In The Country

SESKU Miners  10  Youdan  3

Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League – Division Two

Admission / Programme – No / No

It never crossed my mind when sat in the car park at Frickley Athletic on Tuesday night, that I’d be back in the very same car park four days later!

I had a plan, a wonderful plan to be fair, I was going to set off down the M1 and head into North East London for a game at the Barkingside football ground, where Redbridge FC play. The weather forecast was a bit iffy, but on the balance of things, it should have been ok.

Except, I was on the train to Manchester on the Thursday for a day sesh round the Christmas Markets with daughter, when I thought I’d follow Redbridge on Twitter to keep an eye on things. It was only then that I thought something wasn’t quite right because they were advertising a bus trip to Hereford!

Turns out I’d not spotted the fact they were still in the FA Trophy, and instead of being at home in the league, they were having a day out instead! That blew that one out, so I decided to have a re-think and have a proper look on the Friday at what alternative options were available.

The weather forecast for the South East was Billy Grimbo, I toyed with a 2pm at Sittingbourne, but with no plastic options in the vicinity, and having agreed to do something on the home front at 7.30pm on Saturday night, the idea of travelling a distance was looking less and less appealing.

I then remembered about SESKU Miners, a new team in the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League, who had set up home on the new 3G pitch which sat in Frickley Country Park, effectively North East of the home of Athletic, around 200 yards or so away.

I didn’t put the venue on the list at the start of the season, largely because adjacent to the 4G is a grass pitch within Frickley Country Park that I’ve seen South Elmsall  United Services play on, but, I decided to keep it in mind for an occasion when I was struggling elsewhere due to weather etc.

That moment had arrived, a look at the fixtures confirmed they were indeed due to be at home, and after connecting with them via Facebook and asking the question, all was quickly confirmed as good to go, against visiting Youdan from deepest Sheffield.

So, parked in the same car park, this time in daylight, it was a case of waiting for the players to arrive, from the both sides, which they duly did, but somewhat confusingly they were heading straight down to the pitch rather than into the relatively newly built changing room block behind the goal at Athletic’s ground, which United Services used when I last visited. Turns out there is a little bit more to the 3G at Frickley Country Park than you might expect!

For a start, you can access three sides of it, and as you walk in you’ve got cabins that serve as toilets, and a Tea Bar (separately I might add). The changing room issue was quickly resolved, turns out on the side that spectators can’t access, in each corner is a wooden building (not to be confused with a shed) that the teams use to change in. Whether they have showers etc is unclear but you would assume so? In short, it was better than I was expecting, and rather than looking and feeling like a school or leisure centre facility, it actually felt like and resembled a football ground! The facilities, which are built on what was the former slag heap that dominated the local area, look to have been funded by, and are owned by South Elmsall Town Council, in partnership with the local sports association.

So what is SESKU?

An acronym, South Elmsall, South Kirkby, Upton, three former mining communities in the locality, who have a combined football club, recently formed it seems, serving all ages. They put a side in the bottom tier of the County Senior at the start of this season, and so far it’s been going ok, six wins from eight games has kept them in touch at the top, whereas visiting Youdan, well they’ve lost every game!

Before the game I had a wander into the Country Park, largely to admire the views from the top and get a decent aerial photo of the ground, it’s quite a serene location, with runners, dog walker and mountain bikers doing their thing, a far cry from the days of the coal mines. If someone had said twenty years ago what this place would end up looking like, you wouldn’t have believed them!

The game was entertaining, watched by a decent sprinkling of spectators.

Twice SESKU took the lead, but twice Youdan pegged them back. SESKU then scored two more to make it 4-2 before another goal from the visitors saw the half time score line 4-3. To be fair though, SESKU were much the better side but poor defending was their undoing.

The second half was a different story, SESKU scored six times without reply, winning 10-3, with Nathan Harrop claiming a double hat-trick! Youdan also had a player sent off for a bad challenge to make matters worse.

Weirdly, looking at my notifications on Futbology, on the corresponding weekend of the previous season I was also watching a game on plastic, Leeds University v Alwoodley. The final score? 10-3

So, bit of a rescue job, but a worthwhile one, and a pleasant surprise as well in terms of what I found.

Turns out Sittingbourne played in the end!

 

 

 

Frickley Colliery

 Frickley Athletic  2  Emley  3

Northern Counties East League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme - £7 / £2.50

The South Yorkshire coalfields were at War, it was March 1984, and the National Union of Mineworkers, lead by Arthur Scargill, went into battle against Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government.

It was bloody, it was brutal, it caused misery, it destroyed families, it destroyed communities, it destroyed many a good working man. As time went on, poverty, hunger, anger, violence and an overwhelming sense of desperation, balanced against that of solidarity with their comrades, saw South Yorkshire’s miners spend almost twelve months, on strike, not earning, fighting for the cause, to simply keep their pits open, and keep their livelihoods. Entire communities, were quite simply, at stake.

The miners lost the battle, and their leader, Mr Scargill was right, the pits were closed, and while that in itself created untold damage, much of the damage had already been done. The scars of the Miners Strike, perhaps even more so than the scars of the closure of the pits, are still painful to this day, and in South Yorkshire, they will simply never ever forget.

The Miners Strike ended in March 1985, and for the small town of South Elmsall, which sits between Doncaster and Barnsley, it was a place that like so many others, suffered, economically, socially and indeed physically.

South Elmsall had something though, they had something for people to cling on to, a football club, a football club called Frickley Athletic, a club that within fourteen months of the strike coming to an end, were officially the second best non-league football club in the Country.

This needs putting into context a little. In 1979 the non-league football pyramid first started to take shape, and that came in the way of the creation of a single division top tier, taking the best clubs from the Northern Premier League and the Southern League. By 1980 Frickley Athletic became members, and in the 1985-86 season they came runners-up to Enfield.

In comparative terms, the last team to finish runners-up at this level, in what is the same league, were Notts County….think about that for a moment.

So, given the backdrop of what was going on all around them, the success of Frickley Athletic is without doubt one of the most remarkable stories of modern times when it comes to non-league football, but because it didn’t end in glory, riches and masses of publicity, I don’t feel it gets anything like the credit it deserves. Interestingly though, it’s a little known fact outside of South Elmsall, that the band Chumbawamba wrote a song about Frickley, it goes like this…

“Frickley in South Yorkshire, a small mining town

Where once the riot coppers beat the pickets to the ground

It has a football team, and a stand full of fans

Who love their game and who love revenge

If a cop comes near the ground on a Saturday afternoon

He’ll be heading the bricks until he’s over the moon”

Formed as Frickley Colliery, the club were a Midland League side through the Forties and Fifties, before joining the Cheshire League when the Midland League folded for a period. The Midland League came back though and Colliery re-joined that in 1970.

A move to the Northern Premier League came in 1976 and along with that came a name change to Frickley Athletic, and following a third placed finish in 1979-80 they were admitted to the top table. Gradual progress came, culminating with the heady second placed finish, but twelve months later they ran in next to bottom and were relegated.

Seven seasons were spent in the top flight, punching above their weight against giants such as Barnet, Altrincham, Telford United, Maidstone United, Kettering Town and Yeovil Town. They were the unfashionable club, the club who’s ground made many a Southerner turn their nose up, the club who’s small but loyal band of fans had to put up with the ridicule over the strike and the impact it had, the club who had the absolute right to be exactly where they were, but when they did get relegated, the club that very few wept for.

The period from 1987 through to 2017, thirty years if I’ve done my maths right, was spent in the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League. The highlight during this period came in 2005-06 when lead by Gary Marrow (in his second spell), a man who I got to know well during his tenure as manager of Belper Town, took them to runners-up and a play-off, but otherwise, you did sense in more recent seasons that every year it was all about simply surviving.

The drop to Step 4 came in 2017, and despite making the play-offs again in their first season, the trajectory was a downhill one and at the end of the 2020-21 season they were relegated to the Northern Counties East League.

The FA Cup has been kind to Frickley. As Colliery they most famously made the First Round in 1971-72, drawing 2-2 at home to Rotherham United, losing the replay at Millmoor 4-0. But then as Athletic, it was that famous 1985-86 season that saw them reach the Third Round. A victory over Halesowen Town in the First Round set up a trip to Hartlepool United where the blues came away with a 1-0 victory. The Third Round saw Rotherham once again as the opponents, and this time the Football League neighbours won 3-1 at Westfield Lane.

I’ve been to Westfield Lane a few times over the years. My first visit came back in the late Nineties when they entertained Gresley Rovers in the FA Cup, and since then I’ve been a couple of times when Gary was in charge, and more recently when Belper have been the visitors. I love the place, it’s proper, it’s authentic, it’s the epitome of Northern non-league football. It oozes history, nostalgia, and everyone who watches the club, or is involved with the club, has a story, a unique story about what Frickley means to them and what memories they have.

You have to remember, for many Frickley Athletic Football Club was the one thing that kept them going during the dark days, the one thing they could look forward to, the light at the end of the tunnel, the constant, the place where you could go and forget, meet your mates, have a pint and put the World to rights. That spirit, and the togetherness that the club creates, is perhaps, one of the main reasons why Frickley Athletic is still around, albeit at a much lower level, but still around, and still well supported.

You drop down a hill into South Elmsall from the Doncaster to Wakefield Road, the railway station is on your left and then it’s a quick right and left turn back up the hill, along Westfield Lane. A left turn then takes you through some new build houses and down in the dip below is the football ground.

Much has changed around the ground over the years, the pit houses that sat between the ground and the road have gone, replaced by new builds, while the iconic slag heap that sat behind the covered terracing on the far side has been landscaped and is now called Frickley Country Park. Ironically, the slag heap was flattened out, and now houses a football pitch on top of it, the home of South Elmsall United Services who play in the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League.

But, little changes at the ground itself, the track down to the ground is uneven and potholed, while in front of you is the rear fascia of the old main stand, that used the house the dressing rooms and a small clubhouse bar. Once through the turnstiles, the stand has had some new seats put in in to replace the benches, but it is a large structure giving excellent elevated views. In front is some terracing, with the dugouts sat beneath at pitch level. I remember being at a game just after Gary had left Frickley to go to Grantham, and one of his first games back in charge of his new team was at Frickley. He copped for it from the terraces, big style!

A couple of steps of terracing run all the way around the ground, the grass banks that sat behind the goals have been long since removed, complete with the haphazardly placed crush barriers, while on the far side, in the shadow of the former slag heap, is some cover, but a section in the middle is no longer roofed, I suspect lost in the high winds.

One change that has taken place is a new changing room building behind the goal, built not only to serve the football club, but also the new pitch I previously mentioned, and the 4G pitch that sits adjacent.

In short, it’s as wonderfully characteristic, charming and decrepit as it always was, and please, long may it always be this way!

Sat in the bar prior to the game, you sensed a bit of a buzz about the place. Frickley went into the game against an Emley side who themselves knew a win would take them top, knowing that they sat well within range of the play off spots. All around on the walls of the bar are photographs and memorabilia from the glory days, could this be the season when they get their first promotion since 1980, when they joined the APL?

Realistically what is the best that Frickley could hope to be in the modern World? I think they are definitely a Step 4 club in size and stature, whether they could get to Step 3 and sustain a side is debateable, but any higher is just not realistic nowadays. The ground, as wonderful as it is, would needs thousands spending on it to get it back to the National League’s standards, whereas money is tight in South Elmsall, millionaire backers are not ambling down Westfield Lane to bankroll matters.

The game was a cracker, but the first half didn’t really suggest how the second half was going to pan out, with the score line 0-0 and Emley having the balance of possession and chances.

Alhassane Keita gave Frickley the lead on the hour mark, but then Emley’s task became harder when James Walshaw saw red in 74^th minute following what seemed to be an off the ball altercation while waiting for a corner. However, from that very corner, Charlie Barks grabbed the equaliser, and within four minutes Ruben Jerome tapped home to give the visitors the lead.

Frickley battled back and equalised with just three minutes to go when Lewis Binns scored from the edge of the box, but as the game was well into injury time, it was that name Jerome again who nodded the ball home before running to celebrate with the good sized section of Emley fans in the crowd of 321.

The home crowd trundled out of the ground at the final whistle, disappointed no doubt, but they’ll be back for the next game. I spent the second half stood at the back of the stand, which itself is decked with some colourful and impressive flags that have been made by the Frickley faithful.

One of them was of Arthur Scargill being arrested during the Miners Strike, at the infamous Battle of Orgreave if my memory serves me. Like I said, in these parts, they will never forget.

Royal Plan B

Ascot United  1  Southall  3

Isthmian League – Division One South Central

Admission / Programme - £12 / Online

I always knew it was going to be tight, getting to Chipstead v Northwood that is!

You’ve probably gathered, I didn’t get to Chipstead in the end, but I did get to Ascot, but what went wrong?

In simple terms, I had a domestic duty to attend to on Saturday morning, that took slightly longer than anticipated, and by the time I was ready to depart Belper, it was 11.15am, with the sat-nav suggesting a 2.15pm arrival in Surrey.

It wasn’t going to take much to cock it up, but to be fair all was going well, until around Luton, when it seemed to take an age to get down the M25, and by the time I was getting on the anti-clockwise carriageway that arrival time had shifted to 2.35pm.

It got worse, something messy had happened on the M25 South of Heathrow and as I was sat in traffic around the M4 exit, the arrival time kept leaping from 2.50pm, to 2.55pm, and then 3.10pm! I could have made it, but it was very tight, I didn’t know what parking would be like, and inside I was feeling under pressure and not really enjoying the experience one bit!

I had a choice to make, the A30 was a mile away, and once beyond it I was without a Plan B, but Plan B was Ascot United v Southall, and according to the technology, I could do it by 2.35pm. Decision made, I squeezed across four carriageways and got onto the slip road for the A30.

The journey into Ascot was painless by comparison, across the edges of Egham, past the Royal Holloway site of the University of London, a right turn just past Virginia Water, down by the side of Sunningdale (Bruce Forsyth used to live there), and then into Royal Ascot. Money, it seems, is not in short supply in these parts!

Ascot United are unique in the sense that their ground is actually within the racecourse. So you head down into the racecourse, under the track, take a signposted right turn and then up ahead of you, just further on from the impressive main grandstand at the course, lies the home of the current FA Vase holders.

Arrival was made in time for a quick pint, and a chance to take a look at both the FA Vase and Combined Counties League championship trophy that were sat on the bar. Both of course won last season, the most successful campaign of the clubs history. But what of the clubs history?

The club was founded in 1965, but came to prominence in the early Noughties when they joined the Hellenic League. Promotion to the top flight came in 2009 and then in 2019 they were transferred laterally to the Combined Counties League.

The CoCo (as it’s known), was won last time out, winning 33 of the 38 games, scoring 99 goals in the process. That in itself earned the club a move to Step 4 and the Isthmian League, but national headlines were made in the Vase.

The club have made the quarter final stages twice before, losing in 2013 to Shildon and then in 2015 to AFC St Austell, but this time round it was a bit special. The 4^th and 5^th Round saw impressive away victories at both Buckland Athletic and Bridgwater United, while the quarter final at West Didsbury & Chorlton was won on penalties. The semi-final tie was again away from the Racecourse, and this time Corsham Town succumbed, on penalties!

The final was to be against the then holders Newport Pagnell Town, and in front of a live TV audience, a late Kai Walters goal gave them a 1-0 victory.

The Racecourse is a very tidy venue. The car park is huge, and is clearly primarily designed for race days, but on match day finding a space is a doddle. You then wander down a path, through a gate, and the turnstile is on your right hand side. In front of you is the smart clubhouse and dressing room building, elevated above pitch level, with a covered area in front of it giving great views of the action. Stepped terracing sits in front of the building, while to the right of it, again elevated above pitch level is an Atcost style seated stand.

The rest of the ground is hard standing, and of course the pitch is artificial. A smart electronic scoreboard sits in one corner, while behind one of the goals is a run off area of the main racecourse. If you stand behind the South goal where the run off is, you can see the huge grandstand up on the West side.

It’s an interesting place, because just behind the wooded area that sits to the North of the ground is Royal Ascot Golf Club, while Royal Ascot Cricket Club is actually right in the middle of the racetrack, which runs in a kind of triangular fashion (with rounded corners of course!)

Visiting Southall sat in the play off spots, while Ascot were just below half way. A second successive promotion at this stage doesn’t look to be on the cards, but speaking to someone with far greater knowledge of Isthmian League football than me, the club is on a very sound financial and business footing, and they won’t ‘throw’ money at it to go up, it’s about sustainability first and foremost. I’m going to Raynes Park Vale soon by the way………

To be truthful, Southall were the better side and they won reasonably comfortably, albeit Ascot might beg to differ a little. The first goal from giant centre forward Kevin Songolo upset the hosts as his challenge on the goalkeeper was somewhat debateable, although the officials saw no crime committed.

Just before the break Darreon Mark scored with a far post header to make it 0-2 but then the same player was dismissed just after the break following a daft second yellow card. George Lock finished well to make it 1-2 and you felt at that point Ascot had the momentum and they could turn it around.

The sucker punch came two minutes later when Jaden Thompson-Brissett squeezed the ball past the goalkeeper Hugo Sobte, and that seemed to knock the stuffing out of the hosts. Despite Ascot’s efforts late in the game, Southall were reasonably comfortable and saw the game home for the three points that move them second behind the aforementioned Raynes Park Vale.

186 watched it, a fair few travelled from West London as well with the visitors. The journey back, as you would expect was a doddle in comparison to the journey down, with key in the door at 7.30pm.

So, it might not have been Chipstead, but Ascot was a more than satisfactory alternative. I mean, when I set off in the morning to watch a game in Surrey, I never thought for one minute I’d be touching the FA Vase in a Royal town in Berkshire….

 

 

Belligerence

Ipswich Wanderers  2  Bury Town  0

Isthmian League – Division One North

Admission / Programme - £10 / £2.50

If we are being honest, I’ve done some pretty daft things over the years when it comes to watching football, and choosing to go to Ipswich on a day when Storm Kieron Dyer (or something like that) was sweeping the nation, was right up there!

Belligerence is the word I was use, and it was only because the previous day when Mrs H expressed her dissatisfaction towards my plans, that I really dug my heels in. Bloody minded is another phrase that also comes to mind.

There was a bit of method in the madness though, the South of England got a battering on the Friday and the forecast for Saturday morning was equally as shocking, but, I had spotted that as you got East of London and moved into Anglia, by mid-morning it looked to be drying up, so was it worth a punt?

Of course, on Saturday morning a massive part of me was looking at local options, but in my head, I wasn’t going to be beaten, besides, if it went tits up we had options at Felixstowe and Brightlingsea, so what’s to worry about?

I get a bit like that you see, I don’t like to be told, and for that matter, only very occasionally do I get my fingers burnt by making bad calls, so, with all things considered, bugger it, I was getting in my car and going to Ipswich, and only a referee could stop me!

That’s not to say I went brimming with confidence, in fact the only thing that gave me continued hope were the positive tweets being put out by the club about how great the pitch was despite the battering it took over the previous few days. The journey down the M1 and onto the A14 was blighted with heavy rain, and it stayed that way up until around Newmarket before it stopped, so the forecast looked to be spot on.

The club put a further tweet out as I was in the Stowmarket area stating the rain had stopped, and the groundsman was confident the pitch would be fine by 3pm. All good, expect that also suggested that currently, it probably wasn’t fine, and it only took a picky referee or an unhappy away team for it to fall by the wayside. What exactly was I going to find as I got to Ipswich?

Ipswich Wanderers then, what’s the story with these guys?

Well, they are mere whipper-snappers when it comes to their age, having been formed as a junior set up in 1980, they became an adult Sunday League side in 1982 and then joined the Eastern Counties League to play Saturday in 1988 when a second tier was created. Then known as Loadwell Ipswich, they quickly renamed and established themselves in the premier competition in East Anglia.

They’ve bounced between the two divisions of the ECL over the years but then more recently in 2021-22 they won a club record 23 successive games on their way to the Division One South title and then last season following a battle with Thetford Town, they came out on top and with it the championship and promotion to the Isthmian League. They got off to a rough start this season, losing their opening five leagues, but improved form since then has seen them find their feet and on the day of the derby game, they sat in a mid-table position.

The clubs ground on Humber Doucy Lane sits within the Rushmere area of Ipswich, which for those who are not familiar with the layout of the City, is on the East side, and accessible from the A14 via what is effectively the Northern Ring Road, albeit it isn’t actually a ring, more of a straight line!

My experiences of Ipswich are very limited indeed. As a university student I lived in a block with a lad called Simon Rutherford, who lived in Farnham but was an Ipswich Town fan. At the time the Tractor Boys were top flight (1992-93), and famous for being very good indeed at drawing games, so much so I used to wind him up by calling them ‘Drawswich’. He came to watch a couple of Derby County games with me but despite talking about it, we never went to watch Ipswich.

When doing the 92 I did pay a visit to the town for a first time, and that was via a train trip from Stratford on a boiling hot Saturday, to watch Barnsley get a good stuffing at Portman Road. It was while on that visit that myself and Mrs H discovered the Ipswich Marina and Waterfront, which we liked, so we hatched a plan for the following year.

August Bank Holiday weekend, go and watch Leiston on the Saturday, have a couple of nights stay in Ipswich, drink and eat at the marina, and then on the way back go and watch Needham Market. It was a great weekend, we enjoyed Ipswich, even if the day trip to Clacton-on-Sea was somewhat blighted by a vicious storm!

The entrance to Humber Doucy Lane was laden with deep puddles, but cars were being directed to parking spaces, and once through the turnstiles it was clear by looking at the pitch we would have no problems, it was indeed, as the club had stated, in superb condition, with the groundsman doing the final touches to the goalmouths with a sweeping brush and a towel!

The club have built a tidy little venue on HDL, you go through the turnstiles in the corner, and immediately to your right, almost on the corner flag is the clubhouse building which looks to be a modern construction. Moving round clockwise behind the East goal is what looks to be an old building that used to be dressing rooms, while next to it is an area of covered standing that runs around two thirds the width of the goal line.

The North side is hard standing, complete with the dugouts, but spectators are not allowed beyond the dugout area. It remains out of bounds all the way round beyond the West goal, until you reach the South (car park) side where you find a small seated stand followed by what a further and what looks like the original seated area, which in this case is a somewhat taller and steeper.. Then, moving beyond the players tunnel, a further covered area with terracing beneath it runs down towards the corner flag . The dressing rooms sit behind the areas of cover on the South side.

A crowd of just over 300 rocked up to watch the game, and it was the hosts that took the lead in the 19^th minute when Joe White inadvertently put the ball past his own goalkeeper. The visitors task was made harder when Ryan Jolland was dismissed just before the break, for a second yellow card.

The imbalance in numbers to a certain extent killed the game as a spectacle and you always felt that Ipswich had another goal in them, and that finally came in the final minute when Cameron Brown was first to a ball across the six yard box and found the back of the net.

Getting out of Ipswich afterwards was a bit of a ball ache, but I didn’t mind, I’d gambled and it had paid off. I’d thoroughly enjoyed it, sometimes, being a stubborn, pig headed, belligerent old bastard, pays off!

That’s why she married me, I think………!

Last On The List

Dudley Kingswinford  5  Stourbridge Standard  5

West Midlands Regional League – Division Two

Admission / Programme - £4 / No

‘The List’ – anyone who’s been reading my blogs now for any length of time will know that I operate, in fact no, I live my life, by lists.

That’s certainly the case when it comes to football, and where I’m going to go to watch a game. Each season, I draw up a list, and each season that list could be anything between 20 and 40 clubs long, depending on what’s happened over the Summer. Yes, I’ve got a number of leagues I keep on top of, and they all have their own movers and shakers, while at the same time, clubs find new homes, and finding out who’s moved to a new home can be a challenge in itself!

Steve operates the same way (we both used to own Sinclair Spectrums by the way), and at the start of the season I had a grand total of 25 clubs down to visit. That was a bit smaller than in recent seasons, but based on that, I reckoned with fair weather and not too much buggering about with the fixtures, I could be home and hosed by early November, leaving me the rest of the season to pick and choose, and ultimately get down the Southern and Isthmian League’s.

As it panned out, the last Saturday of October was a weekend where we had a work event of mine to attend in Birmingham on the Saturday night, so I had to stay reasonably local. It worked out perfectly as well, because I’d saved Dudley Kingswinford for that specific date, they had a home game, and, as long as the preceding Saturday’s went to plan, it would be the last one on ‘The List’ to complete! The champagne would certainly taste good later in the evening!

Dudley Kingswinford were a bit of a mystery when they first appeared in the constitutions, other than a well known Rugby Union club of the same name, I could find nothing about them at all, other than a youth side of the same name. Turns out from what I could eventually glean, it was in fact the very same youth side deciding to have a crack at senior football.

Once the handbook landed it all became a bit clearer, they were indeed connected to the rugby club, played in the same colours, and had a pitch at the back of the rugby ground that they were going to use.

It’s not the easiest place to get to if truth be told. My sat nav took me down the A38, along the A5 to Muckley Corner, then along into Walsall before crossing the M6 and taking the Black Country Route down past Bilston. It was then across through Coseley and Sedgley, into Himley and then finally after lots of lefts, rights and roundabouts, into the very nice suburb of Kingswinford.

The location is pretty rural, and to be fair, the rugby club itself is pretty impressive, as you would expect from a club playing in the fourth tier (National League Two). You enter into a large car park, and directly in front of you is the floodlit rugby pitch, with a good sized seated stand on one side. The clubhouse and dressing rooms sit on the edges of the car park, the entrance to where the football pitch is located involves a wander around the edges of the building and through a gate where admission was being taken.

My old mate Dave was also in attendance, he’d been to a West Midlands Christian League game that morning and was off pub ticking after the game in the nearby Wolverhampton suburb of Penn. I too would be drinking after the game, along with Mrs L who spent the game sat in the car reading, but my kind of drinking would be very different to Dave’s!

The pitch itself was fine despite all of the recent bad weather, although the grass was a touch long and didn’t lend itself to quick passing football. Otherwise it was just a case of standing behind a rope, along with the 78 spectators who Dave counted had turned up to watch.

Wow, what a game, between a Dudley side floundering near the bottom of the table and a Stourbridge Standard side who are effectively the Under 21 side of Stourbridge FC, and flying high in the table.

The 1-1 score line at half time gave no indication of what was to pan out in the second period. Dudley raced into a 3-1 lead, Stour got it back to 3-2, then Dudley went 4-2, before it went 4-3, 5-3 and then as we moved towards added time, 5-4 as Stour fought back!

As the game moved into the third minute of added time, Stourbridge scored the equaliser and made the final score 5-5. It had been a superb spectacle, great entertainment and both sides deserve credit for the effort and endeavour that they put in. It is also worth noting that it was exceptionally well refereed.

You know what, it was not a bad way at all to complete ‘The List’, even Dave, who does take some pleasing, admitted it had been a fantastic afternoon’s entertainment. While Dave set off to find the pubs, myself and Mrs L had to work our way out to the M5 at Oldbury, and then scoot onto the M6, across Spaghetti Junction, down onto the M42 and round to the Hilton Metropole at the NEC.

Over 300 guests were arriving from all over the Country, but I bet I was the only one who’d watched a 5-5 draw a couple of hours earlier. The celebrations were pretty wild as evening wore on in the midst of a free bar, as I sat back with bottle of beer in hand and the black tie around the neck loosened, I could be safe in the knowledge that it was mission accomplished, the M25 was now suddenly about to very much come into focus.

Dudley Kingswinford however, it was you that made my day!

Portstewart In A Storm

Portstewart  1  Ballymacash Rangers  2

Northern Ireland Premier Intermediate League

Admission / Programme - £7 / No

It had been a year, so it was time to head back to Norn Iron once again, a journey that I’ve been doing on a regular basis for almost twenty years now.

The plan rarely changes much, it typically starts with a Friday morning flight into Belfast, and sees me take in a Derry City game that night with my mates, before heading off to another game on the Saturday, followed by an overnight stay in Belfast, before returning home on the Sunday.

The only reason the plan changes is the ‘buggeration’ factor that can kick in when the League of Ireland elects to move it’s Friday night games at short notice. I’ve had that happen on a couple of occasions but all that’s done is meant I’ve had to divert to another game.

I have now learned what hazards to be careful of though, and the reasons a game can be moved are typically as follows. Involvement in European competitions that means a team has a Thursday night game which scuppers the Friday fixture, international call ups at any kind of level and I mean any kind of level, being selected for live television, and, bizarrely, it once happened because it clashed with Halloween!

I called Derry City v Shelbourne right, it didn’t get moved so more on that later, but my Saturday game is usually one in the Northern Ireland Football League at a new venue. I only have eight left to visit in what you would consider the three ‘senior’ divisions, so choices can be a bit limited, however, one that jumped out was Banbridge Town v Armagh City in the third tier Intermediate Division.

I have to also think about where I can get to via public transport, and then get back to Belfast afterwards to get checked in. Therefore, as you can imagine, some venues are easier than others, and right now, the more difficult ones are in the majority as my list gets shorter!

Banbridge was a doddle though, a 45 minute bus ride South of Belfast, but what became clear as the weekend loomed was the threat that Storm Babet posed to the UK and Ireland. The forecast for the part of the Country below Belfast on the Friday looked a shocker, but as you got further up towards the North West coast, it got significantly better. I had a re-think, Portstewart, right on the coast just to the North of Coleraine, it barely looked as though it was even going to rain!

So, change of plan, but how did it all pan out?

The storm was just arriving as I left home at a few minutes short of 4am, and by the time I was wending my way through the backstreets of Marston Green to get to the Mackadown Lane car park, the roads were starting to flood. Thankfully no issues with the flight, and less than an hour later we were landing at Belfast International and boarding the bus to the city centre.

A quick change at Europa put me onto the trusted 212 for the two hours journey up to Derry, and before long we were driving away from the storm and up into the Sperrin Mountains along the Glenshane Pass. I know when Derry is getting close, it's when the bus makes it’s way through Dungiven, and before long it’s up the hill, past the Altnagelvin Hospital and over the Craigavon Bridge to the Foyleside bus station. Derry by Noon, my second home, the best City in the World!

A pint or two in Jacks Bar gave me the chance to catch up with the owner who always remembers me from previous visits, before a walk along the walls and down into the Bogside to look at the murals and the memorials. Palestine is currently in the news, Palestine has always been in the news as far as the West Bank of the Foyle is concerned, and that was none more apparent today with flags and slogans visible as you walked down Rossville Street.

A quick pint in the Derby Bar (you have to don’t you!), and then it was time to check in and have a breather before meeting friends for a meal and then down to the Brandywell to watch City play.

The game was poor, Derry were down to ten men in the first half and after that it was kind of a nothing game. The 0-0 score line edges them closer to Europe, the league championship boat sailed a while ago, but it’s good to see the Brandywell full every week with over 3,000 regularly in attendance. Plans are afoot to build a new stand at the Lonemoor Road end of the ground and that will almost double the capacity, and it needs it, getting tickets currently isn’t that straightforward like it used to be.

More beers were taken with the lads afterwards before bedtime, and a busy day on the Saturday.

After breakfast, it was the twenty minute stroll on a beautiful morning, down to Guildhall Square and then over the Peace Bridge to the Waterside. The River Foyle was looking stunning and peaceful on a gorgeous morning, and it was alongside that I followed the footpath to the railway station.

The train journey from Derry to Coleraine is widely known as one of the most beautiful journeys in the World. Michael Palin featured it on his TV programme, and having been on that route a few times, but not for many years, I was really looking forward to it.

The journey out of Derry takes you along the Foyle, past the Port and Harbour before heading along the North West coastline. In runs right by the edges of Derry Airport and then along through Bellarena and into the most stunning part of the journey when you travel along the edge of the beach as you approach Castlerock and head through the tunnels that have been cut into the rock face.

Once out of the very picturesque village of Castlerock, you hit the mouth of the River Bann where boating teams were out practicing, and you follow the river all the way over the bridge until finally arriving into Coleraine. It is a simply stunning journey, one you can never tire of.

Coleraine fans boarded the train as I got off, they were on the way to the local derby fixture away at Ballymena United, and that perhaps explains why we had a police presence on the platform. I was going the opposite way though and jumped on a bus that took me North out of the town before heading into Portrush (where the British Open Golf tournament took place recently), and then running along the short but very expensive looking coastline that leads into the next town, Portstewart. On the way along the road, you pass the piece of land that is used every year as the pit area when the famous North West 200 motorcycle road race comes to town. A bit like the recent trip to the Isle of Man, it’s hard to imagine high powered bikes tearing round these roads at the speed they do.

Anyway, off the bus I jumped in Portstewart, and round the corner I walked to the harbour side, which again looked stunning on the beautiful day we had. I took the time to survey the scenery, before making my way to a couple of pubs that were within a short walking distance of the Mullaghacall home of Portstewart Football Club.

It seems my fears about the weather were unfounded, no games were called off in the top three divisions, in fact we only had one ground need a pitch inspection, and that was at Knockbreda. Anyway, it was while sat in the pub that I saw on social media the awful scenes back in Belper where the football ground was under water again for the third time in five years. I really do feel for my Dad and all of the volunteers who run the club, however, as I type this, over £12,000 has been raised to help repair the damage, but what the long term solution is, I really don’t know.

Mullaghacall was reached around an hour before kick off, just after the supporters bus from Ballymacash rolled into the car park. I handed over my £7 and surveyed the scene, the focal point being the clubhouse and dressing room complex that sat on the South side of the ground, with it’s unusual roof design that makes it instantly recognisable on photographs.

Opposite on the North side of the ground, is a modern seated stand that has been added fairly recently to meet ground grading requirements, while the rest of the ground is open, albeit with a grass bank behind the East goal that gives fine views of the action.

Portstewart Football Club was formed in 1968, and played in local leagues until 1979 when they joined the Northern Ireland Intermediate League. In 2003 the club was accepted into the newly formed Second Division of the Northern Ireland Football League (third tier), being relegated in 2016, but winning promotion back at the first attempt.

Over the years, the third tier of Northern Irish football has had a variety of names, but right now it is known as the Northern Ireland Football League Premier Intermediate League. Visitors Ballymacash, from Lisburn, were promoted into the league this season having won the Mid-Ulster League last time round and then defeated St James Swifts in a two legged play-off.

The game itself wasn’t the best spectacle, the hosts took a first half lead through Paul Smith but then two quick fire goals in a ten minute period in the second half from Dylan Sinnerton and ex Sheffield FC man Benny Igiehon saw the visitors take the three points and remain unbeaten in the league.

I watched the game from an elevated view alongside the clubhouse, and with the day being clear, you could see the sea peeping through the rooftops, with the Inishowen Peninsula in the Republic over in the distance to the West.

The journey back saw a bus trip to Coleraine, a train to Belfast Great Victoria Street, and then a fifteen minute walk out to the West and onto the edges of the Falls Road where I was staying for the night. Another great trip, more great memories, and next time, I won’t be leaving it a whole year!

Only I’ve still got to get to Banbridge……