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 - 330 Queensgate

Bridlington Town 1v0 Maltby Main

Northern Counties East League Premier Division

Saturday 6th October 2012

A weekend family break in Filey included a pleasant Saturday afternoon in Bridlington; a seaside resort and minor sea fishing port in east Yorkshire on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea.

The town’s origins can be traced back to ancient times. The nearby Dane's Dyke dates back to the Bronze Age and it’s believed that Bridlington was the site of a Roman station in around 400AD.

Bridlington is recorded in the Domesday Book as Brellington, Britlington and Bretlington and the name Burlington was used up until the 19th Century. Back in its heyday Brid was a top entertainment resort, being the home of the famous dance venue ‘The Spa’ where many famous entertainers have appeared throughout the years.

The original Bridlington club was founded in 1918 as Bridlington Central United, joining the Driffield and District Minor League, before progressing to the East Riding Amateur League. The club were league championships five seasons running during the 1950s before moving to the Yorkshire League Division Two in 1959-60 and also changing their name to Bridlington Town.

The club gained promotion in their debut season and won the Division One title in 1966-67, piping derby rivals Bridlington Trinity in the process, although their fellow Bridlington club gained revenge the following season.

In 1982 they were founder members of the Northern Counties East League after the merger of the Yorkshire and Midland Leagues, placed in Division One, then after four seasons they were handed promotion to the NCEL Premier Division after several clubs resigned.

The 1989–90 season was a memorable one; league champions and a Wembley trip in the FA Vase, but unfortunately they couldn’t achieve the double, the final tie with Yeading ended goalless with Brid losing out 1-0 in the replay at Elland Road.

Town progressed to the Northern Premier League Division One, winning the title in the 1992–93 and finally achieved success in the FA Vase. I remember this Vase victory well, as at the time I worked with Graeme Jones, who proudly brought his winners medal into work, being part of the team that beat Tiverton Town 1–0 at Wembley. 

 The Vase triumph turned out to be the club’s swansong as within two years they were no more.  A dispute involving the ground leaseholder and the council saw the team playing home matches 60 miles away at Doncaster Rovers' Belle Vue.  In 1993-94 they finished 21^st in the Unibond Premier Division and were also deducted three points, instead of taking relegation the club decided to call it a day.

The club were reborn in September 1994, thanks to a pub team. The Greyhound were looking for a home pitch and approached the lease-holders at Queensgate. An agreement was made for the team to use the ground on the condition that the team change their name to Bridlington Town AFC, in effect bringing the old club back to the town.

History repeated itself as the new club started life in the Driffield and District League, and as before, progressed to the Northern Counties East League Division One. Town won promotion in 2001–02 and won the Premier Division the following season, also achieving a second championship in 2009-10.

Queensgate has been in use since before the Second World War, originally having a wooden stand which stood until the 1980’s, condemned in wake of the Bradford fire. The ground was shared with Bridlington Trinity until a dispute over unpaid rent saw the club banned from playing at home, with the club eventually folding in 1990.

The ground had a major overhaul when Ken Richardson joined the club as President, helping finance the redevelopment in 1986 which saw a new stand, clubhouse, turnstiles and floodlights.

The Main Stand runs nearly pitch length, housing the changing rooms, PA box and six rows of 500 red seats with a standing section at one side. The stand also has specific seating for both home and away directors with their own private boxes each side of the tunnel.

The turnstiles are in the corner of the ground beside The Seasiders clubhouse, behind this goal is a club shop hut, snack bar and further access to the clubhouse. The far end goal is an open terrace with cover at one side between the six yard line and the corner flag. The terrace has a large banner directly behind the goal with the club name and crest.

The dugouts are opposite the Main Stand which is largely open apart from a covered two step terrace in between the dugouts known as The Bus Shelter. Duke Park the home of the local rugby club is directly next door and during the game a giant egg-type-thing appeared on the pitch in the second half.

Queensgate is currently shared with Scarborough Athletic and has a capacity of 3,000, with a record gate of 2,102 for an FA Cup tie with neighbours Scarborough in the 1960’s.

Bridlington made it ten wins on the bonk and maintained top spot in the NCEL Premier Division with a narrow win over Maltby Main. After scoring 16 goals in the last three games I was expecting a Seasiders goal fest, but the visitors more than matched the leaders throughout, as both teams created numerous chances in an enjoyable game played in good spirit.

The game was settled in the 75^th minute when Chris Bachelor got on the end of a left wing cross to head home from ten yards, and the hosts deserved it on the balance of play, as I nominated Maltby ‘keeper Liam Copley as my man of the match after pulling off a selection of cracking saves.

The match was made more entertaining as throughout the whole ninety minutes there weren't any injuries; both physios remaining on the bench with no need for the cold buckets of water, which is something I can’t recollect ever seeing throughout my long football observing career.

As I've mentioned this matchday was part of a weekend break in nearby Filey, staying at the Blue Dolphin caravan park, situated on the coast just off the A165 Scarborough to Bridlington road.

The weekend turned out to be quite a bizarre affair, for starters a straightforward Friday evening 93 mile drive turned out to be (without boring you with the details) three and a half hours of hell and one of the most stressful I’ve experienced behind the wheel of a car.  

When we finally arrived, I found the resort swarmed with rockers and teddy boys, as the park was hosting a rock ‘n’ roll convention over the whole weekend. There were hundreds of men and women dolled up in 50’s gear, having travelled from all four corners of the UK to a caravan park just outside Filey, put it this way - there was more ducks arses on show than Saltwell Park lake!

Things went from one extreme to the other, when in the other showbar we were presented with a special treat; doing the gig on the main stage was bubbly 80’s scouse pop sensation and product of those Stock, Aitken and Waterman bastards (spit!!!....Eddy) – the one and only Sonia! She did an hour of other peoples hits before the much anticipated “You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You” (her number 1 hit in June 1989) towards the end of her set. Good job there was a supply of Wychwood Hobgoblin to be had, which I supped plenty of, mainly for medicinal purposes to soothe the pain in my eardrums.

Also on the following night I witnessed a surreal experience and a new phenomenon called ‘The Silent Disco’ which is dancing to music played via headphones. The sight of people dancing to silence isn’t a pretty sight and made doubly worse with everyone singing along way out of tune.

So a weekend complete with greasers, Showaddywaddy lookalikes, wee ginger pop stars and a drafty caravan, made up an enjoyable break in a lovely part of the world. The usual 90 minutes of football and visiting a couple of Wetherspoons pubs, being the only shread of normality over the whole holiday.

Matchday stats
BTFC 1(Batchelor 75) MMFC 0
att.144
Admission £6
Programme £1

Ground no.330 Queensgate - Matchday web album (25 pictures)