Eccy Thump Old Boys - Eagles' Stags Party !

And so to Hawcoat and Rakesmoor for Holker Old Boys versus Eccleshall in the North West Counties Football League Division One - a fixture that on paper looks like an end of season dead rubber.....

Holker Old Boys AFC was established in 1936 as Holker Central Old Boys, initially as an under 16 side from the Old Boys of the then Holker Central Secondary School in Holker Street, Barrow-in-Furness. The school has long since closed, replaced by a Kwik Save supermarket which has also shut its doors.

 

The Cobs (Central Old Boys), also known as The Stags, joined the adult North Western League in 1939 and then entered the West Lancashire League in 1967. The club moved in 1971 to a new ground at Rakesmoor, formerly an isolation hospital and then allotments.

 

Holker won the West Lancashire League in 1987 ahead of local rivals Vickers Sports Club (now Hawcoat Park FC), and then moved to the North West Counties in 1991. The Cobs finished 3rd in 1994 behind Haslingden (now defunct) and North Trafford (now Trafford FC) but Haslingden failed the ground criteria so Holker were promoted to the top tier.

 

The Stags were relegated in 1999, after losing all 20 away games and scoring only 5 goals on their travels. They have remained at step 6 ever since, with a single losing play off appearance at the end of the 2014/15 season, defeated by Hanley Town.

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 reformed 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, but several seasons of inconsistency followed before two dreadful campaigns.

 

2015/16's 16th place finish owed much to the ineptitude of the two clubs below them - Atherton Laburnum Rovers and Whitchurch Alport. Last term the Eagles finished 21st with 18 points from 42 matches and conceded 145 goals. Relegation was only avoided because of an injury time equaliser in the 3-3 draw away at bottom club Ashton Town, who finished one point below Eccy, and the fact that only one club met the league's promotion criteria. A much improved season this time should see a below midtable finish and safety, and a bit more pride in their boast of 'We Play For The Badge & The Oat Cakes - We Are Eccy !!!'

So on an afternoon when the sun is cracking the flags, Washway Road sees Anti Abortion protesters and the continued closure of T&T Pound Plus - surely no more TOILETORIES and ELCTRICAL will be sold.....

 

The M60 then the M61, 'Incontinence Supplies at Internet Prices' and Botany Bay, then traffic gets sticky joining the M6. Off at the A590 and the chance to enjoy some magnificent views of the Cumbrian countryside, as I turn towards the coast at Brettargh Holt and the ospreys at Foulshaw Moss.

 

Ignoring signs to Canny Hill and Bobbin Mill it's through Newby Bridge, a house bisecting the A road (Cumbria's answer to the farm in the middle of the M62 ?), Greenodd and Arrad Foot. Then the Lakeland Motor Museum and into Ulverston, with its purple and pink houses and the Laurel & Hardy Museum at The Roxy.

Then Swarthmoor and Lindal-in-Furness, with its signs for Wax Lyrical, and finally a turn to Hawcoat and down a farm track, the single file Rakesmoor Lane which brings me to Holker Old Boys AFC. Lunch is spent overlooking Walney Island, shimmering in the Barrovian sun.

 

I park in the small club car park, full despite today's attendance of 40, swelled by the late arrival of a minibus and taxis - three fixtures in the same league have lower crowds today. £4 at the gate and inside Rakesmoor to the left, in the corner, is a covered stand, with fading red and white seats. To the right are the changing rooms and clubhouse - the men's toilets bearing a plaque 'The Jim Redfern Suite'....

 

Next to the clubhouse is a skeletal Heath Robinson style structure, providing intermittent cover and more suited for chaining bicycles to !! The rest of the ground is open with a single railing, surrounded by the edge of a housing estate, farmland and Barrow Golf Club - and some terrific rural views, notwithstanding the haze.

Holker are in green and white, Eccy in change all red with white trim on another pitch with a prodigious slope. It soon becomes clear that both sides have adopted a mullet hairstyle formation - the business up front, all party at the back.....

 

On 11 minutes home captain Philip Coombe skips past three limp challenges to confidently place the ball beyond away keeper Matt Johnson. The lead is doubled a quarter of an hour later, as from a flick on Brandon Collins outmuscles his marker and curls the ball with his left foot into the top corner.

 

Straight from the kick off and without the Stags touching the ball, a lovely Eccy move ends with Tom Wakefield crossing from the right and the ball eventually reaches Louis Downs who tucks it away. The Eagles are level two minutes later as Downs is set free down the wing, the covering defender collapses with a pulled hamstring and Downs sidefoots into the far corner.

 

Holker then have a goal disallowed and Eccy lead 3-2 at the break as Shay Finney's shot is poked home by Dan Needham. After a breathless first period half time arrives, and a chat with a thirtysomething groundhopper from Worthing - who will get home in the small hours and then travel to deepest Devon tomorrow for Witheridge v Sticker in the South West Peninsula !

 

No let up in the second half either - Wakefield's majestic through ball leaves Needham one on one and he scores imperiously, despite heated protests of offside. That goal is bettered shortly after by Bradley Hubbold's gorgeous strike from just outside the penalty box to bring it back to 4-3.

 

The game then goes into a lull, tempers get frayed and Johnson makes two fine saves to preserve Eccy's lead. The crescendo arrives when Jordan Bennion's crossfield ball is volleyed home by The Eagles' George Burslem with two minutes to go, and the home side strike bar and post in injury time.

 

Holker 3 Eccleshall 5 at the death - so much for a dead rubber !!!

Mariners All At Sea Then Net A Point - Unicorns Soon To Be Extinct

And so to Queen's Terrace, although I prefer its more commonly known name Dimple Wells, to a stadium and a club that effectively cease to exist in 3 weeks' time. It's the home of Ossett Albion AFC, 7 games unbeaten, and the visitors today are South Shields, 5 wins on the bounce, in the Evostik Northern Premier Division One North.

The home club was set up in 1944 during the Second World War for local Grammar School students. The Unicorns rose through the West Riding County Amateur League and West Yorkshire League before joining the Yorkshire League in 1957, where they were Division One champions in 1975.

In 1982 the Yorkshire League joined up with the Midland League to form the Northern Counties East League. Albion were Premier League champions in 1999 but were denied promotion to the Northern Premier League because one of their dressing rooms was too small !!

Two years later the Unicorns finished as runners up to Brigg Town but were promoted instead of the Zebras. That first season in the Northern Premier saw Albion finish bottom and relegation back to the Northern Counties East - but two seasons later the club were promoted as champions on a dramatic final day, pipping Eastwood Town by virtue of goals scored with both teams locked on the same number of points and goal difference.

Fourteen seasons later Albion remain in the same division, but this will be their last. In February it was announced that Ossett Albion will merge with near neighbours Ossett Town this summer to become Ossett United, with the new club playing at Town's Ingfield base under the stewardship of Albion's Andy Welsh.

A few references have been found to the origins of a town football club playing in the 1870s, but the first recorded public appearance of a named South Shields AFC was in 1888. Several other local clubs flickered but it was the South Shields Adelaide Athletic club, set up in 1899, that went on to be elected to the Second Division of the Football League in 1919 as South Shields FC.

Lack of public support meant only the sale of its best players and FA Cup runs kept Shields in business. Inevitably, without money to bail the club out of impending bankruptcy, the only possible viable alternative to closure was to move. In 1930 the club left the town and moved to Gateshead, where it was welcomed. 

A new club was established in 1936, nicknamed 'The Babes', before becoming 'The Mariners' in 1950 on its move from Horsley Hill to Simonside Hall. Shields played in several leagues until joining the Northern Premier League in 1968.

However 'insufficient' match attendances prompted the directors to sell Simonside Hall in 1974 with a view to returning to Horsley Hill. In a controversial and quite disastrous land fiasco both sites were transformed into housing sites. The club was penniless and homeless - and history repeated itself as the team went to Gateshead again, re-emerging as Gateshead United FC and taking Shields' place in the NPL.

A new club, South Shields Mariners FC, was formed immediately, based at the council's Jack Clark Park, and began a 17 year crusade for a home of its own. The club progressed through the Northern Alliance and Wearside League to the Northern League.

In 1992 the redundant and vandalised sports club and ground of Filtrona FC in Jarrow became available. It was purchased by club chairman John Rundle and the Mariners had a new home - Filtrona Park. Rundle was a volatile man, twice publicly threatening the club with closure, and (in)famously locking the gates at Filtrona Park ahead of a home match in 2006.

At the end of the 2012/13 season South Shields were relegated from Northern League Division One, and forced to move to Eden Park, Peterlee after their lease expired. Two seasons with average attendances of 69 and 70 meant the club faced a huge challenge to survive.

After being taken over by new chairman Geoff Thompson in the summer of 2015 he subsequently bought Filtrona Park, now renamed Mariners Park, and the club moved back. Under the captaincy of ex Sunderland and Middlesbrough midfielder Julio Arca the Mariners won Northern League Division Two title in 2015/16.

Last season saw a famous quadruple - the Northern League Division One title, after a 32 game winning streak, the Durham Challenge Cup, the Northern League Challenge Cup and a 4-0 victory in the FA Vase at Wembley against Cleethorpes Town. Average attendances increased to 1,226.

This season Shields are top of the NPL Division One North, three points clear with two games in hand. Darlington and York City, two steps higher, were both knocked out of the FA Cup.

So on a very wet afternoon it's onto the desperately potholed Washway Road with standing pools of water. Past the new Bake My Day and the old, execrable T & T Pound Plus 'TOILETORIES. ELCTRICAL' - open 7 days but now permanently shuttered, and to the M60.

From there through to the M62, and Saddleworth Moor, Rakehead Viaduct and Windy Hill - the M62 Summit, 'Highest motorway in England 372m (1221 feet)'. Then Scammonden Reservoir, Rainbow Bridge and Stott Hall Farm, the latter parked between both carriageways.

Beyond Hartshead Moor then off at Tingley, ignoring Woodkirk Valley Country Club and Bake 'n' Bites, past Dewsbury Rams stadium to the outskirts of Ossett - a town named after 'A fold of a man named Osla' or 'A fold frequented by blackbirds' depending on your fancy !

The Warehouse Systems Stadium is located through a small residential estate off Queen's Road, flanked on one side by the Ebenezer Particular Baptist Chapel and on the other by Dimple Well Lodge, where a wedding is in progress. A narrow entrance between the houses, one car width only, brings me to some crown green bowling, an AstroTurf pitch where several boys' football matches are coming to an end, the cricket club and then the football club.

£7 admission and inside Dimple Wells is a glorious old fashioned, slightly decaying non-league ground. Immediately to my right is the Tea Bar, rubbing shoulders with the cricket scoreboard and then an incredibly shallow two step terrace, the scene of much congestion during the afternoon. It's worth it for the picturesque views of the distant countryside as the sun beats down - for half an hour at least as the visiting Geordies remove layer after layer of clothing.

At the Orchard End is a small covered terrace behind the goal and across the way the main Barracuda Fisheries stand, with access via a narrow, bepuddled tunnel. Next to this is the Boardroom which resembles a mobile classroom.....

The near end supports more covered terracing, the clubhouse and Peter Eaton Bar, named after club stalwart Peter Eaton who played over 800 games for the Unicorns, plus the dressing rooms and press box. All four sides are taken over by magnificent and vocal away support.

The Unicorns are in gold and black and the Mariners in change white and claret on a pitch with a significant slope from side to side. After a tentative start Albion draw first blood on 13 minutes. A ball inside Shields' left back Darren Lough sees him hesitate, as does keeper Liam Connell, and centre forward Tom Corner nips in to score - although the ball should have been cleared off the line.

Thirty seconds later Mariners' Jon Shaw has a clearance charged down and the ball is played to Gibraltar international Adam Priestley who scores with a glorious finish in the top corner for 2-0. 'That's the game gone, man' is the pessimistic viewpoint from next to me.

As Shields toil, the Unicorns are clearly up for the fight and the game relies less on craft and guile, but rather more on graft and bile. The simmering undercurrent boils over seven minutes before half time. Arca is fouled for the umpteenth time, reacts and an ugly melee ensues, resulting in four bookings. Robert Briggs' scuffed shot wide in injury time is the Mariners' only real opportunity of the half.

The second half sees a rejuvenated Shields side, helped by a goal within the first two minutes. Louis Storey's shot into the ground is glanced home by Michael Richardson, and with Arca now running the midfield further chances follow. Lee Mason is denied by a wonderful fingertip save from Neil Bennett, Dillon Morse has an effort clawed off the line with substitute Graeme Armstrong heading the rebound over, and Storey fires wide.

Inevitably the Mariners equalise at the midpoint - Shaw atoning by heading home Arca's inswinging corner. Albion then soak up the pressure and, in a rare foray forward, Marcus Day shoots straight down Connell's throat. The final opportunity falls to Armstrong who heads wide in stoppage time when he should have done better.....

2-2 at the death then, and a bumper crowd of 502, two thirds from Shields at least, departs.....eventually as the housing estate cannot cope with the parking and traffic, and three supporters' buses clogging up the main road. The local residents probably can't wait for three weeks' time......