Rock On Tommy - Red Rebels Routed As Ville Make Hey !!!!

And so to July 30 2022 and Villa Park (no, not that one !) aka the Ray Parker Stadium in Wallasey and the start of a new season - and the beginning of a new journey for league newcomers Ashville FC who host Abbey Hey in a North West Counties Division One South curtain raiser.

Ashville FC was founded in 1949 by D-Day veteran John Dennett and his wife Joyce at 25 Ashville Road, Wallasey, initially entering the Wallasey Youth League and then joining the Bebington League in 1951. After winning the Bebington League, Ashville moved to the Wirral Combination, winning the league in all three seasons they competed in it.

In 1955 'Ville was voted into the West Cheshire League, winning Division Two in their inaugural season and after promotion to Division One relocated from Wallacre Park to Villa Park on Cross Lane in 1962. Champions in 1968 and 2012, with a couple of relegations en route, quickly rectified, the club finished runners up last term and was admitted to the North West Counties Division One South for the new campaign.

Abbey Hey FC hail from the Abbey Stadium, and not the one in Cambridge ! Their Abbey Stadium is to be found on Goredale Avenue in Gorton, Manchester, M18.

The visitors date back to 1902 when they formed as Abbey Hey WMC, but the club has disbanded and reformed on a number of occasions. In 1998, after 4 Manchester League championships, they moved from the Manchester League to the North West Counties and were promoted in that first season to the top tier.

The club previously played at St Werburghs Road under an arrangement with Lookers, who reneged on the deal two years in. The Red Rebels then moved to Godfrey's, named after local councillor Godfrey Ermen, and after two seasons on the old English Steel site, took up residence at the Abbey in 1984.

Relegation in 2019 leaves Hey in Division One South, but last term's 4th place finish with 26 wins and 6 draws from 38 matches bodes well for this season.

Beyond gas leaks, roadworks and a derelict Wheatsheaf brings me to the M6 and a van displaying 'Locks Off & No Broken Barrels' - a local locksmith.... Thereafter Thelwall, Woolston, the Oliver Cromwell cottage in Warrington and The Beer Necessities, and today's numberplates SK13R OZ and WHII NOT...

To the Stag at Walton with its Secret Beauty Room - so secret it's boarded up.... Then Daresbury Garden Village and the M56 (no junction 13 !!) and Stanlow with its wind turbines but no belching chimneys today.

A new bridge under construction and average motorway speed limits and then on to the M53, Cheshire Oaks and at its end Tree Frog Software and the promise of 'Intermittent Street Lighting'..... That brings me to Wallasey, the police helicopter a permanent feature this afternoon, and the Villa Park ground on a closed off industrial estate next to a dilapidated Wallasey RUFC.

Plenty of car parking at the stadium, with a bumper crowd of 207 in attendance. £5 in and the Ray Parker has only two sides open - the near end hosting the Sports & Social Club, alongside a covered stand with two rows of red seats and sponsorship from PGA Horse Transportation. The ground is backed by residential housing behind the bar, woodland opposite, Mersey Rail (Misery Rail ?), the churches and heart of Wallasey and Mosslands School on the closed off side, and the rugby club and industrial units behind.

Ville are in grey and black quarters, with white sleeves and backs, Hey in red and white 120th anniversary kit - complete with celebratory badge:

It's an incredible start for the league newbies - just over two minutes gone and a robust but fair challenge leads to the ball ending up on the right wing. Sam Hughes' delicate floated cross is delightfully volleyed home by Tommy Johnstone and the home side lead.

Three minutes later Peter Morgan, who is subject to an atrocious challenge and subsequently limps off, plays in Johnstone. His first attempt is smothered by Morecambe loanee Joe Lawton, wearing a bizarre lime green shirt matched with navy shorts and socks, but the ball breaks loose and from a yard Johnstone doubles the advantage. This prompts a pitch invasion from an overexcited toddler....

On 26 minutes it should have been three, but having bypassed Lawton a limp shot is unconvincingly cleared off the line. The Red Rebels can only fire off a shot from portly veteran Jamie Baguley which fizzes over - 'a team in transition' according to the away faithful, which equates to awful....

The second period sees 'Ville play with one up front following the departure of Morgan. No matter as Abbey Hey create very little and the home defence, expertly marshalled by captain Tom Hartley, suffer few alarms. Indeed Hartley and Matt Croft are involved in a left wing move that sets Johnstone free and he dodges Lawton and hits home for 3-0 and his hat trick on 56 minutes.

Baguley is then strangely substituted twice - the second one preceding an Ashville free kick that Johnstone, with a deflection, scores for his fourth and 4-0 with a quarter of an hour to go. Pinball in the Abbey area somehow prevents a fifth...

Finally, the Red Rebels' captain, Luke Hincks, is shown a straight red to match his shirt with two minutes left - presumably for something he said to the referee - as Villa Park sees Ashville ease home 4-0.

Returning Hero Opens The Gate And Makes Hey...

And so to Squires Gate FC and School Road and The Brian Addison Stadium - named after club stalwart Brian Addison, who has progressed from player to linesman to manager to Secretary to Chairman and eventually to groundsman.... Today's visitors in the North West Counties are Abbey Hey.

The home club was formed in 1948 as Squires Gate British Legion, having accepted an offer from Blackpool Council to take a lease on a new ground on the site of a former tip. The Gate competed in the Blackpool & District Amateur League, changing their name to Squires Gate FC in 1953, and winning the League's First Division in 1955/56 and 1956/57.

Having spent one season in the Fylde District League the Gate moved to the newly reformed West Lancashire League in 1961. This proved a sterner challenge, with the side eventually promoted as Division 2 champions in 1980.

After much soul searching the club applied for membership of the North West Counties Football League and joined Division 2 for the 1991/92 season. In 2003 the Gate missed the runners up spot on goal difference, but were promoted to the top tier following the demise of champions Stand Athletic FC.

There they have remained ever since, reaching the FA Vase quarter final in the 2005/06 campaign. Calls for a merger between the 3 non league clubs situated within a 300 yard radius - Gate, Blackpool Mechanics (now AFC Blackpool) and Blackpool Wren Rovers - came to naught.

Abbey Hey FC hail from the Abbey Stadium, and not the one in Cambridge ! Their Abbey Stadium is to be found on Goredale Avenue in Gorton, M18. The visitors date back to 1902 when they formed as Abbey Hey WMC, but the club has disbanded and reformed on a number of occasions. The Red Rebels came into their own in the 1960s after it took in the players of the Admiralty Gunnery Engineering Department (AGED).

 

After numerous honours the club was successful in its application to the Manchester League and were promoted from the Second Division in their first season. In 1998 they moved from the Manchester League to the North West Counties and were promoted in that first season to their current level.

 

The club previously played at St Werburghs Road under an arrangement with Lookers, who reneged on the deal two years in. The Red Rebels then moved to Godfrey's, named after local councillor Godfrey Ermen, and after two seasons on the old English Steel site, took up residence at the Abbey in 1984.

So with the sky a grey palette I set out and immediately hit traffic chaos. A roadsweeper, blocking one lane and creating more detritus than it is picking up, is followed by a broken down bus and then a lane closure. T & T Pound Plus and the dreadful 'ELCTRICAL. TOILETORIES' sign and Garvey's still advertising its New Year's Eve celebrations - all before the M60....

The Smart Motorway is now 'operative' although still sticking to a 50mph limit and with more workmen in evidence than during the entire overrunning project. Then the M61 and directly across from 'Incontinence Supplies At Internet Prices' a car with hazards on and its driver vomiting on the hard shoulder.

Past Botany Bay then onto the M6 before I join the M55 with signs screaming at me 'Free Entry at Ma Kelly's'. Off at Marton Fold then past Stan's Mowers and Hollyacres Luxury Cats Hotel, before I park once more at Spirit of Youth FC just beyond The Brian Addison Stadium.

Blackpool Wren Rovers and Squires Gate share the same car park - the Wrens at Coppull United today in the West Lancashire League. The Wrens' ground is to the left with a red door, Gate's to the right with a blue door.

Inside the near end supports a small covered bus shelter arrangement, next to which are the changing rooms named after another club stalwart, Wilf Carr. Outside a chalkboard announces the next home game is against Northwitch (sic) Vics. In the corner is the homely clubhouse and a covered area down the side, part standing, part bench seating.

The top end is open and the other side is the shared perimeter wall between the two grounds. Indeed there is even an interconnecting door to allow access to retrieve wayward ball kicked next door !! The tight covered standing area also has two of the narrowest ginnels where the dugouts and floodlight pylons conspire to minimise access - impossible for some of the more rotund fans to get through..... Beyond the Wrens' Bruce Park is The Shovels public house.

Gate are in two tone blue, the Red Rebels in red and black, and both sides have the club badge woven into their shirts - Gate on the back and Abbey down the front and side. The Red Rebels' keeper Ross Heywood wears a hideous orange and grey concoction. The match gets underway with decent away support, and an Abbey Hey Football Club flag behind the goal.

The first half is a scrappy, messy desultory affair. Gate have one shot worthy of the name - Dave Rossall straight at Heywood - and the major talking points are a lack of pumped up balls and a decapitated corner flag. Then things pick up; Ben Fletcher, in the home goal, at full stretch fingertips a volley onto the post, and shortly after on 35 minutes Red Rebels' captain Andy Smith heads in from a Robert Swallow corner.

1-0 to Abbey at the break, and rather more action from the gliders taking off from nearby Blackpool Airport than on the pitch.....

The Red Rebels continue where they left off, forcing Fletcher into three comfortable saves. Then, on the hour, Gate begin to play. Wing wizardry from Ryan Riley, back after six months out, produces a sublime cross for Gary Pett. His header brings a fantastic reaction save from Heywood but Scott Harries, who re-signed for Gate from Lancaster City in midweek, scores from the rebound, in the act of falling over.

Ten minutes later captain Mike Hall's free kick causes consternation in the Abbey defence. A goalmouth scramble leaves Harries to tap in from virtually on the goal line. Moments afterwards much merriment in the crowd as the linesman is painfully hit by a fiercely struck ball in a sensitive area - and adopts a 'wide' stance thereafter......

With five minutes to go Gate win a free kick in a promising position. Pett's 25 yard thunderbolt is still rising and still travelling as it hits the top corner for a stunning finish. 3-1 to the Gate and surely game over ? Maybe not as within 40 seconds Swallow flies down the wing, dances across the penalty box and curls into the bottom corner for a magnificent solo goal.

Sadly the Reds' Rebellion fizzles out and it finishes 3-2 to Squires Gate at the death.