✔703 Shawe View

Trafford 3-2 Dunston
Northern Premier League Division 1- North West
Saturday 28th September 2019
 Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester formed in 1974. The borough covers 41 square miles covering the areas of Old Trafford, Stretford, Urmston, Altrincham, Partington and Sale. The River Mersey flows through the borough, separating North Trafford from South Trafford, and the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. (population of around 235,500) Trafford FC play in the village of Flixton, which is part of the Urmston area, found 6 miles southwest of Manchester city centre.  

The club formed as North Trafford in 1990, joining the Mid-Cheshire League Division Two and winning promotion to Division One in their debut season. The club adopting their current name in 1994.
Mid Cheshire League 1990-1992.
North West Counties League 1992-1997, 2003-2008
Division 2 runners-up 1993-94 
Division 1 champions 1996-97, 2007-08
Northern Premier League D1 1997-2003 2008-present
The North played two seasons at Step 3 in the NPL Premier Division after winning the Division 1 North play-offs in 2012-13

Home Estates Shawe View
Pennybridge Lane
Flixton
Manchester
M41 5DL

Current NPL grounds visited 39/62 Div 1 NW 14/20

The ground has a seated stand on each side. The main stand has a built in press box with the changing rooms at the back. On the opposite side, the stand has three rows of seats with standing room at the rear. There is a covered enclosure behind one of the goals with the rest of the ground open with grass banking areas. 
Matchday Facts
Trafford(14th) 3 (O"Brien 14 Salmon 78,81pen) Red card:Schofield 75
Dunston(17th) 2(Heslop 43 Halliday 57) Red card: Hall 75
Bet Victor Northern Premier League - Div.1 North West Division MD 9v6
Att.223
Admission £8
Pin badge £3.50
Coffee £1
Steak pie £2

Trafford came from behind to claim the points with just over ten minutes remaining. They took an early lead when Keil O'Brien poked home from close range, but Dunston drew level when an Elliott corner was headed home by Heslop at the far post just before the interval. 
The visitors took the lead when the home defence failed to clear their lines with Daniel Halliday taking advantage to make it 1-2. The match turned after a double sending off in the 75th minute with a straight red for a late tackle by Trafford's Tom Schofield and a dismissal for Dunston's Tom Hall for his angry reaction.
The home team seemed to cope better with the ten-a-side with Lewis Salmon getting on the end of a lovely left wing cross to equalise, then moments later he was shoved over in the box before getting up and slotting home his second from the penalty spot, to give his team the 3-2 win. 

 #Heedhopper
Departed on players/committee/supporters coach from UTS Stadium at 0930. Stopped off at Hartshead Moor services for 45 minutes then after negotiating the heavy traffic on the M60 we arrived at Shawe View at 1.40pm. The later than planned arrival didn't stop my Urmston pub crawl, supping in the Tim Bobbins JDW and the GBG listed Lord Nelson, Prairie Schooner and keeping the nearby Flixton Conservative Club for after the game.
It was good to travel away with Dunston again, promotion to the Northern Premier League means I can get to some new grounds instead of having to rely on the FA Vase for a tick. So apart from the result it was a good day out at a very friendly football club.

✔702 King George Playing Fields

Jarrow Reserves 3-6 Hylton CW
Wearside League Division Two
Saturday 21st September 2019

  
Last season Jarrow FC formed a reserve side to play in the Durham & Wearside Development Division. The season was a bit of a disaster, winning one game out of 16 and conceding 168 goals, plus they had to play some home games away because of a curfew time to vacate the ground on matchdays.
 Despite all this, the club fulfilled their fixtures, when a lot of clubs would have chucked it, so top marks to the team for playing out the season. They return this campaign in the new Wearside League Division Two and at a new home pitch just off the Leam Lane Road.



King George Playing Fields
Lindisfarne Road
Jarrow 
NE32 5UL 

Current WLD2 grounds visited 6/8

The ground is just off the A194/A19 roundabout. The pitch is one of several on the playing fields which is fenced in on all sides. The changing rooms and car park are behind the goal off the Lindisfarne Road entrance. 
Jarrow Reserves(8th) 3(Hewitt 50,87 Smithwhite 85)
Hylton CW(3rd) 6(Robertson 3,39,43 Hill 53,78 Eyo 61)
Wearside League Division 2 MD4
1.30pm ko
Att.25hc 

Hylton took a three goal lead at the break with a hat-trick of sorts by Jack Robertson. He fired in a right foot shot in the 3rd minute, followed by a cross via the defender, then an effort from outside the box which went through the 'keepers legs. 
Jarrow responded early in the second half with a good finish from Leon Hewitt, but the away side regained control with a well placed effort by sub Ethan Hill, followed by a dribble and shot from the edge of the box by Edidiong Mfon Eyo to make it 5-1. Hill was on hand to grab his second before a late burst from the home side, with Brandon Smithwhite firing in and more good skill from Jarra's best player Hewitt, to make it 3-6 at full time.
 #HeedHopper
Just a quick 6 mile drive along to Jarrow only 15 minutes door-to-door.
Surprised to find Toon fans Glenn Wallace and Kenny Rogers look alike Alan at the game. They sandwiched in this game between the early Academy derby, which Newcastle won 2-1 and the shite dished up at St James Park at teatime. I also went to the Brighton match which ended my long sequence of not seeing a 0-0 draw. 

✔701 Roundwood Sports Complex

Parkgate 1-1 Hallam
Northern Counties East League - Division One
Saturday 14th September 2019
 
Parkgate is a suburb in Rotherham which is now part of the neighbouring Rawmarsh, near to the Park Gate Iron and Steel Company. 

The club was established in 1969 as BSC Parkgate starting life in the Hatchard and Sheffield Association leagues. In 1990 they changed their name to RES Parkgate before The Steelmen became plain Parkgate FC four years later.
Yorkshire League 1974-1982
Northern Counties East League 1982-present 
Division One champions 2006-07

Roundwood Sports Complex
Green Lane, 
Rawmarsh, 
Rotherham, 
S62 6LA.

The complex car park is shared with the golf course and Rotherham United Academy. The ground has two seated stands behind the goal by the turnstile entrance with a tea hut in between. The smallest of the two covered seated stands is nicknamed “The Saga Stand”. There’s a few large steps of terracing running down one side with a small covered enclosure. The far goal is open and the other side has a hedge border which runs pitch length with the RUFC pitches on the other side.
A new record attendance was set in July when a capacity crowd of  1,536 witnessed a pre-season friendly v Rotherham United 
Matchday Facts
Parkgate(7th) 1(Khalifa 35) red card:Simpson 90+1
Hallam(18th) 1(Bishop 78) red card:Bradley 90+4
NCEL Division One matchday 8v6
Att.109
Admission £5
Programme £1.50
Pin badge £3.50
Tea £1

The Steelmen twice hit the woodwork before a long ball found Zak Khalifa who had time to pick his spot then volleyed home in the 35th minute. 
Hallam improved in the second half and they equalised in the 78th minute when a corner kick went through the defence and found Micah Bishop at the far post to fire in off the crossbar.
After a goal each there was a red card apiece in added on time. A bad challenge by Parkgate’s Elliott Simpson on Clayton saw a straight red then in the final minute Hallam equalised again, when Tyler Bradley received a second yellow card.

 #HeedHopper
Current NCEL grounds visited 30/40
A solo 117 mile drive door-to-door via A1/J37 then the winding country roads down to Parkgate. I set off at 12.20pm and the trip went well until I reached the vicinity of the ground. I ended up in the neighbouring housing estate and couldn’t find the lane which leads into the complex, but I still arrived in good time at around 2.35pm. 
The return journey went smoothly so arrived back at 100FgCHQ at seven bells.

My Match Holiday - 700 Yankee Stadium

New York City 2-1 New England Revolution
MLS - Eastern Conference
Saturday 7th September 2019
 

New York City Football Club formed in New York City in 2013, joining Major League Soccer as a member of the league's Eastern Conference in 2015. The Bronx Blues are the twentieth overall expansion team of the league, the first franchise to be based in the city and the second in the New York metropolitan area, after New York Red Bulls, based over in New Jersey and their rivals in the Hudson River Derby.


 The club is owned jointly by the New York Yankees and Manchester City, currently playing at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx until their new stadium project is complete. 
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is south of Westchester County; northeast and east of Manhattan across the Harlem River and north of Queens across the East River. The Bronx has a land area of 42 square miles and a population of almost 1.5 million.  While we were in the borough we visited the Bronx Zoo and the renowned Arthurs Avenue, where we visited the Bronx Beer Hall found within a busy market hall.
The new Yankee Stadium was built in 2009 and is meant to evoke elements of the original stadium. The exterior is modeled on the original 1923 look and the interior closely resembles the post 1988 dimensions of the ground. Because of the unique measurements of the Yankee Stadium field, the playing surface of the soccer pitch is the smallest field in all of the MLS just 110 yards long by 70 yards wide and the smallest allowed by FIFA's international guidelines. The current stadium features 4,300 club seats and 68 luxury suites. 
New York City(2nd) 2(Medina 70’,90+6’)
New England Revolution(7th) 1(Caicedo 2’) red card:Milnar 9’
MLS Eastern Conference Matchday 28
3.55pm ko
Admission $30
Att.21,236

New York City went to the top of the Eastern Conference after recording a fifth straight win. They fell behind to an early goal when Juan Fernando Caicedo ran onto a long ball to fire in the opener. New England were reduced to ten men after just 9 minutes after a VAR assisted dismissal for Antonio Delamea Milnar and from that point it was backs against the wall. NYC missed an array of chances until finally equalising when Jesús Medina flicked in a right wing cross with twenty minutes remaining. The Blues were rewarded for their dominance, clinching the winner deep into stoppage time with Medina fired in his second after a foul on Alexandru Mitriță.

 #Heedhopper
About 3,550 miles door-to-door
Flights from Newcastle to Heathrow then onto JFK Airport. (Dept;9am Tuesday 3rd/ returned 4pm Wednesday 11th Sept)

Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Instagram will already know what a dream holiday the breadknife and I had in the Big Apple. Apart from hitting all the tourist hot spots and some of the best pubs in Manhattan & Brooklyn there were three stadiums visited. The match at Yankee Stadium was followed by the Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, but not to watch tennis, but to see a fantastic show by Morrissey, which was the best Mozza gig I’ve seen in years. 

Following Super Saturday, Super Sunday saw us head over to New Jersey for the Buffalo Bills @New York Jets at the Metlife Stadium, which kicked off the new NFL season. (more to follow on my other blog) So overall a fantastic week in New York, a city I’ve already started to miss and inspired to return to someday.



✔699 The Rail

Retford 1-3 Barton Town
FA Vase 1st Round Qualifying
Saturday 31st August 2019
Retford is a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands in between Nottingham to the east and west of Lincoln.  The town is in the valley of the River Idle and the Chesterfield Canal passes through the centre. Retford is one of the oldest boroughs in England, mentioned in the Domesday Book as 'Redeforde' (population over 22,013)

Retford FC are a relatively new club, formed in 2015. The Choughs joined the Central Midlands League and were North Division champions last season, winning promotion to the Northern Counties East League.
 
The Rail
Babworth Road, 
Retford, 
DN22 7NJ.

NCEL Grounds visited 29/40

The club moved to The Rail in 2017 after ground sharing with Retford United. The ground has been developed over a short period of time with hard standing all around and floodlights for the necessary Step 6 requirements.

There are three stands, an uncovered bank of seats and a small row of seats behind the far goal, with a similar shallow stand behind the goal at the entrance end. The changing rooms are behind the far goal at the back of the neighbouring bowls club. The ground has an interesting entrance through a subway underneath Babworth Road which bridges the East Coast Main Line. I've been to quite a few grounds where you can view the passing trains on this line, but this must be the closest, just a few yards from the team dugouts on the east side of the pitch. 

Matchday Facts
Retford 1(Evans-Booth 70)
Barton Town 3(Hinchcliffe 23 Cooper 73 Dislay 80)
FA Vase 1st Round
3pm ko
Att.103
Admission £5
Programme £1
Pin badge £3
Coffee £1


Barton took the lead midway through the first half when a left wing ball was side footed home by Ben Hinchcliffe. As the match progressed it looked like that goal would be the decider until the Choughs were awarded a penalty with twenty minutes left, which was converted by Shay Evans-Booth. The visitors quickly responded regaining the lead three minutes later when Waudby's shot was saved only for Marc Cooper to be on hand to net the rebound. The Swans booked their place in the next round of the Vase when Goddard laid the ball onto Craig Dislay to curl into the bottom corner of the net to make it 3-1 ten minutes from time.
#HeedHopper
128 miles door-to-door
0841(13 minutes late) Cross Country train to Newcastle to York, still caught LNER connection to Retford on time at 1004, arriving at 1045. Same route home with 25 minute delays on the East Coast line, returned back in Newcastle just after 7pm.

As I arrived early (and the pubs weren't open yet) I walked along to the ground to check out how far it was from the station to The Rail, as there was little time in between the match finishing and boarding my return train home. When I arrived at the ground it was open with not a soul around, so I took my blog pictures before strolling back into the town centre. 
I revisited the Dominie Cross for breakfast then onto BeerHeadZ, White Lion, Ship Inn, Idle Valley and my favourite of the day - The Brew Shed, where I supped a few of the Harrison ales, brewed just a stone's throw away from the pub.
I had a very enjoyable day in Retford and look forward to returning in the not too distant future to do a similar day trip when I tick off Retford United.