My Matchday - Welsh Alliance Hop 2013 (Day 3)

Sunday 25th August 2013

As I’ve never experienced the splendour of seeing Newcastle United win a trophy, the happiest Saturday of my life occurred on the 26th August 1995, when “The best looking lass on The Fell” became my wife and therefore forever known as “The Breadknife” To celebrate the 18th anniversary of this joyful event I treated her to a night away in the beautiful city of Chester and to make this trip that little bit more special, she witnessed her very first groundhop, as we took in the Sunday leg of the Welsh Alliance festival organised by Groundhop UK.

We made an early start, leaving home at 730am, with the traffic on the A1 and M62 quiet enough to see us arrive at our first destination by ten to eleven. The three matches took place within the Conwy County Borough (Welsh: Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) in north Wales. The unitary authority area contains the major settlements of Llandudno, Llandudno Junction, Llanrwst, Betws-y-Coed, Conwy, Colwyn Bay, Abergele, Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan. There’s a total population of around 110,000 living along the north coast and I imagine about half these residents are Scouse exiles! 

The River Conwy flows through the county rising in Snowdonia and through Llanrwst and Trefriw en route to the Irish Sea by Conwy, where the river marks the border between the neighbouring counties of Caernarfonshire and Denbighshire.

360. The Flyover
Llandudnon Junction 0v5 Holywell Town
Welsh Alliance League Division 1
Noon k.o.

We arrived a good hour before the match, after accidentally finding a good parking spot across the road next to Morrisons.
The Flyover ground is found on the main Conwy Road, access gained past a kiddies park which leads to the main entrance. Here you’ll find the club office, changing rooms and the refreshment bar called ‘Horrible Hayden’s Café’ which served a lovely bacon sarnie which we both gleefully devoured after our long road trip. There’s also a unisex toilet which had a constant queue outside, due to there being only one pot to piss in.
Along one side there’s a small meccanno type stand with about 50 seats in between the dugouts which are clearly marked as JUNCTION FC and AWAY. Behind the nearside goal there’s a covered section at one side of the post called The Maurice Naylor Stand’ with the rest of the ground open with hard standing behind the perimeter fence. 

There have been a couple of clubs playing under the name of Llandudno Junction. The original club played between 1910 and 1927, with a second LJFC appearing in 1937 in the Vale of Conwy League. In 1954 they merged with Conwy becoming Borough United.
The current club was founded as a Sunday team under the name of Hotpoint FC in 1975, before becoming Llanfairfechan Athletic when they moved to Llanfairfechan’s Recreation Ground during the 1996–97 season. 

In 1998, the club returned to the town to their current ground at The Flyover, which had previously been the home of Crosville. The Railwaymen became Llandudno Junction FC again at the start of the 1999–2000 season. The club are very much a community club with a large junior section with a new adjacent pitch developed during the summer.

Unfortunately our hosts for today’s first game suffered a heavy defeat to Holywell Town, as the visitors went nap, taking the lead in the 25th minute with a powerful header from Tom McElmeel before Graeme Williams slid in to double the lead just before the half time whistle.

The players and linesmen entered the pitch for the second half but the match was unable to start because the main man was missing. The little ginger referee finally emerged from the dressing room, having taking his full allotted fifteen minutes. Again, just as he was at the start of the game, he was flanked by two stewards, standing next to him like bodyguards to avert an immediate attack from players, fans or maybe both. I’d love to know the history of Mr Arwel Jones because he seems a bit of a character and seems to have the impression he’s some sort of VIP.

Holywell continued where they left off in the first period, adding a third from Sam Jones on 54 minutes before his namesake Jamie rifled the ball high into the net on 79 after ‘keeper Hughes had pulled off a terrific save.
The scoring was completed from the spot with Paul David Williams making up for his penalty miss twenty minutes earlier to make to final score 5-0 to the Wellmen.

So that was the Llandudno Junction done, a friendly welcome, lovely bacon butty, a pedantic referee and the only downside being we didn’t win the raffle where the prize was a big case of ale.

Matchday Stats
LJFC 0 HTFC 5(McElmeel 25 G Williams 45 S Jones 54 J.Jones 73 P D Williams 81pen)
Att.302
Admission £4
Programme £1
Ground no.360 The Flyover - Matchday Web Album (22 pictures)




361. Cae Ffwt
Glan Conwy 1v1 Nefyn United
Welsh Alliance League Division 1
3pm k.o.

It isn’t possible that everything goes exactly to plan, there’s always some kind of hick-up somewhere along the line. As we returned to the car we noticed four gentlemen getting into the car in front of us, so to save setting the sat-nav we followed them to our next destination. It wasn’t until we were travelled along the A55 towards Colwyn Bay that I realised they weren’t groundhoppers at all. I should have know really,  as I would have expected to see at least one of them sporting a scruffy beard or heavy laden with a haversack on their back. 
Nevermind, I just had to give our sat-nav Margaret the info and she’ll lead us to the next game, however the postcode I jotted down from the Non-League Matters forum took us to another Llanrwst Road, a residential area in the middle of nowhere. To cut a long story short we ended up returning to the Llandudno Junction ground and asking for directions for the five minute journey which all together had taking us 40 minutes.

After playing in various grounds around the county, Glan Conwy opening their present home at Cae Ffwt in 1998. The ground is found within a lovely setting with views of the River Conwy and the castle on the other side of the water. The club set up a gazebo at the entrance, next to the newly refurbished pavilion which houses the changing rooms and refreshment area. The ground is open with some good viewpoints on three sides, especially at the far goal where from the bank there’s splendid views of the river , castle and surrounding hills(see Web album) The team dugouts are on the opposite side, painted in the club colours of green and white horizontal stripes.

Glan Conwy formed and became one of the seven founder members of the Vale of Conwy League in 1922. The club nickname was the “Jolly Boys” and they played at the former Gala Field up until the outbreak of World War II. The club re-emerged in 1979 returning to the same league the following year. Glan Conwy went on to win the title in 1998 and promotion to the Gwynedd League, which they also won in their debut season. They have stayed in the Welsh Alliance League ever since, twice finishing league runners-up and have won the FAW Trophy in 2010.

This game was a more competitive affair which could have gone either way in an exciting second half. Nefyn United took a fortunate lead when a 30 yard free kick from Carl Jones wide on the right, beat everyone as it sailed over the keeper before nestling in the net with only five minutes gone. The hosts equalised early in the second half when Mereck Knight got on the end of a low cross from the right to fire home from close range.
Both teams went all out for the winner as they carved out some decent chances as well as a few niggling tackles coming into play, but overall a draw was the fair result with I suspect both teams were satisfied with a point.

Glan Conwy was our favourite out of the three clubs visited. On arrival we had some of the local bevvy, made available from the Great Orme Brewery. Debra had a bottle of Orme while I necked the Welsh Black which were both very nice. The club officials were very friendly, especially the canny bloke with the grey hair and tache who told us he has kept up the long standing family tradition of being a Newcastle supporter. We also enjoyed the tea and cake and lets not forget the man on the PA, who in his other life most be a frustrated comedian or judging by the way he read out the result of the half-time raffle, a bingo caller at the local Mecca. 

Matchday Stats
GCFC 1(Knight 51) NUFC 1(C.Jones 5)
Att.305
Admission £4
Programme £1

Ground no.361 Cae Ffwt - Matchday Web album (22 pictures)


362.Gwydir Park
Llanrwst United 0v0 Bodedern Athletic
Welsh Alliance Premier Division 1
6.15pm ko

The final game of the day was 11 miles south down the A470 to Llanrwst. The small community town takes its name from the 5th- to 6th-century Saint Grwst.
As we arrived in the town we suddenly came to a halt, with bumper-to-bumper traffic on both sides of the road. It was only when the sight of the bridge came into view that the problem became apparent. The narrow three-arch stone bridge, Pont Fawr is the town’s main feature and was built in 1636 by Sir John Wynn of Gwydir Castle. The bridge connects the town with Gwydir, a manor house dating from 1492, the 15th-century courthouse known as Tu Hwnt i'r Bont and also the road from nearby Trefriw, plus of course Gwydir Park the home of Llanrwst United. 

The unbelievable thing about the bridge is it’s still has the same concept as when it was originally built in the 17th century. There’s only room for one vehicle, so as you drive up towards its high peak your unaware of any oncoming traffic until its too late, which results in a face off and a battle of wits in who will give in and reverse back first. It’s as if traffic lights are yet to be invented. 
We managed to get across in one go, but made note to avoid the bridge after the game and make enquiries about an alternative route back north. After parking at the ground we walked back across and had a drink in the Eagle Hotel where they served the local nectar Nant ‘Rwster’ (4.6%) which I enjoyed as we watched the kafuffles on the bridge. 

Llanrwst United where formed in 1984 after the marriage of the towns two clubs; Llanrwst Town and Llanrwst Athletic and they’ll celebrate their 30th anniversary at the end of the season. The club won the Vale of Conwy League in 2003-04 and have added a variety of cup honours, including being the current holders of the Mawddach Challenge Cup.
Gwydir Park has a fantastic backdrop which is open to the elements on three sides. The ground is also used as a cricket ground so there’s a walk around the outer boundaries to the paying entrance. The pavilion which houses the clubhouse and changing rooms is at the top of the pitch and for this occasion there were a couple of gazebos set up as a bar area at the front of the building. The Phil Smith Stand is at the far side, which has three rows of seats in grey and orange. The seats are raised on a platform which looks over the brick wall which connects the dugouts.

The match against Bodedern Athletic turned out to be a damp squib, with plenty of huff and puff but very little quality, with too many passes and shots on goal going astray, which was a crime considering the match was played on a divot-less carpet of a pitch.
Having said that the match didn’t spoil an enjoyable visit to another hospitable club. I seemed to have spend a fortune across the day with admission for the both of us, programmes, pin badges, raffle tickets, food & drink and at this ground I managed to fork out an extra quid to purchase a Llanrwst United black and white shirt. The lad on the stall picking out the no.9 shirt especially, which may have been old and tatty, but it’s a canny souvenir and at least it doesn’t have the word Wonga written across it. 

Matchday Stats
LUFC 0 BAFC 0
Att.370
Admission £4
Programme £1
Ground no.362 Gwydir Park - Matchday Web album (21 pictures)

Afterwards we headed off to Chester, where we had a night out on the lash which included two new ‘Spoon ticks, then spent the morning walking along the banks of the River Dee and the city walls like a young courting couple as we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.
I would have loved to have done the whole groundhop weekend but due to work etc. I could only manage the one day, which is a shame because I missed out on visiting that place beginning with L on the Saturday (I’ll not attempt to spell it)
We had a cracking day and it was good to meet up with Laurence R, Peter T, John Mc, Graeme H, The Groundhog, as well as meeting Peter Ford and Paul Brockett for the first time, plus everyone who gave me a nod and a wink, admiring my Half Man Half Biscuit t-shirt. Special mention of course to Chris and Laurence, who seemed to have played a blinder over the weekend and finally I can report that the breadknife really enjoyed her first groundhop, so overall a very happy anniversary for the both of us.

My Match Holidays - 357 Estadi Municipal de Reus

CF Reus Deportiu 4v0 FC Santboià.
Friendly Match Presentation 
Wednesday 14th August 2013

After a disappointing evening with the family in Torredembarra I decided on a solo trip for the second game of my holidays, with a game in Reus. I originally planned to travel by train, but it became apparent that it was easier to travel on the bus, as there’s a good regular service which departs from Cambrils and stops along the coast at Salou, Cap Salou and La Pineda before heading non-stop into Reus. The bus journey from Salou only took half an hour and was very cheap costing 2.90 euros to get there and 2.70 to return.

Reus is the capital of the of Baix Camp district in the Catalonia province of Tarragona. The area is renowned for producing wines and spirits, gaining major international importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. 
There are several theories to the origin of the Reus name. It’s believed to come
 from the Latin word to describe convict prisoners (reus) so it could have originally been a Roman penitentiary, although the most likely theory is that the name has Celtic roots; reddis - which loosely translates as an inhabited place in a cross-road.

Club Deportiu Reus was founded on 23rd November 1909, out of the former Reus Sport Club playing football only. In September 1917 the club amalgamated with CF Reus Club Velocipedista and SC Olympia, becoming a sports club and renamed as Reus Deportiu .
They became members of the Catalan Football Federation in 1918 becoming second division champions in 1923-24, until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War halted their progress.
Reus developed as a sports club from the 1950s and moved to their present stadium in October 1977. In 1981 they reached the highest rank in the Spanish pyramid when they won the Third Division, playing in the Segunda B for two seasons. The club achieved a second 3rd Division title in 2006-07 and are currently back playing in the third tier in Segunda division B - Group 3.

Before I headed out to Spain I printed out a map of Reus, showing the rail station and the stadium, but having changed my travel plan I arrived in Reus to find the bus depot miles from the ground, meaning my pre-prepared map was totally useless. There was a notice board map next to the bus stop and I managed to piece it together and work out a direct route to L’Estadi. It turned out to be a canny hike, taking a good 35 minutes and that was in postman walking mode(The ultimate rapid walking speed...Eddy)

I finally arrived at the 4,500 capacity ground and was pleasantly surprised to find a really attractive stadium, much better than I expected. There’s a sparkling fully covered main stand which is divided into two tiers. Access to the top section is at the back of the stand, which also has window boxes at the rear housing a TV gantry and press box. The stand is divided by a gangway with the bottom section of seats running pitch length. There are four rows of seating behind each goal and at the far side there’s an open second tier which has an extra five rows each side of the electric scoreboard. What makes this ground so pleasing on the eye is the mixture of seats, randomly picked out in cream, pale pink, yellow, turquoise and dark blue. Plus there’s some cracking floodlights which lean into the stadium, appearing as if they’re about to fall over, like myself on a Saturday night after ten pints!

The pre-season game with FC Santboià was the presentation match, when each player within the whole squad is introduced to the supporters to welcome in the new season. 
Initially the plan was to play against Lleida Sport, but with both teams being drawn in the same divisional group, Santboià were called upon as a late replacement.
The club gave free admission for the game and the red and blacks supporters were treated to a fine performance by their team with a handsome four goal victory.
The hosts opened the scoring after only 6 minutes when David Agudo ran onto a through ball then produced a delicate chip over the keeper from the edge of the box.
The lead was doubled early in the second half with a powerful header from Xavi Marquis, and he added his second from the penalty spot after a foul on Masque on 77 minutes. The victory was sealed with Alex Lopez getting on the score sheet in the final minute.

After the game I ran back to the depot for the last bus. When I got back to Salou the resort was busy with the British pubs choca-block, with everyone leaving the comfort of their all-inclusive hotels to watch a bit of football on the TV. Apparently an international fixture had taking place tonight between two British nations, but this didn’t appeal to me in the least as I would have hated to have missed out on visiting this bonny little stadium.

Matchday Stats
CFRD 4(Agudo 6 Marquis 50 77pen Lopez 90) FCS 0
Att.450.apx.
Admission:Free

Ground no.357 Estadi Municipal de Reus - Matchday Web album (23 pictures)

My Match Holiday - 356 Camp Municipal de Torredembarra

UD Torredembarra 0v4 Gimnàstic de Tarragona

Pre-Season Friendly

Wednesday 7th August 2013

This years family summer holiday was in the Catalunya region of northern Spain, staying in the popular holiday resort of Salou in the Tarragona province.

When the holiday was booked, one of the grounds I was really hoping to visit was Nou Estadi, home of Gimnastic de Tarragona, but unfortunately their pre-season glamour friendlies against Villareal and Real Zaragoza took place on the previous Saturdays before I arrived.

Thankfully there we other options available, including seeing Nastic away in the neighbouring coastal town of Torredembarra. The municipality takes its name from the agglutination tower in Barra and is located on the Gold Coast in the west contrasts with Altafulla, the north to La Pobla de Montornès and the east Creixell. The town is located 13 miles north-east of Tarragona and approximately 60 miles south-west of Barcelona.

Union Deportiva Torredembarra formed in 1922 under the name of Union Sportiva Torredembarra by the club’s first president Stephen Huguet Borras. Initially the club focused on football only, becoming a sports club in the 1970’s. Nowadays the club runs a variety of community based sports, including tennis, swimming, martial arts and skating. 
The football club play in the First Catalan league, which is the equivalent of the fifth level on Spanish football. The league is organised by the Catalan Football Federation split into two regional groups; Group 1 consists clubs from the provinces of Barcelona and Girona while UD Torredembarra play in Group 2 within the region of Lleida and Tarragona.

The Smudger family set off from Salou on the Regional Renfe train service which runs from Cambrils to Barcelona. The distance between the two coastal resorts was only five stops, which took approximately half an hour and cost only 6.50 euros return. Overall our 10 night stay in Catalan country was terrific apart from just the one piss poor night - this was it. Torredembarra may be a nice little Spanish town but there’s not much to do on a wet Wednesday night. As soon as we stepped of the train it began to rain, apart from the swimming pool and the Mediterranean Sea this was the only time we got soaked during the vacation. We had a brief walk around the town, the breadknife purchased an umbrella, then me and my son James went to the match, leaving Debra and my daughter Laura to discover the delights of an evening in Torre.

The Camp Municipal de Torredembarra is found on the edge of the town. The ground perimeter is covered in graffiti, but once inside the ground isn’t too bad. Admission is taking at a paying box at the main entrance where you purchase a 3 euro ticket, which is then hole punched by the man at the gate. The changing room and offices are underneath the one stand, which has 8 steps with plate seats fixed onto the terrace. The structure is a triangular type shape which gets narrower then levels off  towards the peak. The dugouts are in front of the stand with a pair of floodlight pylons at each side.
The far side is about four foot above pitch level, with a refreshment kiosk and seats provided by seven stone benches at the front on the walk way. There’s small standing pathways behind each goal with one end currently out of bounds.
Typically, with it pittiling down the ground is open with no cover, but I imagine it to be a nice venue on a warm night.

As you’d expect, me and my laddie were the only two “foreigners” at the game which included in attendance a section of teenage Nastic fans with flags and scarves, although I did see one bloke with an Everton away shirt who looked the spitting dabs of 
Kenny ‘Fucking’ Powers, but when I heard him speak he spoke with local tongue.
The rain finally stopped just as the match began, but the first half of the game was best described as magnolia - plain, quite dull and lacking any colour. 
In the second half it was as if Nastic decided to stop messing about and go and win the game, which they did with ease with four goals in the last 25 minutes. Aleix Coch got on the end of a right wing cross to open the scoring on 64 minutes, followed by a brace from Perera(72,85) either side of Marcos Jimenez de la Espada shot from 20 yards on 74 minutes.
After the game we walked back to the train station to find bread knife and daughter playing cards at the train platform, which they said had been the highlight of their night. We arrived back in Salou and had good drink, slap-up meal and a late night out to make up for a disappointing evening all round, when the rain in Spain fell mainly in Torredembarra.

Matchday stats
UDT 0 CFGdT 4(Coch 64, Pereda 72,85 de la Espada 74)
Att.200.apx
Admission £3
Programme:none

Ground no.356 Municipal Torredembarra - Matchday Web album (27 pictures)

My Matchday - 358 Keighley Road

Silsden AFC 1v2 Bridlington Town

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Saturday 17th August 2013

The draw for the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup failed to throw up any decent games involving my local clubs, as I was hoping to see the likes of Dunston get a good draw at a previously unexplored ground. So after careful consideration of over one hundred cup ties, I made an easy choice by choosing the Yorkshire derby between Silsden AFC and Bridlington Town with a Wetherspoons tour of Leeds added to my matchday experience.

I arrived in Leeds just before 11am and started the morning browsing the city’s record stores, namely Jumbo Records, Crash and my personal favourite Relic found at the top of New Briggate. Once the clock hit noon it was time for my ‘Spoons tour to start, beginning at the ‘Stick or Twist’ followed by ‘Hedley Verity’ ‘Cuthbert Brodrick’ and finally ‘Beckett’s Bank’ with the first pub providing the best pint of the day – Ilkley’ Summer’(4%) which I awarded 9/10. After a decent bevvy I caught the 1356 Skipton train, alighting at Steeton & Silsden station, which is about half a mile from the ground, found on the other side of the River Aire. 

Silsden is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Siglesdene, where it was noted as the most important village in Craven. The town is a civil parish on the northern slope of the Aire Valley in West Yorkshire. The Leeds and Liverpool canal runs along the lower edge of the town, which provided trade during the Industrial Revolution, although generally Silsden is an agricultural area and a former mill town.

The original Silsden AFC formed in September 1904, playing on the same ground as the current team. There have been many sides that have used the club name, with a lot of stopping and starting over the years, although in general the town has seen a lot of local success in this particular area of Yorkshire.

The current set up have played since 1996 and have rapidly rising to the North West Counties League in just eight years. The club started life in the Craven & District League, progressing from Division Two to its Premier Division, which they won with an unbeaten record in 1998/99. They joined the West Riding County Amateur League 2nd Division the following season and progressed through the leagues, including another undefeated title winning season in 2002/2003. The following season they won the West Riding County Challenge Cup for the third years on the spin, one of only two teams to achieve this feat. The Cobbeydalers joined the North West Counties League in 2004 and won promotion to the top division in their debut season, finishing runners up to runaway winners Cammell Laird. 

The club played their original North West Counties League home games at Cougar Park, home of the rugby league club Keighley Cougars, while the junior section continued to play at Keighley Road. I actually attempted to see the club play one of their last remaining fixtures at the ground in March 2010, but the game I was due to attend was hastily rearranged so I ended up redirected myself to Halifax instead.

The Keighley Road ground was upgraded during the 2009-10 season, made possible through the hard work of the club committee with the assistance of the Football Foundation, Sports England and the Asda Foundation, plus local businesses and sponsorship.  

The ground is set in the heart of the Yorkshire countryside, with views of the hills of the Aire Valley, the sound of cattle in the distance and the distinct aroma of manure in the air. (Especially in the windy second half..Eddy)

You enter the ground next to the cricket pitch, where rain had stopped play with the home side on 36-3. At the paying entrance I sharply parted with ten and a half quid, for admission, programme, pin badge and a golden goal ticket. I’ve always liked these tickets and it’s a shame they’re a rarity nowadays, as I much prefer them to a raffle because at least it gives you an extra interest in the match.

On entering the ground, to your right is the £1.2m clubhouse which opened in May 2009. The building has a bar & function room and houses nine changing rooms for the football and cricket teams, as well as match officials and treatment staff.

The McNulty Stand is next to the admission entrance and has three rows of black benches with a green and white outer frame. The refreshment bar is in the centre, parallel to the halfway line next to a diminutive covered stand which has four rows of terrace steps. The other three sides are open standing with the team dugouts on the opposite side and six separate floodlight pylons. The work was completed and the ground officially opened in August 2010. The record attendance against non-league opposition is 242, however the ground has witnessed a four figure gate when 1,125 saw the pre-season friendly with Bradford City in July 2011.

From the start of this season the name of the ground has changed to Angel Telecom Stadium following a five-year sponsor package with the Bradford-based telecommunications company, although for traditional purposes I’ll stick to Keighley Road.

This FA Cup tie pitted clubs from opposite sides of Yorkshire both playing in their Premier Division of their respective league, and it was the club from the East Riding who progressed to the next round.

Brid were gifted an early lead when a routine back pass saw ‘keeper Ed Hall kick fresh air which allowed Scott Phillips to nip in and slide the ball into the empty net from a tight angle in the 14^th minute (Bugger! I had 11 in the golden goal) The visitors first half superiority saw the lead doubled when a left wing cross picked out Joel Scott who fired home from the edge of the box, however the half may have had a different complexion if a strong penalty shout from the home side had gone in their favour.

Silsden made a decent fist of it in the second half, although the torrential rain and swirling wind didn’t help their cause. Several times they beat the offside trap but were unable to seriously test the goalie. When the goal did arrive it came out of the blue. A cross from the left saw Chris Wademan rise up above the defender and his header found the top corner of the net. The equaliser never looked likely and their misery was complete when Stephen Throup was sent off for a professional foul deep into injury time.

 Before catching the 1727 to Leeds I called into the clubhouse to check on the full time scores, having a LOL moment after seeing one result which was quickly turned into a FFS seconds later with another poor result for one of my teams. I had a great day in Leeds and enjoyed the serene setting of Silsden, but after all this football and beer talk I know what my dozen loyal reading really want to find out about – what happened in the cricket? Well after 55 overs of play the home XI were all out for 101 with the visitors on 19 without loss, before rain stopped play again. The umpire was hopeful of going back out but the cricket players were found frightened in the changing rooms, afraid of a bit water and the bad light outside. 

Matchday Stats
SAFC 1(Wademan 81)BTFC 2(Phillips 14 Sutton 37)
att.101
Admission £5
Programme £1

Ground no.358 Keighley Road - Matchday Web album (25 pictures)

My Matchday - 355 Bayview Stadium

East Fife 2v6 Greenock Morton (AET)
Scottish League Cup Round 1
Saturday 3rd August 2013

With huge thanks for the assistance of 100FgC Squad#155 James Little, it was possible to add another Scottish League ground to the list. I’m now starting to run short of grounds in this category that I can do on a solo day-trip, East Fife being a prime example as the nearest rail station to Bayview is eight miles away in Kirkcaldy.

East Fife play in the eastern coastal town of Methil in Fife, which was formerly part of the Burgh of Buckhaven & Methil, within the urban area of Levenmouth. James arranged to pick me up outside Waverley Station at 1.30pm, the car journey from Edinburgh takes about an hour to ninety minutes, so we arrived in good time to have a quick look around and take a few photographs before kick-off.

Methil lies between the bays of Largo and Wemyss. Methil Docks was the second largest coal port in the UK, such was its importance in transferring coal during the Second World War, that it became a target for German bombers. In 1942 there was a failed attempt to attack the port from Norway, with a bomb falling out of the target area at the Wellsley Coal Pit. This the only time Fife was attacked during the conflict. 

East Fife founded in January 1903 and played in various leagues in their formative years, namely the Fife League, Eastern League, Northern League, before joining the Central League in 1909. The Fifers remained in the Central League until its league members reformed to become part of the Scottish Second Division at the start of the 1921-22 season.

The club’s only season in the top flight before World War II was in the 1930-31, however the club appeared in two Scottish Cup finals either side of this, losing the 1927 final to Celtic and lifting the trophy in 1938 with a 4-2 replay win over Kilmarnock in front of a crowd of nearly 92,000. The first time a club from the Second Division had won this prestigious trophy.

The club won promotion in 1948 and during this period consistently finished in the upper echelons of the table, but their major success was in the Scottish League Cup becoming the first club the win this honour three times in 1947–48, 1949–50, and 1953–54. The club made a third Scottish Cup final appearance, losing out to Rangers in the 1950, but ended the decade out of the top division only reappearing in the top tier for three seasons in the early 1970s. The only honour added in recent times was winning the Third Division in the 2006-07, their first piece of silverware in over half a century.

The Fifers played at the original Bayview from their formation, moving after 95 years to a new stadium in November 1998. The stadium still had a view of the bay so it was naturally named New Bayview, built in the shadow of the Methil Power Station, which has since been demolished in 2011.

The ground has just one open stand, which runs pitch length with a capacity of 2,000 yellow seats with boxes for stadium control, press and hospitality found centrally at the back of the stand. The other three sides are made up of a perimeter wall with views across to Leven, where once stood the old power station and to the right of the stand there’s Largo Bay and the choppy waters of the Firth o’ Forth. The new ground was officially renamed Bayview Stadium in 2007 with the record attendance being 1,980 against Raith Rovers in November 2008.

The Scottish League Cup tie with Greenock Morton was my first competitive game of the season. The opening half remained goalless, but both keepers were tested with Buchanan looking lively for the hosts and Campbell should have done better to give Morton the lead with the best effort of the first period.

The deadlock was broken on 53 minutes when a right wing corner was bundled home by McLaughlin from close range, then when a free kick from the left was nodded into the path of Habai to rifle home with twenty minutes remaining, the match looked done and dusted and as I said to James..  “There’s nee chance of extra time” as Morton looked to have booked their place in round two.

The match turned on its head as Fifers manager made some astute tactical changes and substitutions which produced a brace from danger man Buchanan, notching with a right foot drive from the edge of the box and with seconds remaining nodding home past the despairing ‘keeper which drove the Bayview crowd into raptures.

As I had a train to catch in Edinburgh, I didn’t want the game to go all the way to penalties, so after informing Morton boss of this via a telepathic message, he passed this info onto his players who responded in spades. After only two minutes of the additional thirty, McNeil ran on to a through ball to calmly pass the ball into the ‘keeper’s left hand post. The long ball worked a treat again, as Campbell stood on the half way line and latched onto the ball over the top before running in on goal to score five minutes later.

The tie was over as a contest just before the end of the first quarter after a handball from Craig Johnstone saw the defender shown a straight red. The resulted spot kick from Campbell was well saved by Andrews but Dougie Imrie was on hand to score number five from the rebound. I imagine East Fife wouldn't wanted to play the second period of extra time, but they battled on and the goal tally was rounded off to a half dozen in the last minute, with Campbell grabbing his second goal in what was an entertaining 2 hours of football.

This trip was a matchday rarity, with no bevvy, pubs or ‘Spoon visits just a brief encounter into the Kingdom of Fife. I left Newcastle just before noon and travelled back on the 1830, raiding the fridge for a bottle of ale on my return home at 8.20. This was a great start to my summer annual leave, no work for a fortnight and hopefully a couple of Spanish venues to visit over the next fortnight.

Matchday Stats
EFFC 2(Buchanan 84 90)
GMFC 6(McLaughlin 53 Habai 70 McNeil 92 Campbell 97,119 Imrie 102)
Att.tbc
Admission:£13
Programme £2

Ground no.355 Bayview Park - Matchday Web album (20 pictures)