Morning Glory For Red Army As Seagulls Fail To Swoop And Conquer

And so to Holt House on a glorious sun drenched spring afternoon for an Evo Stik Northern Premier League Division One North match between Colne FC and Colwyn Bay.

Colne FC's history begins with The Colne Dynamoes Debacle. The Dynamoes were formed by chairman manager Graham 'Chalkie' White in 1963 as a team for former students of Primet High School. Initially the club played in the Nelson and Colne League and, after promotion through the local leagues, joined the Lancashire Combination in 1975.

 

The Dynamoes were founder members of the North West Counties Football League in 1982, winning the Third Division at the first attempt. White, having made millions from his businesses, began to plough money into the club and at the end of the 1987/88 season the club was elevated to the First Division.

 

In the following term the Dynamoes won the championship on goal difference from Rossendale United, and captured the FA Vase beating Emley 1-0 in the Wembley final. The club was promoted to the First Division of the Northern Premier League and with further bankrolling from White, including signing former Liverpool player Alan Kennedy, the Dynamoes won the First Division with only a single defeat during the season.

 

In the summer of 1989 the club went full time, and they won the Premier Division by a margin of 26 points and reached the FA Trophy semi finals. However the Dynamoes were refused promotion to the Conference as Holt House did not meet ground grading requirements. White attempted a ground share with Burnley, reportedly offering £500,000 to play at Turf Moor, but was turned down.

 

After a pre season friendly against Newcastle Blue Star in the summer of 1990, White informed the players that the club was to fold. He quit football amidst rumours of death threats and that the money had run out, with Holt House used by the Colne Royal British Legion club until it too fell by the wayside in 1995.

 

Colne FC, 'The Reds', was established in January 1996 and joined the North West Counties Football League Division Two, finishing bottom of the league. After several lower half finishes the Reds won the division in the 2003/04 season, earning promotion to the top division and reaching the FA Vase semi finals, along the way winning 2-1 at AFC Wimbledon. Last season Colne were crowned Premier Division champions, leading to a first season in Division One North of the Northern Premier League.

The visitors from Llanelian Road are Clwb Pel-Droed Bae Colwyn, or Colwyn Bay Football Club to you and me. The Seagulls from Old Colwyn were first formed in 1881 and entered the North Wales Coast Football League in 1901 until it folded in 1921, when they moved across to join the Welsh National League. The club then became founder members in 1930 of the North Wales Football Combination (which also covered Cheshire !!) which they immediately won and moved up to join the Birmingham District League....

 

The Seagulls returned to Welsh football in 1937 in the form of the Welsh League (North) because of travelling difficulties and stayed there until 1984 when after two successive championships they joined the North West Counties Football League. This coincided with a move from Eirias Park to the current Llanelian Road base.

 

In 1991 the club was promoted to the Northern Premier League and then won the First Division in 1992. However the Football Association of Wales banned Welsh based teams from playing in English non-league, and the Bay were exiled to Northwich and then Ellesmere Port, before winning a High Court case in 1995 and returning home.

 

After relegation in 2003, and a brief sojourn in the Southern (!) section of the Northern Premier League Division 1, the Seagulls won the play off final in 2010. They beat Lancaster City, who finished 21 points above them, at the Giant Axe with an 88th minute penalty, delayed for a minute whilst the penalty spot was swept clear of standing water. Back to back promotions up to the Conference North were achieved with a 1-0 play off final victory over FC United of Manchester in 2011.

 

The last two seasons have seen consecutive relegations. The first from the Conference North in 2015 on goal difference, with the Bay's form disappearing after the resignation of player/manager Frank Sinclair in January. The second, last year, an abject surrender involving two sacked managers and 58 players. This term has been one of underwhelming non-achievement too with the pre season promotion favourites languishing in mid table mediocrity and another managerial change - Phil Hadland, a teacher at Lymm High School, now at the helm.

Blue skies and warm sunshine greets me as I pass the bizarre bazaar of shops on potholed Washway Road - to name a few : Skullfades Barbershop, Tan n Tonic, Felicity Hat Hire and the truly execrable T & T Pound Zone. Any shop with a printed sign telling us that it sells 'ELCTRICAL, TOILETORIES, STATIONARY' is surely one to avoid.....

 

To the seemingly never ending work on the Smart Motorway, with February's toll 29 vehicles that ran out of fuel. An abundance of kamikaze white van men, and then the M66, the hills blighted by wind turbines before hitting Baxenden, 'The Home of Accrington Pals'. Onto the M65 next to the sign for Shuttlewoof Hall and off at its end into Colne, home of the bottleneck and that queue......

 

Along Vivary Way then up the hill on Harrison Drive brings me to the Holt House complex, 4 football and 2 rugby pitches, a pavilion, Ruck and Roll Cafe (sic), and Colne & Nelson RFC on one side of the car park, Colne FC on the other.

 

Inside the ground at one end is The Nigel Coates Stand, a four step covered concrete terrace named in honour of the Reds' manager from 2003 to 2013. It's also the home of the Red Army, Colne FC's ultras and their flags 'Pride of the North', who provide vociferous support throughout the game - and chant about an improbable rise up to the Football League.

 

In the corner is a refreshment hut, behind which sheep are grazing in the fields, then down the popular side is a small covered area with the rest and the far end being open - both providing lovely views with the backdrop of Colne in the valley beneath the countryside and hills. The far side hosts the main grandstand, clubhouse, The Alma Inn Vice Presidents Lounge and changing rooms.

 

But the most striking feature at Holt House is the pitch which runs away with itself - a steep slope down from the Nigel Coates Stand and another diagonally down from the refreshment bar. Little wonder there are no spectators at the far end trying to watch the match - with all that going on, a dizzying experience !!

And so to a match sponsored by a new born baby (yes really !!), a tattooed linesman and a very rotund Seagulls' assistant manager, Dave Hughes. Colne are in red shirts and black shorts, Colwyn Bay in change yellow and pale blue.

 

Early on a miscue by Seagulls' Luke Denson ricochets off Colne's centre forward Oliver Wood and Bay's keeper Kieran Wolland has to palm the ball over his bar. Shortly after Seagulls' Danny Andrews is allowed to advance and advance without challenge and he then plays in Danny Bartle whose mishit shot is enough to beat Reds' custodian Greg Hartley.

 

Colne's captain, Simon Nangle, launches himself into a truly atrocious two footed lunge that earns him a yellow card but warrants a red - the first in a long line of shocking officiating decisions. He is substituted on the half hour just after Hartley has beaten away a stinging drive from Bartle, played in by Jamie Rainford.

 

A free header by Wood from a long throw in that drifts wide is Colne's best chance, whilst in first half injury time Bartle sets up Rainford and his shot is splendidly tipped past the post by Hartley - but the Seagulls deservedly lead at the break.

 

Within 90 seconds of the restart the Reds are level. Adam Morning makes best use of a little space to arrow in, with his left foot, a 25 yard shot that Wolland gets two hands to but can only divert into the corner of the net. Bay are struggling against the slope(s) and it is now Colne in the ascendancy.

 

Midway through the half Morning picks up the ball on the right wing and with no challenge moves inside beyond three defenders before striking the ball low into the corner to put Colne ahead. Infamous sub Jason Hart (sacked by his previous club Clitheroe for shenanigans in a dugout at Mossley after a match) nearly makes it three but Wolland saves well; Rainford fires wildly wide inside the penalty box just before the death with the Seagulls' best chance of the half.

 

2-1 at the finish for the home side, which sees Colne move into the play offs zone - but the real winner was the slopes J