Hillmen Kick In The Gooleys - Vikings Vanquished

And so to the High Peak, and the Arthur Goldthorpe Stadium on Surrey Street in Glossop for an Evo Stik Northern Premier Division One North fixture between Glossop North End and Goole AFC.

Glossop North End AFC was founded in 1886, joining the North Cheshire League in 1890 before moving to the Combination in 1894 and turning professional. The Hillmen then played in the Midland League for two seasons before being elected to the Second Division of the Football League in 1898.

 

In their inaugural League season GNE finished as runners up to Manchester City and earnt promotion to the First Division. In so doing Glossop became the smallest town to support a Football League club, although this has now been supplanted by Rushden & Diamonds and Fleetwood Town. However Glossop remains the smallest town whose team has played in the English top flight.

 

The club changed name to Glossop AFC to avoid any confusion with Preston North End, but their brief stay in the First Division lasted only the one season. It was followed by 15 seasons in the Second Division as perennial strugglers with the side finishing bottom and failing to gain re-election before the War intervened.

 

Glossop AFC was reformed towards the end of the War by Oswald Partington, spending one season in the Lancashire Combination then joining the Manchester League. The Hillmen won the Manchester League in 1927/28 and moved to their current ground in Surrey Street in 1955 largely due to the beneficence of Club President Arnold Goldthorpe - and 62 years later the stadium is still named in his honour.

 

The club became a founder member of the Cheshire County League for the 1978/79 campaign, and, after promotion to Division 1 in 1981, was a founding member of the North West Counties Football League in 1982. The team almost folded in 1990 after the chairman sold the ground to the local council and left the club with large debts.

 

Two years later the Hillman were promoted to Division One and reinstated the suffix to become Glossop North End once more. Some cup success arrived in the intervening years, but GNE struggled to avoid relegation for several seasons.

 

In the 2008/09 season they reached the final of the FA Vase where they lost 2-0 to Whitley Bay at Wembley Stadium. But better was to come, with the 2014/15 season the most successful in the club's history - winning the North West Counties Premier to gain promotion to the Northern Premier League, and again reaching the FA Vase final at Wembley losing 2-1 to North Shields after extra time.

Goole Town FC was founded in 1912, entering the Midland Football League. The club was resurrected as Goole Shipyards FC after World War One, joining the new Yorkshire Football League and reverting back to Goole Town in 1924. The club was Yorkshire Football League champions three times, the last of which prompted a return to the Midland Football League in 1948.

Town was a founder member of the Northern Premier League in 1968, but the club was disbanded at the end of the 1995/96 season due to financial difficulties.

Goole AFC, 'The Vikings', was formed in 1997 playing at the ageing Victoria Pleasure Grounds. The new club started life in the Central Midlands League before moving sideways to the Northern Counties Eastern League.

As champions in 2005 the Vikings ascended to the Northern Premier League Division One North where they have remained. An application to change name to Goole Town FC was refused by the West Riding FA in 2006, and the club went into administration two years later.

However the Vikings' five minutes of infamy came in January 2014 when, in a home match against Coalville, captain Karl Colley attempted to confront and punch a fan three times in the stand after receiving a red card. He was sacked later that day - the incident occurring 19 years to the day since Eric Cantona's kung fu attack on a Crystal Palace fan at Selhurst Park…..

 

So, in a week when Metrostink chief Peter Cushing (you couldn't make it up !!) calls time on his four year reign at the Tram-mer House of Horror, it's a relatively untroubled journey into Manchester. Then it's Northern Fail, through the bleak Mancunian environs of Ardwick, Ashburys and Gorton and reaching the misnomer of Flowery Field - no flowers, no fields, just overgrown brambles amidst rubbish strewn weeds..... Then (Un)Godley before the landscape changes to reveal glorious countryside views from the viaduct between Broadbottom and Dinting.

Dinting's triangular station is brightened up by ceramic paintings on the platforms - but no substitute for the Dinting Railway Centre which departed (to Keighley of all places) in 1991. Glossop, 'Gateway to the Dark Peak' is the next stop.

A gentle meander through the market town reveals a bizarre bazaar of shops - Headzaklys (barbers), Snobby Dogs (grooming parlour), the Wren's Nest (pub), a proliferation of pound and charity shops, several closed hostelries and a Greggs that has run out of food !! The walk up to the stadium used to be dominated by the eyesore of Glossop - the 250 foot Ferro Alloys chimney formerly spewing out sulphur dioxide (see below – football club just visible to the left) - but it has been torn down and replaced by a building site for affordable housing.

Inside the ground one end, The Chimney End, houses a busy clubhouse and covered terracing signposted 'The Trenches'. In the corner are several ramshackle garages and sheds next to the main seated stand, which is showing its age, and for some unknown reason is known as 'The Prawn Cocktail Stand'.

A walkway and metal railing surrounds the rest of the pitch with the far end, 'The Chicken Shack End', displaying an incongruous 'No Ball Games' sign - the omens are not looking good... The near side has a Press Box, from where Hillmen Radio are broadcasting and further three step covered terracing. Moving round is a serene and pleasant view of Glossop with a panoramic backdrop of the hills, Kinder Scout and the Snake Pass in the distance.

The Hillmen, currently sitting in the play offs zone but with a threadbare squad only able to name three substitutes, are in blue with a white stripe. The Vikings, next to bottom (not much pleasure at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds this season then !!) are in red and black on a pitch that is a combination of sheet mud and a rutted sand pit - hardly conducive to attractive football....

And the first half is one of no/ low quality; Hillmen's captain Mike Norton's header straight at the Vikings' keeper Thomas Beaurepaire early on proving to be a false dawn. Goole have set their stall out to frustrate GNE and the game is scrappy and tetchy - and also mighty frustrating to watch !!

There is a five minute purple patch when the Hillmen string together a few passes and create chances - Max Leonard and Ben Richardson, via a deflection, are both just wide and Lee Rick shoots over. Glossop also have two goals disallowed, with the Vikings only mustering two long range Bobby Johnson efforts in response.

Half time sees several skeins of geese skirt the ground in classic V formation, and the second period has Leonard adopting a shoot on sight policy. He scores a worldy, a 40 yard volley that dips over Beaurepaire and a goal that the game doesn't deserve - and typically it is ruled out for an earlier infringement..... Shortly after, part of the Press Box behind us is demolished by a stray clearance - much more in keeping with the game !!

The Vikings start to grow into the game and their best chance drifts agonisingly wide. With the game destined to finish goalless and ten minutes on the clock, Rick deceives his man and crosses hard and low. Beaurepaire gathers then fumbles and spills the ball, and sub Dale Johnson scores, at the second attempt, in the subsequent melee.

Shortly after the Hillmen make their final two substitutions and, with their first touches, Nicky Platt lofts the ball over the Goole back line and Karl Jones hits home with an emphatic finish to the bottom corner.

Platt is denied a third Hillmen goal in added on time thanks to an instinctive boot from Beaurepaire, partially repairing his reputation.... 2-0 at the death for GNE, and the Vikings' substitute Adam Porritt is sent off after the final whistle for foul and abusive language - silly boy !!!