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 !!!
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