Scunny Double

Saturday 24th October 2020

An early kick off in the Central Midlands League Cup meant I could double up with one off my T’do list, with both matches in Scunthorpe separated by a 5 minute drive.

739. Estadio de JLC

780 JFC 3-5 Heanor Town Reserves

Buckingham Insurance League Cup Round 2

780 JLC FC are a new fully formed club linked with 780 Coaching and the John Leggott College. The club joined the Central Midlands Football League at the start of this season, playing in Division One North. 

John Leggott College is a sixth form college founded in 1958 as John Leggott Grammar School with 600 pupils aged 11–18. The Sixth Form College was established in September 1968 due to a reorganisation of education in Scunthorpe. It is commonly known as JLC and now has more than 2000 students.

John Leggott College

West Common Lane

Scunthorpe

Lincs

DN17 IDS

Current Central Midland League grounds visited 11. 

The main pitch is roped off with a pair of large Perspex dugouts at one side. There is a refreshment kiosk where match admission is also taken. One of the signs welcomes you to Estadio de JLC, which is a better ground name than John Leggott College, so I’m listing it as such.

780 JFC 3(Garner 32,41,70)

Heanor Town Reserves 5(Melvill 6 Vrzal 9 Desmond 62 Sithole 89 Lynam 90+11)

CML League Cup 2nd Round

Att.31

Admission £2

Programme £1

Full marks to both teams in producing a cracking game played in atrocious wet weather. Heanor went two goals ahead, as Josh Melville capitalising on some poor defending, before a Milan Vrzal daisy cutter free-kick from the edge of the box somehow went over the goalies hands. 780 striker Tom Garner grabbed a hat-trick, catching out the ‘keeper with a lobbed effort then equalising just before half time. Heanor regained the advantage when a corner kick was met at the near post by Jack Desmond, only for Garner to strike again with a curled shot from outside the box. The visitors finished the match strongly with two late goals from Fortunate Sithole and Alex Lynham, finally killing off 780 as they ran out of steam, not helped by the dismissal of Brad Teale in the 80th minute by the referee. 

On the subject of the ref, I must give him a mention. For starters, he turned up late, strolling onto the pitch after the scheduled kick off time with a cup of coffee in hand, before spending the next five minutes fannying on, instead of getting the game started. At half time the players wanted a quick turnaround as the weather conditions worsened, but he pissed off and got himself another cuppa, then added nearly a quarter of an hour added on time. So in a nutshell a very arrogant and unprofessional man in black, and one I’ll be interested in seeing in action again.

740 Birkdale Park

Bottesford Town 2-2 Eccleshill United

NCEL Premier Division

Bottesford is a historic village with town status in North Lincolnshire. The town is just south of Scunthorpe town centre with its football club Bottesford Town established in 1974. (population:over 11,000)

Lincolnshire League 1974-2000

Champions three years in a row between 1989–90 and 1991–92

League Cup winners 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90

Central Midlands League 2000-2007

Supreme Division champions 2006–07

North Counties East League 2007-present

The Poachers were promoted to Premier Division in 2015-16 after 3rd place finish in Division One.

 

The Barratt Steel Stadium

Birkdale Park, 

Ontario Road, 

Bottesford, 

Scunthorpe, 

Lincs

DN17 2TQ.

Capacity 1,000

Current NCEL Grounds Visited 31/40

The ground has all the main spectator facilities down one side. There's a covered stand which has a mix of seats and standing, with another enclosure with a few picnic tables next to the refreshment kiosk. The dugouts are on the opposite side, with the rest of the ground open including the Taco Bellend behind the goal. The changing rooms, clubhouse and ground entrance are in the corner.  

 

Bottesford Town(19th) 2(Hutson 1 Moloney 25)

Eccleshill United(15th) 2(Awty 39 Irving 53)

NCEL Premier Division Matchday 9/8

Att.73

Admission £5

Tea £1

The Poachers looked set for a much needed win before the visitors fought back from two goals down to gain a point. The home team took a two goal lead with Dale Hutson lobbing the ‘keeper in the first minute, before Joe Moloney fired in the second with 25 on the clock. Just before the break the ball was played into the path of Sam Awty, who fired across the ‘keeper into the left corner of the net to make it 2-1, just before another bout of heavy rain. The equaliser arrived in the 53rd minute when a direct free kick on the edge of the box was struck home by Jonny Irving. Both teams had chances to win it but overall the draw was the fairest outcome. 

 

#Heedhopper

131 mile drive door-to-door

I picked up Katie & Lee at 10am, arriving in Scunthorpe town centre at noon, so a good hour for a look around before heading to JLC. The first shop we entered was a large charity shop just next to where I had parked the car. As we perused the goods on offer I said to Lee that I would love to go into a charity shop and see a rare Subbuteo set on offer. The sentence had not long left my breath when I clocked the famous green box, which I hurriedly purchased at an unbelievable price of just two British pounds. It wasn’t a rare set however, it was a Hasbro Team Edition, which I was very happy to add to my growing collection. 

Lee & Katie didn’t fancy a revisit to Bottesford Town, instead they opted to warm up in a pub and I picked them up afterwards. After dropping them off I arrived back home at 7.30, when the weather couldn’t dampen an enjoyable day in Scunny.

✔560 Langwith Road

Shirebrook Town 1-1 Eccleshill United

Northern Counties East League Division One

Saturday 25th March 2017

Shirebrook is a former mining town in the Bolsover district, on the north-east Derbyshire border with Notts.
(Population around 10,000)
Shirebrook Colliery was sunk in 1896 before closing in April 1993. The town briefly earned the nickname "the Belfast of England” because of deep divisions between workers and strikers during the 1983-84 miners strike. It’s also known as “Little Poland” amongst its local residents.
The birthplace of England World Cup winner Ray Wilson, The Bill actor Colin Tarrant and Hollywood “star” Jason Statham. 

Shirebrook Colliery formed in 1985 and joined the Central Midlands League from Sunday league football.
Senior League winners 1985-86
Division One runners-up 1986-87
Promoted to Supreme League 1990-91
Changed name to Shirebrook Town in 1993
CML Supreme champions 2000-01,2001-02
Joined Northern Counties East League 2002-03
Division One winners 2003-04
Relegated from Premier Division in 2010

Langwith Road
NCEL grounds 27/44
Current capacity 2,000 
Record crowd 2,200 v Mansfield Town (friendly) 1991

There is two matching stands with a total of 300 seats on the far side with three rows of blue flips, with the team dugouts in between at the front. At the entrance side there’s Marilyn’s cafe, the club office and a covered terrace with room for 400 spectators. The changing rooms are in the corner next to the paying entrance, which were officially opened in 2004 by Ray Wilson. The rest of the ground is open with three sets of floodlight pylons on each side.

Shirebrook Town(16th) v Eccleshill United(9th)
NCEL Division One Matchday 35/37
Kick off 3pm
Att.68

Shirebrook claimed a well earned point after playing over half the game with ten men. Five minutes before the break Luke Wright went off injured and as the home team didn’t name any substitutes, they had to soldier on a man short.
Just 18 seconds after the restart they took the lead when Jake Whelan picked up the ball in midfield and ran on unchallenged before firing home from the edge of the box.
Ten minutes later a good through ball found Luke Harrop who raced in on goal and produced a good finish to draw Eccleshill level. 
It was backs to the wall for the hosts in the final quarter of the match and the visitors almost pinched it in injury time, when ‘keeper Warren Squires pushed a point blank effort onto the crossbar to maintain the draw.

Matchday Stats and Spondoolicks
STFC 1(Whelan 46) EUFC 1(Harrop 67)
Entertainment 7/10
Top Bloke - no.5 (Shirebrook Town)

Admission £4
Programme £1
Pin badge £3
Tea £1
Meat pie £2
Chips £1

#HeedHopper
Another one of our weekend ale trails, this time heading further south into Derbyshire with a night out in Chesterfield. The breadknife and I were also accompanied by our very good friends Zippy and Helen for what was a cracking night out with bevvies supped in the White Swan, Spa Lane Vaults, The Rutland Arms, Portland Hotel and the Market Pub. Plenty of new ales along with a belly filling Chinese sittee-dooney rounded off a great Saturday in the shadows of the crooked spire.

Bevvy Almanac
Best ale - St Louis Continental IPA (6.5%)****+ -(Spa Lane Vaults)
Best boozer - Rutland Arms


Matchday Web Album 
(25 pictures from Langwith Road)

My Matchday - 487 Plumpton Park

Eccleshill United 2v4 Heaton Stannington
FA Vase First Qualifying Round
Saturday 5th September 2015

 This date has been set in the diary for almost a year, the start of the FA Vase and also the beginning of another football odyssey for Alan Oliver and Calvin Wade. During the 2013-14 season they started off on the road to the final of the FA Cup at West Didsbury & Chorlton,following the winning team through every round, with the eventual finishing line being Arsenal’s triumph over Hull City at Wembley. Last season it was the same format in the FA Trophy, where they soon stumbled upon North Ferriby United, watching every minute of The Villagers fabulous cup run which cumulated in Wembley success. 

Last year I spoke to Alan and promised I would be their at the beginning, the end and hopefully somewhere in between, on the last of their FA silverware trilogy. As Alan lives in Manchester, we decided to meet somewhere in between, at a ground both of us hadn’t visited with Yorkshire the obvious central point. When the draw was made in early July, it provided us the perfect location as Eccleshill United were drawn at home to Heaton Stannington. 
The club are based in the village of Wrose, which is a civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, about 3 miles north of Bradford city centre. The village sits on top of a hillside which is around 600 feet above sea level, overlooking the Aire valley and Bradford valley.

The football club formed in 1948 originally playing in the Bradford Amateur League, followed by the West Riding County Amateur League. They joined the Northern Counties East League Division Three in 1985, before the league switched to a two division format. Eccleshill United have twice been promoted in 1987 and 1997 and also relegated twice, having played in Division One since 2009. The Eagles won the West Riding County Cup in 2014 and their best performance in the FA Vase was in 1999-2000 when they reached the fifth round.

The Vase draw didn’t just deliver an ideal destination, but I scored with the away ball out of the bag, as one of my local Northern League club’s Heaton Stannington head to Plumpton Park. This meant my transport on the players and supporters bus was soon sorted after contacting the Stan’s travel agent James Colwill on twitter. The Heaton charabanc left Grounsell Park at 10.15 and after a piss and pastie stop at Wetherby services, we arrived at the sponsored named Mitton Group Stadium just before half one.

Eccleshill United started life playing on the recreation ground and then on various pitches in the area before purchasing a plot of land on Plumpton Park in 1963. Changes and major improvements were made when the club joined the NCEL, so the ground was fully enclosed by 1990. The main stand sits on the halfway line, decked out with 225 blue and white flip seats. There's a covered enclosure at the turnstile entrance behind the goal, with the refreshment cabin and changing rooms at each side. The team dugouts are opposite the stand with the rest of the ground open with hard standing all 'round. The overall capacity is 2,225 and the record crowd is 715 for a game against Bradford City in the 1996-97 season, the Bantams have also used the ground as a home base for their reserve side

 I had a few pints in the clubhouse before Alan, Calvin and fellow traveller Gordon the ref arrived just after 2pm. It was good see Alan again and meet the other two lads for the first time, although I feel I already know them pretty well, having read about their adventures in ‘Another Saturday and Sweet FA’ and ‘Brutal Giants & the Village King’ the two books Calvin wrote on their road to Wembley over the last two seasons.

The lads feared a goalless draw but I told them there was no need to worry as my goal average so far this season after 30 games is 4.43. My goal fest confidence was soon confirmed as the Stan took an early lead from the penalty spot, after a foul on Burns was converted by Jon Wright after seven minutes, but the lead was short lived when Luke Harrop got on the end of a right wing ball to nip in and level the score six minutes later. 
Heaton got their noses back in front when a square ball from Telford on the right wing teed up Matt Hayton to slot home, but yet again the Eagles soon equalised when a corner kick was met at the near post by Jermaine Springer to volley home.
Two's each at the break with the game finely balanced with the outcome unpredictable as the second half got under way, although it would be interesting to see how Heaton would react to going behind for the first time. In the 55th minute a free kick into the box was headed clear and fell nicely to Lewis Burns on the edge of the box , who unleashed a splendid right foot volley to put the Stan ahead for the third time.
The hosts applied the pressure late on, desperate for an equaliser to take the game into extra time. Some excellent saves from Dan Rule maintained Heaton's lead until the match was settled deep into injury time, when the ball was flicked into the path of Ben Telford who fired a first time effort past Joe Stead  to make it 4-2. In the end an enjoyable game and a cracking result for Heaton Stannington, as the club recorded their first win in the FA Vase for 34 years.

 At the game I also met 100FgC Squad #161 Michael Swaffield for the first time, who had travelled with his mate Keith from Saltaire to come and say hello and meet for a drink. We staying in the clubhouse until 5.50 before the Stan bus hit the road, doing a detour through Boroughbridge where we stopped off at the Three Horse Shoes and The Crown, before finally getting back to Grounsell Park at quarter to ten.
Overall a cracking day out, I enjoyed travelling with the Stan players and supporters, who were all very friendly and seem a good bunch of lads. However for me this day was mostly about the start of another adventure for three lads from Lancashire, who will be following today’s winners at Chester-le-Street in the next round on Saturday 3rd October, and I’ll also be their with them for the next chapter of ‘The Unbreakable Vase’, which is a smashing title for a book ... I wonder who came up with that incredible idea?

Matchday Stats and Spondoolicks

EUFC 2(Harrop 13 Springer 38) HSFC 4(Wright 7pen Hayton 27 Burns 55 Telford 90+4)
Att.75
Top Bloke - Ben Telford(Heaton Stannington)
Admission £5
Programme £1
Mince beef and onion pie £1
Coffee £1
Tetley Bitter £2.10 pint


Foetoes (32 pictures from Eccleshill United)

Footnote
Alan Oliver
The matches Alan attended in the FA Cup, FA Trophy and also this season’s FA Vase run is all part of his charity work for The Christie, a charity which is close to Alan’s heart having lost his mother-in-law Pat to cancer a few years ago. You can support Alan in his latest road to Wembley be donated on his charity page at
https://www.justgiving.com/alan-oliver3/

Calvin Wade
You can read about the lads road to Wembley in Calvin’s two previous publications ‘Another Saturday & Sweet FA’ and ‘Brutal Giants & The Village King’ which are both available in paperback and Kindle additions from Amazon. 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Calvin-Wade/e/B007V476YQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1441535884&sr=1-2-ent

My Matchday - 246 2inspire Park

Tadcaster Albion 4v0 Eccleshill Town
Northern Counties East League Division 1
Saturday 27th March 2010
Tadcaster is a market town in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, which lies on the River Wharfe situated between the cities of Leeds and York.
The town has a long association with the brewing industry from as far back as the 14th century, due to the quality of the local water. Freshwater springs known locally as popple-wells, can still be seen bubbling up near St. Mary’s church.
The water is made from very hard magnesium limestone, rich in sulphate of lime which proved ideal for producing bright bitter beer as brewed by John Smith’s in Tadcaster from 1847, as bitter began to replace in popularity the sweeter porter ales, which had up to then, been the working-man's preferred pint.
There are three breweries still making booze in the town. The Tower Brewery, which was formally owned by Bass until being taking over by Coors. The Old Brewery which is the oldest in Yorkshire is home to the Samuel Smith Brewery, which was passed on to John’s nephew Samuel after John Smith’s Brewery moved on to bigger premises next door.

It was here that the John Smith’s Brewery formed their own football club, playing on the cricket ground pitch behind the brewery in 1892. The club began playing in local leagues, winning the York Football League Second Division in 1909-10 and continued playing in the First Division until the club disbanded in 1920.
The club remerged in 1923 as Tadcaster Albion, but reverted to the original John Smith name four years later, however the club formed a second team in 1930, using the Albion name with both teams competing against each other in the York Football League.
After the war both clubs merged, this time keeping the Tadcaster Albion name and nicknamed themselves “The Brewers” winning the York Football League title for the only time in 1947-48, where they remained until joining the Yorkshire League in 1973-74.
Two league titles in four seasons saw The Brewers in the Yorkshire League’s top division by the 1977-78 campaign, a season which produced their best run in the FA Vase, reaching the 5th round.
In 1982-83 they became founder members of the Northern Counties East League where they have the distinction of recording the league’s record score - 13-0 against Blidworth MW during the 1997-98 season.

The Brewers are yet to play in the NCEL top division, but that looks set the change as Albion produced a convincing win over Eccleshill United to strengthen their position in the promotion race.
It was Albion’s left sided midfielder Mike Braithwaite who stole the show, scoring a hat-trick after 50 minutes. He opened the scoring with a left foot shot from the edge of the box , then doubled their lead when latching on to a long ball from the centre half, the ball fell nicely into his path, allowing it to bounce in front of him before nodding the ball over the keeper’s head, making it 2-0 at half time.
The third goal came from Thompson’s long ball over the top which had the Eccleshill defence on the back foot, Sunley squared the ball, picking out Braithwaite who produced another good finish, shooting low to the keeper‘s left hand post.
After an hour the goal hero was substituted, apparently his job was done, so it was left to Darren Brandon to complete the scoring, finishing off a good move and unselfish work from Taylor to score from close range five minutes from time.
This three points leaves Tadcaster a point behind leaders Brighouse Town but with the added luxury of three games in hand, so now it’s not only promotion the club are looking at, it’s winning the Division One title as well.

In 1960 the club moved a further 100 yards along the river from their old Ings ground to The Park, which is now know by its sponsored name - 2inspire Park.
When I arrived at the ground I got a bit anxious with the lack of activity on the pitch, expecting the players to be doing their pre-match warm up. I then discovered that the players use a separate pitch behind the ground, keeping the main pitch in prime condition for matchday.
The admission hut is next to the clubhouse, after paying and purchasing a programme I asked if they had any pin badges, the gateman and his two assistants looked at me as if I was asking for the crown jewels, so as you can guess - there wasn’t any!
There is only one stand at The Park, situated behind the left side goal surrounded by hard standing. The stand has a mix of 62 red and blue seats, which were backside free during the game. I didn’t have to count the seats in the stand as they are each numbered 1-62.
The majority of spectators gather around the clubhouse. The cream building is quite impressive inside, having a spacious bar with Sky Sports on two screens and a separate refreshment bar for hot drinks and snacks. The best feature is the large window which spans along the length of the clubhouse, which means you don’t have to go outside to watch the game, a bit like a large communal executive box.
Terrace steps lead up to the building which also houses the changing rooms and there’s a bench seating area at the side. The far side has a pair of brick dugouts with partial hard standing which leads to the far goal which has a large lawn area and three sets of tall thin light pylons at each side.
As a visitor to the ground I can’t say (which I’ve said many times in the past) that this is a friendly ground where your made very welcome by the fact you’ve made the effort to come and visit their football club. However if you live locally and support The Brewers then relaxing in the clubhouse with a cheap pint of John Smith’s brewed by the neighbours, looking out of the window watching some NCEL action and not forgetting the sweet tones of Jeff Stelling in the background, what better way could you spend a Saturday afternoon?

TAFC 4(Braithwaite 22,35,52 Brandon 83) EUFC 0
att.68

admision £4

programme £1

Ground no.246 2inspire Park - Matchday Webalbum (16 pictures)