Chad All Over - Pilks Under The Weather (But Cricket Carries On !!)

And so on a foul August Saturday, with summer appearing to have been and gone, it's over to the ArcOframe and Ruskin Sports Village for the North West Counties fixture between Pilkington and Chadderton.

Pilkington FC was officially founded in 1938 but the club has a history dating back many years before its official formation. The team's origins emanate from the Pilkington glass factory in St Helens which had numerous teams going back almost as far as the company starting to make glass in the 19th century.

Pilks initially played at Crossley Road with teams in the Liverpool Business Houses League and the St Helens Combination League. The club moved to Ruskin Drive at the start of the 1948/49 season and subsequently switched leagues to the Liverpool Combination.

An overseas Portuguese tour in 1970 advertised the club as Recs Pilkington de Liverpool but thousands of Portuguese spectators flocked to the ground expecting to see the Anfield team.

For the 1983/84 campaign Pilkington joined the Mid-Cheshire (now Cheshire) League and spent many years alternating between the first and second tiers. Their most recent relegation to Division One was in 2015, but in 2018 the club was promoted back to the Premier Division as runners up. Twelve months later Pilks won the Premier League, beating Altrincham Reserves on goal difference on the final day and finishing with 8 straight wins to confirm promotion to the North West Counties Football League Division One North.

Chadderton FC, 'Chaddy', was formed in 1947 as Millbrow FC, then became North Chadderton Amateurs and finally Chadderton in 1957. Initially competing in the Oldham Amateur League, the club then progressed through the Manchester Amateur League and on to the Manchester League in 1963.

A step up to the Lancashire Combination followed and, after finishing runners up in 1982, they became founder members of the North West Counties, created by the merger of the Lancashire Combination and Cheshire County League. Promotion in 1990 was swiftly met with relegation the season after, but the club lasted longer at the higher level after gaining promotion in 1993 - until being forcibly demoted in 1999 due to ground grading issues.

In 2007 Chaddy was taken over by Craig Halliwell and Tony Bhatti of HB Property Group, but within two years ties had been severed; the club becoming a members' club run by the people for the people. The play offs were reached in 2015, but the team remains best known for two of its ex-players - England international David Platt and Mark Owen from Take That. It was a disappointing performance of 16th (out of 20) last season.

So with strong winds and heavy rain it's over a freshly resurfaced Altrincham Bridge, past the Cheshire Retreat and glorious floral beds at Denzell Gardens before I reach Thelwall with speed restrictions for 'high winds'. Today's number plate is CA5 1 BAD, and there's also an Ultimate Lawns car whose bodywork is entirely (sodden) artificial grass...

A slight detour into Warrington, past Sub Imagination - with a strapline of 'Your dream and our hard work means mutual satisfaction' ; imaginative but clunky....

Finally onto the M62, past the Glass Horse pub and Catwalk Dogs, the 'Canine Grooming Lounge' and into the one way Denton's Green Lane which doubles back on itself; Ruskin Drive is a cul de sac on the left..

There's plenty of parking at Ruskin Drive Sports Ground, a 30 acre sports complex originally built in 1902 by Pilkington plc for use by its employees, and now run by St Helens Borough Council. There's also plenty going on - I walk past a rugby union pitch, home of Ruskin Park RFC, down some steps to a bowling green and this brings me to the cricket ground. Most spectators are in or around the Sticky Wicket Bar & Grub.

It's a dual entrance to get in - one side for the football (£3) and the other for the rugby league (£2) where Pilkington Recs, top of Conference Division One, are doing battle with Oulton Raiders, with Recs ultimately winning that one 30-8. The sports complex also features tennis courts and rounders pitches.

Inside it's a three sided ground with housing behind the goal at the top end. The left side is inaccessible with fencing and densely populated trees behind the dugouts, and the rugby union pitch behind them. The near end holds the changing rooms and bar, and the cricket pitch beyond. The popular side has a covered 200 seat AtCost stand and the rugby league match in the background.

The ArcOframe also hosts a series of ten information boards charting St Helens Town's journey to the FA Vase final in 1987, where they beat Warrington Town 3-2, and others covering Saints' football legends.

Pilkington are in all green, with keeper Patrick McLoughlin wearing a salmon number, and Chaddy are in change white with a red stripe and black flashing - stopper Jordan Hadlow in all yellow. A thin crowd of 72 - in stark contrast to last week's curtain raiser against Cleator Moor Celtic which drew 224 - gets thoroughly soaked as the wind blows the driving rain into the four rows of the covered stand.

Pilks are all at sea as Chaddy set the pace, McLoughlin tipping a shot onto the bar within the first two minutes. So it comes as no surprise when on 10 minutes Reece Lyndon is given time and space to square the ball and allow Liam Chambers to place the ball home.

Gradually Pilks come into the game following a mistake by Hadlow; home skipper Luke Sephton sidestepping him and hitting every part of the goalframe but crucially the ball fails to cross the line. Phil Marsh then evades his marker and goes round Hadlow before dreadfully scuffing his shot.

Half time with Chaddy 1-0 up and astonishingly I find a cricket match next door in progress in the pouring rain. In truth it's not much of a contest - Parkfield Liscard subsiding to 34 all out and St Helens Seconds comfortably reaching their target during the interval and then it's a mad sprint to the Sticky Wicket.

Back to the football and Sephton shoots across the goal whilst Jack Cunliffe is denied superbly by Hadlow. Against the run of play on 55 minutes James Dwyer doubles the advantage with a free header from a corner.

Substitute Matty Taylor's perfect cross is met by Sephton's header to reduce the arrears shortly after. Thereafter Pilks pepper the Chaddy goal, despite rugged opposition which results in 5 yellow cards - two of which come from one bizarre incident where two players (including Arron Scholes - son of United legend Paul) are booked for kicking the ball away.

Despite intense pressure and goal-line clearances Pilks fall short and Chaddy take home the points.