NCEL Easter Groundhop 2013 - Good Friday

29th March 2013

The Good Friday leg of this year’s Northern Eastern Counties League Groundhop took place in West Yorkshire. The weekend football fest finally got under way after the postponement of the game at AFC Emley the previous evening due to a snow covered pitch. Three of the four Friday matches took place within the City of Wakefield. The metropolitan borough of Wakefield is a district which includes the "Five Towns" of Normanton, Pontefract, Featherstone, Castleford and Knottingley, as well as the other towns of Ossett, Hemsworth, South Kirkby & Moorthorpe and South Elmsall.

After putting out a plea for a lift to the NCEL Groundhop on the website and the Facebook Fanclub page, I gave up hope of attending the festivities until receiving a message from Consett based Peter Taylor on Monday night, who after a change of plan, was now able to attend and inquired if I still needed a lift. The breadknife keeps warning me about accepting lifts from strangers but I couldn’t refuse this kind offer, so Peter travelled over from County Durham to pick me up early Friday morning and we were on the road to the hop at 8am.

342.Leeds Road

Glasshoughton Welfare 2v0 Nostell MW

Northern Counties East League Premier Division

11am k.o.

The first match of the day was hosted by Castleford based Glasshoughton Welfare. We were amongst the early arrivals at the Leeds Road ground, pulling into the Glasshoughton Centre car park at 930am. The club officials were already at the ground along with pin badges and programme stalls in anticipation of the pending influx of haversacks and anoraks.

Glasshoughton Welfare formed in 1964 as Anson Sports, eventually changing their name in 1976. They played in the West Yorkshire League until joining the old Northern Counties East League Division Three in 1985-86. The club moved up to Division Two after the third tier was scrapped the following season and benefited from league re-organisations in the early ‘90s, playing in the NCEL Premier Division for the first time in 1991. They remained in the top flight until relegation to Division One in the 2008, but won promotion last season after finishing runners-up to Handsworth.

Glasshoughton have lifted silverware in the West Riding County Cup in 1994 and President's Cup in 1998. In April 2007 the club signed local resident Bruce Grobbelaar for a one-off appearance in the hope of raising funds to ease the club's financial troubles. The former Liverpool ‘keeper played the full ninety minutes for the Welfare and was just six minutes away from keeping a clean sheet.

The Glasshoughton Centre is also home to the local bowls and cricket clubs. The turnstile entrance is in the corner of the ground with the centre building; which includes the clubhouse and changing rooms on the near side. The team dugouts are in front of the bar entrance with the main stand on the opposite side. The stand is decked out with blue and white flip seats with park bench style seating at the front, with the club name on the blue framed façade. At the Leeds Road end there’s a six steps covered terrace directly behind the goal and at the far end there’s a very narrow hardstanding pathway.

For the first match of the day, the club hosted Nostell Miners Welfare in a Premier Division fixture. Glasshoughton went into the game in 16^th spot with their opponents’ two places below them and still not safe from the drop zone. The game got off to a lively start with chances from both sides, but as the match  progressed decent goal chances were limited and after an hour, it was looking likely the enthusiastic gathering of groundhoppers were about to start the day with an unwanted nowts-each.

The deadlock came in the 66^th minute with an obscure own goal, the likes of which Glenn Keeley would've been proud of. There didn’t seem too much danger when a crossfield ball was intercepted by left back Wayne Ball, but unfortunately Wayne ballsed up! – his attempted up field clearance from the edge of the box skew whiffed in the opposite direction before nestling in the corner of the net.

The goal gave the hosts a lift and they had a great chance to double the lead from the penalty spot on 80 minutes, but the ‘keeper pulled off a fine save to deny Daz Young. However the points were finally bagged in the last minute as Nostell pushed up looking for an equaliser leaving plenty of time and space for Woollard to pick up a crossfield pass before producing a cool finish.

Glasshoughton Welfare were fine hosts for the opening game and appear to be a smashing little club. On the final whistle the first of the mad mass exoduses began as the groundhoppers in attendance raced to their cars and onwards to the next venue along the road to Pontefract.

Matchday Facts
GWAFC 2(Ball 66OG Woollard 85)NMWFC 0
Att.307
Admission £5
Programme £1

Ground no.342 Leeds Road - Matchday Web album (18 pictures)




343. Beechnut Lane
Pontefract Collieries 2v2 Selby Town
Northern Counties East League Division One
1.45pm k.o.

The next stop on the hop was the historic market town of Pontefract, the UK home of liquorice, Haribo sweets and Pontefract Cakes. The 3 and a half mile journey between the two grounds took 10 minutes, found on the other side of the M62 with the Ferrybridge power station in full view.

As we drove along Skinner Lane towards the town centre, there was a young lad in a hi-vis jacket holding up a sign to escort us in the right direction, taking us down Beechnut Lane bank and onto the large car park field outside the ground.

Ponte has a football history stretching back to the 1890s; though the current Pontefract Collieries club formed in 1959. The club playing in the West Yorkshire League until joining the Yorkshire League in 1979, winning the 3^rd Division in the competition’s last season before it merged into the North Eastern Counties in 1982.

The Colts won successive promotions at the start of NCEL, playing in the Premier Division in all but one of the next 15 seasons until they were relegated for a second time in 1999, and have remained in the First Division ever since. The club have enjoyed success in cup competitions, winning the Castleford & District FA Embleton Cup on seven occasions, the NCEL Floodlit Cup two years running from 1988 and were the first winners of the NCEL Wilkinson Sword Trophy in 1995-96.

For sponsorship purposes the ground is currently known as the Whiterose Stadium. It was developed in the 1980s as The Colls progressed in the NCEL top flight.  The club’s connection with the mining industry saw a lot of work taking place during the miners’ strike. During this period ground improvements included work on the stands, seats and a new clubhouse. In 1987 floodlights were erected and switched on for a friendly with Hull City in front of a record breaking four figure crowd.

Immediately on entering the turnstile there’s a refreshment bar, cabin office and under a canopy; a club & programme shop. The main stand is on this side sitting on the half way line, filled with 300 blue flip seats across 7 rows with the bar and changing rooms underneath. There’s a small one step covered terrace behind one of the goals with the rest of the ground open. The brick dugouts are at the far side separated by an advertising board featuring the club name and crest.

The Colls currently in 7th place in Division One hosted 19^th placed Selby Town. The fear of a goalless draw was quickly diminished as the visitors took a first minute lead through Danny Gray, who played a neat one-two before firing home and the number 9 doubled their lead via the penalty spot on 28 minutes.

Although Selby were two goals to the good, I still felt Ponte could get something out of the game as they were playing well and carving out chances. So it was no surprise they halved the deficit on the half hour mark when a Liam Radford effort rattled the crossbar with Luke Durham on hand to fire home the rebound.

The second half was played in a competitive spirit with The Colls rescuing a point five minutes from time when a foul by Selby skipper Mick Jones (not him out of The Clash…Eddy) resulted in Andy Catton converting the spot-kick. In the end a draw was probably the fairest result over an enjoyable ninety minutes.

The Beechnut Lane ground has plenty of character with a quaint backdrop of the nearby hills and the smoking chimneys of the power station, although a good lick of paint throughout would make it a bit more pleasing on the eye. The club bar marked the groundhopping occasion with a couple of real ales from the Castleford based Revolutions Brewery. I tried the blonde ‘EP’(3.9%) and the stout ‘Remain In Light’(4.8%) and they were both top quality.

After the game there was another stampede to the car park. The exit from the ground can be tricky due to the traffic lights at the top of Beechnut Lane, but we managed to make a sharp departure and headed on towards the next venue in the small town of Fitzwilliam.

Matchday stats
PCFC 2(Durham 30 Catton 85pen) STFC 2(1Gray 1,28pen)
Att.424
Admission £5
Programme £1

Ground no.343 Beechnut Lane - Matchday web album (26 pictures)



344.Fitzwilliam Stadium
Hemsworth MW 0v4 Knaresborough Town
Northern East Counties Division One
4.30pm k.o.

The final stop of our NCEL treble was the former mining town and civil parish of Hemsworth on the edge of West Yorkshire. The ground is actually found in Fitzwilliam, which was 7 miles from Pontefract and due to busy traffic took us a good 25 minutes.

Hemsworth Miners Welfare FC formed in 1981 after the disbandment of Hemsworth Colliery Football Club the previous year.  The club joined Division Three of the Doncaster and District Senior League and following back-to-back promotions reached the league’s Premier Division in 1987–88.

The club moved to the West Riding County Amateur Football League, winning the Division One title in 1996–97 as well as the Division One Cup. Whilst in the league’s Premier Division they lifted the Premier Division Cup in 1998 and 2001.

In 2008 the club were accepted into Division One of the Northern Counties East League, where they have remained since.

The Fitzwilliam Stadium is tidy little ground, with one main stand at the far side. The stand sits at one side of the half way line with about 80 green flip seats. Next to the stand are the dugouts which are quite roomy and nearly as large as the stand, with the club name and crest on the front fascia. The Mick Crapper clubhouse is on the nearside with a portacabin office block to the other side of the spectator entrance. There’s open standing behind the goals with the cricket field at one end and the opposite goal is enclosed with conifer trees. There are floodlight poles on three sides of the ground and for sponsorship purposes the ground is currently known as The MDC Sports Stadium.

My final game of the day was another First Division fixture as mid-table Hemsworth hosted fourth top Knaresborough Town. After watching two close encounters earlier in the day this game was dominated by the visitors, as they sailed into a four goal lead by half time. Town took the lead in the 12^th minute with a converted penalty from Steve Bromley and doubled their lead five minutes later in the same manner, which was the fifth penalty witnessed over the three matches.

Knaresborough went further ahead on 25 minutes when a cross was headed back from Bromley into the path of Joel Freeston who fired home from close range and he grabbed his brace ten minutes later; the striker timed his run to perfection to stay onside before firing the ball under the ‘keepers’ body.

The Welfare improved in the second half (well they couldn’t have played much worse) but failed in to get on the scoresheet. The second half fizzled out as the game was won and over as a contest in the opening 36 minutes.

We had to give the final game of the hop at Athersley Recreation a miss, as Peter had to get back home, while I had a busy Saturday ahead with a 4.45am early start. I was pleased to find out that the match finished 8-1 to the hosts, so we didn’t miss too much!!!

The festivities continued the following day with matches in north and east Yorkshire at Bridlington Town, Pickering Town and Tadcaster, three grounds which I’ve already done so didn’t need to travel to, but having seen the results of these matches the groundhoppers present would have enjoyed another cracking day.

Matchday stats
HMWCFC 0v4 KTFC(Bromley 12pen 17pen Freeston 25,36)
att.417
Admission £5
Programme £1

Ground no.344 Fitzwilliam Stadium - Matchday Web album (16 pictures)

To say I had a very enjoyable day would be an understatement. The day went perfectly so full credit to organisers Groundhop UK and the clubs involved in hosting the event. The best thing about the occasion was seeing friends from the 100FgC, some of which I met for the first time along with a few who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years, alike to a reunion party where you mingled amongst old mates for a catch up and a good bit craic. So throughout the day I enjoyed the company of David Poole, Lee Stewart, Katie Wallace, Graeme Holmes, Dickie Bysouth, Keith Stoker, Dan and Sam Gooch with baba Katie, Simon Lee, Eddie Fogden, Stephen Jackson and the bloke from Telford with the long grey hair and beard who loves Yorkshire ale. However the biggest thank you goes to Peter Taylor (not the one who played for Spurs and Palace…Eddy) who chauffeured me around the grounds and without his assistance, I would have missed out on experiencing such a fabulous day.

Blogger links to others in attendance to follow

My Matchday - 341 Princes Park

Dartford 3v0 Gateshead

Blue Sq.Bet Premier

23rd March 2013

This is my last Gateshead away match this season, and by “away” I essentially mean when a team is stated second in the score line. Since the turn of the year the Heed have played away when they’re playing at home due to the on-going pitch problem at the International Stadium, with Hartlepool, York, Blyth, Carlisle and Boro hosting Conference football or offering future support during The Tynesiders unfortunate quandary.(Add Boston to that list…Eddy)
Gateshead were making their first appearance at Dartford’s impressive Princes Park, so I boarded the 0655 from Newcastle and onwards south through the snow battered country to Kings Cross, hoping that my matchday choice had again beating the weather.

Dartford is situated in the northwest corner of Kent, 16 miles east south-east of central London and situated in the River Darent valley. The old ford road from London to Dover crossed the river which gives the settlement its name, and the town was established as a river crossing-point in Romans times.

The medieval market town lies within the area known as the London Basin and today is chiefly a commuter town for Greater London, with a long history of religious, industrial and cultural importance. Dartford is also the birthplace of wrinkly rockers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who both crawled out from under a stone in this corner of Kent back in 1943.

 Dartford Football Club was formed in 1888 by members of the Dartford Working Men's Club and Institute. The club came to prominence in 1894, reaching the final of the Kent Senior Cup, before becoming founder members of the Kent League and participating in the FA Cup for the first time.

Dartford became founder members of the Southern League Division Two in 1896, winning the Championship at the first attempt and moved between the Southern and Kent Leagues several times over the following seasons.

The club originally played at Dartford Brent, before brief spells on a field behind Westgate House and then on a variety of pitches on Lowfield Street. In 1894 they settled at Summers Meadow, but financial problems at the end of the decade saw a brief move to Engley’s Meadow before the club folded in 1900.

A new club Dartford United formed but only lasted one season, however Dartford Rangers who ground shared at Summers Meadow took over the ground and became plain Dartford FC. After the First World War the club reformed in due course in 1921 and purchased five acres of land on Watling Road, becoming their home for the next 70 years.

The Darts settled in the Southern League from 1926, winning the East Section two years running at the turn of the 1930s.The club continued playing within the league structure until winning promotion to the Alliance Premier League in 1981, the first of two brief spells in the non-league top division during the 1980s.

On the eve of the 1988-89 season, the club agreed to Maidstone United ground sharing at Watling Street. The rent from the new tenants was needed to upgrade facilities in the wake of the Bradford fire, plus United had sold their London Road ground and harboured ambitions to reach the Football League.

Maidstone were Conference champions at the end of that season, so Watling Street briefly joined ‘The 92’ before United went bankrupt and had to resign from the league in August 1992. The cash which bankrolled ground improvements were sold on to Dartford at a cost of around half a million pounds, which meant Maidstone had virtually dragged Dartford into the gutter with them, as unmanageable debts meant Watling Street was sold to pay off creditors.

Dartford started the 1992-93 season playing at Welling FC but withdrew from the Southern League after only four games. The club thankfully survived through the Supporters' Association, which set up a private limited liability company in November 1992 and on the field kept the Youth team functional. 

The club were offered a ground share at Cray Wanderers and made a successful application to the Kent League for the 1993-94. After three seasons The Darts won promotion to the Southern League and the road back to the Conference saw championship winning sides in the Isthmian North (2007-08) Isthmian Premier (2009-10) and last season they finished runner-up in Conference South before beating Welling United in the play-off final.

The clubs nomadic years included bunking-up with Erith & Belvedere (1994-1998) Purfleet (1998-2000) Gravesend & Northfleet (2000-2006) In April 2004 Dartford Borough Council announced it would provide a site and funding for a new stadium in time for the 2006–07 season. The ground was designed by Alexander Sedgley Architects at a cost of around £7m, with construction work commencing on 14th November 2005. The stadium opened nearly one year later when Dartford beat Horsham YMCA 4-2 in an Isthmian League Division One South league fixture, in front of a crowd just three short of its official capacity of 4,100.

 Princes Park and has been described as one of the most ecologically sound and environmentally friendly ever built, which should provide a blueprint for 21^st century stadia.

The many green features of the stadium include a sedum roof blanket, which provides a natural air filtration system. There’s solar panels on the roof which generates electricity, with the roof supported by treated Glulam timber. Rain water is collected in the two large ponds at the north end and is recycled, with also excavated earth reused for landscaping the exterior courtyard areas around the stadium.

Inside the stadium the pitch is sunk two meters below the external ground level to reduce noise and light pollution. The ground is fully covered with terracing on three sides. The Main Stand is quite shallow having four rows of black flip seats that runs pitch length with a 642 capacity. The dugouts are in front of the stand and directly above the tunnel is a separate seating area for club officials and guests, with the large windows of the two spacious clubhouse rooms at the top. The four stands are equal in height and design with matching sloping roofs which peak centrally. There’s a club shop at one end and the Defluo bar behind the opposite goal, with plenty of disabled space in the corners and also an electric scoreboard.

A unique feature of the ground is the oak man which stands on the side terrace. From the Main Stand is looks as if the large wooden carving is holding the roof up with his hands. I made the comment “He’s a big strong lad” to a few Dartford fans who were watching me photograph his impressive structure.

 I caught my first glimpse of the heavy snow from the previous 24 hours just after Darlington, with a large white blanket covering the country all the way to London. Due to the weather my train arrived 15 minutes behind schedule at 1010, but I still had enough time to tick off a couple of ‘Spoons in Holborn (Penderel’s Oak and The Knights Templar) and visit record stores off Oxford Street before heading to London Bridge to catch the connection to Dartford.

I originally planned to arrive at 1pm, as I was meeting Squad #108 John Robertson(from Somerset) and #194 Keith Arthur(from York) for a pub crawl, but after reading on Twitter about a 1230 pitch inspection, I waited to see if the match was definitely on before continuing on what could become a fruitless journey.

I tried in vain to contact three different people to find out the latest beef, but their phones were either engaged or switched off, plus I also had a crap 3G connection so was unable to check for twitter updates. I couldn’t hang around much longer so I decided to head for Dartford anyway and hope I would see some football at the end of it. I needn’t have worried as I began to see more green land and snow turned to sleet the closer I got to Kent, so I finally arrived at 1.45pm. I made time for a couple of swift pints in the two Dartford ‘Spoons and eventually caught up with everyone I was supposed to meet earlier, down at the stadium.

 The pitch was a bit heavy in places so the match lacked that bit of quality and looked a certain nil-niler after an uneventful first half.

After the interval Gateshead became more positive, having a lot of possession but lacked that final quality pass to break through The Darts defence. There was an optimistic mood amongst the Heed Army of at least a point in the bag and hopefully three if they could break the deadlock.

Then in the 63^rd minute Ryan Hayes replaced Lee Noble which totally changed the game and turned the match on its Heed. Within three minutes he capitalised on a goalmouth scramble to fire home, then in the 72nd minute he picked up the ball on the right before curling a peach of a left foot shot inside the keeper’s right hand post.

Hayes then turned provider for loanee Charlie Sheringham (Teddy’s bairn) who scored a copy-cat goal but from the opposite side of the pitch with a precise right foot effort inside Bartlett’s left hand post.

So after looking as if The Tynesiders would come away with a positive result, it was suddenly game over. Bang! Bang! Bang! – 3 Darts in the Heed!

This victory puts Dartford in the top half of the table, with any remote fears of getting dragged into the relegation scrap now officially over, meaning they can enjoy the remainder of the season and try to gain a respectable league position. On the other hand Gateshead are still involved in the dogfight at the bottom and with all remaining fixture virtually away from home, it will be a massive achievement if they can maintain their Conference status for next season.

Matchday stats
DFC 3(Hayes 66,72 Sheringham 86) GFC 0
att.1,020
Admission(Press)£15
Programme £2.50(pic to follow)

Ground no.341 Princes Park - Matchday Web album (27 pictures)

My Matchday - 340 Focus Scaffolding Sports Complex

Whitehaven Amateurs 5v2 Tow Law Town

Northern League Division Two

Saturday 9th March 2013

When I began blogging on this site in 2006 my first football ground task was to complete the Northern League set. Over two seasons I bagged the remaining twenty odd needed before eventually completing this mission at Esh Winning in April 2008. The following season Whitehaven Amateurs became the league’s newest members, meaning it’s taking me a mere five years to finally head across to the west coast to re-complete the set.

Thanks to a friend of a friend, my mate Jimmy Jimmy got me some £5 Friends & Family Northern Rail tickets, so I could travel all the way from Newcastle to Whitehaven and back for approximately the same price of a pint of shandy on the Diamond Strip* in Newcastle.

I caught the 0926 service to Carlisle, when on arrival I hotfooted through the heavy rain and straight to the Market Hall, which probably serves the best cooked breakfast in the whole of Cumbria. Because of the downpour I tried to find out whether the match was on, but after ringing the Northern League postponed line, Whitehaven AFC and checking the clubs twitter feed I was none the wiser, but still gambled by boarding the 1139 for my onward journey. Just as the train pulled away from the platform I received a twitter text replying to my tweet for help from @knockernorton1 and @whitehavenafc telling me it was match on.

Little football and big rugby stand not speaking to one another.

The train journey from Carlisle to Whitehaven takes 70 minutes and once you pass Maryport the train line runs parallel with the Irish Sea. This coastline doesn't have golden beaches and surfin’ safari waves lashing onto the sand, instead it’s the complete opposite. I put on my ipod, switching it to shuffle mode and one of the first songs on the playlist was Atmosphere by Joy Division, which captured the mood of this grey day and the sight of the motionless sea bordered with mud and black stones perfectly. Additional tunes along the route included Mercy Seat - Ultra Vivid Scene and Cold - The Cure, so it was if this train journey had its own soundtrack as the coastline on this grim day looked like the edge of the world.

Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, situated between the county's two largest settlements of Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness. The town is the administrative centre of the Borough of Copeland, located on the west coast just outside the Lake District National Park.

The area name of Copeland was settled by Irish-Norse Vikings in the tenth century. The Copeland name also includes indicates that the land was obtained from the Kingdom of Strathclyde. The Lowther family were principal pioneers of the town in 1630. Sir Christopher Lowther purchased the estate, using Whitehaven as a port to export coal from the Cumberland Coalfields to Ireland, before building a stone pier for cargo ships four years later. Whitehaven grew into a major mining town during the 18th and 19th centuries and became an important commercial coal port.

Whitehaven Amateurs formed from the disbanded Marchon AFC works side, joining the old Wearside League Division Two in 1994. The club won the title the following term as the league became a single division and by the mid-noughties were the best side in the league, winning the title in 2005-06 as well as appearing in various cup finals, one of which was an astounding victory in the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup, which I attended at Teesside Athletic in 2007.

Although the club finished 3^rd in the 2007-08 season, their application to step up to the Northern League was successful,  finishing 11^th followed by two seventh place finishes, then 13th in Division Two last season. The club also lifted their first piece of Northern League silverware in the Ernest Armstrong Memorial Trophy in 2010.

 A new £6 million sports ground for the club has been in pipeline for some time. The 8,000 capacity stadium would be shared with their Rugby League neighbours as part of the redevelopment of both grounds. The sports village would be the centrepiece of the £20 million Pow Beck regeneration by Copeland Council and West Lakes Renaissance. The original plan was for the football club to ground share with the rugby club at The Recreation Ground with the current football ground the site for the new stadium, with The Rec then being used for training and parking. At the moment the proposed scheme has come to a grinding halt and it’s believed the investors and both clubs are looking at possible alternatives to the plan, which has faced delays over problems securing access to the Pow Beck site.

I arrived at 1250pm, calling into the JDW Bransty Arch which is across the road from the station, then after a few quality pints I took a stroll through the town centre towards the ground. The Focus Scaffold Sports Complex is in the southern end of Whitehaven off Coach Lane next to Corkickle station. Once you locate the welcome sign there’s still a longish walk along a footpath to the ground, where at the end is a young lad ready to take your £4, as there isn't a proper designated admission entrance.

The ground had two separate meccanno type stands with yellow and blue flip seats, sitting each side of the halfway line behind the dugouts. One of the stands has a small standing section and behind this side is the rugby club’s Recreation Ground which you can look directly into from the football ground.

The clubhouse (where I had time for another bevvy and read of the programme before kick-off) and changing rooms are at the top end of the ground beside the main car park. The other three sides are open with hard standing and there are two floodlight poles at each side.

 It wasn't just me who was appearing here for the first time, it was also Whitehaven Amateurs opponents Tow Law Town's debut having been relegated to Division Two last season. If  The Lawyers live to play a hundred more fixtures in Whitehaven they’ll never make a worse start to a game than this, going a goal behind after only 33 seconds, when Hodgson ran onto a through ball down the left side before dinking the ball over the keeper, to give the home team a dream start.

Both teams then took it in turns to give away clumsy penalties. Ryder equalising on 15 minutes before Sam Smith also succeeded from the spot to regain the advantage twenty minutes later. Just before half time Tow Law were reduced to ten men after a wild challenge from the big centre half saw a straight red. This gave the hosts a big advantage going into the second half and they extended their lead when a shot from Hodgson produced a great save from Robinson, however the number 9 was quick off the mark to net the rebound.

Sam Smith was on hand to make it 4-1 after capitalising on a loose ball to slot home before a cracking goal from substitute Harrison gave Town a glimmer of hope, but it turned out to be too little too late as sub David Dustin made it 5-2 with five minutes remaining.

After the match I ran around to Corkickle station to catch the 1651 back to Carlisle. I had time for a pint in the William Rufus before heading back east along the Tyne Valley. It was good to finally get across to Whitehaven and re-complete the second oldest league in the world in this its 125^th year and overall it was a canny day out in Cumbria, not bad for a fiver!

(* The Diamond Strip is a row of pubs/clubs on Collingwood Street which is frequented by wankas and tarts with more money than sense)

Matchday stats
WAFC 5(Hodgson 1,54 S.Smith 35pen,67 Dustin 85) TLTFC 2(Ryder 15pen Harrison 75)
att.TBC
Admission £4
Programme £1

Ground no.340 Focus Scaffolding S.C. - Matchday Web album(17pictures)

My Matchday - 339 Dennyfield

Thackley 0v2 Hall Road Rangers

Baris NCEL Premier League

Tuesday 5th March 2013

 I took this specific week’s leave from work, in the hope of having another escapade on foreign shores, courtesy of Newcastle United’s progress in the Europa League. Even though we advanced into the last 16 of the tournament, our next round opponents weren’t the club I asked for, as Hannover 96 lost out to Anzhi Makhachkala, meaning a £619 round trip to Moscow (including visa) instead of a cheap excursion to Germany. To make up for missing out on a new ground this week I decided I would drive down to the closest uncharted club who had a Tuesday night fixture, and the lucky winner of having the honour of my presence was Thackley AFC, their Dennyfield ground being 93.4 miles door-to-door from 100FgC HQ.

 Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho declared that tonight the world would STOP to watch the big Champions League clash with Man Yoo and that’s just what I did. I jumped in the car and drove down the A1 and STOPPED once I arrived in a small West Yorkshire village to watch some proper football.

Thackley is a small suburban area south of the River Aire in the northernmost part of Bradford, which borders the village of Idle, the West Royd area of Shipley and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The canal was built through the top end of Thackley in the 1770s and historically the area formed part of the Lordship of Idle. In the 17th century a tanning industry developed and in the 19th century sandstone was quarried, with mills built for a local cotton industry. Recent development on Weavers Croft occupies part of the location of the former Bowling Green Mills.

Thackley Wesleyians formed in 1930, plying their trade in local football before joining the West Riding County Amateur League in 1939, when they also dropped the suffix from their name. The club progressed to the West Riding County Amateur League and over a quarter of a century won the league title five times, before a brief spell in the West Yorkshire League. Thackley joined the Yorkshire League in 1967 before becoming founder members of the Northern Counties East League's Premier Division in 1982.Since then the club have stayed in the same division without being relegated or promoted, with their best season coming in 1993–94 when they finished second with 74 points to Stocksbridge Park Steels, who amassed the same points tally but were champions on goal difference. The Dennyboys have enjoyed success in the West Riding County Cup, lifting the trophy on four occasions during the 1960s and ‘70s.

 Dennyfield is found on Ainesbury Avenue which is along a long dark lane which reminds me of the approach to Esh Winning. The entrance brings you straight into the car park where there’s the clubhouse and turnstile entrance.  Once I arrived in the outskirts of Thackley I was greeted with fog which wasn't too heavy and without pending danger of the game being in doubt.

After parking up I bought a programme from the turnstile which was priced as a quid but was giving free because it was a smaller issue due to printing problems. I then checked out the clubhouse before deciding to move the car after a couple of stray balls just narrowly missed bouncing off my bonnet, as the players did their pre-match warm up.

You enter the turnstile at the corner of the ground behind the goal. After parting with a five spot I asked the bloke on the turnstile about pin badges and he said they've got some and he’ll get them for me. I attempted to take some pictures but due to the combination of fog and bright lights from the eight floodlight pylons I failed to capture any decent images. As I was taking the photos the club official caught up with me with the pin badges, offering me the latest badge for £3 or a boxed limited edition of the 1964 crest for £5, or both for a fiver! So logically I bought both, so a good start to the evening, having bagged a free programme and badge.

The main stand sits central to the pitch, having 4 rows of bench seats painted white on red concrete blocks. The stand also has a small PA box and is fully covered with the club name proudly displayed on its façade. The changing rooms and refreshment bar are also on this side and opposite are the dugouts in front of three steps of built up terracing. There is also a similar standing area directly behind the far goal and the nearside goal has pathway standing.

Dennyfield is a tidy little ground and looks lovingly maintained. The overall capacity is 3,000 with the biggest gate recorded when the ground was half full for a friendly with Leeds United in 1983.

The Thackley home kit is akin to Arsenal’s while their opponents tonight Hall Road Rangers, wear the QPR style blue and white hoops so the players had a look of two clubs from London not east and west Yorkshire. The first half was quite an open affair with the lively Thackley number 10 having a similar stature and running style of Theo Walcott, although my vision may have been wavered by the fog. 

Hall Road Rangers are anchored at the bottom of the NCEL Premier League with five wins from a possible 31 fixtures, while the host sat in 9^th spot, hoping for a strong run in towards the season’s end. I was expecting a comfortable win for the Dennyboys but it was the basement club who held off the early pressure and took a two goal lead before half time.

The breakthrough came in the 35^th minute when Darren Rookes pinched the ball off the defender on the left and with a quick turn of pace ran towards goal and then from a tight angle managed to squeeze his left foot shot in at the far post. I thought the goal scorer looked like a young Alan Biley (one for the older readers…Eddy) but as I've said it was foggy and he was playing over on the left wing.

A minute before the break another defensive lapse made it 2-0, when a Titus Bramblesque back pass was seized by Jamie Reeson who poked the ball past the keeper into the right hand corner of the net.

Thackley dominated the possession in the second period but didn't really look like making the breakthrough as Rangers deserved this much needed victory which gives them at least a glimmer of hope of avoiding the drop.

Afterwards I bravely managed to work my way home with a stressful drive through thick fog along the A59 and the Yorkshire part of the A1, eventually pulling up outside Gallowgate View at 1120pm.

Apart from the fog and the disappointment of not being able to get some decent ground photographs I still had a pleasant evening at Thackley. The drive down to Yorkshire was well worth it just to get out of the house for the night, because what’s the point of STOPPING in, when there isn't the attraction of anything good to watch on the tele!

Matchday stats
TAFC 0 HRRFC 2(Rookes 35 Reeson 43)
att.58
Admission £5
Programme:Free(normally £1)