A Day At The Beeches - Uphill And Down Dale !!

And so to Packwood Road in the Black Country, and The Beeches, the home of Tividale FC. Today's visitors drawing the veil on the regular season are Sheffield FC in the Evostik Northern Premier League Division One South.

The Dale was formed in 1954 as the senior branch of Tividale Hall Youth Club FC, originally competing in the Handsworth & District League before moving on to the Warwickshire & West Midlands Alliance. In 1966 the club joined the newly formed West Midlands (Regional) League Division One, and was promoted to the Premier Division in 1973.

The club moved to its current ground in 1974 but were demoted to Division One in 1991 after falling foul of a new league ruling that required all Premier Division clubs to have floodlights, which they could not afford to erect. Two years later the floodlights were put up, the team finished second and were promoted back, but in the same year the Midland Football Alliance was created so the club was back to where it started.

The 2010/11 season saw The Dale run away with the Premier Division and with that came promotion to the Midland Football Alliance. In 2013/14 on a platform of a record breaking start of 13 consecutive wins the club swept all aside to storm to the title and earn promotion to the Evostik Northern Premier League Division One South. A respectable 8th place was earned in their inaugural season but the club had to win an off field Ground Grading appeal hearing at Wembley to retain their position in the league. Sadly it has only been a stay of execution as Tivi will finish bottom of the pile this time. 

Sheffield FC's nickname is 'The Club', and they are renowned for being 'The World's First Football Club'. The club was set up by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest on 24 October 1857 at Parkfield House in the Sheffield suburb of Highgate, although the original headquarters was a greenhouse.....

Initially Sheffield FC games were played among club members - 'Married v Singles', or 'Professionals v The Rest'. Creswick and Prest drew up the club's rules of play, 'The Sheffield Rules' - and along with near neighbours Hallam FC, 'The Countrymen', formed in 1860, they take part in 'The Rules derby', the oldest still contested football derby in the world. FA rules were only adopted in 1878. 2nd January 1865 saw the first fixture outside Sheffield - the club playing at Nottingham in an 18 a side game under Nottingham rules. The decision was then taken to play only teams from outside Sheffield, and on 31 March 1866 they played London losing by 2 goals and 4 touchdowns to nil.

The Club entered the FA Cup in 1873, but thereafter there was a decline from the top echelon with the advent of professionalism. Sheffield FC retained its amateur status and suggested to the FA the introduction of an FA Amateur Cup, which was inaugurated in 1893 and which Sheffield won in 1904. After one season in each of the Yorkshire and Midland Leagues, the club reverted back to local leagues, before rejoining the Yorkshire League in 1949. They then joined the Northern Counties East League in 1981, before promotion to the NPL Division 1 South in 2007 - their 150th anniversary.

The Club have played at Strawberry Hall Lane Park, Newhall Athletic ground, Old Forge, Hunters Bar, Abbeydale Park, Hillsborough Park, Owlerton and the Don Valley Stadium. Current home is the Coach & Horses ground, including the adjoining pub, in Dronfield, which was bought in 2001, and previously the home of Norton Woodseats FC.

In 2004 The Club were awarded the Centennial FIFA Order of Merit for services to football and maintenance of its values - Integrity, Respect and Community; the only other recipient was Real Madrid. And in 2007 The Club was inducted into the English football Hall of Fame on its 150th anniversary. This season has seen The Club launch a £6m crowd funding appeal to finance a new stadium in the Olive Grove area of Sheffield. Meanwhile an undistinguished campaign in the league results in a 17th place finish, just five places above today's hosts.

Past a reopened Barmy Sarnie, then Code to Exit (a gaming shop rather than Altrincham's version of Dignitas !) I find the roadworks have moved up to the Navigation - more Saturday lunchtime chaos. Thankfully the rest of the journey to the motorway is event free. The M6, smart motorway and yes last week's sighting of a workman was an isolated incident.... Just a flashing van, and a cretin doing 30 on the hard shoulder which he then tries to replicate in the middle lane - definitely not smart !!

PIES graffiti, a taxi simultaneously under and overtaken, pleasingly on one side by a Whinfell Whippets van, and then two cars swapping motorways at the M5/M6 interchange - madness !! Two junctions down and it's off onto the A4123, a Sandwell tropical traffic island, a foreign articulated lorry mounting the pavement and follow the signs for Merry Hill, Black Country Museum and Dudley Zoo. On the right is something called the Black Country Urban Forest before a left up the steep hill that is Trafalgar Road leads to Packwood Road and The Beeches.

Tividale FC renamed the ground The Beeches in honour of the British Waterways official who had granted the site's lease to the club. The ground is situated in a (then) newly developed residential street on the Tividale Hall Estate, on land previously inaccessible to motor vehicles. There is sufficient car parking inside despite the Wilfreda Beehive minibus traversing several spaces. As a special incentive it's back to 2013/14 prices so a fiver in :)

Inside the near end supports the Social Club and in the corner a Quarantine Area - no I've no idea why !! At the side is a concrete standing area with the banking side fenced off and behind is the residential estate from which a cat and two men, one in his garden and the other from a shabby tree house, watch proceedings - tellingly all have given up by half time....

The far end is out of bounds, supposedly, and holds a mini artificial pitch and several abandoned yellow seats. A pensioner in a high vis vest is posted behind the goal and in front of the hedging to retrieve the ball. The near side is all covered, with terracing, two 12 seater directors boxes and then two rows of benched seating from the halfway line to the corner flag - the A4123 runs directly behind. The pitch has a distinct slope from right to left.

There is a minute's applause before the match for a recently deceased ex committee member; Tividale are in yellow and blue, The Club in red with a black diagonal stripe. The bright Spring sunshine has given way to a duvet of cloud and the first period has a distinctly end of season feel to it, despite Sheffield FC's barmy army and their bizarre 'Shoes Off' and 'We're All Going On A European Tour' songs.

The Club's Brian Cusworth and Mo Hamid blaze over, and Dale produce little other than one dangerous cross; their 25 goal top scorer Chris Sterling is largely anonymous. Then Tivi's captain and keeper, Tom Turner, makes a superb triple save from The Club's Alex Pursehouse before Hamid's deflected shot finds Cusworth unmarked and he heads home to give the visitors an interval lead.

Half time sees my neighbour regale us with the tragic story of the recent death of one of his mates from a drug overdose - 'He was only 44/45 - funeral's on Wednesday'. Talk about oversharing......

The start of the second period sees Dale's best chance as Shaquille Leachman-Whittingham is played in but his shot hits the post and Shane Grainger's follow up is blocked on the line. The Club respond by hitting the side netting twice and then Alex Denton is given acres of space to slot home number two.

The season meanders to a close with Sheffield sub Jordan Turner hitting the post then having a goal disallowed leaving it 2-0 to the Club at the end and the Dale down, barring ground grading failures or resignations from the league. The Purple Army of Daventry Town had resigned from the league, but dutifully filled the second relegation spot anyway - and Loughborough Dynamo live to fight another day, just !! :)

Zebras Earn Then Lose Their Stripes...

And so to the Autonet Community Stadium at Norton Cricket Club & Miners Welfare Institute in Smallthorne, a working class district just outside Stoke. Today's game features Norton United and Brigg Town in Evostik Division 1 South.

Norton are a comparatively new club, set up in 1989 and promoted through the Staffordshire, Midland and North West Counties Leagues. 2014 saw them win the latter, and meeting ground criteria, move up to Step 4 of Non-League. It has also seen them reach the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, with a home tie against Gateshead next weekend.

Brigg are based in Glanford Brigg, to give it the full title, in North Lincolnshire. Established in 1864, they are celebrating 150 years of football - only 4 clubs are older, Sheffield, Harefield United, Hallam and Cray Wanderers. The Zebras' (due to their black and white striped shirts) history reveals two FA Vase wins, in 1996 and 2003, and promotion to their current level in 2004.

Past a rather bewildered looking youth sporting a ginger Mohawk outside the revamped Orange Tree, and then beyond the vintage Belle Vue bus in Bowdon, it's a return to the Potteries. So yes, more M6 patchwork tarmac and imbecile drivers, before turning off through Middleport, Longport and Burslem, with Price's National Teapots and the defunct Ceramica museum en route.

Then it's into Smallthorne, avoiding Jupiter and Saturn Streets, with the football club on Community Drive, tucked in amongst the maisonettes. The Institute, a far more imposing building and with the longer history, is on the right and the football club, with its solitary turnstile, on the left.

The admission sign says £5, but on proffering the correct change, I'm met with a bemused 'What's that for then?' The gateman is thoroughly confused, and we eventually establish that £5 is actually £7, and no I'm not an OAP......

A narrow alley, next to an artificial pitch, leads down to a raised walkway beneath which is the covered seated area. Two sides of the ground are bounded by trees and those maisonettes, and one end is open, looking out onto distant densely packed housing in one direction, hills in the other. The popular side holds the clubhouse, balcony and changing rooms, reached by steps up the grassy bank. There's also a small covered area next to the dugouts on the far side, and a walkway round the pitch.

Norton are in their red and black stripes, with Brigg in change pink with black flashings, rendering their shirt sponsor illegible. Norton are mid-table, but the Zebras are not enjoying their 150th anniversary - next to bottom, 9 players out injured, only 2 subs, and defeated 7-2 by the only club below them, Kidsgrove.

In a cold, blustery wind, Norton start energetically, attacking with pace. The Zebras' goal leads a charmed life with keeper Robert Zand making two good saves and Norton hitting the bar. Shortly after Brigg's rather portly central midfielder leaves the fray with a broken cheekbone, a free kick falls to Norton's Paul Taylor who confidently strokes home.

Brigg have been poor but are galvanised, hitting the bar twice and then the post within a minute. From the ensuing corner, Timothy Taylor is tripped (no ale involved !!) and captain Anthony Bowsley scores from the penalty spot to equalise on the half hour. Soon after, on the counter attack, Tim Taylor hits an arrowing strike into the roof of the net. 'Zee-bras' is the cry from the travelling faithful, and Brigg comfortably maintain their lead till half time.

Within minutes of the start of the second half, there's a second penalty as Norton's keeper takes out the onrushing forward - Bowsley scores again for 3-1. Elliott Broughton then scores on the hour with a composed finish after truly horrible defending to make it 4-1. More 'Zee-bras' and disbelief at what looked a home banker, especially after the game's first quarter.

Norton have been aimless for the second and third quarters of the match, coughing up possession far too easily and guilty of overplaying and kamikaze defending. Manager Scott Dundas has seen enough and makes a triple substitution.

Within moments we have the game's third penalty, this time for the home side. The linesman deems it a fair tackle but the referee overrules him; Thomas Winkle scores and Norton believe...... Five minutes later Paul Taylor gets his second, heading a long throw into the top corner as Brigg start to cave in. Unsurprisingly an equaliser arrives after Lee Cropper volleys in a left wing cross. Fireworks light up the sky and the heavily tattooed home supporter next to me, looking like death warmed up, celebrates by opening another can of Special Brew.....

The agony goes on for the Zebras, as an unsighted Zand fumbles a shot from the edge of the box, and Michael Lennon taps home. Then the best goal of the match - all one touch pass and move, the ball then played into space behind the centre back and Lennon sidesteps the keeper and tucks home.

Four minutes from time Jon Beaumont heads home a corner, the assistant flagging that the ball crossed the line. Six goals in 21 crazy minutes to leave the crowd stunned as Norton win 7-4 in truly a game of four distinct quarters. The talking point - whether the Gateshead scout left after 65 minutes..... ?

Quite, quite extraordinary ☺