United and Saints Held In Reserve.....

And so to Wythenshawe Sports Ground on Willenhall Road but not, at the last minute, for a Lancashire and Cheshire League Premier Division fixture and a local derby between Trafford United and Sale Amateurs.

Trafford United was established in 2005 playing in local leagues before moving to the Lancashire and Cheshire. Back to back ascensions sees United in the Premier Division this season for the first time, and they currently lie 9th of 11.

Sale Amateurs FC was founded in 1987 by David Creely and David Hart. The club previously played in the now defunct Altrincham & District Amateur Football League, before moving to the Lancashire and Cheshire for the 2020/21 season. 

Sale also saw back to back promotions to the Premier League of the Lancashire and Cheshire in 2022 and 2023; they were 4th in their second season in the top tier before seemingly resigning from the league this week, but still fulfilling cup fixtures, including a 0-7 reverse at home to Altrincham Reserves, which I witnessed alongside Mersey Valley's injury time heartbreaking Cup defeat to Billinge New Street. Ammies play in yellow/ black and are based at Mersey Valley Sports Club on Banky Lane on the border of Carrington, cohabiting with Mersey Valley FC.

Instead it's a 1pm kick off for a Division 3 Reserves match between Trafford United, 8th of 12, and Heywood St James, formed in 1882, from Shepherd Street in Heywood and currently sitting 5th.

Past Frurt, Bohemia, Stellantis & You and Luminer brings me to Marsland Road. Numberplates today are AN6E FOX - Angela Fox Aesthetics -, MU51CKS (Forsyth Music Shop) and W8X ME, plus a BJS removal van 'Grinning Like A Cheshire Cat'.

Then Marsland Road, the Little B, Sale Rugby FC, Sale Grammar, the Carters Arms and Holy Cow in Sale Moor. Finally through Northern Moor and under the motorway to Wythenshawe Sports Ground, previously owned by the University of Manchester.

The Sports Ground is vast - 22 full size football pitches, 9 reduced size football pitches and a solitary rugby pitch, plus a pavilion - but only one game today 🤔. Junction 5 of the M60 is next door, but the fields are set in a hollow and surrounded by woods and pylons.

Trafford are in blue and black, sponsored by Namaste Nepal restaurant. Heywood are in orange with a black diagonal stripe, and sponsored by Phoenix Fires. Confusingly the home keeper is in all orange too, but the tubby referee lets it go...

We start off in sunshine, which turns to cloud, an icy wind and hints of drizzle. And the match takes a while to warm up... in front of a crowd in single figures, and mostly away supporters 😀 

Forty minutes have elapsed before the first meaningful action - a good stop onto the post by Trafford's custodian. Three minutes afterwards United's centre forward is allowed a free header from a corner and the home side lead 1-0. But not for long, as in stoppage time a Saints free kick causes confusion and leads to an own goal; it's 1-1 at the break.

Eight minutes into the second half a sumptuous Trafford volley smacks the post, and United miss a one on one sixty seconds later. Heywood fight back and they have a shot superbly tipped over on the hour.

Trafford retake the lead with a quarter of an hour to go - a corner not cleared and thrashed home into the roof of the net. But eight minutes later another St James free kick produces a defensive mess and the ball is laid on a plate for a second equaliser - and it finishes 2-2.

High Noon For High Lane - Bury At The Death !!!

And so to the William Scholes Playing Fields in Gatley, otherwise known as Scholes Park (named after a former Gatley resident and estate agent), for a bonus match in the Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur Football League Division One between High Lane FC and Bury Amateur AFC. This match is running alongside Cavaliers v Astley & Tyldesley in Manchester League Division Two on the Athletics Track - a game comfortably won 5-1 by the visitors.

High Lane FC was founded in 1985 as High Lane Juniors Football Club to allow local residents' sons to play in competitive junior football. The club grew over the years and in 2008 became High Lane FC introducing an open age team, initially playing in the East Cheshire Sunday League, and then moving to the Lancs and Cheshire on Saturdays.

Champions of Division 3 in 2014, and then winning Division 2 the following year, Lane are currently top of the First Division this time, albeit having played more games than their rivals.

Bury Amateur AFC had two predecessors - Bury Athenaeum who lasted six seasons starting in 1903 and Bury Doric's who played one pre World War I campaign and never resurfaced. The Ammies were established on 28 February 1921 at the town's Derby Hotel, playing at the old Golf Links on Manchester Road.

The club won three successive Central championships in the Lancashire Amateur League between 1924 and 1926. During this period the Ammies merged with Bury Sports Club in 1925, but it was not a happy relationship and was terminated in 1934, and the team relocated to Redvales, off Manchester Road. Another move to the Warth Riverside Ground, betwixt the River Irwell and the Manchester to Bury electrified railway came about two years later in 1936.

Further championships were won after World War II, but the team became groundless in 1965, and was forced to play their fixtures at the Lancashire Fusiliers Regiment barracks. Bury won two more championships in 1985 and 1990.

But the club's long term future was secured early in the Millennium with the amalgamation with Prestwich-based junior club, Drinkwater Warriors, and the Ammies now play at Drinkwater Park in Prestwich. Joining the Manchester League in 2008 Bury won the First Division in their second season to be promoted to the Premier - but the first team quit to become Bury A F C in 2011.

However the rest of Bury Amateur AFC remained unchanged, playing in the Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur Football League. As runners up in Division Three in 2013 the side was promoted, and then moved up to Division One a year after, where they remain, currently lying mid-table.

Storm Otto has wreaked its havoc with trampolines on the railway line and tarpaulins on the overhead wires. But still beyond House of Boba and Cheshire Stoves & Fires I reach Timperley village centre and the iconic Frank Sidebottom statue.

Thereafter it's Altrincham Kersal RUFC, Baguley, home of Wythenshawe Town (a third game later on for the second half - it finishes 3-0 v Litherland REMYCA), then Wythenshawe Park, Menorah Synagogue and Sharston, home of Wythenshawe Amateurs and Hellermann Tyton before I arrive at Gatley - numberplates en route are CA2 1 WUF and L99 GND, with a gardener advertising himself as The Lawn Ranger... Honeybear Nursery, the Horse and Farrier and the old Tatton cinema - now a Co-op - precede a right turn, by the railway station, into Oakwood Avenue and then Beech Avenue, at the end of which is Scholes Park.

Scholes Park hosts four football pitches, a strange children's slide and a grassed over athletics track, where Cavaliers play, plus a sports club building with changing rooms. The top end is bounded by the Airport railway line - a steady stream of passenger services and one freight today - above is the flight path and with plenty of parking it really is Planes, Trains and Automobiles !!

The crowd barely scrapes double figures on a mild, cloudy afternoon, with the home fans seemingly not knowing who today's opponents are... The game kicks off at four minutes to two, with Lane in blue and black, Bury in red and black.

It's a tight, feisty, noisy affair with a flurry of yellow cards - but no goals, mainly due to some breathtaking saves from Bury keeper Liam White. That is until the 90th minute when Ammies' Anthony O'Brien breaks free on the right and hits a rising, stunning piledriver into the top corner - Bury Amateur snatch the points 1-0 and High Lane fall to third in the table.