2-4-6-8 Motorway

Old Altrinchamians  1  Stockport Georgians  5

Manchester Football League – Premier Division

Us obsessive football fans do get somewhat bored during pre-season.

This becomes increasingly apparent on the various forums as the subject matters do get increasingly more random, and indeed banal.

Typically, topical matters have included ‘Nearest Ground You’ve Not Visited’, ‘Grounds Furthest From A Railway Station’ and of course, one of my favourites, ‘Grounds You’ve Had A Toilet Related Mishap In’.

One that also popped up recently was ‘Grounds You Can See From A Motorway’, well, this is a subject that is somewhat contentious. Why would that be you might ask? Well, take Walsall, that can be seen plain as day from the M6, and of course would qualify, but what about Carlisle United? You can see the floodlights from the M6, but they are about two miles away? Can you really see the ground?

Anyway, this subject matter rumbled on, and to my surprise, the name of Old Altrinchamians came into the mix. I was surprised in the sense, that the quoted M60 is a road I’ve driven round on countless occasions, but never could I recall seeing a football ground in the said location?

It turns out it was one of those contentious ones again, in the sense that the ground of the Old Alts (as they will be known from now as it’s easier to type), sits almost right underneath the motorway, but as it’s very well shielded by trees, you would have to pull up onto the hard shoulder and lean over the edge of the barriers to actually get a glimpse of it.

Ok, not a very exciting subject matter I admit, but I guess back in the pre-internet and Google Maps days it was always a challenge when travelling in foreign parts to try and work out who’s ground you’ve just seen? On that, and this is in the modern era, I was once on a tube train going into London with a load of Liverpool fans who were also on the way to a game. We travelled past The Hive, the home of Barnet, when one of our Scouse brethren asked loudly “Who’s ground is that?” We were met with silence, until one of them, in all seriousness, piped up, “Burton Albion”. They really shouldn’t be allowed out should they?

So, back to the subject matter in question, Old Alts. It was my one and only choice of a game on a wet and windy Wednesday night, in fact it was so wet I did have some doubts whether the game would be on, but it turned out to be ok.

The journey from the other side of the hills was fine, and pretty soon we were trundling along the M60 admiring the floodlights of Stockport County (stop it!). The Old Alts ground  is at Crossford Bridge Playing Fields, with the River Mersey running close by, along with the motorway and the M56.

It’s a large complex, comprising of a number of sports fields, an athletics track, and a railed off pitch that is set away from the main pitches, right underneath the motorway, and this is where they play.

After parking up and checking all was ok, I took a very short walk to the Bridge pub on Dane Road and had myself a pint of San Miguel. I wanted some dry roasted peanuts, but they didn’t do bar snacks, just meals, I wasn’t happy, I won’t be going again. What’s the use of a pub without bar snacks?

Gripe aside, I was back in time for kick off along with a handful of spectators, which included Andy and Martin, two fellas I know from the circuit. Old Alts had drawn their opening game with newly promoted Pennington 2-2, while neighbouring Stockport Georgians had also been held to a draw on the opening game courtesy of a 3-3 with Beechfield United.

It started well for Old Alts when Dave Drinkwater gave them the lead but by half time, thanks to some excellent football from the visitors, they had raced to a 4-1 lead.

You did fear a cricket store at this stage, but a much better second half performance saw the hosts concede just one more goal. The scorers for Stockport were Luke Flanagan, Adam Gardiner, Samuel John, Michael Rodden and Will Wareing.

Old Alts have now embarked on their fifth consecutive season of Manchester League top flight football, equalling their best ever run since joining the league. They finished twelfth out of fifteen last season after finishing bottom the previous campaign. Clearly they will be looking to push on this time around. They showed enough in patches during the game to suggest they’ll be ok this season.

So, the ground that is hidden under the M60 is ticked off, and, in case you were wondering, my answer to one of those three initial questions at the start of this blog, Hitchin Town, I’ll leave the rest to your imagination………….