying on the ground, he appeared to punch his opponent in the back of the head. The linesman was close enough to see the incident and alerted the referee as to what happened, who in turn didn’t hesitate in producing a red card.

Amble seemed to get a spurt on once they went down to ten men, pushing men forward as if they were the ones with the numerical advantage. On 74 minutes their bravado was rewarded, when Sean Taylor got on the end of a fine left wing cross to nod home from ten yards.

Deleval pushed for an equaliser, with Amble soaking up the late pressure and trying to catch the visitors on the break, then deep into injury time Adam Shanks took advantage of a mix up between the keeper and defender to nip in between both and lob the keeper into the empty net, to round off a good shift by United’s ten men.

Matchday stats

AUFC 2(Taylor 74 Shanks 90+4) SDFC 0

Att.49(HC)

Programme and admission: none

------------------------------------------------------------------------
329. The Sheepmount
Carlisle City 3v2 Whitley Bay A
Northern Alliance Premier Division
Saturday 29th September 2012

For the final game in this episode of ‘Around the Alliance’ I boarded the Northern Rail rattler and headed west through the Tyne Valley to the Border City of Carlisle.

Carlisle is the largest settlement in Cumbria, located at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril, 10 miles south of the Scottish border. The town is historically part of Cumberland and is the place where I famously met Ed Tenpole from the band Tenpole Tudor outside the rail station, after he had played a gig in Glasgow and I was out on the lash! 

Carlisle City played at The Sheepmount which is a nice scenic 20 minute stroll from the town centre, along the West Wall next to the Cathedral, then through Devonshire Walk by the castle.

The Sheepmount Athletics Stadium was redeveloped in 2006 after a £3.6 million project funded by Sport England and the Football Foundation. The complex is home to a variety of sports organisations including 17 football clubs, 2 athletics clubs, with hockey and indoor rifle shooting, and also plays host to a variety of major sporting events and school activities

The athletics stadium has an 8-lane track and within the Sheepmount there’s junior and mini grass football pitches, an astro surface, gym and function room and of course full size football pitches, one of which is used by Carlisle City, being fully fenced off with brick dugouts and separate changing rooms.

The club formed in 1975 by two ex-Carlisle United players; George Walker and Ron ‘Ginger’ Thompson. In 1976 a reserve side was formed, followed by a third senior team in 1977. The Club maintained three teams before setting up a junior section in 1990.

The Sky Blues have played in the Northern Alliance since their formation and within the Premier Division since winning the Division One title in 1991-92. In 2002-03 they finished runners-up to Newcastle Benfield Saints and have won the Challenge Cup on six occasions.

Carlisle City fresh from a 17-0 home win over Penrith Saints last week in the County Cup, were back on Alliance duty against Whitley Bay A, showing great spirit to come back from a two goal deficit to win 3-2.

Whitley took a strong foothold in the game early on with two goals in the space of a few minutes from Andy Robinson. The first arrived on 13 minutes when the number nine got on the end of a free kick from the right to nod home from close range, then minutes later a cross shot looked to be going wide until he appeared at the far post to fire home.

City found themselves two down even though on the overall balance of play they were the better side, but somehow got themselves back into the game with a 30 yard daisy cutter from Greenslide, his effort somehow evading everyone and ended up in the back of the net.

The hosts built on that goal in the second half with a sweet 20 yard strike from Seggie, drawing them level on 55 minutes and wrapped up a great come back in the 82nd minute when a cross from the left found the goalkeeper flapping, allowing Sean Bannon to steer the ball into the net from a tight angle.

Another cracking Alliance game and a good day out, the usual 2.30pm kick off gave me an hour to visit some of my favourite pubs in the town centre before catching the 1728 back to Newcastle - a smashing way to wrap up episode seven of ‘Around the Alliance’.

Matchday Stats
CCFC 3(Greenslide 32 Seggie 55 Bannon 82) WBAFC(Robinson 13,16)
att.22(HC)
Admission:none
Programme £1

My Matchday - 328 Kingfield Stadium

Woking 2v1 Gateshead

Blue Sq.Bet Premier

Saturday 22nd September 2012

My furthest daytrip so far this season took me in to deepest Surrey to cross off one of the remaining Conference grounds needed to complete the set.

Woking is a large town and civil parish in the west of Surrey, which forms part of the Greater London Urban Area. The town was first mentioned in the Domesday Book as Wochingas, as the site of an 8th century monastery.

Woking is where the Martians first land in H. G. Wells' science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, which was also released as an album with accompaniment music, however the first time I heard Woking mentioned on vinyl was by one of my favourite bands of all time.

The Jam were three lads from Woking, whose debut album In The City was released in 1977. Side Two/Track 2 is a song titled Sounds from the Streets which has the lyrics;

I know I come from Woking and you say I'm a fraud

But my heart's in the city, where it belongs

The Jam’s 1982 number one smash hit "Town Called Malice" took inspiration from the town and Paul Weller’s solo career includes the album Stanley Road, the name of the street where he grew up in a small Victorian council house in the Sheerwater area of the town.

Woking Football Club formed in 1889, known as “the Cards” because of the Cardinal red on their red and white halved shirts. The Club’s first competitive action was in 1895/96 in the West Surrey League, winning the title in in their debut season.

The club history would have been a brief one if it wasn’t for a splendid FA Cup run in the 1907-08 season. Woking battled through the qualifying rounds and their reward was a First Round tie away to Bolton Wanderers. Although they lost the game 5-0, the match brought national attention, with their illustrious opponents playing a friendly match at Woking the following season, the gate receipts keeping the club financially sound.

A large chunk of Woking’s history has been in the Isthmian League, stretching over 80 years, and although they finished runners-up on a couple of occasions, the title wasn’t won until the 1991-92 season, which gained promotion to the Conference.

The club had earlier enjoyed Wembley success, winning the FA Amateur Cup in 1955, before dominating the FA Trophy in the mid-90s, with a hat-trick of victories in the space of four seasons. During this era The Cardinals also finished league runners-up twice to Macclesfield and Stevenage in the Conference. The club are current Blue Sq.Bet South  champions, which sees a return to the Premier division after a three year absence

Woking played their first competitive game at a ground on Brewery Road, before moves to Pembroke Road at the turn of the 1900’s, then Hobb’s Meadow after the First World War.

In 1921 the club and Woking Football and Sports Ground Co Ltd worked together to purchase eleven acres of land in the Kingfield area of the town, which also included cricket and hockey pitches and a dozen tennis courts. The ground was officially opened in June 1922 with the first match taking place on 26^th August against Tufnell Park, the Isthmian League game finishing 1-1.

The first construction was a steel framed stand with dressing rooms underneath, with a second structure added in 1928, which was financed by the supporters club. Both these stands are still alive today, the older stand(which looks its age)sits on the half way line, with five rows of red and green flip seats, press area and MC box. The stand is built up above the dugouts with entry via staircases at the front, and also has a low peaked roof, so if you’re sitting at the back, the ball disappears of view if it’s booted into the sky. Next to the stand is a small open terrace which is known as "moaners' corner" with the second stand at the other side which is similar in style, the five rows of benches now have bolted red and blue bucket seats.

More major improvements were made during the 1950s and 60’s which included terracing, new clubroom complex and four 100ft floodlight pylons in November 1964.

The next decade saw concrete terracing added at Kingfield Road End and a covered “Bus Stop” at the Westfield end, before major work in the early 90’s in preparation for promotion to the Conference, which was funded by successful runs in the FA Cup. The old covered terrace was replaced with a disabled stand, club shop and offices and a pitch length terrace, now called the Chris Lane Terrace opposite the stands.

The newest construction at Kingfield is the 2,016 capacity Leslie Gosden Stand, built in 95/96 and financed by the local council with a £250k grant from the Football Trust. The stand towers over the rest of the ground from behind the goal, decked out in red with WFC picked out in white. During construction work the rest of the ground was revamped with new floodlights, entrances and turnstiles. The roof on the Kingfield Road End behind the opposite goal was extended and additional steps added to the Chris Lane Terrace.

The completed stadium has a capacity of 6,036 with 2,500 seats and the official record attendance is 7,020 for the FA Amateur Cup match against Finchley in 1957-58.

The stadium is currently shared with Hayes & Yeading, who moved in last season as they await the completion of The Warren which is due to be ready before Christmas.

My matchday went exactly as I had planned. I left 100FgC HQ at 5.40am, taking a stroll over the town to catch the 0630 to Kings Cross, which is the first train from Newcastle to the capital. I prefer this service, because it gets me into that there London early, plus its nice and quiet which means there isn’t some moron using my seat as an extended picnic table.

On arrival I took the tube down to Tower Hill, not to see the Tower of London, but to tick off another two unvisited ‘Spoons; The Liberty Bounds where I had my breakfast and Goodman’s Field.

My next tube stop was Tottenham Court Road, where I visited some specialist shops in Soho.(No not those ones…Eddy)I was delighted to pick up a vinyl copy of El Rey by Wedding Present for £6.99 from Sister Ray and a cracking Skatalites LP in Reckless Records for a fiver(What a bargain!…Eddy)

I then headed to Waterloo to take the 20 minute journey down to Woking, where I met up with Squad#169 Captain Carter, Squad #185 Simon Grobari and Tracksuit Mark in The Herbert Wells, which completed another JDW matchday hat-trick.

One thing I’ve noticed since Gateshead returned to the Conference is the supporters of the host club always ask us the same question, “What time did you set off and how long did it take?” This question was asked more prominently today, with our answer received with shock and awe and much praise, you would think we lived and travelled from the other side of the world not the other end of the country, it's only Newcastle not New Zealand!

I’ve wrote this before and it’s been mentioned by football fans many times in the past; Why is it that a good day out is ruined by 90 minutes of football?

Woking kept up their recent good turnaround in form with a third win on the bounce, as for the Heed, they looked poor in the first half, failing to adapt to the late withdrawal of captain Ben Clark with a hamstring injury in the warm up.

The hosts took an early lead on 6 minutes when a shot from Parkinson took a deflection which wrong footed ‘keeper Bartlett and they continued to pose the reshuffled Heed defence problems with some neat passages of play.

Gavin McCallum went close to doubling the lead when his fierce shot whistled over the bar, but was recompensed after Kevin Betsy produced a penetrating run through the Gateshead defence, taking the ball to the by-line before laying it on a plate for Betsy to score on 26 minutes.

The Tynesiders almost pulled a goal back just before the interval, when a corner kick found the head of Carl Magnay, his effort hitting the top of the crossbar.

Gateshead vastly improved in the second half with Phil Turnbull taking the game by the scruff of the neck, driving the team forward and he halved the arrears on 68 minutes, getting on the end of a right wing cross to fire home from 12 yards.

Gateshead’s efforts to salvage a point wasn’t helped with the dismissal of Chris Bush on 81 minutes, however they nearly snatched a draw with a controversial hand ball shout denied by the referee and with virtual the last kick of the game, Turnbull saw his shot agonisingly go over the bar.

Overall Woking deserved the victory and they'll do ok this season, but the game was won in the first 45 minutes with Gateshead playing well when it was too late.

Matchday stats
WFC 2(Parkinson 6 McCallum 26) GFC 1(Turnbull 68)
att.1,609
Admission: Press (£15)
Programme £2.50

Ground no.328 Kingfield Stadium - Matchday Web album  (23 pictures)

My Matchday - 326 Manse Lane

Knaresborough Town 2v1 AFC Emley

Northern Counties East League Division One

Saturday 8th September 2012

Earlier this year I visited the historic market and spa town of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire, and although I had a pleasant afternoon in this lovely part of the Borough of Harrogate, my day felt incomplete without a decent pub crawl and a match to attend, so I rectified this with an early season visit to Manse Lane, the home of the newest members of the Northern Counties East League.

Knaresborough is located on the River Nidd, just a few miles from Harrogate and is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Chednaresburg or Chenaresburg. The town provided a market in 1206, but was not granted a Royal Charter until 1310 by Edward II and a weekly market is still held in the market square.

The town is well known for its Norman Castle, built around the turn of the 12th century. During Edward II's reign it was occupied by rebels and was later invaded by Scots who burned much of the town and the parish church. In 1328 Queen Philippa was granted "the Castle, Town, Forest and Honour of Knaresborough" as part of a marriage settlement by Edward III, along with the restoration of the parish church. After her death in 1369, the honour was granted to their younger son, John of Gaunt.

During the Civil War following the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, the castle was besieged by Parliamentary forces and eventually fell in 1646, with Parliament ordered its destruction with the locals looting the stone for building, much of the town centre is built of castle stone.

Nowadays the castle remains has the Courthouse Museum and other sights in the town includes Mother Shipton's petrifying well, The House in the Rock and the site of Ye Oldest Chymist Shoppe in England, opened in 1720.

Every summer since 1966, the town has hosted the "Knaresborough Bed Race" Specially decorated tube frame beds parade through the town pushed by six runners and one passenger followed by a push race through the town. Last year the event attracted 25,000 people to the event.

Knaresborough Football Club formed at the turn of the 20th century, known as the “Borough” or “the Niddsiders”, playing home matches at the Crag Top ground. They were a successful team in the York Football League during their early years, winning the title three years on the bounce from 1902-03 season. After this initial success the club tried their luck in the Northern League, but only lasted two seasons, re-joined the York Football League in 1911-12.

After World War I they returned to the York League, which they won in 1924-25, repeating the success the following season and a further three league titles between the two wars. During this era the club resigned in 1930, but returned two seasons later under the name Knaresborough Town Football Club.

After the war the club played between the West Yorkshire League and the Harrogate and District League (3 titles in the mid ‘60s) and also moved to their current ground at Manse Lane at the end of the 1950s.

In 1993-94 they were admitted into the West Yorkshire League, winning the Premier Division League Cup final in their first season. The club have achieved a top four finish over the last five seasons, peaked at top spot in season 2008-09. During the summer a successful application for promotion was granted and this season Town have kicked off in the North Counties East League Division One.

I departed Newcastle for York at noon; my connection train added a further 25 minutes to the journey so I arrived in Knaresborough at 1335. My wander around the town included refreshment stops at Blind Jacks, where I had the perfect 5* pint(Magic Rock ‘Curious’ 3.9%)plus the George & Dragon and a return to the Cross Keys, which I visited on Easter Sunday, when on that occasion I had to make do with a measly half to accompany my dinner.

The Manse Lane ground is a 10 minute walk out of the town centre, along the York Road(A59 ) and just off the junction with Wetherby Road. The main entrance is situated in the corner of the ground, as I went through the turnstile I was offered a ticket for the ‘Big breakfast raffle’ on which I declined, telling the gent that “I won’t be here in the morning” which raised a giggle amongst the club officials.

On entering the ground the changing rooms block and Waites Bar clubhouse are at your immediate right. During the 2008-09 season the old clubhouse became the changing rooms and a new clubhouse was built, which is quite spacious with a seated terrace at the side.

Improvements were made in the summer in preparation for promotion. The main stand was built at the far side, which is one those basic meccano type stands with four rows of about 70 red and black seats. Floodlights were also installed, three at each side and the previous summer new brick dugouts. There are also future plans to build a covered terrace behind the nearside goal.

Knaresborough Town came back from an early setback to win at home in the league for the first time this season. Emley went ahead after only 90 seconds when Dean Wharam got on the end of a low cross to poke home from six yards, then continued to dominate the early stages, having decent chances to increase their lead.

The home side improved and grew with confidence as the game progressed; equalising courtesy of a Dave Thomas penalty after a push on Ben Clayton, then the same player went close just before the break, his header rattling back off the crossbar.

The turnaround was completed in the 70^th minute when Steve Bromley ran on to a through ball before firing home. Town had to withstand some late pressure but managed to see out the game and hold on to a well-earned three points.

My train back to York was due at 1721 so I had time for a bevvy in The Mitre. When I located the pub I was pleased to find it next to the rail station just across from the York platform. I also had time for a gargle in the Punch Bowl before the 1832 back to Newcastle.

I had been really looking forward to this outing as I’m quite fond of this part of Yorkshire, as well as Knaresborough I also love visiting Ripon and Harrogate. One of my Twitter follower’s @knockernorton1 tweeted me yesterday, asking how I enjoyed my visit to “God’s Country” and as I’ve watched football in all four corners of this land, including some ugly backwaters of which I best not mention, I can only be in agreement with his assessment of the northern section of England’s largest county.

Matchday stats
KTFC 2(Thomas 33pen Bromley 70 )AFCE 1(Wharam 2)
att.161
Admission £3
Programme £1

Ground no.326 Manse Lane - Matchday Web album (20 pictures)

My Matchday - 325 Liberty Way

Nuneaton Town 0v1 Gateshead

Blue Sq Premier League

Saturday 1st September 2012



Last season I was left just one short of completing the Blue Sq. Bet Premier League grounds. This term there’s also three promoted sides to visit, the first of which is Conference North play off winners Nuneaton Town.

Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton & Bedworth in Warwickshire, most famed for its associations with the author George Eliot, who was born just outside the town in 1819.
The name Nuneaton comes from a 12th century Benedictine nunnery, prior to this it was a settlement known as 'Etone', which translates literally as 'water-town'. 
Nuneaton was listed in the Domesday Book as a small hamlet and a market was established in 1233. The first recorded use of the town name was in 1247 when a document recorded it as 'Nonne Eton'. 
After Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Nunnery fell into disrepair and from 1552 the remains were incorporated into an Anglican Church building. 
The town came to prominence from the 17th century due to its central position amongst the Warwickshire coal mines and by the turn of the 19th century became one of the largest towns in the county with a population of 5,000. During the Industrial Revolution, Nuneaton developed a large textile industry, plus advances in brick, tile making and brewing. 

Nuneaton St. Nicholas formed out of a parish church in 1889, changing their name to Nuneaton Town five years later. The club played in the Leicestershire League and from 1919 in the Birmingham & District League, before disbanded in 1937. 
Nuneaton Borough formed in 1939 and later became an established Southern League club, plus one of the founder members of the Alliance Premier League (Conference) in 1979. The Boro finished league runners-up in the Alliance over two successive years from 1983, but were relegated back to the Southern League in 1987. After a second successive relegation, financial troubles saw a new board of directors take over, becoming Nuneaton Borough A.F.C in 1991.

The club had a second spell in the Conference after winning the Southern League Premier Division in 1998-99, but again suffered relegation and whilst in the Conference North Division, financial irregularities forced the club into administration in May 2008.
On 2nd June Nuneaton Borough A.F.C went in to liquidation and reformed as Nuneaton Town F.C., with the FA insisted that as well as the club being renamed, they must also be relegated two divisions to the Southern League Division One Midlands.
The Boro are back in the Conference only four seasons since their reformation, completing a hat-trick of promotions all achieved via the play-offs. 

Nuneaton moved from Manor Park in 2007, having played at their former home since the end of World War I, the ground recording a record gate of 22,114 for an FA Cup tie against Rotherham United in 1967. 
The club share the stadium with original residence Nuneaton Rugby F.C., the first footy match played on 17th July 2007 against Coventry City in a 2–2 draw.
The Flooring Direct Main Stand opened for the 2010-11 season. The stand sits at one side of the half-way line, fully covered with 514 seats with a floodlight pylon at either side. This side of the ground also has the team dugouts, changing rooms block, club offices, hospitality area, TV gantry and most important of all the impressive Boro Bar.
Opposite is an open terrace in front of the Rugby Clubhouse, which is split into separate sections with four floodlight pylons situated in front and refreshment bars in each corner, one of which has a connecting wall clock.
There are covered terraces behind each goal. The Britannia Tyres Stand has a capacity of 1,800 which is larger than the Stuarts Plumbing Stand opposite.
Liberty Way is currently known as the Triton Showers Community Arena and has an overall capacity of 4,314.

Gateshead maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a well-earned three points at Liberty Way.
The decisive goal came on 63 minutes through Yemi Odubade, who latched onto Phil Turnbull's pass before firing home from six yards. 
The Heed looked to have taken a first half lead when a Gillies free kick was nodded in by Hatch, only to be chalked off by the referee, then just before the break, good work by Chandler set up a golden chance for Gillies, who fired just wide.
Gateshead’s nasty habit of conceding late goals almost struck again when Andy Brown’s close-range effort struck the top of the crossbar, but the Tynesiders managed to see out the seven minutes of stoppage time for a well-deserved victory.

I enjoyed my visit to Liberty Way and found Nuneaton a very friendly club and I’m pleased to report that the feeling was mutual. Gateshead chairman Graham Wood posted on Heedforums last night to let the supporters know that the Nuneaton Town Safety Officer made a special point of coming into the board room after the game to compliment the club’s supporters. The officer said that whilst we were very loud, we were also the friendliest and best behaved away fans they'd EVER had at their stadium and I echo Graham’s summation; A very nice gesture and pleasing to hear. Well done to all concerned.

Matchday stats; 

NTFC 0 GFC 1(Odubade 63) att. 835 Admission:press (£12) Programme £2.50 (Double issue with AFC Telford match this Tuesday)

Ground no.325 Liberty Way - Matchday Web album (25 pictures)