2nd Precision Notts Senior League Bonanza

After enjoying the first Notts Football Bonanza last year I returned for the next batch of grounds, but this time I brought the breadknife along for a birthday treat of a weekend stay in Nottingham.

We left Newcastle on the 1335 train to Sheffield to catch our connecting train, which was over 20 minutes late due to some bulls knacker wandering the train line. After taking solace in the Sheffield Tap we boarded the next available service so we finally arrived in Nottingham at 5.30pm. 

The five game ticket cost £15 which included programmes for all 5 matches and a further £15 for coach travel for Saturday's games.As this weekend marked the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, there was a minutes silence before each game as a mark of respect for the 96.

Friday 11th April 2014

389.The Woodview Ground 

Cotgrave 4v2 Burton Joyce

NSL Senior Division

7.45pm.ko

The first game of the hop was a Friday night fixture in Cotgrave, a town and civil parish in the borough of Rushcliffe, located about 5 miles south-east of Nottingham city centre. After a couple of swift bevvys in the Roebuck Inn, we caught the Cotgrave Connection bus for the half an hour journey from the Friars Lane bus stop to Woodview.
The village sits at the edge of the South Nottinghamshire wolds and lies on the Grantham Canal. The town came to prominence when coal was discovered in the 1950s and the emergence of Cotgrave Colliery. The pit was established in the early 60’s and included a number of relocated miners, especially a lot of Geordies and mackems who still live in the town. The colliery survived ten years after the UK miners strike, closing in 1993/94

Cotgrave FC formed in 1946 and played in the South Notts Realm League and the Notts & District League. After the colliery opened the club eventually merged with the Welfare team in 1983, becoming Cotgrave United. Over the proceeding years Cotgrave played in a few different leagues under different guises and became Cotgrave Welfare FC, winning the Notts Senior League title in 2006-07. In 2011 Cotgrave Welfare merged with Cotgrave PFC ladies and Cotgrave Colts football club so that all the towns teams now play under the one banner of Cotgrave FC.

"Oi Mister - get your hands off me breadknife!"

The Woodview Ground is found behind the Cotgrave Welfare Club, where we had a quick pint before kick-off. The changing rooms, snack bar and cafe are at the rear of the Welfare, with the pitch having a pair of white wooden dugouts, four lamp corner pylons and temporary perimeter fencing.

On arriving we met up with hop organiser Rob Hornby to say hello and pick up our 5 game programme pack. Rob greeted us with the news that the breadknife was to make a presentation to the club’s new chairman at half time. The honour was done in her usual manner of confidence personified, although I wasn’t too happy with Rob introducing her as Mrs Smith, when it should have really been Mrs 100 grounds club, or better still Mrs Handsome Groundhopper!

The match was played to the soundtrack of church bells, so there was either a rush of evening weddings or the bell ringers were roped in for extra practise. As for the match itself, it looked like we were in for a disappointing start, as there wasn’t much to report in the opening period. Just as we were settling for a scoreless first half, the visitors took the lead five minutes before the break, when centre-half Roman Easom got on the end of a corner kick to head home from 10 yards.
The hosts must have received a bollocking at half time because they looked a completely different outfit in the second forty-five. On 54 minutes Lewis Dobbins nodded in a well worked corner kick to nod in at the near post, then a minute later Kyle Waddell rifled home from the edge of the box.
Cotgrave extended their lead further when a cross from Jamie Kirkby sailed over the ‘keeper and hit the back of the net at the far post, with the scorer milking the applause as if he really meant this as a shot. 
Burton reduced the arrears when Easom again came forward for a corner-kick and bundled the ball in from six yards, but Cotgrave struck in injury time when Kirkby completed his brace with a 20 yards daisy cutter clinching the points.

So a fine start to the hop and an eventful, enjoyable night at Cotgrave. We managed to cadge a lift off Paul Brockett back the the city, so we had more time to enjoy our Friday night, ticking off a few pubs and looking forward to a busy Saturday ahead. 

Saturday 12th April 2014

390.Wollaton Sports Association
Wollaton 3v0 Beeston Town
NSL - Senior Division
10.10am ko

Saturday morning started at 8.50 with the coach leaving the rendezvous point outside Nottingham rail station for the three and a half mile trip to the picturesque village of Wollaton, which is a former parish in the west of the city. The suburb is home to Wollaton Hall and museum(which appeared in the last Batman movie), deer park, golf course, lake and walks.  Wollaton Colliery opened in 1873 until closing in 1966 and is the land is now the home of the Torville & Dean estate. The road and streets on the estate are named in honour of the Nottingham born Olympic gold medallists, such as Torvill Drive, Jayne Close and Bolero Close.

Wollaton FC formed in 1954 and share the Wollaton Sports Association Ground with the village cricket club. The club joined the Notts Alliance from the Midland Amateur Alliance in 1990, going on the win the Senior Division in 1999-2000 and the Notts Senior Cup the following season. In 2004 they became founder members of the Notts Senior League and were league champions in the competitions first two seasons, and have also added League Cup honours in 2005 and 2009.

The classic looking pavilion is found at near corner of the ground with the cricket pitch at the front and the football pitch at the side. The pitch is quite tight in the corners with the neighbouring houses close by, so we had the unwelcome sight of a big flabby bloke sitting in his undercrackers eating his breakfast. The pitch perimeter has white posts tied with rope with the best feature being the posh dugouts, which each have seven leather seats with cup holders within its perspex frame.

Out of the ten teams on show this weekend I was most impressed with Wollaton. They dominated the opening period and if it wasn’t for Beeston ‘keeper Luke Gibbons they could have been at least five goals up by half time. However they did open the scoring in the 24th minute when Jordan Alls picked up a square ball to fire home from the edge of the box and doubled their lead just 16 seconds after the restart, when Tony Atkins nodded in a right wing cross. 
The hosts hit the third on 53 minutes when a corner-kick fell nicely to Alls to welly in his second goal of the morning. The striker had chances to bag his hat-trick and his team mates had further opportunity to increase their tally, but in the end they had to settle for just the three plus a clean sheet in an entertaining encounter.

391.Elms Park
Ruddington Village 0v1 Boots Athletic
NSL - Senior Division
12.50pm ko

The second game of the day was onwards six miles south over the Trent down the A60 ring road to the village of Ruddington, situated five miles south of the city centre in the Borough of Rushcliffe. Ruddington is home to Rushcliffe Country Park and is notable for being the home of three museums; Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre, Ruddington Village Museum and the Ruddington Framework Knitters Museum.

Ruddington Village FC formed in 1986, initially as a junior club before a senior side was set up a decade ago. The club played in the Notts Amateur Alliance and began their NSL career in 2008, winning the Division One title in 2010-11 season after suffering relegation the previous year. The club also runs a reserve team playing within the Notts Senior League set up.

Elms Park is a typical neat village ground. The main pitch is roped off with portable perspex dugouts at the far side, which have the club crest embossed and are clearly marked as home and away. There’s also a pathway at this side which runs through the park and doubles as hard standing, making this the popular end of the ground.
The clubhouse serves hot drinks and snacks and also for the groundhop occasion outside they served hot potatoes with a choice of fillings, which was favoured by most of us in attendance.

At a groundhop there has to be a stinker of a game and unfortunately this was it. However I’m willing to take responsibility for this, as Debra bought us some bonny looking Ruddington Village shirts which were used when the club won Division One three seasons ago. The breadknife purchased a light blue and black polka-dotted keepers jersey and bought me a bright yellow number seven shirt at a giveaway one quid each. Therefore Rudd became our adopted team of the hop, so its my fault they lost as this is largely the case with teams I follow.
The match was made up of wasted chances and wayward shots with both teams struggling to hit the target. The decisive goal arrived just before the hour mark when The Chemists big beefy centre forward Anton Bonnick blasted the ball into the net from inside the box and celebrated with a mouthful of verbal abused aimed at himself for his previous misdemeanors in front of goal.

I enjoyed my visit to Ruddington Village FC, the hosts were very friendly and the baked potato with chilli filling was a treat. Plus lets not forget my bargain quid football top, which I promise to wear with pride around the streets of Tyneside, where I’m bound  to get some funny looks as the shirt is so bright you’ll see me coming a mile away

392.Platt Lane
Keyworth United 3v2 Sandhurst
NSL - Senior Division
3.40pm ko

The next hopstop was situated five miles away in the village and civil parish of Keyworth which sits on a small, broad hilltop about 200 feet above sea level in the south of Nottingham. Keyworth is mentioned in the Domesday Book and recent archaeological finds have discovered Roman artifacts around the parish which suggests human inhabitants as far back as 800 AD. Keyworth originally developed as an agricultural community of mostly farmers and field labourers, before frame-knitting gave rise to local employment and expansion in the 1880s.

Keyworth has hosted football since 1876, with competitive football played in the village for the first time in 1899 when Keyworth FC joined the Notts Amateur League. The club have seen a variety of name changes during their long history, but the first time the United suffix appeared was in the Spartan League, when football was re-introduced after the First World War. Another name change to Normanton & Keyworth United came in 1936 with the club becoming United again from 1947 in the Notts Realm League. Keyworth were league champions three years running and won a fourth consecutive title in the Notts Spartan Division One in 1950-51. The club didn’t win the league again until 1973-74 and after switching to the Notts Alliance in 1978, they lifted the Senior Division title in 1984-85. Keyworth United Community FC as they are now known became founder members of the NSL in 2004 and have played in its Senior Division since.

The club have played at Platt Lane since 1978, although the pitch position has changed as well as a new clubhouse built in 2009 when the club was awarded £514,460 from the Football Foundation. The new building has six changing rooms with toilets and showers and two changing rooms for officials as well as a large club room, bar and kitchen.
My better half spent most of the game in the clubhouse, watching bits of the game while listening to the football on the radio, concentrating on our football bets and NUFC’s latest beaten to nil.
The football pitch is quite elevated sitting parallel to the main road and away from the cricket and other football pitches. The ground has a pair of brick dugouts painted in the club colours of green, black and white, a fully perimeter fence and three floodlights pylons on each side which have just been recently installed.

As we arrived at the ground our host Mr Hornby promised us plenty of goals in this game as both defences are so poor, he was proved right as two Clarkes’ scored in the opening eight minutes, firstly Ben for the hosts in the 4th minute quickly followed by Cliff for the visitors, both players scoring from close range.
Keyworth regained the lead on 35 minutes when John Crawley knocked in a left wing cross and Sandhurst’s task got that much harder when Dan Abbott received a second yellow card two minutes later.
The ten men grabbed an equaliser early in the second half after a powerful run and good finish from Adam Bradford, but the parity lasted only two minutes as Ben Clarke did well to ride a few tackles before making room for the shot and fire home. Surprisingly the goalscoring came to a halt as Clarke’s 52nd minute strike proved to be the winner in an evenly contested game.

393.Regatta Way
West Bridgford 2v1 Bingham Town
NSL - Division One
6.30pm ko

Our final match took us 5 miles north back towards the city to West Bridgford, a town in the Rushcliffe borough immediately to the south of the River Trent. Most of the main roads in central West Bridgford are named after wealthy families which dominated its early history, however there are no ‘Streets’ as the Victorian planners regarded the term too urban, so the likes of Musters Street was renamed Musters Road. The Musters family owned much of the land including the Trent Bridge Inn and Trent Bridge Cricket Ground which they sold after the First World War.
The town has no formal ties with Nottingham and is often called the "Bread and Lard Island" in the belief that its residents spend most of their cash on big houses and fur coats so they could only afford to eat bread and lard behind closed doors. 

West Bridgford Colts was formed in 1990 as one of the first multiple junior clubs in the area with the senior team formed as recently as 2011. The senior team won promotion from the NSL Division Two in their debut season and went into this, their final match of the season, with a chance of another promotion.
The club moved to Regatta Way from their former Coronation Ground in 2008, signing at 25 year lease at their new home base. The football pitch is at one side of the clubhouse away from the cricket field and other football pitches around the opposite side. The pitch is fully fenced off with brick dugouts installed with plastic chairs and six tall light pylons.

The final match of the hop turned out to be the most important in terms of the Division One title race. West Bridgford needed a two goal victory in this their final game of the season to win the title, while opponents Bingham Town needed maximum points from the final three fixtures to pip the hosts to promotion, however any other result would see Kirton Brickworks crowned champions. The match attracted the biggest attendance of the weekend of 448 and the highest gate in the NSL history. The club staff did well to cope with the extra numbers and kept on top of the conveyor belt the hot pies, chips and mushy peas.

The game was competitive and keenly fought as there was so much at stake. West Bridgford drew first blood taking the lead after only nine minutes through Jurgen Charlesworth (a player whose name sounds like a cross between a top German international and someone who played for Royal Engineers in the 19th century) who ran onto a through ball before nicely tucking the ball into the far corner. Bingham hit back ten minutes later as Nicholas Gammon  neatly rounded the ‘keeper to level the score and set up a tense second half.
Bridgford needed two goals for the championship but could only manage one, as Charlesworth hit home a free-kick from the edge of the box, when the referee should have really awarded a penalty as the infringement was clearly in the box. The final whistle was greeted with a huge cheer from the watching contingent from Kirton, who had won Division One by just a single goal in a thrilling finale to the season and a great game to finish off the groundhop.

Just like last year’s Notts Bonanza, another excellent, well organised weekend of football brilliantly orchestrated by Rob Hornby. I’m sure I speak on everyone’s behalf on a job well done and it’s pleasing to see Rob’s hard work in organising the event was rewarded with a good turn out at all five games. As always it was good to meet up with like minded friends from the rest of the country, some of which I’ve got to know really well and look forward to sharing their company and also some of you I met for the first time. There’s too many names to mention but you know who you are, all top blokes and not akin to the rude minority of pedantic groundhoppers who I had the misfortune to share the air with over the weekend.
On a personal level we had an ace couple of nights in Nottingham, visiting some smashing pubs like the Canalhouse, Olde Trip To Jerusalem (apparently the oldest pub in the UK) and our favourite The Salutation, where we spent a lot of time, as this was next door to the Travelodge and where I staggered from at 1.30am on Sunday morning after a heavy sesh. There were lots of other sights and pubs we wanted to visit but we just didn’t have enough time, so this means one thing, we’ll just have to come back again next year for the 3rd Precision Notts Senior League Bonanza.


Matchday Stats
1.CFC 4(Dobbins 54 Waddell 55 Kirkby 63,90+2) BJFC(Easom 40,75)Att.311
(Bloke of the Match - Lewis Dobbins,Cotgrave) Programme
2.WFC 3(Alls 24,54 Atkins 46) BTFC 0 Att.282
(Bloke of the Match - Chris Atkins,Wollaton) Programme
3.RVFC 0 BAFC 1(Bonnick 51) att.319
(Bloke of the Match - Alex Bowles,Boots Athletic) Programme
4.KUCFC 3(Clarke 4,51 Crawley 35) SFC 2(Clarke 8 Bradford 49) Att.372
(Bloke of the Match - Ben Clarke,Keyworth United) Programme
5.WBFC 2(Charlesworth 10,76) BTFC(Gammon 19) Att.448
(Bloke of the Match - Jurgen Charlesworth,West Bridgford) Programme

Foetoes
Matchday Web Album (97 pictures from 5 grounds)

Our local whilst in Nottingham - Salutation Inn

Bevvy Almanac
Pubs visited(4 new JD'Spoons - Total 206)
Roebuck Inn (JDW) St James Street
Joseph Elsie (JDW) South Parade
Lloyds no1 (JDW) Carlton Street
Ye Olde Salutation Inn Maid Marion Way
Royal Children Maid Marion Way
Olde Trip To Jerusalem Brewhouse Yard
Company Inn (JDW) Canal Street
Canalhouse Canal Street
Top 5 Supped
Falstaff 'Good,Bad & the Drunk(6.2%)**** (Lloyds)
Full Mash 'Nevermore'(4.6%)****(Salutation)
Castle Rock 'Harvest Pale'(3.8%)re-sup****(Royal Children)
Crux 'Nectar'(4.5%)***(Canalhouse)
Magpie 'Thieving Rogue'(4.5%)***(Jerusalem)

Toon Academy

388.Little Benton

Newcastle United U-18 5v3 Leicester City U-18

Barclays U18 Premier League (North Group)

Saturday 29th March 2014

The Newcastle United Academy was opened in 2003 in Little Benton, a small suburb in the east end of the town, which along with the Toon Academy also holds two modern housing estates at Church Green and Haydon Grange. 
The Academy forms part of the large square area of football grounds. Whitley Park(Blue Flames) the home of West Allotment Celtic, Northumberland FA and NUFC Reserves, Team Northumbria’s Coach Lane Sports Ground and the Newcastle United Training Centre at Darsley Park.

The complex is found off Coach Road, along a winding road at the beginning of Greenlee Drive. There’s several pitches including a 3G and full size fields at the other side of the main reception and changing room building, where the U-16s were also in action against Leicester City. The main pitch is fully fenced off, with perspex dugouts, floodlights and hard standing behind the near goal and dolomite standing along the near side.

Regular readers will be shocked to learn that this is my first match at Little Benton. The simple reason for this is because matches are usually played on a Saturday morning while I’m still at work, and when I’m not grafting I’m usually on my travels elsewhere. 
Today’s U-18 Premier League match with Leicester City was a 1230pm kick off this week allowed me plenty of time to get to the game and do a double with Gateshead’s Skrill Premier clash with Braintree Town at 3pm.

This entertaining encounter saw United take the lead after nine minutes when Greg Olley cut inside and unleashed a low hard shot from 25 yards which skidding along the wet surface and under the ‘keepers body. The Foxes hit back after 13 minutes when Dylan Casey ran through on the overlap and his deflected shot flew past Woolston in the United goal, then the other City full back Cedric Kipre was on hand to fire home at the far post from a corner kick.
Newcastle regained their advantage on the hour with a brace from Tom Heardman. The big number nine got on the end of a left wing cross from Kerridge in the 53rd minute then he took advantage of some poor City defending to fire home from close range seven minutes later.

United’s domination saw a great interchange of passing rounded off by Jonathyn Quinn to add the fourth after 68 minutes, before a lovely finish by Dan Barlaser, firing in at the near post from a tight angle with three minutes remaining.
City finished the game strongly and had plenty of decent chances to reduce the arrears,  but it wasn’t until deep into injury time when after a succession of corner kicks, the ball was deflected over the line via a United leg. The goal was controversially giving by the linesman, who flagged the ball had crossed the line, although the United camp are adamant this wasn’t the case. A cracking game for my long awaited first attended match at Little Benton, which was United’s fourth consecutive league victory as Dave Watson’s side continue to finish the season on a high note.

Matchday Stats
NUFCU-18 5(Olley 13 Heardman 52,60 Quinn 68 Barlaser 87)
LCFCU-18 3(Casey 13 Kipre 23 OG 90+2)
Att.46(HC)
Admission:none
Programme:Team Sheet

Pic of the Week Cup - Round 1

Squad#151 Jon Blake - Belford Terrace - Billingham Town v Crook Town (15th Feb')

100FgC FB Member Gareth Cloutt - Worcester City derelict (March) 

100FgC FB Member Jim McAlwane - Canal Street - St Andrews v Newcastle Benfield (8th March)

100FgC-A33 Mark Wilkins - Tinto Park - Benburb v  Neilson (15th March)

100Fgc-A8 Simon Langton - Barton Stadium - Winsford United v Silsden

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on leave a comment below.

My Matchday - 387 Forthbank Stadium

Stirling Albion 2v2 Montrose

Scottish League Two

Saturday 22nd March 2014

 Forthbank Stadium was another ground needed in my pursuit of the Scottish 42 as I begin to run out of destinations which can be achieved in a day. Stirling is the easiest one of the thirteen left on my list, just a straightforward train hop at Edinburgh.

Stirling is the largest city in Central Scotland, known as the "Gateway to the Highlands" due to its geographical position at the Highland Boundary Fault described as the brooch which clasps the Highlands and the Lowlands together. The former Scottish capital was created as a Royal burgh by King David I in 1130, remaining so until 1975, when the county of Stirlingshire was formed. The town was granted city status in 2002 as part of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

Stirling is found off the River Forth, so it became a target for Viking invaders. Legend has it that a wolf known as “The beast of Stirling” howled out a warning of a Viking attack, alerting the townsfolk to save the town. It is also claimed that the last wolf in Scotland was killed in Stirling.
At the top of Castle Hill surrounded by three sides of cliffs is the historic and architectural wonder of Stirling Castle, one of the largest castles in the country. Within the grounds is The Great Hall, Renaissance Palace and most of the principal buildings which date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. There have been at least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, mainly during the Wars of Scottish Independence, the last assault came when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle in 1746.Scottish royalty have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary Queen of Scots in the castle in 1542 and King James VI in 1567 in the medieval Church of the Holy Rude.

King's Park FC formed in 1875 and later played in the Scottish Football League with the reintroduction of the Second Division in 1921–22 season. Prior to World War II the club had stopped playing competitively but continued playing friendly matches. The fortunes of the club was severely hit in 1941 when a Luftwaffe Heinkel III dropped a single Hermann bomb on their Forthbank ground, one of only two bombs to hit the town during the conflict. Due to a lack of a ground because of the damage, the club didn’t play again and were officially wound up in 1953 when the War Office finally settled their damage claim.

Stirling Albion was founded after the war by local coal magnate Thomas Fergusson, who purchased the Annfield estate to build a new stadium. The football term “yo-yo club” is believed to have originated from Albion, as a club not good enough for the top flight but too strong for the Second Division, having been promoted and relegated eight times between 1952 and '65. The club's unwanted nickname of The Yo-Yos became a Scottish saying that something or somebody was "going up and down like Stirling Albion"  Thankfully the club now have a more solicitous nickname - “The Binos" which is just basically an anagram of Albion but without the Al.

The Binos have won ten league titles between the second to fourth tiers of the Scottish League and hold the record for the biggest victory in the Scottish Cup during the 20th century, beating Selkirk 20-0 in 1984. 
In 2002 Albion became the first senior club in the UK to be 100% owned by a fans trust. A group of die-hard fans set up a trust to provide financial support to the club when needed, after concerns over the club's rising debt. The group launched the 'Buy Stirling Albion’ campaign in May 2009 with the Trust leading fundraising efforts and raised enough funds to purchase the club in June 2010.

The club moved from Annfield to a new purpose built stadium constructed by Stirling Council in 1993. Forthbank is found on the outskirts of the town and is named after the old home of Kings Park; the first football ground in Stirling.
The 3,808 capacity stadium has two seated stands at the sides and open terraces behind the goals. The main stand is on the west side having a single tier block of red seats with SAFC picked out in white with the club offices, hospitality suites at the back and team dugouts in front. The East Stand is of similar style but smaller in length which brings the overall seating capacity to 2,508. The east side also has a Police Control Room, TV gantry and press box. The terraces are identical with room for 300 at each end with the North Terrace allocated to away supporters, although neither are used unless there's a big game with a decent crowd expected. The ground is completed with four very tall and skinny floodlights, but the best feature is the picturesque backdrop to the north, which includes the Wallace Monument at the summit of Abbey Craig.

 Albion were up against Montrose in League 2, with both sides dishing up the worst opening 45 minutes of play I've seen this season. The match had nowts each written all over it, but to our surprise the second half was quite entertaining. The Binos took the lead five minutes after the restart when Craig Comrie fired home from six yards, but the visitors drew level when a 20 yard free kick from Paul Watson perfectly found the bottom left corner of the net.
Stirling looked to have clinched maximum points when David McClune smacked the ball home off the post on 83 minutes, but a clumsy foul by O'Byrne in the box allowed Gary Wood to fire home the spot kick in the final minute for a share of the points.

On my arrival in Edinburgh I called at a couple of my regular haunts. Starting off with a walk across South Bridge for breakfast at Babylon Cafe then down to the bottom of the Royal Mile for some vinyl digging at Unknown Pleasures. I then met up with Squad#155 James Little at Waverley for our 50 minute journey on the 1203 Dunblane service to Stirling. 
We arrived just before 1pm which allowed plenty of time for drinks at No.2 Baker Street, Portcullis and the auldest pub in Stirling - the Settle Inn. The ground is a good 20-25 minute walk from the station, but we managed to hotfoot it back after the match (with seconds to spare) to catch the 1707 to Edinburgh. Once back in the capital we had time for another bevvy, so James took me to previously uncharted boozer; The Bow Inn which has a large choice of ale and worldwide bottled beers. So that's another of the Scottish 42 successfully ticked off and an enjoyable day out, which was accurately summarized by James when he remarked that "The beer was better than the football!"

Matchday Stats
SAFC 2(Comrie 51 McClune 83) MFC 2(Watson 79 Wood 90pen)
Att.529
Admission £10
Programme £3

Ground no.387 Forthbank Stadium - Matchday Web album (22 pictures)

My Matchday - 386 Rodney Parade

Newport County 1v1 Exeter City

League Two

Sunday 16th March 2014

After several bad luck stories over the last few seasons in my pursuit of seeing a match in Newport, I finally made it to my Shangri-la at the fourth attempt, thanks largely to Squad#169 Geoff Jackson, together with international egg chasing and a trip to Salisbury the previous day.
I departed Wiltshire on the very busy 1026 First Great Western service to Cardiff Central, which was running 15 minutes late, but I still had sufficient time to call at the four Wetherspoons pubs before the match.

Newport (Welsh: Casnewydd) is a cathedral and university city in south east Wales, located on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn estuary. Newport as a settlement was first mentioned as “novo burgus” established by Robert, Earl of Gloucester in 1126. The name derived from the original Latin meaning new borough or town.
Newport is renowned for its port, going back to medieval times when a castle was built by the Normans. The port grew significantly in the 19th century with the export of coal from the eastern coalfields of South Wales, becoming the largest Welsh exporter of coal until the emergence of Cardiff in the 1850s.The docks declined during the 20th century, however Newport remained an important manufacturing and engineering centre. The town was granted city status in 2002 and is largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent.

The Newport & Monmouth County Association Football Club formed in 1912, playing in the Southern League and were originally nicknamed "The Ironsides" in recognition of the Orb steel works. Newport County reformed in 1919 and were elected to the Football League as founder members of Division Three South the following year. They were not re-elected after the 1930–31 season but rejoined for 1932–33, winning promotion to the Second Division as champions in 1939, the highest level the club played in during their Football League career.

The rise and fall of Newport County came in an eventful era during the 1980s. The decade began with promotion from the Fourth Division and finally winning the Welsh Cup which gained entry to the 1980-81 European Cup-Winners-Cup. The Euro adventure saw County progress past Crusaders (Northern Ireland) Sk Haugar (Norway) before a quarter final clash with East German side Carl Zeiss Jena. After drawing 2-2 in the away leg, County lost out by a narrow single goal defeat in front of 18,000 at Somerton Park, which denied them a semi-final clash with Benfica.

After such  a high the decade ended with the club going out of business under the ownership of American Jerry Sherman. The decline began with relegated from the Third Division in 1986-87, before dropping out of the Football League the following year after 60 seasons. They failed to complete their first season fixtures  in the Conference, as their record was expunged before finally going out of business on the 27th February 1989 with debts of £330,000.  

Newport AFC reformed in June 1989 by 400 supporters including David Hando as Chairman and who was later appointed the club president.The road back to ‘The 92’ began with election to the Hellenic League playing home games in the Gloucestershire town of Moreton-in-Marsh, which gave them the nickname "The Exiles" as Newport Council refused permission to use Somerton Park on the grounds of unpaid rent by the former hierarchy.
In their debut season the club won the title and progressed through the Southern League, on route playing matches at Gloucester City’s Meadow Park ground and regaining the Newport County name in 1999. The club were Conference South champions in 2010 and after almost a quarter of a century returned to the Football League in their centenary season, winning last year’s Conference play-off final against Wrexham at Wembley.

The Exiles returned to Newport for the 1994–95 season at the newly built Newport Stadium. In May 2012 the club announced an agreement to share with the city’s Rugby club Newport Gwent Dragons at  Rodney Parade, with the lease extended to a 10 year deal from February 2013.
Rodney Parade sits on the east bank of the River Esk and dates back to the 1877, following the formation of  Newport Athletic Club, which formed two years earlier and purchased use of the land from Lord Tredegar for their cricket, tennis, rugby and athletics teams. The cricket ground on the site was also used by Monmouthshire County Cricket Club between 1901 and 1934 and later Newport Cricket Club, until the land was sold and the new Maindee primary school was built.

The stadium has two new stands on the west and east sides of the ground. The Bisley Stand (east) was built in 2011 and is a pitch length single tier structure, neatly decked out in random yellow, black and red flip seats. The stand has a 2,526 capacity with 13 hospitality boxes and houses the TV gantry.
Opposite is the Hazell Stand which has more of a traditional look to it, with an upper tier of 1,996 red seats and a standing paddock at the front. There are 4 floodlight poles popping out of the peaked roof, with windshields on both sides.
I stood on the North Terrace which is uncovered with the standing area extended around to the west stand. Behind the south goal is some newly installed green flip seats in front of an office building and an electric scoreboard. The changing rooms are found in a separate building in the south-east corner, plus the ticket offices, club shop and a cracking portakabin programme shop are found at the north entrance.

The League Two clash with Exeter City was switched to a Sunday kick off because of the Six Nations Rugby International between Wales and Scotland in Cardiff the previous day, which suited my plans perfectly for this weekend. 
After a no score draw the previous afternoon and an uneventful first half at Rodney Parade it was looking as if I wouldn’t see the ball hit the onion bag all weekend, but like the proverbial double-decker bus, two came along together.
The visitors took the lead on 51 minutes when a long ball over the top found Tom Nichols free down the right, his left footed cross was intercepted by defender Harry Worley, who glanced his headed clearance into his own net past the shocked ‘keeper.
From the restart it was all square when a deep cross from Willmott found Zebroski who nodded the ball into the path of Minshull, to poke home the equaliser from six yards.
The best chance of a winner came late on when a jinky run and shot from Zeboski forced a good save from Krysiak, but on the overall balance of play, a share of the spoils was the fairest outcome.

Before the match I met up with Squad#169 Geoff Jackson, who along with his son Daniel(who is well on his way to 100 grounds)had travelled down from Carlisle to Salisbury the previous day, but stayed overnight in Newbury, before driving along to Newport for the game. Geoff was good enough to assist me in this weekend double by avoiding the A66 exit off the A1 to Cumbria, instead carrying on up the motorway to drop me off back in Gateshead. The five and a half hour journey back north wasn’t too bad, as Geoff was great company and didn’t button his lip for the 300 mile trip from Gwent to Tyneside. 
I finally arrived at Gallowgate View at 11pm, tired but delighted to have not just re-completed The 92, but also achieved a more mightier landmark. I mentioned at the top of this post that I did a pre-match ‘Spoons pub crawl and the second of those four boozers; the Queens Head was the 200th Wetherspoons pub that I’ve had a bevvy in, which is further proof that there’s still no getting away for my OCD - JDW problem.

Matchday Stats
NCAFC 1(Minshull 52)ECFC 1(Worley 51OG)
Att.3,159
Admission £17
Programme £3.50

Ground no.386 Rodney Parade - Matchday Web album (25 pictures)

My Matchday - 385 Raymond McEnhill Stadium

Salisbury City 0v0 Gateshead

Skrill Premier

Saturday 15th March 2014

Salisbury City v Gateshead is the longest journey in the Conference this season, a mere 327 miles between the two grounds, so obviously an early start for your author in preparation for a hectic weekend of football, beer, but most of all - plenty of travelling.
The first part of my journey was courtesy of Roy Best aka “Ginger Heed” who along  with Kitman Mark, Vicky Hutch and One-legged Geoff, chauffeured us on the long road trip to Wiltshire. Once Roy picked us up and fuelled up we finally hit the A1 at quarter to eight and after a couple of refreshment breaks, we made good time to arrive at the ground before 2pm. Before the match I was over the moon that Squad#169 Geoff Jackson had arrived from Carlisle as we were meeting up the next day in Newport as part of our weekend double.

Salisbury is the only city in the county of Wiltshire, which has also been called New Sarum to distinguish it from the original settlement site north of the city at Old Sarum. Salisbury sits at the confluence of five rivers: the Nadder, Ebble, Wylye and Bourne are tributary to the Avon, which flows to the south coast and into the sea at Christchurch in Dorset. 
The city of New Sarum was founded in 1220 on a great meadow called 'Myrifield'. The building of the new cathedral was begun by Bishop Richard Poore at the same time, which took 38 years to complete and is a masterpiece of Early English architecture. The 404 foot tall spire was built later and is the tallest spire in the UK. The cathedral also contains the best preserved of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta and the oldest surviving mechanical clock, installed in 1386.

Salisbury F.C. was founded in 1947, having no relation to a former club of the same name who played in the late 19th and early 20th century. The club entered the Western League and won the Second Division title in their debut season. The club plied their trade in the same league until 1968, winning the championship in 1957–58 and 1960–61, before being elected to the Southern League.
In 1993 Salisbury became City and won their first title with the new name in 1994–95 in the Southern League Southern Division.  The Whites switched to the Isthmian League for a solitary season in 2004-05 season, but on returning to the Southern League Premier were champions. The club progressed further in the Conference South, finishing second and winning the play-offs to reach the summit of non-league for the first time in 2007-08.
City good work on the pitch was squandered when in the summer of 2009 the club faced bankruptcy and were formally placed in administration in September with debts of £200,000. Although the club survived, they’d missed the deadline to pay back a creditor and after a failed appeal, The Whites were demoted two divisions from the Conference to the Southern League Premier Division for the 2010–11 season. However two promotions in three seasons including a play-off triumph over Dover Athletic sees the club return to the Conference this season.

Last seasons play off victory saw a new record attendance at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium with 3,408 spectators witnessing promotion and since moving into their new home in 1997, Salisbury have hosted some big FA Cup ties. In 1998 they reached the first round when a record gate of 2,570 saw a 2-0 defeat to Hull City. That stat was broken twice in 2006, with a first round victory over Fleetwood, then 3,100 fans including viewers on BBC1 saw City hold Nottingham Forest to a 1-1 draw.

Salisbury City moved from their previous Victoria Park home to a new purpose built 4,000 capacity stadium at Old Sarum  named after the then chairman, Raymond McEnhill. 
The main stand is similar to what they have at Barnet, with the reception, club offices, changing rooms, Chalkies Bar and club shop all housed in the one building, with seats attached at pitch side with an overhanging roof for cover. The green building has four rows of black and white seats with additional balcony seating upstairs and the team dugouts in front.  Opposite there’s two meccanno type stands, filled with black flip seats and separated by an advertisement board which includes a small electric scoreboard. There’s an additional £2 charge to sit at the Hop Back Side, but on a lovely sunny day not many took up the offer with just one solitary spectator in one of the stands. 
As you enter the Ray Mac at the car park turnstiles you notice the pitch is sunken, with the covered terrace at a higher level, which bends around to meet the main stand. The cover at the side has a disabled area and refreshment bar. The rest of the ground has open terraces with another electric scoreboard behind the away end.

As Salisbury have one of the best home records in the Conference, coupled with Gateshead’s  good away form, my pre-match prediction of a draw was spot on, but one thing I didn’t expect was a bore draw.
The match was similar to the one at Barnet last week with an uneventful first half and Gateshead improving after the break, but this time there was no killer goal to clinch the three points. Throughout the 90 minutes Heed keeper Adam Bartlett wasn’t seriously tested, while James Brown wasted a good opportunity for Gateshead, his weak header failing to trouble Puddy. The best chance of the game came in the 87th minute, when a cross from Walker found substitute Jack Lester who slid in from just three yards out, but he was unable to get a strong enough purchase on his shot and the ‘keeper managed to gather the ball to safety. The point apiece still gives but teams a slim play-off chance, but that late miss could be a crucial two points dropped for the Heed.

After the match I took the long walk from the stadium to my guest house just on the edge of the city centre. After a spot of relaxation and doing “The three S’s” I was out and ready for a night on the lash in Salisbury. I started off in the Anchor & Hope, Rai D’Or then Cloisters before meeting up with Torchy(Squad#51)Simon Grobari(Squad#185) Salisbury Dave and Bible Mike. Young Michael now lives in Manchester so I haven’t seen him for a while, but he’s still as daft as a brush and now has a remarkable resemblance to Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull. 
We met up in Deacons, before our ace host Dave lead us around the town, calling at Slug & Lettuce, Kings Head, Haunch of Venison, Ox Row and we finished the night in Yo-Yo. I  successfully managed to  navigate my way back to my digs afterwards, staggering back through the town after an  excellent night in great company. When I arrived in my room there was a pint glass and a bottle of ale waiting for me courtesy of the lady who works at the guest house. For discreet purposes I won’t say what action I performed to make her so grateful, all  I’ll  say is I was happy to be of assistance.(Nudge-nudge, wink,wink, so no more…Eddy) 
My alarm woke me up at 830 the next morning and although I felt as rough as a badgers, I tackled breakfast before heading off to the rail station,  having a last look through this lovely medieval cathedral city before catching the 1026 train to south Wales for my second matchday of the weekend in Newport.

Matchday Stats
SCFC 0 GFC 0
Att.1.045
Admission £14
Programme £2.50

Ground no.385 Raymond McEnhill Stadium - Matchday Web album (31 pictures)

My Matchday - 384 The Hive

Barnet 0v1 Gateshead

Skrill Premier Division

Saturday 8th March 2014

After the disappointment of being unable to tick off Welling United because of the weather last month, I was again back in the smoke for a Gateshead away game, this time visiting Barnet’s new gaff in ‘Arrrow, the aptly named The Hive Stadium.
Since my visit to Underhill on the eve of the 2010-11 season, The Bees survived by the skin of their teeth to avoid the drop, finishing 22nd in two consecutive seasons before falling through the Football League trapdoor last term,  so they find themselves back in non-league football for the first time since 2005.

Google searchers looking for information on the club’s history and their former home can read about this on my previous post - My Matchday - 255 Underhill However one thing I forgot to mention in that report was the first time I ever became aware of  Barnet and wondered where it was.  In 1979  I bought a unique piece of 7 inch vinyl by Toyah.  Sheep Farming In Barnet  has 6 tracks squeezed onto a single playing at 33rpm, which record label Safari described as an “Alternative Play Record” The title refers to a peculiar incident when sheep were bizarrely seen in a field in Finchley just off Regent's Park Road. An LP version with an additional five tracks became the band’s debut album in February 1980.

Barnet FC officially announced their intention to leave Underhill, their home for 106 years in December 2011 after they were unable to renew its lease. The stadium construction at the Prince Edward Playing Fields in Canons Park, originally started back in 2003 as a new home for Wealdstone F.C, but within twelve month work ceased on the project when the club's investor's went into liquidation. In 2006 Harrow London Borough Council put the site up for tender and after a failed bid to relocate to Barnet Copthall, the club focused their intentions to move 6 miles south-west to The Hive, in readiness for the 2013-14 season. 

The Hive is a ten minute walk from Cannons Park station, located through Barnet’s training ground in Camrose Avenue. The amenities, including club offices, changing rooms, clubshop and The Hive Bar are found within the East Stand. As for the stand itself, it holds 750 divided into ten rows of black seats including press area and the team dugouts, with cover coming from an overhanging roof from the main building. There isn't a tunnel as the players emerge from the north-east corner of the ground.
The West Stand has a capacity of 2,700 decked out in amber with two strips of horizontal black seats. and an electronic scoreboard. The stand is a single tier block with a cantilever roof and no supporting pillars, with the Jubilee Line running behind the stand, so you get a good view of the stadium as you arrive on the tube.
Behind each goal are two identical covered terraces which are prominently silvery grey with ten steps of terracing, crash barriers and the roof without any other flashes of colour. 

The club successfully kicked off this season within their new surroundings with the first match played against Ipswich Town in a pre-season friendly on the 20th July, but there's a sting in the tale as The Bees were issued an enforcement notice from Harrow Borough Council. The issue over the stadium is regarding the floodlights and the West Stand being built outside specifications in the original agreement. The notice means the club have six months to demolish the stand and three months to remove the lights or risk facing prosecution, however the club maintain the any remedial work shouldn’t be a problem. 

Backed by tremendous support from the Heed Army, Gateshead boosted their chances of finishing amongst the play-off pack with a crucial three points at The Hive. Over a hundred Heed fans had made the long trip to north London and were gladly rewarded with a second half winner from Jamie Chandler.
Decent goal scoring chances were minimal throughout the game, especially in the first half as both teams struggled to adapt to the bright sunshine and the sudden rise in the temperature. 
The match improved in the second half with Oster wasting a good opportunity for the visitors, while Charlie Adams looked Barnet’s best bet for a goal, with one effort producing a fine save from Bartlett at the near post.
Just as a goalless draw was looking the most likely outcome the decisive goal arrived in the 71st minute, when Oster chipped a through ball into the path of Chandler who timed his run to perfection and his looping header found the top corner of the net.
This win has The Tynesiders still in with a good shout at the top ,while Barnet move down to fourth as the play-off positions at top of the Conference table changes weekly and its all to play for as the season heads into the final straight.

I set off on the 0722 from Newcastle to Kings Cross feeling quite dapper and in good spirits. There was a touch of spring in the air and I felt like a new man having on matchday eve removed my 5 month old beard.(From incredibly hairy man to bonny lad within 10 minutes...Eddy) 
My pre-match plan was to tick off a few more JDWetherspoon pubs, starting off at the Sir John Oldcastle in Farrington for breakfast, before calling points on the Jubilee Line. I stopped off at Finchley Road, Kilburn and Kingsbury, meeting up with Squad#111 Steve Mann on route, who had traveled up from Hastings. As well as Steve, it was again good to see Squad#108 John Robinson from Somerset and #196 Keith Arthur from York, plus it was nice to have a bit crack with some of the Heed Army who I've never seen in a while.
The only disappointment on my part was running out of time for what would have been my fifth new 'Spoons of the day in Stanmore, but nothing could spoil a fab day in which at long last, I saw a Gateshead win in London for the first time. WA GATESHEAD!

Matchday Stats
BFC 0 GFC 1(Chandler 71)
Att.1,361
Admission:Press (£17 on terrace)
Programme £3

Ground no.384 The Hive - Matchday Web album (30 pictures)