And so to Pavilions, the home of Runcorn Town FC and today's North West Counties Football League fixture with Congleton Town FC, themselves from Ivy Gardens (or Booth Street if we're being picky, but it doesn't have the same ring to it ! ) or Richborough Estates Stadium (definitely not !!).
The home side was established in 1967 (celebrating its 50th season in football this term) as founder members of the Runcorn Sunday League under the name of CKD, a works team from 'D' section at the local Castner Kellner plant. The club changed its name to Mond FC in 1970, reflecting the Mond Division of ICI which ran the Castner Kellner plant.
In 1973 there was a move to Saturday football with Mond
joining Division 5 of the Warrington & District League. At the end of their
first season the club amalgamated with struggling Division 1 side ICI Weston,
becoming Mond Rangers FC and 'earning' a four division promotion.
1984 saw a move to the West Cheshire League and there was
another change to the club's name before the 2005/06 campaign - this time to
Runcorn Town FC. After winning Division 2 a year later, 'Town' were elevated to
the North West Counties at the start of the 2010/11 season following a third
place finish.
Promotion to the Premier League was achieved at the first
attempt, and Town were runners up in their first season at the higher level.
However, after 4th and 5th place finishes there followed two disappointing 13th
positions and 2016/17 saw a new manager and a brand new squad, with not one
player being retained. Last time Town finished third, and the new season has
seen nine straight league wins as, perhaps unexpectedly, Runcorn sit top with a
100% record.
Congleton Town was formed in 1901, starting life in the
Crewe and District League where they were champions in their first three
seasons. This prompted a move to the North Staffordshire & District League,
and having conquered this in the 1919/20 season they were off again - this time
to the Cheshire County League.
45 years later and yet to crack it, there was a brief 3
season foray into the Manchester League before joining the Mid Cheshire League.
After winning this three times in 1974, 1976 and 1978, Town reverted back to
the Cheshire County League and their last ever season there brought the
Division 2 championship in 1982.
The restructuring of the leagues saw Congleton become
founder members of the North West Counties League, and they moved up to the
newly created Northern Premier League Division One in 1988. Perennial
strugglers, Town were finally relegated back to the top tier of the NCWFL in
2001 - and continue to ply their football there.
Congleton Town are known as the Bears, a throwback to the
1620s when bearbaiting was popular in the town and if historic lore is to be
believed, in an attempt to attract more spectators, it used money set aside for
a Bible to buy a more aggressive bear:
'Congleton Rare, Congleton Rare,
Sold the Bible to buy a bear. '
Consequently the town became known as Beartown....
So on a wet autumnal afternoon it's beyond the as yet
unopened Mayar Travel and Mama's Cakeria, under the same roof (!), past
Cloudchasers and you have to feel sorry for the wedding party having
photographs taken outside St George's Church in the teeming rain. Down to the
M56 in atrocious conditions, yet still with motorists refusing to switch on
their lights, bypassing the Stretton Fox and Daresbury Park, and off at Sutton
Weaver.
Onto the Expressway, with huge amounts of roadworks,
coned off lanes and confusing signage, then into Weston, The Prospect pub, and
atop Weston Point for a view of the River Mersey and gargantuan wind turbines.
A sharp left into Sandy Lane and Pavilions is on the right.
Pavilions itself is 'the number one venue in Runcorn to
hold your function' - it looks a bit tired and faded to me and in need of a
refresh. A bowling green hides behind it, and on the puddled walkway to the
entrance hut there is a decrepit football pitch on the left, complete with
crumbling stand and dugouts - the old Runcorn Albion FC base.
The first thing you see inside, unlike most grounds, is
not the pitch but a set of wooden steps with yellow handrails - the pitch is
about two metres above ground level. A three sided ground again with the far
end cordoned off, and marshalled by an elderly steward/ ball boy. The near end
has a walkway about a metre deep which makes things cosy....
On the right hand side is the bar and lounge and then a
partly built/ abandoned covered standing area, and behind it the roar of the
Expressway. The main side hosts an assortment of ragtag lean tos, with a
'Here's The Tea Hut' sign at one end - it's boarded up and there is a newer
sign on the opposite side above the bar.
Next is the main stand, the seats strangely red for a
club whose colours are two shades of blue. The backdrop is the massive Inovyn
Chlorvinyls plant. The ground is also directly underneath the flight path to
Liverpool Airport so a succession of planes from Easyjet and Ryanair, those not
cancelled anyway, pass over during the match. Also above are the electric
cables connecting pylons either side of the Expressway.
The pitch has taken a lot of rain, with parts beginning
to waterlog and plenty of mud in evidence. Town are in sky and navy blue,
Congleton in change yellow and black hoops and resembling wasps rather than
bears.
Within four minutes the Bears' offside trap is breached,
Runcorn's Simon Thelwell sallies past keeper Andrew Jones, and lays the ball on
for Craig Cairns - who is guilty of an astonishing miss. Five minutes later,
with their first attack, the Bears score - Josh Heaton heading in, unchallenged
from a corner.
On 16 minutes the Bears double their lead as William
Hasler-Cregg, under pressure from a defender, hits a sublime twenty yarder that
dips into the net via the underside of the bar. Town keeper Reece Airey is left
clutching at, well er, air... Not quite the start we expected !
Runcorn respond immediately and Mark Reed hits home a
piledriver within two minutes and by the quarter mark the sides are level.
Cairns sprints on to a route one ball, sidesteps Jones and strokes home the
equaliser. Ten minutes before the break Runcorn lead as Thelwell, having seen a
shot smuggled off the line, beats Jones at his near post, and, with both
defences looking porous, it's raining goals as the deluge continues.
More of the same in the second period as three minutes in
Cairns crosses for Kieran Evans to make it 4-2. Five minutes later Cairns'
audacious lob with the outside of his boot hits the bar, and a minute after he
dinks the ball over Jones only to see the ball cleared off the line. On 56
minutes Cairns cleverly plays in Reed who puts Runcorn 5-2 up.
And then the rain stops...and so do the goals, but not
for the want of trying. Cairns is again denied as another lob crashes against
the bar, and Jones then produces a magnificent fingertip save to prevent him
from scoring Town's sixth.
The Bears hit the woodwork twice, Airey goes down with two head injuries in two minutes amidst calls for a crash helmet, and Adams sees his shot deflected wide by a desperate goal line clearance. 5-2 at the death but it should have been 11-4 - thoroughly entertaining nonetheless as Runcorn continue their 100% start to the league season ☺
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