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.'
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