My Matchday - 284 Gillford Park Stadium

Gillford Park 0v2 Marske United
Northern League Division Tw0
Wednesday 27th April 2011
I took a leisurely midweek drive along the A69 to one of the two Cumbrian based Northern League grounds that I still needed to tick off.
Gillford Park FC are based in the southern part of Carlisle, formed in 2004 by Mike Linden and Geoff Andrews, managers of a local amateur team, along with former League player Steven Skinner.
The club were accepted into the Northern Alliance Division Two for the 2005/06 season, playing on a shared pitch with Sunday League team Carlisle Spartans. The club won promotion in their first season, finishing runner-up to Whitley Bay ’A’ with a side comprising of locally based players from the Carlisle area.

The following season the team moved across from the second pitch to the main stadium at Gillford Park. The ground is found before reaching the railway bridge on Pettersill Bank Road, access is via a long concrete track off the main road which leads to the Railway Club and stadium.
The ground has a capacity of 4,000 made up of two seated stands. The Railway End Stand is behind the goal next to the turnstiles and has a cantilever roof with a mixture of red, white and blue flip seats. The stand also has a refreshment bar, changing rooms and a window view at the top which houses the PA system and offices.
The stand behind the team dugouts sits on the half way line, having a block of red seats with a light blue con-iron frame and 6 white supporting pillars. The terrace at the opposite side is fully covered and behind the far goal there's no hardstanding with insuficent room for spectators, so isn't used.
The club made rapid progress, winning the Northern Alliance Combination Cup in 2007 and two further promotions in three seasons brought Northern League football to the city of Carlisle for the first time. Floodlights were erected in the summer of 2009, bringing the ground up to Northern League standard.

Gillford Park have had a difficult season to say the least, locked out of their home for the majority of the season by landlords the Carlisle & District Railway Club after signing a 25 year lease just a few years ago. Thanks to the co-operation of their fellow Northern League clubs they had to reverse all their fixtures, playing all matches away until finding refuge in Whitehaven, at the Copeland Stadium in January.
The Carlisle County Court granted an interim injunction to allow the club the use the ground and facilities, so they finally played their first “home” fixture of the season on March 5th against Crook Town. Since then they’ve had to squeeze in 15 of their remaining 17 sNL Division Two fixtures at home, this game against Marske United being their penultimate match of a hectic finale to the season.
The disagreement with the proprietor seems to have extended into the car park. I arrived at the ground at 7pm where two ladies standing outside the Railway Club politely asked me to park further down away from the social club. I drove a bit further before being stopped by a volunteer from the football club who ushered me inside the stadium itself asking me to park behind the stand, before he cursed the annoying neighbours.

Gillford Park’s opponents Marske United went into this game knowing a win would clinch the third promotion slot along with Newton Aycliffe and Guisborough Town.
The first half produced very little, Marske United played like a team in a hurry, trying to get the required victory as quickly as possible and came close to breaking the deadlock through Karl Charlton, but his effort agonisingly hit the foot of the post.
The Seasiders were more patient in the second half, taking the lead on 55 minutes when Charlton pounced on a loose ball to sweep home from the edge of the box and with a quarter of an hour remaining Chris McGill got on the end of a right wing cross, to produce a sweet volley that clinched victory and sNL Division One football next season.

So after originally finishing the Northern League clubs 3 years ago, due to promotion and relocations I still have one ground left to again complete the set - much further west through Cumbria to Whitehaven. However I may have to do Gillford Park again if the dispute with the stadium landlords isn’t resolved. The football club are “very confident” that Gillford will be at the Railway Club next season, but after that who knows, I wish “Carlisle’s Non-League Team” the best of luck in their efforts in finding stability, be it at their current home or elsewhere in the town.

Matchday stats
GPFC 0 MUFC 2(Charlton 55,McGill 76)
att.TBC

Admission £4

Programme £1



Ground no.284 Gillford Park Stadium - Matchday Webalbum (24 pictures)

My Matchday - 283 Dean Court

AFC Bournemouth 2v1 Bristol Rovers
League One
Monday 25th April 2011
The third and final leg of my Easter treble finishes at Deans Court with a day spent in blazing hot Bournemouth.
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort in Dorset, founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, The town’s growth coincided with the arrival of the railway, becoming a recognised town in 1870. Originally part of Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974.
Bournemouth's location on the glorious south coast has made it a popular destination for tourists and was once surveyed as being the happiest place in Britain to live.

AFC Bournemouth originated out of the remains of the Boscombe St. John's Lads’ Institute F.C. in 1890, playing matches at King’s Park. The club became Boscombe F.C in 1889, competing in the Bournemouth and District Junior League on a pitch in Castlemain Road, Pokestown, before a return to King’s Park.
In 1910 the club was granted a long lease for a new ground on wasteland next to King’s Park by their president Mr. J.E. Cooper-Dean. The ground opened in December 1910, named Dean Court after the club benefactor who was instrumental in the club’s relocation.

The Cooper-Dean estate contained numerous cherry orchards, this as well as the team’s red jerseys gave the club the nickname of “The Cherries”
In 1923 the club changed their name to Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic Football Club and were elected to the Football League. Around this time the ground had only a small wooden stand, then in 1927 the club purchased turnstiles and a steel framework from the Wembley Empire Exhibition. The frame was used towards the building of the Main Stand. The stand held 3,700 seats with dressing rooms and offices and a standing paddock, all at a total cost of £12,000.
The South End covered terrace opened in 1936 followed by the extension of the west terrace, known as the “New Stand” in 1957, financed by a record attendance of 28,799 against Manchester United in the FA Cup.
In 1971 the club moved to the top of Football League, but only alphabetically, changing their name to AFC Bournemouth, but ground wise nothing changed until the club purchased land from the Cooper Dean estate to built a new stand on the north terrace. The project came to a standstill due to rising costs, so by 1984 the club abandoned the idea, demolishing the structure and building 27 houses instead. The properties were sold at a profit of £500,000 which helped eased the clubs financial worries.

The ground was completely rebuilt in 2001, with the pitch rotated ninety degrees from its original position, moving away from the aforementioned north end houses. The Cherries ground shared at Dorchester Town for eight games until the stadium was complete. Originally it was rebuilt as a three sided stadium with open corners. Each stand is of a similar size and style decked out in red seats, with the East and Main Stands having AFCB picked out in white. The Main Stand is located on the west side and differs slightly having a row of executive boxes at the rear.
Temporary seats were placed on the undeveloped south end of the ground in autumn 2005, which are rarely used.

Cherries’ legend Steve Fletcher came off the bench to grab a late winner and keep Bournemouth in the League One play-off picture against struggling Bristol Rovers.
Wayne Brown latched on to a long ball before slotting the ball under Jalal to give the visitors an early lead, but they were soon down to 10 men after David McCracken needlessly elbowed Adam Smith as they prepared for a corner kick.
It was soon 10-a-side as Danny Hollands saw red for two bookings just before half time as Bournemouth struggled to make any impression on the game.
Rovers looked likely to hold on until substitute Mathieu Baudry headed the equaliser on 84 minutes then four minutes later Ings capitalised on a mistake by keeper Conrad Logan to tee up Fletcher to score and send the bumper Bank Holiday crowd at Dean Court wild.
AFC Bournemouth remain in sixth place in the table with a three point cushion over seventh-placed Leyton Orient with two games left to play.

The weather on the south coast this Easter weekend has apparently been warmer than Spain. Since we left Tyneside on Thursday morning the weather has been glorious especially on the Dorset coast in Poole on Easter Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday in Bournemouth. We arrived in Bournemouth around mid morning and the beach was already beginning to get packed with lazy sunbathers, it was hard to believe that we were actually still in England.

This has probably been one of the Smudgers best weekend breaks. We’ve had a fantastic time, everything has gone to plan and I’d say the only trouble we’ve had over the five days is getting people to understand our accents. This happened on several occasions, but the best example of our far far away southern hosts having trouble with the Geordie lingo was at Yeovil, when I asked for a cup of coffee and was handed a hot dog!
As was the case at Torquay on Friday, yet again I need to mention another warm welcome and say a big thanks to the staff at Dean Court for a great afternoon.
To finish the holiday all that was left was another mammoth road trip back home. The busy Bank Holiday traffic meant we finally arrived home at 1230am, “Wor Al” having clocked up at total of 985 miles over the weekend,however the laborious road travel has been well worth it having ticked off the three furthest grounds left in ‘The 92’ in one go!

Matchday stats

AFCB 2(Baudry 84, Fletcher 84)BRFC 1(Brown 4)
att.7,869
Admission PP(£18-£25)
Programme £3

Ground no.283 Dean Court - Matchday Web album (23 pictures)

My Matchday - 282 Huish Park

Yeovil Town 2v2 AFC Bournemouth
League One
Saturday 23rd April 2011

The second leg of my Easter treble was a day trip to the vibrant market town of Yeovil situated on the southern tip of Somerset.
The town was first recorded in the Domesday Book as Givle, a thriving market community with a population of around 1,000. In 1205 the town was granted a charter by King John and by the 14th century had gained the right to elect a portreeve.
From the nineteen century Yeovil became a centre for the glove making industry as the town’s population rose, achieved borough status in 1854 and electing its first mayor.
In recent years the town has achieved a few firsts, being the pioneers in launching biometric fingerprint scanning in nightclubs and the first Council to ban Heeleys roller shoes, as well making skateboards, roller blades and skates illegal. (spoil sports!)

Yeovil Football Club formed in 1890, sharing their original home with the local rugby club before relocating to Pen Mill Athletic Ground, however the present club originated from Yeovil Casuals who formed in 1895.
The club became Yeovil and Petters United when amalgamation with Petters United before finally adopting the Yeovil Town name from 1907.
The club played at The Huish between 1928 and 1990, which was famous for its 8 foot side-to-side slope and the scene for the biggest FA Cup giant killing of all time, when the Southern League side beat First Division Sunderland in the FA Cup 4th Round in 1948/49 in front of a 16,318 record crowd.

The Glovers won the Southern League title on three occasions and in 1979 became founder members of the Alliance (Conference) League. The club had spells in the Isthmian Premier after suffering relegation, but after winning promotion in 1996-97 the club made rapid progress culminating in a place in the Football League after clinching the 2002-03 Conference title.

Built in 1990, at the time Huish Park was the country’s largest new non-league ground in decades, set in the Yeovil suburbs with the old slopping pitch at The Huish covered by another Tesco superstore.
The Cowden and Agusta Westland Community stands are similar in design, both cantilever single tiered stands decked out with green seats with white lettering. The differences are the former has a control box, press area and disabled sections while the later has executive boxes along the back, players tunnel and dugouts.
Away fans are housed in the Copse Road Terrace which is an open terrace and opposite is the Blackthorn Terrace which is fully covered. I stood on this terrace for the game and must mention the in house band that generates a good atmosphere in the ground, amongst their ranks is a very impressive trumpet player, who does a great rendition of the ‘Rocky’ theme.
There’s electric scoreboards on three sides of the ground with the largest behind the away terrace and in each corner there is a set of tall floodlight pylons.
The current capacity is 9,665 (Seating 5,212) and the record attendance is 9,527 v Leeds United for a League One clash on 25 April, 2008.

Yeovil came back from a man down and a two goal deficit to clinch a point with an injury time equaliser from Shaun MacDonald.
The Glovers faced an uphill battle after ex-Toon defender Paul Huntington was sent off for two bookings early in the second half
Bournemouth took command, going in front through a Danny Ings' penalty after Nathan Smith fouled Adam Smith, then Ings looked to have clinched the win when he swept home a Liam Feeney's cross on 68 minutes.
With ten minutes remaining the visitors confidently made three substitutions in readiness for the pending home fixture with Bristol Rovers in 48 hours, but somehow collapsed in the final five minutes
Yeovil's Adam Virgo converted a penalty after Harry Arter's handball, then sub Fletcher could have restored the two goal cushion at the other end. before conceding a corner a minute later. From Craig Alcock's corner kick MacDonald rose highest to head the ball home and earn The Glovers an unexpected draw.

The drive up from Dorset took around an hour. I dropped the breadknife and the kids off in Yeovil town centre then headed straight to the ground to secure a decent parking spot, giving plenty of time for a pint of ‘Green and White Ale’ and a deliciously filling Cornish pasty in the marquee beer tent at the stadium.
I also met another member of the 100FgC for the first time before kick off - Squad#151 Jon Blake. Jon is a Bournemouth support who now resides in South Shields but was down visiting family in Christchurch, and like me, was also going to Dean Court on Monday.
Debra(aka the bread knife)thought that Yeovil was a smashing little town and apart from a mini riot involving Bournemouth fans outside Wetherspoons, they had a pleasant afternoon(..and not a skater boy to be seen…Eddy) It’s a pity I didn’t get the chance to see the town for myself but I still had a smashing afternoon in Yeovil, where I saw an entertaining game of football at Huish Park.

Matchday stats

YTFC 2(Virgo 86pen MacDonald 90+3) AFCB 2(Ings 55pen 68)

att.6,150

Admission £18(terrace)

Programme £3



Ground no.282 Huish Park - Matchday Web album (23 pictures)

My Matchday - 281 Plainmoor

Torquay United 0v0 Wycombe Wanderers
League Two
Friday 22nd April 2011
This year’s Smudgers Easter break was to a land far far away, reet doon into the south-west of England to tick off the three furthest grounds left to complete the current 92.
The first leg of the treble was a 380 mile drive to Torquay in the Torbay area of Devon. The Torquay name originates from the quay of the ancient village of Torre, which takes its name from the tor rock, which can be seen by the town's Tor Hill Road.
The town's economy was initially based upon fishing and agriculture then in the early 19th century it developed into a fashionable seaside resort, originally frequented by members of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and later by Victorian society. The town's warm and healthful climate earned the town the nickname of the English Riviera.
Torquay was the home of “my bread knife’s” favourite writer Agatha Christie, who lived most of her life in the town and as a tribute there’s an "Agatha Christie Mile" tour with plaques, dedicated to her life and work.

Torquay United were formed by a group of school-leavers under the guidance of Sergeant-Major Edward Tomney in 1899. The club originally played friendly matches on Farm fields at the top of Penny's Hill on Teignmouth Road, before joining the East Devon League in 1900.
The club played the next four years at the Recreation Ground, while Plainmoor was being used by Torquay Athletic Rugby Football Club. In 1904 the rugby club secured the lease of the Recreation Ground and United's League rivals Ellacombe moved into the vacated site at Plainmoor, which left United homeless.
The club returned to the farmers field until being forced into another move after the site was sold for development, taking refuge with Torquay Cricket Club in nearby Cricketfield Road for the next four years,
In 1910 United merged with Ellacombe to become Torquay Town, the new club sharing the ground the with local rivals Babbacombe.
After the First World War Devon rivals Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City were both elected to the Football League as founder members of Football League Division Three South, which encouraged both Torquay Town and Babbacombe to merge, restoring the Torquay United name in 1921 and elected into the new league in 1927.

The first wooden grandstand costing £150 transferred from Buckfastleigh Racecourse was built on the east side of the ground in time for United’s debut season in the Football League. Cover was added to the south side terrace in 1933, but little changed at Plainmoor until the 1950’s. The Popular side was partly covered and floodlights were added. The decade also witnessed a record attendance of 21,908 for an FA Cup tie against Huddersfield Town.
The Main Stand was extended in the 1960’s which increased the capacity to 22,000 but just six days after the fire at Valley Parade in 1985 a fire destroyed a third of the stand which saw the capacity fall to under 5,000 due to health and safety matters.

From 1992 Plainmoor finally began to seen some major changes with the mini stand at the Ellacombe Road end replaced with an all-seated Family Stand. The stand is fully covered with a blue cantilever roof holding 1,275 yellow seats and six executive boxes. The stand also has club offices, club shop, as well as the Boots and Laces pub and the 200 Club bar. The directors seats are situated in the middle of the stand below the clock modelled around the club crest.
Away supporters are housed in the Warbro Road End. Cover was added to the terrace in 2000, the roof having a similar style to the opposite goal and has control room at one side.
The Main Stand has a single tier of seats and the extension is made up of yellow wooden seats with a con-iron peaked roof with wooden support beams. Access into both stands are via staircases the sides, where there’s a section of terracing at the front. The stands only run to one side so there’s more terracing towards the Warbro Road End.
The Popular Terrace was rebuilt in 1994, made narrower and fully covered to hold 2,300 fans, with a TV gantry perched on the roof.
The ground is completed by a set of traditional floodlights and the current capacity is 6,000.

The Gulls will look back at this match and wonder how on earth they failed to convert at least one of the numerous chances that would have earned them a well deserved victory and strengthen their position in the League Two play-offs.
Torquay twice hit the wood work, with a Guy Branston header hitting the post and a Ronan Murray effort coming back off the crossbar.
Branston had another header for the hosts and Chris Zebroski forced an excellent save from Wanderers keeper Nikki Bull, but The Gulls biggest culprit was substitute Billy Kee who wasted two glorious chances with just the goalkeeper to beat.
The draw means that Chesterfield are now officially promoted and if Wycombe are to join them in League One next season, then this “lucky draw” could turn out to be a very valuable point.

The Easter holidays started on the Thursday morning with our long haul drive to Devon which took exactly 7 hours including a 30 minute rest stop. Apart from slow moving traffic on the M42 and a busy section on the M5 around Bristol the journey went without a hitch, so we arrived safely at our hotel at 5.45pm
The long hours on the road was made much easier with a good selection of in car CD’s, for example the whole of The Beatles White Album took up a large chunk of time, taking up a good section of the A1 into South Yorkshire.

This was the first time we’ve visited Torquay and I must say we were very impressed with the town and thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the English Riviera , having a pleasant night out on Thursday and a good Good Friday.
Special thanks to Tim Herbert and the staff at Torquay United for making my visit to Plainmoor a pleasant one and I wish the club the best of luck in securing a place in the play-offs.
After the match I hotfooted it back to the car for the next leg of the “Far Far away trilogy” leaving Devon and driving through the hills of Dorset to our base camp in Poole for the next chapter of the Smudgers Easter weekend break.

Update

Torquay made the play-offs after a 7th place finish. The Gulls beat Shrewsury Town in the semi-finals before a narrow defeat to Stevenage in the League Two play-off final at Old Trafford.

Matchday stats

TUFC 0 WWFC 0

att.4,009

Admission:PP (£18)

Programme £2.50

Ground no.281 Plainmoor - Matchday Web album (23 pictures)

My Matchday - 280 Church Road

Hayes & Yeading United 3v1 Gateshead
Blue Sq.Bet Premier
Tuesday 19th April 2011

It’s exactly one calendar month since my original intended visit to Church Road. The re-jigging of the fixtures means that Gateshead FC now have the honour of being Hayes & Yeading’s last competitive opponents before the ground closes its gates for the final time after 91 years of football history.
The history of the ground goes back to Botwell Mission, who originally played at the Coldharbour Lane enclosure on Botwell Common from their formation in 1908, until moving to new ground in 1920 on Church Road, which was then known as Cox’s Meadow.
In 1924 the club changed their name to Hayes FC and the following year saw the construction of the Main Stand, which has been in use ever since.
The stand sits on the half way line and has a capacity of 450 red seats with the classic design of a stand from this era, having raised seating with staircase access at the front and corrugated iron peaked roof. The only additional change to the stand is 50 extra seats added at the front behind the team dugouts, the club name on the gable end and a scaffold supported TV gantry on the roof.
Terracing replaced the standing banking after the Second World War with a roof added at the far side terrace. The Shed terrace is two-thirds covered and the rest of the ground is made up of terracing which sweeps around to meet both stands.
The capacity is 4,730 with the record attendance set in 1951 when 15,370 crammed into Church Road for an FA Amateur Cup tie against Bromley.

Hayes FC stepped up from the Athenian League to the Isthmian League in 1971. In 1995-96 they edged Enfield on goal difference to win the league title for the only time which saw the club spent six seasons in the Conference.
Hayes were placed in the newly formed Conference South after the reconstruction of the pyramid in 2004-05 and on the 18th May 2007 merged with former Isthmian League rivals Yeading FC.
Yeading FC formed as a youth side in 1960 and first played competitively in the London Spartan League. The club went on to win the Isthmian Premier in 2004-05 and played a solitary season in the Conference South before the two clubs became United.
I first became aware of Yeading when they drew Newcastle United in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup in 2005. The game was switched from The Warren to Loftus Road and I remember sitting watching the game at home feeling quite anxious after a goalless first half. United went on to win the game with two second half goals, however Toon fans will recall the game for the debut of Jean-Alain Boumsong, who had a nervous first game against players playing six divisions below the Premier League.

The final game turned out the be a perfect send off for the old ground, with a 3-1 victory over Gateshead securing Conference football for United next season.
Hayes & Yeading took an early lead when Bradley Pritchard got on the end of Peter Holmes's cross, producing a tidy finish from close range.
Five minutes after the break an Ashley Winn strike from the edge of the box, took a slight deflection for the equaliser as Gateshead began to get a foothold on the game.
Hayes substitute Ben Wright restored the advantage, with a header at the far post from a Holmes corner kick , before Lee Brown put the gloss on the performance with an injury-time penalty after Ben Clark fouled Andy Yiadom.
So the ideal finish for the hosts last ever game, the very last kick of the match and at Church Road was a goal.

Four Heed fans, all four of us members of 100 FgC squad, but from this day forward we shall be known as “The Hayes & Yeading 4” being the only ones who made the long trip from Tyneside to Middlesex.
Torchey Travel set off on this long midweek jaunt at around 12.30pm. The “H&Y4” consisting of myself, Squad#51 Torchey, #37 MC Dean and #185 Simon Grobari. For the first leg of the journey I had the honour of driving the Torcheymobile, doing the first 200 mile stint, before our excursion guide took the wheel for the last bit of the journey.
We arrived in Hayes at 5.45pm and headed straight to the Botwell Inn on Coldharbour Lane. It was here that I arranged to finally, at long last, after all these years, meet up with one of the primary members of the 100FgC - squad#10 Tim Rigby, who is the author of the fabulous

Tims 92 Website.
Before the game we had time for a quick pint in the clubhouse, which must be one of the best social clubs in the league, not just inside but from the outside with its ivy covered front wall and a decent pint of John Smith’s to boot!
Once inside the ground I bumped into more of the100FgC team, squad#179 and Wycombe Wanderers fan Russell Cox, as well as “Barnet Boy” aka Squad#96 Tom Salinger. Caroline another Heed fan had travelled down by train and there was also two London based Geordie exiles in the ground, so if you include Tim as well, the Heed Army ranks swelled to nearly double figures!
This matchday wasn’t just another Heed away game, it was more about the last game at Church Road and I was pleased to be in attendance for such an occasion. I arrived back home at 3.30am, obviously very tired but it was well worth it when you consider that after the game both Gateshead manager Ian Bogie and his assistant Terry Mitchell, shook hands with the “H&Y4” and thanks each and every one of us for travelling down and supporting the team. It’s nice to be appreciated and it makes these long arduous trips worthwhile.



Matchday stats

H&YU 3(Pritchard 10,Wright 71,Brown 90+3pen) GFC 1(Winn 50)

Att.502

Admission;(PP) £13

Programme £2.50

Tims 92 report

Ground no.280 Church Road - Matchday Web album (22 Pictures)

My Matchday - 279 Central Park

Cowdenbeath 1v2 Falkirk

Scottish League Division 1

Saturday 16th April 2011

My initial attempt to visit Cowdenbeath this season coincided with the dawn of the rotten British winter on the last weekend in November. Then in February when the worst of the inclement weather was over I tried again, but was thwarted by a signal failure in Birtley delaying my train for over 70 minutes which meant I would have been lucky to catch the second half.

However it turned out to be third time lucky - a successful attempt in visiting Central Park as it‘s a “must tick” this season as the ground and surrounding area are part of a two-part redeveloped with the football club planning to relocate to a new purpose built community stadium;

The Central Park area has been identified in the Fife Council's Mid Fife Local Plan as a key area for the physical and economic regeneration of Cowdenbeath. Following discussions with Fife Council and recent public consultation events, a formal application has now been submitted for planning permission for the redevelopment of the Central Park site, which would see the provision of a supermarket, small retail units and housing. The aim is to regenerate the area, create jobs and boost the local economy.

“Staying at Central Park in the long-term is not an option", said Donald Findlay QC, Chairman, Cowdenbeath Football Club. "Central Park has a proud history but, unfortunately, it no longer meets the needs of the football club while the running costs are extremely high. "The sustainable future of the Club is dependant on relocating to a purpose-built, low maintenance and income-generating-facility within Cowdenbeath. “This is a key part of our vision to see the Club continue to flourish on the field and acting as a hub for many community activities. The proposal would safeguard the future of the football club as a community asset and it would also ensure a positive legacy from the redevelopment of Central Park for the people of Cowdenbeath." (source http://www.cowdenbeathfc.com) The development would generate the finance for the new stadium, with plans for a site in the Broad Street area of the town which is the favoured location of the football club and Fife Council. The club are encouraging the Cowdenbeath public to back the proposal and sign the petition at the ground or use the online petition.

Cowdenbeath lies in south-west Fife, 18 miles north of Edinburgh. The burgh built up from the mid-19th century through coal mining as flourishing coal pits were sunk in the surrounding areas, which established the town as a central headquarters for Fife mining.

The oldest football club within the Kingdom of Fife, formed around 1881 joining the Scottish League in 1905, going on to win the second division title in 1914 and 1915. In those days there was no automatic promotion between the two divisions, with promotion decided on a voting system. The east of Scotland based clubs felt hard done by, with promotion constantly denied in favour of the western clubs. Cowdenbeath were amongst several eastern clubs to quit the Scottish Football League and form the 'rebel' Central League which proved to be highly successful.

Cowdenbeath moved to Central Park when it was opened in 1917, having originally played at North End Park. The Main Stand was built in 1921, to coincide with the Central League clubs rejoined the Scottish League, after decided to introduce promotion and relegation between the two divisions.

The Blue Brazil aren’t blessed with a roll of honours, they won the Second Division for a third time in 1938-39 and their last appearance in the top flight of Scottish football was a solitary season in 1970-71, after winning promotion when finishing second to Falkirk the previous year. The ground is in the town centre behind the High Street and a handy five minute walk from the train station. The Main Stand is two separate structures. The old West Stand originally had a capacity of 3,000, until falling victim to arson in 1985, with half the stand destroyed by another fire in 1992. The stand is filled with benches and has a few supporting pillars and a peaked roof. The clubs noisiest fans are housed towards the west goal and at the opposite side is the press box.

The Alex Menzie Stand opened in March 1995 and includes dressing rooms, board room, function suite, club offices and boardroom. The basic looking stand is split into three sections of red seats, the combined total seating capacity of both stands is 1,622 and the overall capacity is 5,268. Central Park is more famous for the tarmac oval circuit which circles the pitch, which was formerly used for greyhounds and speedway and regularly hosts stock car racing.

Racewall Cowdenbeath stage various championships in each formula, with a Scottish championship and also many other World, European, British & National Championships. This means fans on the east and west terraces are quite far away from the pitch with meshed safety fence somewhat spoiling the view, so quite a few fans stand at the top end next to the West Terrace turnstile.

The South Terrace stands central, flanked by grass banking which continues around to the east side. The turnstiles are next to the main stands so visiting supporters have to walk around to the far terrace. The record attendance at Central Park stands at 25,586 for a League Cup quarter final tie with Rangers on 21st September 1949.

Falkirk hit back from a goal deficit at half time to win at Central Park with two second half goals, which leaves Cowden second bottom of the First Division. The Blue Brazil took the lead after 32 minutes when Greg Stewart converted Lewis Coult's cross, taking the ball on his chest before producing a splendid finish.

Falkirk hit back from a goal deficit at half time to win at Central Park, leaving Cowden second bottom of the First Division. The Blue Brazil took the lead after 32 minutes when Greg Stewart converted Lewis Coult's cross, taking the ball on his chest before producing a splendid finish.

The hosts could have double their lead ten minutes after the restart when a Robertson header was somehow pawed away by the keeper but Falkirk drew level 20 minutes into the second half through Mark Stewart. His initial header produced a fine save from Cowden keeper Roy, but from the resulting corner he pounced onto a flick to nod home from close range. Four minutes later the visitors grabbed the winner when Brian McLean lost his marker and finish with a strong header at the far post from Mark Millar's free kick as Falkirk comfortably held on to take maximum points.

My lifetime pursuit of finishing ‘The 92’ has dominated this seasons ground hopping adventures which has meant neglecting my favourable trips to Scotland. I always feel at home north of the border, maybe that’s because our Scottish friends are basically Geordies but with their brains bashed in (Is that not vice-versa?…Eddy)

Travelling to Cowdenbeath by train doesn’t take too long. I caught the 1203 which was behind schedule, as you could imagine this caused a bit anxiety on my part, but I needn’t have worried as the train was only 12 minutes late and travelled none stop to Edinburgh. On arrival I caught my connection train towards Glenrothes, reaching my destination at 230pm.

I had time for a drink after the game so made a bee-line to the highly recommended New Goth bar. Looking at the pub from the outside I wasn't too sure whether or not to go inside, the building was dropping to bits and looks in need of a complete face lift. I had a choice of either standing on the train station platform for half an hour or going inside, so I obviously did the latter and was pleasantly surprised to find a nice friendly pub, nice décor, spotless and nothing like I imagined it would be. The Goth have McEwans 80 shilling on draught, a beer which I haven’t supped since the 1980’s. The pint was top quality though, in the same class as the scotch pie I had at the match at half time.

Afterwards I made use of my spare hour in Edinburgh to watch the Manchester derby at Wembley on the pub TV. It was good timing as I caught the decisive moment in the game which booked City a place in the FA Cup Final, and I was quite amazed being the only person in the packed pub to punch the air with glee when the goal was scored. I thought everyone hated Man Yoo!

So Cowdenbeath is finally done and it’s been well worth the wait. The day went smoothly, I loved Central Park’s uniqueness and everyone I spoke to was very hospitable, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from our Scottish cousins. This is why I always enjoy my matchdays in Scotland and I’ll be looking forward to my next trek into Northern Britain, where and whenever that may be.

Matchday stats

CFC 1(Stewart 32) FFC 2(Stewart 65 McLean 69)

att.636 Admission (PP) £15 Programme £2

Ground no.279 Central Park - Matchday web album (18 pictures)

My Matchday - 278 Heritage Park

Bishop Auckland 0v0 Dunston UTS

Northern League Division One

Monday 11th April 2011

At long last Bishop Auckland ended a nomadic eight years by moving into their brand new home, south-west of the town in Tindale Crescent.

Bishops played at one of the country’s oldest football grounds - Kingsway, which they shared with the town’s cricket club between 1886 and 2001.

The sale of the “Two Blues” home of 115 years was meant to proceed the club moving into a brand new ground, however disputes with the local council meant the Tindale project remained unresolved, resulting in Bishops having to ground-share with fellow Northern League clubs around County Durham.

The club shared with Shildon at Dean Street for two spells between 2002-2004 and 2006-2008, with a stint at Spennymoor’s Brewery Field in between, with the last two seasons spent at Darlington Road, the home of West Auckland Town. The current ground plans were submitted to Wear Valley District Council in September 2008, with planning permission granted two months later and building work beginning in November 2009.

The stadium was named Heritage Park prior to the official opening which took place on 24th October 2010. Sir John Hall had the honour of performing the opening ceremony, attended by season ticket holders, sponsors, shareholders, and VIP's along with 230 children from Bishop Auckland St Mary's Juniors and their coaches.

The stadium capacity of just over 2,000 includes 250 seats in the Main Stand. The stand is similar in design to the one at Penrith, having a cantilever roof with no supporting pillars with the clubhouse at the top of the stand overlooking the pitch. The stand is decked out with bright cream walls and blue flip seats with the club crest on each side of the stand and also includes a club shop.

There’s full cover at the west side goal, the terrace is seven steps high and has shelter for 472 spectators. The rest of the ground is open with hard standing and grass banking, the far side in front of the Sainsbury supermarket is named Terrace Hill.

The stadium has been awarded an FA Category C grade, meaning it is suitable for use up to the Northern Premier League - Premier Division.

Bishop Auckland are famed in Non-League football, winners of the FA Amateur Cup a record ten times with and losing finalists on eight occasions.

The club formation dates back to 1882 when theology students from both Cambridge and Oxford Universities whilst studying at Auckland Castle, formed a team known as Bishop Auckland Church Institute.

In 1886 a club dispute saw the formation of a breakaway team called Auckland Town, which eventually saw the birth of Bishop Auckland Football Club. The team name changed in 1893 with the club wearing the two shades of blue which represent their Oxbridge origins.

Auckland Town became one of the 10 founder members of the Northern League in 1889, playing the inaugural season before joining the Northern Alliance the following season. The newly named club rejoined in 1893 going on to win the league title 19 times coupled with winning the League Cup on 7 occasions.

In 1988 Bishops stepped up into the Northern Premier League Division, winning promotion in their debut season in the First Division after finishing runners. The club’s best seasonal performance came when finishing second to Leek Town in the Premier Division in 1996-97, before subsequent relegation saw the Two Blues return to the Northern League in 2006.

The stadium’s opening game took place on the 2nd November with a friendly against Middlesbrough in front of a crowd of 1,341, followed by the first competitive game in the Northern League against Consett.

Both games ended in defeat and I originally planned to be in attendance for Heritage Park third match against former landlords West Auckland on the 23rd November. Unfortunately that match which was postponed as it fell in the week when the north-east winter officially commenced, then a second attempt against Dunston UTS in January fell victim to a frozen pitch.

So my visit to Bishops new home comes in the crazy season, when clubs play four games a week in a mad attempt to finish the season by the 30th April, this fixture being Dunston’s fifth game out of a total of 13 to be played during the month of April.

Both teams have recently been in good form and involved in high scoring games so it came as a shock that this game turned out to be Heritage Park’s first goalless draw.

Due to the problems with the ground’s drainage system, the pitch was covered with more sand than grass and with the recent dry weather as rock hard as Jimmy Nail.

The draw was just about the fair result with Bishops probably just shading the second half mainly due to a diligent effort from Wayne Gredziak (Didn’t he play Ice Hockey?…Eddy) The striker twice outpaced the Dunston defence only to see his efforts go narrowly wide, he also went close with a spectacular over-head kick and late in the game brought out a fine save from the visitors keeper.

The result moves Bishops up into 12th position while it’s now 11 games unbeaten in the Northern League for Dunston.

Matchday stats

BAFC 0 DUTSFC 0

att.195

admission £5

programmprogrammepprogramme £1

Ground no.278 Heritage Park - Matchday Web album (17 pictures)

My Matchday - 277 Twerton Park

Bath City 1v0 Gateshead

Blue Sq.Bet Premier

Saturday 2nd April 2011

The start of a hectic April, which will see your host travelling the full length and depths of Blighty, begins with a 600 mile round trip to the City of Bath in Somerset.

Bath is a major tourism centre which attracts almost five million tourists each year to the city theatres, museums, and other cultural venues. The blend of Roman baths and sweeping Georgian terraces combine to produce one of the most elegant cities in Europe, which was awarded as a World Heritage site in 1987.

Bath was granted city status by Royal Charter in 1590 by Queen Elizabeth I, becoming a county borough in 1889 and later part of Avon when the county was created from 1974 until 1996. When Avon was abolished, Bath became the principal centre of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset.The city was established as a spa resort by the Romans in AD 43, building baths and a temple on the surrounding city hills in the valley of the River Avon through the UK’s only natural hot springs.

“Ahh …the beautiful sparkling healthy spa water of Bath, in Avon"

Due to pre-booked trains being too expensive, I travelled with the GFC Supporters Club which unfortunately means It’ll have to be another occasion to fully appreciate the delights of this beautiful spa town.

When I reached the rendezvous point I was surprised to find not a

conventional mini-bus but a taxi awaiting my late arrival. The jibe you sometimes get from home supporters of “did you come in a taxi” when a club brings a small away following was true in this case.

We left Gateshead at 730am, 7 supporters and our cabby with an additional Heed fan picked up on route at Wetherby. Thankfully the taxi meter wasn’t running, we paid a set fair of £350 made up of £30 each with the difference subsidised by the Supporters Club, which was great value, as our chauffeur played a blinder arriving in Bath just before 1pm and on returning we past the Angel of the North just after 10pm.

On arrival I picked up my press pass and was then allowed inside the ground to take some snaps of this classic non-league ground, before heading for a few pints in the GBG listed Old Crown pub, where I pulled a cracking (or should that be crackling..Eddy) looking lass, although she was a bit of a pig. (see last pic in Web album)

We also had time to call into Randall’s, the impressive clubhouse situated behind the Main Stand. The result aside it was a quite enjoyable day and I must add around 30 away fans in total made the long journey to the west country.

Bath AFC formed in 1889, originally playing at the Belvoir ground situated in East Twerton. The club changed their name to Bath Railway in 1902, then became Bath City, playing competitively from 1908 in the Western League Division Two. After the First World War the club located to the Lambridge Ground at the opposite end of the city on the old London Road and joined the Southern League for the first time in 1921.

Bath City moved to Innox Park in 1932, which had been opened since 1909, securing a £2,000 mortgage from the FA. The ground suffered from a 45 degree slope, which meant removing 15,000 tons of soil as well as surrounding trees to create a playing surface with perimeter banking, which took almost three years to clear.

The Main Stand was soon built at a cost of £2,000 with cover added at the popular side, until further development during the 1950’s saw a clubhouse, new changing rooms, club offices and more importantly terracing and floodlights, which was mainly financed by the supporters club and the odd five figure FA Cup attendance.

City won the Southern League title in 1977/78 for a second time, but missed out on election to the Football League by only a few votes, before becoming founder members of the Alliance League(Conference) the following year.

Relegation and promotion campaigns followed, before the club won promotion to the Conference South in 2006-07, going on to win the play-off final in their third season, beating Woking to regain a place in the Conference for the first time since 1997 and again gaining promotion last season.

The original Main Stand is still going strong, although it was close to death after an arson attack by Bristol City fans on tenants Rovers in 1990. The stand is fully refurbished with 780 black and blue flip seats with an open paddock below with the team dugouts at the front. The basic Family Stand filled with 236 blue seats sits next to the Main Stand. Built at a cost of £90,000 it opened not long after the fire incident in December 1990 and is made available for visiting fans.

Opposite is a covered terrace which runs pitch length with a pitched roof, the terrace slopes up at one side and on the hill behind is a row the houses which looks into the ground, aptly named Freeview Road.

Behind each goal is open terracing. The Bristol End is giving to away fans and opposite is the Bath End a smaller terrace which has a safety net. The ground is completed by a set of traditional corner floodlight which includes one pylon which stands outside in the car park.

Twerton Park has also played home to financial stricken Bristol Rovers from 1986 to 1996 and Team Bath who were a full-time professional outfit playing in the Conference South until resigning at the end of the 2008–09 season. The stadium has a capacity of 8,800 with 1,006 seats with a record attendance of 18,020, set in 1960 versus Brighton & Hove Albion.

Bath City made it three wins on the bounce thanks to Lee Phillips' 14th goal of the season early in the second half.

Chances were at a minimum in an even first half, Jon Shaw headed against the bar for a Brittain cross and seconds later a shot from Watkins came back off the foot of the post in the 35th minute. Phillips bagged the winner two minutes after the restart, playing a one-two with Watkins before slotting a left-footed strike from inside the area under the advancing keeper.

Phil Turnbull and Jon Shaw produced good saves from Robinson, while Paul Heckingbottom went close seeing his header come back off the crossbar. Marley Watkins also struck the woodwork for Bath with a 25-yard effort and Phillips should have done better after capitalising on a defensive mix up.

Gateshead pressed hard in search of an equaliser, but substitute Richard Offiong wasted a golden chance in the dying minutes after a clever free kick from Turnbull, blasting his shot into the wrong net, finding the one behind the terrace and not the one between the posts.

We’re now into the final month of the campaign and this is the first meeting of the two clubs this season, this is all due to the fixture computer and not because of an earlier postponement. After the full time whistle the two clubs meet again in just over 48 hours, so Gateshead have the opportunity to quickly gain revenge, while City hope to complete a quickie league double in the space of just a few days.

Matchday Stats

BCFC 1(Phillips 47)GFC 0

Admission (PP) £13 Programme £2.50

att.952

Ground no.277 Twerton Park - Matchday Web album (23 pictures)