Education

Leek CSOB   2   Audley   1

Staffordshire County Senior League – Premier Division

The road from Ashbourne to Stoke-on-Trent is one that stirs so many memories every time I drive down it.

You see, from September 1991 through to the Summer of 1994 I was a student at Keele University, and during that era the A50 wasn’t the road it is now, so for me, the easiest way of getting to the Potteries was the scenic route.

I used to love the drive, climbing out of Belper and then through Hulland Ward to Ashbourne, before then heading up the hill through Swinscoe and dropping a left onto the A52. That road then took you through the villages of Whiston, Froghall and Kingsley before you started to enter the outskirts of Stoke, going through places like Cellarhead and Werrington, before eventually dropping down onto the Leek Road, almost opposite the Northwood Stadium.

I still love it now, and I make no excuses for it, sometimes if I have a choice of games to go to, I’ll deliberately select one that takes me that route, especially midweek as there’s something quite atmospheric about doing it in the dark!

I had a couple of options on a cold and wet Wednesday night, but, knowing that the easiest route to Leek CSOB was going to take me a good way along that route, it won the day over the alternative game at Eccleshall.

You can get to CSOB’s Pointon Park in Cheddleton by heading up to Leek and dropping down out of the town, but I elected to follow my preferred route and then head up via Wetley Rocks, just before you got to the junction at Cellarhead. It was a quiet but enjoyable journey, and to be honest, in just over 45 minutes after leaving home, I was parking up.

This wasn’t a new venue for me, I first went to Pointon Park when it was newly opened, back in March 2015 when they played what was I think their first game under floodlights, ironically against Keele University. It could have been even more ironic as the floodlights packed up at one point during the game, I seem to recall it was because they were trying to turn the lights off on the 4G pitches and someone flicked the wrong switch by mistake. Anyway, it was a night when the great unwashed of the travelling fraternity turned up, and they were treated to a 4-0 home win.

What’s the story with Leek County School Old Boys then, to give them their full name?

Formed in 1945, the club was set up for the former pupils (and I assume staff) of a school, or a collection of schools in the Leek area, I’m not sure exactly. Records suggest that that started life in local Leek leagues, before becoming founder members of the Staffordshire Senior League in 1984.

They remained in the competition until it was renamed the Midland League, but then in 1996 they won it and with it gained promotion to the North West Counties League.  They then got promoted again to the top flight of the NWC two years later, but by 2001 they were back in the second tier again, where they remained until 2014 when they resigned from the league.

The North West Counties League era saw the club playing at Leek Town’s Harrison Park, but after desperately trying to find a home of their own for a number of years, they finally secured a new ground in the village of Cheddleton, which coincided with the clubs move into the Staffordshire County Senior League. They won the First Division title in their first season in 2014-15, and then went on to win the Premier Division the year after.

Pointon Park is a community based facility, which was built by the company John Pointon & Sons, an animal by-products company who’s factory sits to the East of the ground. The ground and it’s children’s play area, and it’s all weather court sit between Felthouse Lane and the aptly named Bones Lane, which both lead to the factory itself.

It consists of a community changing facility with a tea bar, while the car park sits behind the West goal, with the pitch raised up in front of it. It’s fully railed, with hard standing, and it has floodlights, but at present it has no cover for spectators, which may explain why they haven’t yet pushed forward for a return to the North West Counties League.

That said, on the field, things have been looking pretty good this time around, prior to the game they sat just behind leaders AFC Alsager, Foley Meir and the visitors Audley, knowing a victory would take them to within a point of the summit.

A decent crowd pitched up on a chilly night and we got an entertaining and hard fought spectacle. Leek took the lead only for the visitors to peg them back, but a goalkeeping error lead to a second and winning goal for the hosts. Despite Audley’s late efforts, they couldn’t force an equaliser.

But then, it right royally kicked off! To avoid any doubt, this is what I saw and heard from my vantage point on top of the grass slope on the side of the ground opposite the dugouts.

As we were in added time, a Leek player went down injured but the visitors refused to put the ball out of play for him to be treated. It mattered not in the end, but at the final whistle, and I assume because of that, we had a bit of pushing and shoving.

Suddenly though, the whole thing very quickly escalated and we had the sight of supporters running onto the pitch to join in the melee. It started to get nasty, clearly punches and kicks were being thrown and the ‘scrum’ started to work it’s way across the pitch to right in front of where I was stood.

It was at this point that I could get an understanding of where the main issue seemed to be. Accusations were being made that a player had hit a child during the initial coming together. Now, whether the child was on the pitch or indeed not isn’t something I can say as I didn’t see it, but, as a result it became quite clear that the player accused of this was being singled out, largely by individuals who hadn’t taken part in the game.

It was nasty, the player was trying his best to get away from the situation, but every time he moved, someone came in with kicks or punches from another angle. Eventually, shirtless, he managed to get under the spectator barriers and into an area where he could be protected.

Finally, sometime after the final whistle, the pitch was cleared and I made my way back to the car. All very unpleasant and an unseemly ending to what had been a good night, what the repercussions will be I really don’t know, but I would be amazed if the matter found it’s way under a large carpet!

But, scenes from Kung Fu Fighting aside, it had been a good night, the road home was quiet with just 5 Live for company. I have a feeling though, that as Winter approaches, we might not have many more chances to watch football, but, one more midweek, maybe?