✔811 York Community Stadium

York City 1-1 Gateshead

National League North

Saturday 29th January 2022

York is a cathedral city with Roman origins at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire. This historic county town has historical long-standing buildings and structures, such as York Minster, York Castle and the city walls. 

The city was founded by the Romans as Eboracum in 71 AD. It became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and later of the kingdoms of Deira, Northumbria and Jórvík. York grew as a major wool-trading centre in the Middle Ages and became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England. In the 19th century, the city became the heart of the railway network and a confectionery manufacturing centre, a status it preserved well into the 20th century. (city population near 154,000) 

York City Football Club was founded in 1922, playing seven seasons in non-League before joining the Football League. York played in the third tier until 1959, when they were promoted for the first time and achieved their best run in the FA Cup in 1954–55, when they met the mighty Newcastle United in the semi-final. They yo-yoed between the Third and Fourth Divisions, but spent two seasons in the Second Division in the 1970s. The Minstermen played at Wembley for the first time in 1993, when they won the Third Division play-off final, but at the end of 2003–04, they lost their Football League status after relegation from the Third Division. 

The 2011–12 FA Trophy was the first national knockout competition won by the club, and they doubled it with a return to the Football League that season. York were relegated back into the Conference in 2016 and won the FA Trophy again, but this time they doubled it with relegation back into Non-League and are currently in National League North.

York City played at Fulfordgate from 1922 to 1932, then moved to Bootham Crescent, their well loved home for 88 years. I always enjoyed my visits to the old ground, the four matches I attended there were:

York City 1 Newcastle United 3 - Pre-Season friendly - 1st August 1992

A rare away road trip with Kev Monas with my mate Zippy in tow. 

York City 1 Gateshead 0  - Conference 24th November 2009

The one when me and Lee Robbo went on a mega pub crawl and ended up getting ourselves lost. We missed the first fifteen minutes of the match. 

York City 2 Gateshead 1 - Conference 1st March 2011

The one when I was mortal and while running back to the train station after the match, collided with a wall. I just caught the train with seconds to spare.

York City 1 Gateshead 2 - Conference 22nd February 2012

The one when me and Honest Paul missed the train to York, then hot footed over to Gateshead to cadge a lift on the supporters bus.

The York Community Stadium is outside the city walls in Huntington. It is owned by City of York Council, shared by the football club and York City Knights Rugby League FC. 

LNER Community Stadium

Kathryn Avenue, Monks Cross Drive, Huntington, York YO32 9AF

capacity  8,500 (all seated)

Current National League North grounds visited 18/22

 

The move to a new stadium was necessitated by the terms of the loan York City secured from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund to purchase their Bootham Crescent ground. Planning permission was granted for the current design in March 2015, put forward by Greenwich Leisure.  After several delays, construction began in December 2017, with the stadium and the adjoining leisure complex completed in December 2020. 

The stadium comprises four single tier stands, with the East Stand accommodating hospitality guests, players, officials and the media, and is connected to the adjacent shops and community hub. The seats are randomly coloured red, white, yellow and blue, a combination of the colours of both teams.

The opening match at the LNER Community Stadium saw The Minstermen host AFC Fylde on the 16th February 2021, which ended in a 3–1 defeat for York with Fylde centre half Alex Whitmore scoring the opening goal at the stadium.

York City(14th) 1(Donaldson 80)

Gateshead(1st) 1(Scott 76)

Vanarama National League North matchday 21v23

3pm ko

Att.3,578

Admission £20

☕ £2.60

 

League leaders Gateshead were denied the chance to strengthen their position at the top, as struggling York battled for a point.

The Heed finally broke the deadlock in the 76th minute when a shot from Blackett was brilliantly saved by Jameson, only for Cedwyn Scott to calmly slot home the rebound - the Heed's 50th league goal of the season. That strike looked to have been good enough for the win, but just four minutes later a free-kick from the right found substitute Clayton Donaldson at the far post to give the Minstermen a share of the points. 

#Heedhopper 

83 mile drive door-to-door 

After a hectic morning in which I survived the onslaught of Storm Malik, I drove down to the match straight after work. This meant missing out on the delights of York's many fabulous ale houses, so out of the 433 away supporters in attendance I seemed to have been the only one sober! (If Alan Price was there that would make two… Ed)

✔809 Rossett Park

Marine 0-2 Warrington Rylands

Northern Premier League - West Division

Saturday 15th January 2022

Marine AFC are based in the coastal town of Crosby in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton on Merseyside. The town has Viking roots in common with nearby Formby and Kirkby, known as Krossabyr in Old Norse, meaning "village with the cross" and recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Crosebi.

The opening of the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway in 1848 saw the growth of the town. Crosby Beach is home to Antony Gormley's art installation Another Place. The sea views were described in the 19th Century by a First Lord of the Admiralty as second only to the Bay of Naples. The surrounding area includes several miles of beach, a marina, a number of parks and a large area of woodland known as Ince Woods.

The club was formed in 1894 by a group of local businessmen and former college students. The Marine hotel on the River Mersey sea front at Waterloo is where the founder members met, which gave the new club its name.  Marine quickly won multiple titles league and cup honours in their early years and reached the FA Amateur Cup Final in 1932, losing 7–1 to Dulwich Hamlet in front of a 22,000 crowd at the Boleyn Ground.

Zingari League:

Second Division champions: 1901–02

First Division champions:1902–03, 1903–04, 1909–10, 1919–20, 1920–21, 1922–23

Liverpool County Combination:

First Division champions: 1927–28, 1930–31, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1943–44

Lancashire Combination 1935 - 1969

Cheshire League 1969 - 1979:

Champions: 1973–74, 1975–76, 1977–78

Northern Premier League pyramid 1979 - present

Premier Division champions: 1993–94, 1994–95

Marine had the longest serving manager in postwar English football  recognised by the Guinness Book of Records. Roly Howard was boss between 1972 and 2005, in charge for a total of 1,975 games before his retirement. 

Marine have beaten Barnsley, Halifax Town and Colchester United in the FA Cup and reached the 3rd Round twice, losing to Crewe Alexandra in 1993 and Tottenham Hotspur last season.

The Marine Travel Arena

Rossett Park

College Road

Liverpool

L23 3AS

Current capacity  2,150 (389 seats) 

Northern Premier League - West Division grounds visited 12/20

Rossett Park is located on College Road, the main street which runs through the town centre. The ground has been in use since at least 1884 when rugby union was played there. The football club began playing at the ground in 1903, when they moved from their previous home at Waterloo Park. The main stand is behind the goal which has all the amenities around it, including changing rooms, refreshment bars, club shop, a section of terracing and the spacious 1894 clubhouse.

The ground is three sided with a covered enclosure running down one side and the neighbouring houses on Rossett Road opposite, which look into the ground and the back gardens are separated by large netting, behind the team dugouts. The top goal has sections of open built up terracing. 

Marine (1st) 0

Warrington Rylands (3rd) 2 (Webb 47' Dolan 84')

Pitching In Northern Premier League - West Division matchday 22v23

Att.1,334

Admission £10

Pin badge £3

Programme available £2

Two examples of individual skill closed the gap between the clubs to just two points at the top of the West Division. After a tight first half, Rylands took the lead straight from the restart, when they won a free kick on the edge of the box. David Webb calmly stepped up and from the edge of the D curled his shot into the top corner. Marine wasted several good chances before the visitors clinched it late on. Calum Dolan won the ball off the defender, before cutting inside and slamming the ball home to round off a fine performance and a huge win. 

#Heedhopper

This was my first weekend in Liverpool since 2016, so there were plenty of new entries in the Good Beer Guide in the city to explore. The breadknife and I arrived on Merseyside on Friday afternoon, visiting 17 of the city’s hostelries over the two nights. The pub crawl included a visit to Waterloo on Friday evening and a drink in the birthplace of Marine AFC. 

On Saturday morning I picked up a Merseyrail Day ticket, then headed over to the Wirral to visit Solar Campus for the Tranmere Rovers Academy game. After the first match I caught the train from Wallasey back over to Liverpool for my connection up to Crosby. The only downer over the weekend was four of the pubs on my list were closed including The Cornerpost Micro Pub in Crosby, which I had planned for my pre-match bevvy.  

We had a great weekend, topped off by finally visiting Rossett Park. The ground has eluded me for many years as I’ve had plenty of chances to visit. I could have watched Gateshead here when we were in the Northern Premier League, and Dunston have been regular visitors over the last few seasons. I added Marine to my 2021-22 T’do list, so at long last this old ground finally gets its big ✔

✔808 Solar Campus

Tranmere Rovers U-18 1-2 Walsall U-18 2

Youth alliance - North-West Division

Saturday 15th January 2022

The "Solar Campus" was formerly St George’s Secondary School. It was built in 1961 to the designs of Emslie Morgan, the Assistant Borough Architect. It has the honour of being the first building in the world to be heated entirely by solar energy.

Tranmere Rovers switched from the Raby Vale Training Ground in Thornton Hough to the Wallasey site in 2018. The ground has several grass pitches, with the Academy side playing on the surface which runs parallel with the 4G cage. Spectators are requested to watch the game from behind the far goal and the facilities are shared with Liverpool FC Women, who were having a training session on another pitch.

Solar Campus Playing Field

Leasowe Road
Wallasey
CH45 8RE

Tranmere Rovers U-18 1(#10 34')

Walsall U-18 2(Uchenna 29' #17 90+3')

Youth Alliance North-West Division matchday 14v12

11am ko

Att.29hc

Walsall snatched their first victory of the season in added on time when the substitute's miss hit shot spun into the net. The visitors had the better chances in the opening half and took the lead when Will Uchenna capitalised on a misplaced pass in the home defence to fire in. Tranmere equalised five minutes later, when a cross from the right was met by #10 for an easy finish. 

The match looked to be heading for a draw until that late winner, which was met by jubilant celebrations, followed by a players brawl before the full time whistle.

✔806 The Hawthorns

Brigg Town 2-1 Armthorpe Welfare

NCEL - Division One

Monday 3rd January 2022

Brigg is a market town in North Lincolnshire, which lies at the junction of the River Ancholme and east–west transport routes across this stretch of the county. (population over 5,000)

The area has been used for thousands of years as both a crossing point of the Ancholme and for access to the river. Prehistoric sewn-built and dugout boats have been found in the town, dating to around 900 BC. A causeway or jetty also stood on the riverside during the late Bronze Age.

During the Anglo-Saxon period the area became known as Glanford. Local lore states that the original name was "Glamis' Ford"as in a ford next to where a man named Glamis lived. This became Glamford, then into Glanford. When a bridge was finally built, the name of the town became Glanford Bridge. Finally the Bridge was altered to Briggs and then Brigg, before the Glanford part was dropped.

Established in 1864, Brigg Town is the 7th oldest football club in the world and officially recognised as the oldest town club. In 1881–82 they entered the inaugural Lincolnshire Senior Cup, finishing runner-up in the first two seasons.  They joined the Lindsey League and then became founder members of the Lincolnshire League.

Lincolnshire League 1948 - 1976 

Champions 1949–50, 1953–54, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1973–74 and 1975–76

Midland League 1976 - 1982

Champions 1977–78

Northern Counties East League  1982 - 2004, 2015 - 2018, Rejoined 2019-20

Premier Division champions 2000–01

Northern Premier League 2004 - 2015

Lincolnshire League 2018-19 - Runners-up 

In 1996 the Zebras won the FA Vase, beating Clitheroe 3–0 at Wembley and lifted the trophy for a second time in 2003, with a 2-1 victory over AFC Sudbury at Upton Park. 

The EC Surfacing Stadium 

The Hawthorns 

Hawthorn Avenue

Brigg, Lincolnshire

DN20 8PG

Capacity 4,000(250 seats)

Current NCEL grounds visited 37/41

The club originally played at the Old Manor House Convent playing fields on Station Road until 1939, before moving to Brocklesby Ox, where the club's record attendance of 2,000 was set v Boston United in 1953. Brigg finally settled at the Hawthorns in 1959. The ground has all the amenities at the entrance side, with overhanging cover from the changing rooms and clubhouse providing standing and seating. There's also a separate structure on this side called the Dom Avison Stand, which has some padded seats which look like they've come straight from the clubhouse lounge. On the opposite side the main stand has a few rows of flip seats with standing sections at the sides, with open hardstanding behind both goals. 

Brigg Town (3rd) 2(Hutson 20 Usher 90+3)

Armthorpe Welfare (9th) 1(Plater 5)

Northern Counties East League - Division One matchday 24

3pm ko

Att.457

Admission £5

Pin badge £4 (to be posted)

Coffee £1

A fabulous injury time winner from Alfie Usher saw the Zebras claim all three points. Armthorpe took an early lead when a right-wing cross met at the far post by Rhys Plater, before the home side drew level with an unstoppable effort from Daryl Hutson. 

Brigg could have taken the lead on 75 minutes when a goalmouth scramble saw two headed efforts come back off the crossbar, but with time running they clinched it. A free kick just outside the box saw Usher step up and curl his effort (as the young'uns would say) into the top bins to boost the Zebras promotion bid. 

#Heedhopper

138 mile drive door-to-door via A1/M62/M180

It was exactly five years and one day when I pulled up in the car park at the Hawthorns to be greeted with the words " Sorry but the match is off - frozen pitch"  For this latest attempt of a New Year Bank Holiday drive to North Lincolnshire, the weather forecast was good but I feared anything Covid related could have ruined my plans, however everything was fine and I was pleased to finally get this one ticked off.