Reds Letter Day - Route One Gamble Doesn't Pay Off....

And so to Gamble Road next to Fleetwood Town's Poolfoot Farm training base for a North West Counties Division One North clash between new boys Thornton Cleveleys FC and Route One Rovers. The home side's motto is Verra et Marque - see and mark.

The club began life as ICI Thornton in 1980 and changed its name to Thornton Cleveleys International in 1992, coinciding with winning the West Lancashire League Division Two. A further name change to Thornton Cleveleys FC occurred in 1995.

Cleveleys were again West Lancs League Division 2 champions in 2009 and Division 1 winners the following season. The club was Premier League champions in 2022 and also last season by a point, with 26 wins and 3 draws from 32 matches, scoring 105 goals in the process. That has led to promotion and an inaugural season at North West Counties Division One North this term.

The club moved from Bourne Park, where they had resided since 2001 - now redeveloped as housing - to 'Burn Naze' on Gamble Road in 2021. An opening day 3-2 home reverse this time at the hands of Nelson was followed midweek by a 3-1 defeat in the local derby at AFC Blackpool.

Route One Rovers FC, Bradford based but playing in Keighley, was established in 2013 starting as a grassroots BAME team in the local leagues - the club name a jokey brainstormer, winning out over AFC Bradford and Bradford Rovers. The side joined the West Riding Amateur Football League in 2015, playing at Esholt (of Emmerdale fame !!) Sports Ground in Shipley.

Rovers moved to the Zara Sports Centre on the outskirts of Bradford and were promoted in 2016 from Division 2, and then achieved back to back promotions the following season, climbing up to the Premier Division in 2017.

The club transferred to the Yorkshire Amateur League Supreme Division following the demise of the West Riding League in 2019. Three top half finishes (7th, 4th and 6th), then Rovers relocated to the Marley Stadium in Keighley, groundsharing with Steeton in August 2022 and produced an invincible unbeaten 2022/23 season, with 23 wins incorporating a 100% home record, 2 draws and 1 abandonment. Route One was accordingly promoted as champions to the NWCFL Division One North, and are now looking to move up the leagues and find a permanent Bradford base.

A hugely entertaining first season saw 91 goals scored and 81 conceded, the team eventually finishing eighth. This time Rovers have opened as Route None with two 2-0 defeats.

Past Frurt, Osechi and Garveys - defunct since St Patrick's Day before the first lockdown and to be converted to offices - and then it's beyond Beyond (Chill Factore). To the M61, Saturn Commercial Lighting, Last Drop Village and Bolton Wanderers, with signs still directing us to the Macron Stadium... it's now the Toughsheet Stadium - no further comment required....

Thereafter Botany Bay, now a business centre, and the traffic builds as I join the M6. Brockholes precedes turning on to the M55 and then the A585 and the villages of Greenhalgh and Esprick. A van advertising Fat Bob The Locksmith with numberplate FB06 FAT, and other registrations W3NDY, LOO5E and MOO5H feature today.

A metal wheatsheaf in a field, signs for Shippool Creek and Weeton Barracks, and passing Cre8IV Little Theatre as I pull into Amounderness Way and Thornton Cleveleys. Plenty of parking at the football club on Gamble Road so I meander down to the seafront.

Avoiding Chestnut Cherubs and bypassing Pheasant Wood and The Tramway pub - yes the Blackpool trams do come this far 😀 - I come across Wobblinn, a craft ale bar, and Goose Coffee Co. But lunch is at Wetherspoons The Jolly Tars, named after a concert party that performed in the town between the two World Wars. Mini fish and chips and a pint of Coyote (Wolf Brewery) for £9.97 is grand !!

Then the Promenade, after Laser Forge Miniature, also defunct, as I take in the Sea Swallow sculpture and the Shipwrecked Sailors Monument. Blackpool Tower and Assheton Observatory are in the distance.

Circumnavigating the tramlines I return to the football ground which offers The Hatch, The Salthouse and The Wembley Suite. £5 in and a healthy crowd of 215 gathers, but there don't appear to be any away supporters 🤔

Standing is on two sides only, with a small covered shelter on the clubhouse side, which also hosts the dressing rooms and pub tables outside. The ground has no seating or floodlights yet, and is set in a residential area, incorporating a mix of new builds alongside old terraced housing - Poolfoot Farm is up top.

Thornton Cleveleys, The Reds, are naturally in all red with a white trim, whilst Route One Rovers are in grey with a silver trim - their entire squad BAME. A minute's silence is observed for the Southport tragedy, and the game kicks off in sunny, breezy conditions.

The game starts shambolically, full of misplaced passes, poor control, wasteful crosses and players perfecting the art of falling over. The first real shot arrives from the away side on the half hour, and it is a real shock four minutes later when Rovers' centre forward Umar Ali Zahoor receives a cross, spins his marker and shoots high into the net beyond Mark Smith at the near post - Route One lead 1-0.

Cleveleys are given an opportunity to level matters up a minute before half time. Zakariah Arshad's trip in the box results in a home penalty, but Ben Duffield's spot kick is brilliantly saved by Isaac Khan, one handed low to his left.

The second period is better, chances being created but neither keeper is unduly troubled. Then two incidents occur which define the match's outcome.

First on 67 minutes Zahoor breaks and chips Smith but Stuart Dagger stabs the ball away off the line. Three minutes on first half hero Khan becomes second half villain, shockingly losing a loose ball over his head, floundering, and home substitute Sebastian Greaves equalises for The Reds.

Two minutes later Jordan Beavers is given all the space in the world to saunter through between Rovers' centre backs and he calmly places the ball beyond Khan to make it 2-1. Then on 76 minutes Robbie Hulme smashes home at the near post for 3-1. Finally an inadvertent Rovers' defensive deflection plays in 17 year old Greaves again and he steers home his second with ten to play - four goals in ten minutes and it ends up 4-1 to Cleveleys  😊