The Peacock

Manchester Central  4  Beechfield United  0

Manchester Football League – Premier Division

It was a bizarre sight, I was just walking out of the car park at the Nicholls Campus of Manchester College, when I saw a peacock jump through the gates of the next door Eccles Cake factory and saunter down onto Hyde Road.

I lost sight of it as it made its way in the general direction of the City Centre, but clearly Thursday nights is peacock night when it comes to Manchester nightlife.

Peacock’s are proud creatures, they like to strut, they like to make a display, they like to let everyone know they are around. Not everyone likes a peacock, but then again in their World it’s all about the posture and the display, and that isn't for everyone.

As Urban As It Gets

Having seen Manchester Central play very well in the second half at Walshaw Sports last week, I decided, with them having a Thursday night game, that it was time to have a meander across the Snake Pass and have a look at them in their home environment.

The Nicholls Campus is very close indeed to Manchester City Centre, right at the very end of Hyde Road, just before the roundabout that takes you up to the Mancunian Way. It sits almost adjacent to Ardwick Railway Station which for many would be a convenient alighting point for the Etihad Stadium.

Central Warm Up

Arriving an hour or so before the scheduled 8.05pm kick off, because this is a plastic floodlit pitch at the college and they have to fit in around other bookings, I decided to cross Hyde Road and head for Stockport Road. Stockport Road has a massive exotic pet centre, and that might explain the peacock, although to be fair I’ve been in many a pet shop and never seen a peacock. A chinchilla maybe, but never a peacock. I managed to grab some fodder before making my way back to the college.

Manchester Central have tried to make the place their own. Advertising hoardings are fastened to the wooden pitch side barriers, whereas in the dressing room building much of their propaganda is displayed on the walls. It seem they have a link up with Morecambe Football Club, via the college, and that suggests that the club is as much an academy as it is a football club.

City Centre Direction

Last season was quite interesting as Central finished runners up in the First Division while tonight’s visitors Beechfield United came third. Both were promoted, along with champions Chadderton Reserves. Central have had an indifferent start to the current campaign and seem to be finding their feet, while Beechfield  were sat mid-table after a mixed bag of results.

A modest sized crowd pitched up to watch it, but the bulk seemed to be young footballers who had some sort of connection with the College and indeed Central. Central looked the better side right from the off and took the lead in the fifteenth minute through Cory Knight.

Ten minutes later and it was 2-0 thanks to a quite superb free kick from Joshua Frith. Beechfield had battled well, but Central had that bit of quality and pace to pick them off.

Night Time Falls

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first period. Central had the fancy flicks, the passing and the movement that gave them a considerable edge. It’s very easy on the eye, but part of you wonders that when the showboating inevitably happens, and it does from time time, whether a certain type of opposition might take exception to it and decide to adopt ‘prison rules’.

Central are young lads, and  I’m not sure just how they would react to a getting a good ‘banjo-ing’, which at some point I’m pretty sure will come from a less than tolerant and somewhat long-in-the-tooth Manchester League outfit.

That said, two more goals arrived and well crafted they were too. Bevan Burley found the net before Knight went on to get his second of the game.

No question about it, it was a deserved victory for Central, and they have some fine footballers who will go on to better things I’m sure. But, like the peacock, some people like to see a strut, a swagger and a display, myself included, but others aren’t quite so keen on those characteristics, deeming them to be slightly arrogant.

The Hub

This is the Manchester Football League, where honest lads like to play an honest game of football, and Manchester Central, while to be much admired for what they are offering in terms of progression, might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

I have no issue with them at all and would be only too happy to watch them again because they have some fine football players, but I’m not overly convinced I’ve got 100% support on that in the wider community.

Maybe the peacock has other ideas.