And so on a breezy Boxing Day a visit to the ARK
Fleetech stadium on Andrew Street for the North West Counties clash
between Chadderton FC and Sandbach United.
Chadderton
FC, 'Chaddy', was formed in 1947 as Millbrow FC, then became North
Chadderton Amateurs and finally Chadderton in 1957. Initially competing
in the Oldham Amateur League, the club then progressed through the
Manchester Amateur League and on to the Manchester League in 1963.
A
step up to the Lancashire Combination followed and, after finishing
runners up in 1982, they became founder members of the North West
Counties, created by the merger of the Lancashire Combination and
Cheshire County League. Promotion in 1990 was swiftly met with
relegation the season after, but the club lasted longer at the higher
level after gaining promotion in 1993 - until being forcibly demoted in
1999 due to ground grading issues.
In
2007 Chaddy was taken over by Craig Halliwell and Tony Bhatti of HB
Property Group, but within two years ties had been severed; the club
becoming a members' club run by the people for the people. The play offs
were reached last year, but the team remains best known for two of its
ex-players - England international David Platt and Mark Owen from Take
That.
Sandbach United was established in 2004 when
Sandbach Albion and Sandbach Ramblers joined forces in their quest to
improve football facilities in Sandbach. The club badge reflects the
union, featuring R and A in its design.
Sandbach
Albion, formerly known as Hays Junior FC, was founded in 1994. Sandbach
Ramblers Youth Football Club was reformed in 1995 to provide access for
schoolboy football for the youth of Sandbach and the surrounding area.
United
originally competed in the Staffordshire County Senior League, before
moving to the Cheshire League in 2011 where they were promoted to the
Premier Division in 2014. The club was accepted into the North West
Counties this summer and, whilst initially looking for a season of
consolidation, currently lie sixth in the play off places.
And so to Timperley Met, and an (almost) fit for
purpose Metrostink service with the tram full of bleary eyed Man United
fans, seemingly wanting to discuss George Michael's death..... Past Old
Trafford and into the city centre where I walk the Second City Crossing
which is littered with beggars.
Then
onto the Rochdale line, 'The Line of Violence', at Exchange Square and
beyond the National Football Museum the conversations turn to hard drug
use. It's a bleak line with abandoned mills on both sides of the track; I
alight at Westwood for a walk down the hill, crossing from Oldham back
into Manchester, into the teeth of a biting wind.
The
Humdinger pub is no humdinger as it is closed and looking for tenants
or to be sold, before I reach Fish World and a male jogger in pale pink
socks and shocking pink running shoes.... Andrew Street is across the
way, and the ARK Fleetech Stadium is hemmed in amidst a warren of
terraced house side streets.
Inside
immediately to my left is the tea bar with the main bar upstairs. This
end and the popular side are tree lined, with the latter providing the
only cover (but not from this wind !!) and a middle section with three
broad steps for seating and backed by Broadway - the Oldham version !!
The
far end is open with a small hillock and waste ground, whilst the near
side hosts a very boggy car park - and several spectators do not even
venture from the warmth of their vehicles for the entire 90 minutes...
The dug outs are on this side too along with a waste receptacle that
tells us shoutily 'DO NOT PUT DOG CRAP IN THIS BIN'. On the pitch the
goalposts are still being erected....
Chaddy are in all red, United in change white
with one blue stripe and their goalkeeper in pink - but I don't think he
was the aforementioned jogger ! A pale sun provides no warmth and there
really is no respite from the icy wind. 51 goals in Chaddy's 11 home
league games so far this season - so a guaranteed goalless draw then ?
Immediately
it is obvious that Chaddy are more up for the fight and their front two
of Leon Iluobi and James Curley are a handful all afternoon. However
they manage to make a complete hash of a two on one, caused by dreadful
Sandbach defending, and then have three valid penalty claims rejected.
United
seem disjointed and rarely threaten, although Josh Lane pinches the
ball from the last man and greedily shoots wide when a pass to unmarked
centre forward Danny Bartle would surely have seen him score.
After
Sam Gibson shoots just wide for Chaddy, the home side get the goal they
deserve on 26 minutes. Wingman Luke Heron beats his man, runs to the
dead ball line and crosses for Iluobi to slam home from five yards.
Iluobi is then denied by a magnificent last ditch challenge from United
captain Bradley Cooper (awaiting his next film role one assumes). At the
other end Bartle gets it all wrong with his left foot when a header was
the better option, and Chaddy lead one nil at the break.
The
second half sees more of the same, Curley shoots straight at the
keeper, Chaddy have two goals disallowed - one for a push on the keeper
at a corner, the other for a tight offside - and hit the underside of
the bar.
Sandbach
are frustrated and frustrating to watch, and create only one
significant opportunity but Bartle's twenty yard strike is handily
parried wide. Still the second goal won't come for the home side but, as
we edge into injury time, Gibson beats three men on the left, shoots
beyond the keeper - and strikes the post... Iluobi's first half goal
proves to be enough :-)
