No Port In A Storm - Saints March On As Goals Rain In...

And so to Black Park Road and Yockings Park, just over the Shropshire border and the home of Whitchurch Alport FC. Today sees a first ever visit from St Helens Town FC in the North West Counties Football League Division One.

Whitchurch Alport FC, 'The Reds', was formed in 1946 and joined the Shrewsbury & District League. The club was named after Alport Farm on Alport Road, the home of local footballer Coley Maddocks, who was killed in action in the Second World War. As 1947/48 champions of the Shrewsbury & District League, the club was elected to the Birmingham League - but news of the proposed Mid Cheshire League reached the ears of the committee and this led to them becoming founder members.

Affectionately known as the 'Allbran Allstars', Alport were champions of the Mid Cheshire League in 1970, and are ten time winners of the Shropshire Cup. The Commander Ethelston Cup was also won on numerous occasions, and the Reds became the last English club to win the Welsh Amateur Cup in 1974.

The club took the decision to move down to the Mercian Regional Football League in 2012, and, after squad strengthening and ground improvements, applied to join the North West Counties last summer. Initially denied by the FA, they were admitted on appeal. A torrid inaugural season has ensued, with just a solitary league victory, bottom of the table, and manager Richie O'Keeffe leaving the club two days ago.

The original St Helens Town club was formed in 1901, playing at Park Road, behind the Primrose Vaults pub, although the players changed further down the road at the Black Horse. Playing in the Lancashire League and Lancashire Combination, the team initially prospered but struggled after World War 1 and folded midway during the 1928/29 season.

The Saints were reformed by George Fryer and a group of local businessmen in 1946, playing at the former cricket ground at Hoghton Road, Sutton. They took over local team Derbyshire Hill Rovers in April 1947 and entered the Liverpool County Combination.

Former German prisoner of war Bert Trautmann joined the club in the summer of 1948 and the following season Town entered the Lancashire Combination. Despite losing Trautmann to Manchester City in October 1949, the Second Division title was secured.

However after two relegations it was a return to the Lancashire Combination in 1956, a league they won in 1972, 9 points clear of Accrington Stanley (who are they ?!). A move across to the Cheshire League in 1975 was the forerunner to becoming a founder member of the North West Counties in 1982.

The Saints won the FA Vase in 1987, beating near neighbours Warrington Town 3-2 at Wembley. Then, in 2000, the club left Hoghton Road, with the facilities quickly falling into disrepair and the site was sold for housing two years later. The Saints ground shared with St Helens RLFC at Knowsley Road for ten years but the intended relocation to Langtree Park never materialised. Subsequently they have shared with Ashton Town and now at Brocstedes Park, home of Ashton Athletic.

The club did hold the proud record of being the only team to play in the North West Counties top flight in every season until April 2015 when, on the last day, a Silsden injury time equaliser condemned them to relegation. Hopes for this season are to bounce back at the first attempt, and to move into a Council owned multi sports facility at Ruskin Drive in the town for 2016/17.

With the forecast heavy rain yet to make an appearance, it's a balmy 15°C with patchy sunshine as I move onto a Manchester Road still blighted by the arson ravaged Bayer building, and still (un)protected 24 hours by Universal Security Guards. The bushes have been trimmed at Totty Towers, and on the opposite pavement are two hoolies, one pushing the other on a stolen B&Q trolley.

To the M56 and an exit at the familiar haunts of the Stretton Fox and the Hollow Tree, to join the A49. Past a barn ablaze on the left, then the boarded up (and hence not so) Bella Napoli restaurant at Acton Bridge before ignoring the attractions of the Vale Royal Falconry Centre and Karma Rooms and White Hart Serenity in Cuddington.

Cheshire Polo Club and Cabbage Hall are also bypassed before I come to the Fox and Barrel - fittingly there is plenty of roadkill just beyond !! And then Panama Hatty's in Spurstow, Bunbury Mill and Cholmondeley Castle beyond which is a used car garage operated by Lou Coffin & Co - and yes business is dead this afternoon....Not much call for second hand coffins, I guess.....

Finally to the outskirts of Shropshire and the Willeymoor Lock Tavern and then into the market town of Whitchurch with its impressive St Alkmund's Church and, via a detour (OK a wrong turning !), the iconic J B Joyce turret clock manufacturers building.

When I find the right way it's a side road Talbot Street leading to Black Park Road just north east of the town and Yockings Park is on the left. A narrow one track entrance and car park which, after the Eccleshall mud trap, I avoid. A fiver in with a free programme - a nice touch.

Yockings Park is a two and a half sided ground built out of a farmer's field. The far end is out of bounds - a grass bank and then a tall hedge with farmland beyond - whilst the near end is the driveway to the car park, which is behind a covered shelter that runs to half way, then the dugouts and open standing.

The popular side supports the homely clubhouse and the main stand plus the dressing rooms constructed from wooden packing crates acquired from the Military Camp at Prees Heath shortly after the end of the Second World War. The stand just stretches over the halfway line but there is no access beyond. Four St Helens Town flags draped from the stand take centre stage.

The Reds are, unsurprisingly, in all red and the Saints in change all sky blue. The match kicks off in light drizzle with Alport having the advantage of a strong wind behind their backs. A bobbly pitch and the wind contrive to make the first few minutes eminently forgettable.

On the quarter hour Saints' first foray into Alport territory yields a free kick near the corner flag. The ball is flicked on for right back Aaron Morris to volley home via the underside of the bar. Aside from an Matt Baldwin effort destined for the top corner and well turned away by Saints' keeper Matthew Hodge, a horribly spooned effort over the hedge and a near own goal, Whitchurch struggle to take advantage of playing with the wind. Indeed the visitors could be further ahead as Saints' captain Andy Gillespie fires narrowly wide and George Lomax, in a two on one, chooses the greedy option and loses control.

Half time arrives with Town one up and the rain getting steadily heavier. Within a minute of the restart a ball over the top is dreadfully misjudged leaving Lomax all alone and he waltzes past keeper Gary Tinsley to make it 2-0 to the visitors

 The brooding sky then begins to wreak havoc as the elements are unleashed. The thermometer ticks down to 7°C, lightning streaks the sky and torrential horizontal rain is literally hurled onto the pitch by a raging wind as Storm Katie batters Yockings Park. There is no sanctuary in the main stand from the weather, with every occupant huddled together on the back row. Indeed the only place to escape the worst of the teeming rain is the covered shelter on the opposite side. In front of this the paunchy and rather weatherbeaten linesman is asked if he wants waders or a dinghy (water wings is his response) on a touch line resembling a lake.

Puddles appear on the pitch and the referee takes both captains aside to inform them that if conditions don't improve in the next five minutes the players will be taken from the field. Fortunately the storm abates, marginally, and the pitch does not deteriorate markedly.

The home side are then given a big opportunity to get back into the match when they are awarded a penalty for handball. Tom Smith's spot kick is well saved by Hodge however and the Reds visibly disintegrate.

The Alport defence is all at sea as marauding left back Ste Rigby, in oceans of space, is allowed to run on and dink the ball over Tinsley to make it 3-0. Wave after wave of Saints' pressure sees Gillespie miss three one on ones, two high, wide and not very handsome clearing the hedge, and one straight at the keeper. Livewire sub Shaun Brady slots home a fourth, a goal is disallowed, chances cleared off the line and profligacy leads to a shout from the stand of 'Saints this is sh*te'..... Alport can only muster a fierce Ryan Baxter shot straight into Hodge's chest from a counter attack.

And then on 82 minutes Gillespie has his moment; Brady's shot hits the inside of the post and from inches Saints' captain scores their fifth. You would have thought he had won the World Cup.........
Earnest entreaties from the bedraggled linesman of 'Please no stoppage time' are granted by the referee who mercifully blows exactly on ninety minutes and the match finishes, just like the good old days, at bang on twenty to five with Saints emphatic 5-0 victors :)

PS Easter Monday's proposed trip to Hanley fell victim to waterlogging, so I popped over to Townfield, home of Barnton FC, to see how Alport would fare on their travels. Hoping for a goal or two, here's how it finished :

'Barnton's 11-1 win over Whitchurch Alport on Easter Monday was only the second time that score has been recorded in NWCFL history.

The other previous occurrence was on 10th Jan 1998, when Fleetwood Freeport beat Stantondale by the same score in a Division Two game.

One other point worth mentioning on the game is in relation to the times of the last three goals Barnton scored.  We have no complete records on goal times for every game in league history going back to 1982, but it is fair to say that there won't have been many instances in the past of a player scoring three goals with the times all recorded as being in the 90th minute, as Kevin Towey achieved.'

Panthers Fail To Pounce - Then A Second Half To Makerfield Ill..

 And so to Edge Green Street in Ashton-in-Makerfield, the home of Ashton Town AFC. On a cold, grey afternoon the Town play host to near neighbours, Atherton Laburnum Rovers, in the North West Counties Football League Division One.

The original Ashton Town joined the Lancashire Combination in 1903, but withdrew towards the end of the 1910/11 season and their fixtures were taken over by Tyldesley Albion. The current club was established in 1953 by employee Derek 'Mick' Mycock as Makerfield Mill FC - a works football team for Makerfield Mill, one of Lancashire's leading textile mills in the 1950s, and known locally as the 'Weaving Shed'. The first two seasons in the Wigan Sunday School League can only be described as disastrous, with the club winning just two games, and earning the unenviable name of 'The Chopping Blocks'.....

Mick decided to move the club to a higher standard of football, the St Helens Combination, for 1955/56 and successfully gained permission from the Mill's management to play four non-employees. After a season of consolidation, the restriction on the use of outside players was totally lifted and Division 2 was won in 1958.

Makerfield Mill FC joined the Warrington & District Amateur League the following season, and were champions five times in their first six seasons. This was also a period which saw the club renamed Ashton Town in 1962 and they acquired their Edge Green Street ground, which was previously used by Stubshaw Cross Rovers, in 1964.

After a sixth title in 1970, the Town joined the Lancashire Combination and then the Cheshire County League in 1978. Thereafter the club became founder members of the North West Counties Football League in 1982 where they have remained ever since, aside from one season in the Manchester League - slightly at odds with their motto 'Onwards & Upwards'.

Atherton Laburnum Rovers FC was founded in 1956 as Laburnum Rovers, an U-14s side to play in the Briarcroft Junior League. 'The Laburnums' were named after the Laburnum Playing Fields where they first played; it is not clear where their other nickname, 'The Panthers', emanates from.

The club expanded to senior level, starting in the Leigh & District League, and after moving to Hagfold Playing Fields, became members of the Bolton Combination in 1961. Ground facilities prevented promotion so a farmer's field was found at Greendale and, despite a footpath criss-crossing and duck ponds on either side, a football pitch was created. The move to the new ground occurred in June 1966, and after winning the Bolton Combination Division Two, the Laburnums were promoted and new changing rooms were erected - a major improvement on the old air raid shelters previously in use !

The Panthers joined the Cheshire County League in 1980, with the league stipulating the team changed its name to include that of the town - and Atherton Laburnum Rovers was born. The ground was renamed Crilly Park in honour of chairman Jack Crilly, who died suddenly.

LR were also founder members of the North West Counties in 1982 and, as champions in 1993 and 1995, were promoted to the Unibond Northern Premier League, the latter a stay that lasted three seasons culminating in relegation after financial problems. Thereafter there was a flurry of managers - 6 in 2 years at one point - and the intervening years saw two relegations, one promotion and two Bolton Hospital Cup successes.

In one direction Altrincham Retail Park, with its newly laid turf and bedding plants and on the opposite side the continued disembowelment of the old Halfords store. And then roadworks and gridlock so the more circuitous, but quicker, route is via Scissorhand barbers, Red Hot Nails and the Ducati showroom - but no Patelvis !! - to the M60.

Then onto the M56 and underneath consecutive motorway bridges featuring a rag and bone man, a flock of sheep being herded across and a Portaloo, before joining the M6. Thelwall is suspiciously quiet but still the scene of some moronic driving, before the exit at Haydock Park. This takes me into Ashton-in-Makerfield, past The Fat Bull pub and Inkjections tattooists and then onto the Golborne Road, with Edge Green Street a residential cul de sac on the right.

The ground is fairly basic - school playing fields and car parking at one end, the other three sides surrounded by housing developments. Red and white railings, wooden fencing and two small seated stands on the far side - populated by two spectators in the first half, both of whom disappear at half time.....it proves to be a wise move !! The clubhouse in the corner is the main focus of activity.

Ashton sport a red and white chequered number, whilst the Laburnums are in yellow with a swirl of blue and an illegible sponsor. The visitors kick down the prodigious slope to the end 'packed' with five ALR diehards and three flags.

Despite their lowly standing - next to bottom - the Panthers start better, and Danny Kerr is denied by the keeper's legs, whilst Danny Davies's half volley just clears the crossbar. But the visitors fail to take advantage, and Ashton come into the game, exposing the sort of brittle defending that led to a 10-1 defeat at Cheadle last month and a 6-0 home reverse to Barnton five days before. In the period leading up to half time the Town manage to strike the post twice, have another shot cleared off the line, are denied a penalty and are guilty of some wild shooting.

The second half is a frustrating, nay dreadful, spectacle exemplified by the terrible air shot from 25 yards out by the Panthers. It also features the antics of the Atherton management team, Craig and Adam Jones, who spent much of the first period exhorting their players to 'Relax'. The second half sees a change of tack to plentiful industrial language, constant dissent and goading the Ashton players. Eventually the referee walks over to the dugout and tells them to, er,....'Relax'...... There is no discernible change to their behaviour.

It becomes evident that the chance of seeing a goal is about as likely as a fun day at a funeral directors, but in the last few minutes the Laburnums start to wilt. 86 minutes are on the clock when Town's Marcus Cusani crosses and Sam Wilkie's point blank header is turned aside. Then in injury time Ashton's Phil Williams, in a one on one, shoots and the ball is just diverted wide - typically a goal kick is awarded and that's it as the match finishes goalless.

After the match Adam Jones gets embroiled in a farcical war of words regarding a Facebook post on the match....

Eccy Thumped - Eagles Fail To Swoop & Conquer !

 And so to the Adverc Stadium in Pershall Park, the home of 'The Eagles' of Eccleshall FC - 'We Play For The Badge & The Oat Cakes - We Are Eccy !!!' Today's North West Counties Division One fixture sees the visit of Daisy Hill FC.

Eccleshall Town FC was established in 1908 but the most successful local team of that era was Eccleshall Comrades, set up in 1918. The Comrades' most famous player was the FA Cup Final scorer and winner (for Wolves) and England amateur and full international, The Reverend KRG Hunt. The club also featured in a curious incident when Stone Christ Church were defeated 5-0. The game ended 10 minutes early when first one ball burst, then another and there were no more available.......

Both clubs became defunct and the current club was founded in 1971 as Eccleshall Town Old Boys, the team made up of locals and staff from Eccleshall Secondary School, where they played their home games.

The Eagles joined the Staffordshire County League (North) in 1979, moved to Pershall Park in 1982 and ascended to the Staffordshire Senior League - now the Springbank Vending Midland League - in 1984. As Eccleshall FC championships were won in 1990 and then consecutively in 2001/02 and 2002/03. With work complete on the stadium the club moved up to the North West Counties Football League in 2003, and several seasons of inconsistency have followed.

The Daisies, or The Cutters, were established in 1894 playing in the Wigan & District League. By the time of World War 1 the club had moved to the Leigh & District Senior Sunday School League and then the Westhoughton League, playing at New Sirs. The club folded before World War 2, but reformed in 1951 playing again in the Westhoughton League but now based at (the adjacent) St James Street & Cricket Ground - they moved back to New Sirs in 1957.

The Daisies then joined the Bolton Combination, which they won four times, before moving to the Lancashire Combination for 4 seasons and then becoming founder members of the North West Counties Football League in 1982.

The club was renamed Westhoughton Town during the period 1989-94, thereafter reverting back to Daisy Hill FC - they have never been promoted or relegated from the North West Counties, but only escaped demotion in 2014 because Leek CSOB and Formby resigned from the league.

Past the immaculate carved wooden eagle (very appropriate !) and then the fluorescent Cornbrooke B & B signs on Manchester Road, congestion soon ensues thanks to a roadside florist and some rather shocking parking ! The situation gets worse due to one lane working on Chester Road at The Mere - and the queues tail back to the motorway in the opposite direction.

Onto the M6 and the Smart Motorway is coming but not quite yet thankfully. PIES graffiti (Voted PIES is an updated one) is still in evidence under an intermittent sun framed by thick grey clouds, and silhouetting a murmuration of starlings.

Four junctions down and off at Stoke, navigating past the Clay Shoot at Beech, Heronbrooke Fisheries ('The Home of Match Fishing') and the Steam Engines at Mill Meece, over the River Sow and into the quaint town of Eccleshall and its yesteryear street lighting.

Then taking the road to Loggerheads leads to Pershall Park and the Adverc Stadium. The main car park is full so it's a one track lane down to the overflow with its signs 'Warning - Classic Car Parade Approaching' - which it duly does a minute after parking up ! The overflow is a boggy, muddy field and bad enough to maroon a white Mercedes, with the driver abandoning the car after several attempts to extricate himself and succeeding only in digging himself deeper into the swamp......

£4 is the entrance fee and inside there is a walkway behind one goal and on the far side a bus shelter with low (ankle high !) benches. At the top end is The Shed, a covered end in the corner with six seats and three garden chairs. The near side supports the clubhouse, recently broken into with £5,000 damage, and covered seating - although the Executive VIP seats seem no different to the rest......

The Eagles are in two tone blue and the Daisies in change all red on a pitch resembling a cow field in front of a thin crowd of 32 - 14 more than Daisy Hill had for their home game last week...... The pitch, however, is no excuse for a first half littered with errant passing by both sides, and, for the Cutters, multiple offsides and indiscipline which leads to five yellow cards, mostly for dissent.

The Eagles do begin to soar and, having hit the frame of the goal from an acute angle then wastefully skying over, they take the lead. On 20 minutes Jordan Elcock beats his man and curls his shot beyond the keeper but the ball is hacked clear; the 'goal' is awarded, to widespread disbelief, by the androgynous linesman, who is immediately christened Shirley.....

The away side create little before the break but the second half is a different affair. Occasionally straying onside, the Cutters unlock Eccy's defence and within five minutes Daniel Gregory equalises with a composed finish. Ten minutes later and after a catalogue of home errors, Gregory's poor cross reaches Curtis Cummins and he is given time and space to thump the ball home.

A home fightback of sorts never really materialises, and when the Eagles' Nathan Dyer's sumptuous 30 yard strike is unconvincingly touched on to the bar there is no home forward following in. The Eagles' game is over when, with three minutes left, Alex McPolin is played through - keeper Spencer Martin gets there first but his clearance hits the back of McPolin and the ball trundles into an open net. 3-1 to the Daisies as the game ends in a nasty hail storm.