So to the second weekend in August and the ‘magic’ of the FA Cup, with today’s chosen Extra Preliminary Round tie seeing a trip over the tops to The DSM Memorial Ground as Penistone Church FC play Bootle FC with Northern Counties East meeting North West Counties.
Penistone Church FC was formed in 1906 from
the merger of Penistone Choirboys and Penistone Juniors, and competed initially
in the Sheffield Amateur League. In 1909 Church were the first winners of the
Sheffield Junior Cup, which they won again in 1937.
The club became a founder member of the
Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League in 1983 after the merger of
local leagues. Church reached the Premier League in 1995 but were something of
a yo-yo club in the 1990s.
The club was promoted to the Northern
Counties East League Division 1 in 2014 and qualified for the inaugural
Division One play offs in 2016, losing out to AFC Emley. A year later Church
beat Grimsby Borough in the play off final to win promotion to the Premier
League, and also won the Northern Counties East Football League Cup. Last
season saw a creditable 7th position in the top tier.
The original Bootle FC was formed in 1879 and
played its first fixture in 1880. The club were Everton FC's main rivals and
competed with them for a prestigious place in the newly formed Football League.
The Bucks narrowly lost out as only one club per area was permitted to join.
In 1889 the club became founder members of
the Football Alliance, finishing runners up and FA Cup quarter finalists. The
Football Alliance then became the Football League Second Division with Bootle
finishing a respectable 8th but then resigning due to ongoing financial problems
- ironically being replaced by Liverpool FC - and then folding.
The club was resurrected after World War II
and joined the Lancashire Combination in 1948. The Bucks decided not to sign
Bert Trautmann, apparently not wanting to cause upset because of local war
feelings, and he joined St Helens and moved on to bigger and better things. The
club won the league at the first attempt but struggled in the top flight,
before resigning and folding again during the 1953/54 campaign.
In 1953 the current club was formed as
Langton FC, playing in local Bootle leagues then the Liverpool County
Combination. Twenty years on there was a successful request to change name to
the latest incarnation of Bootle FC.
A year later the Bucks joined the Lancashire
Combination and after two championship successes left to enter the Cheshire
County League. In 1982 the Cheshire County League was one of the leagues merged
to form the North West Counties Football League with Bootle FC a founder member.
After relegation to the Second Division, in
2002 the club dropped back into the Liverpool County Combination as Bucks Park
on Copy Lane closed its doors for the last time. Four years later with a new
ground, New Bucks Park at Vesty Road (now sponsored by TDP Solicitors), the
Bucks were re-elected to the NWCFL and promoted as champions to the top
division in 2009 – runners up in 2017 their best finish.
It's another
sunkissed afternoon as, appropriately, I pass Cool Tan, Sunsation and Tan 'n'
Tonic, before reaching the execrable ELCTRICAL TOILETORIES T & T Pound Plus
- open 7 days a week (make that none !!)
Onto the
M60, past the Co-op pyramid and its crystal Methodist, then The Light sociable
cinema (whatever that means ?) at Stockport's Red Rock leisure development. Off
at Denton Rock to the M67 at the end of which is a Big Baps butty van.
Through
Hollingworth, to the pretty village of Tintwistle, Arnfield Fly Fishery and
then Crowden where the scale of depletion in reservoir levels is striking. It's
a glorious day for driving the Woodhead Pass and into the Peak District
National Park, marred only by the brown and scorched countryside. Then into
Barnsley Metropolitan District Council territory - twinned with Gorlovka and
Schwabisch Gmund !!
I turn off
at The White Heart into Penistone, along a tidy High Street, then down Victoria
Street to the DSM Memorial Ground on Church View Road. Plenty of parking next
to the stadium this week, a colourful flower bed outside the turnstile, and a
fiver in.
Inside there
is a busy clubhouse at the near end with the changing rooms adjoining. To my
left is the covered stand, terracing giving way to black and white seats up to
the half way line – and the ubiquitous Totty Signs advertising hoarding in
these parts !! The rest of the ground is open with just a walkway on the
opposite touch line and a mini pitch behind the goal at the top end. Naturally
(the clue is in the football club name and address) there is a church in sight,
standing imperiously above the houses, bells pealing away. Another deckchair in
evidence – and some shooting sticks too !!
There is
housing behind the main stand but beyond that are fabulous views of the
Yorkshire countryside, topped by an even prettier landscape opposite.
Church are
aiming to replicate their FA Cup run from last season, winning three rounds
before losing to Harrogate Town in the Second Qualifying Round. They are in
black and white stripes, the Bucks in all blue with yellow trim. Referee and
one linesman are in regulation all black, but the paunchy assistant next to me
has white flashes on his kit.......strange.
The Bucks
have brought decent and raucous support, swelling the crowd to 165.
Notwithstanding a bone dry pitch, burnt in places, Church begin dreadfully and
Bootle should really take advantage. Andrew Gillespie ghosts in unchallenged
and then swipes the ball well wide. Church's keeper, Chris Snaith, makes two
excellent stops to deny Mike Ordish and Carl Peers, but surely it's just a
question of time.....
Then on 25
minutes the Bucks' defence switches off and Church's Kieran Ryan pinches the
ball, twists and turns before shooting low into the corner past a wrong footed
Ryan Jones. It is Penistone's only chance in the first period.
There is no
change in Bootle's style of play and they continue to dominate, hitting the
woodwork before finally three minutes from half time Peers is played in, Snaith
hesitates and the attacker rolls the ball home to restore parity.
The second
half sees a rather better home performance, particularly at the back with the
defence well organised by veteran Brett Lovell. Nonetheless the Bucks do create
chances. Ben Jago forces a fine diving save from Snaith, and the custodian
blocks Elliott Nevitt's effort with his legs.
Church have
come more into the game without really threatening until a quarter of an hour
to go. Ryan is given too much time and space in the corner, before crossing to
the back post where Nathan Keightley heads the ball back across Jones - the
ball seemingly crossing the line in slow motion.
Bootle throw
men forward, creating pressure but no meaningful chances as the Bucks fizzle
out (sorry !!). Indeed Church come the closer to scoring - Bootle's Lee
McConchie mistimes his header, it catches in the swirling wind, and from fully
25 yards out loops over Jones and hits the frame of his own goal. 2-1 to Church
at the finish and high hopes of another lucrative FA Cup run remain.
