And so to Easter Monday and the Southerns Stadium at Bracken Edge on Roxholme Road in Potternewton, on the northern outskirts of Leeds. Today's Northern Premier League Division One East game features Yorkshire Amateur AFC, their last home fixture of the season, and Shildon AFC.
Yorkshire Amateur AFC was established by Kolin Robertson in November 1918, becoming a founder member of the Yorkshire League in 1920. They originally played at Elland Road, which had become available after Leeds City folded - however they sold the lease to Leeds United in 1920 for £250, and eventually relocated to Bracken Edge in Potternewton a century ago in 1922.
The Ammers left the Yorkshire League after four seasons but rejoined in 1930. There they remained, fluctuating between various divisions, before the league merged with the Midland League to form the Northern Counties East League in 1982.
The club was promoted to Division One East of the Northern Premier League in 2021 on a points per game Covid pandemic formula.
The visitors,
Shildon AFC from Dean Street, are known as the Railwaymen after the wagon works
which was a major employer in the town for many years - their other nickname is
The Shells.
The club was established in 1890 as Shildon Town, joining the Auckland & District League in 1892. By 1900 the Railwaymen were in Northern League Division 2, but folded due to financial problems.
The Shells reformed as Shildon Athletic in 1903, taking the place of Stockton St Johns, who resigned, in the Northern League. The team moved to the North Eastern League in 1907 and changed its name to Shildon AFC in 1923.
The Railwaymen rejoined the Northern League in 1933, finishing as runners up before securing four consecutive championships. Thereafter three relegations (1985, 1992 and 1999) were countered by three promotions (1987, 1993 and 2002 - latterly as division winners).
Shildon were FA Vase semi finalists in 2012/13, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Tunbridge Wells. Two years later the club finished Northern League runners up, by a point, to Marske United, before winning the championship in 2016.
The Railwaymen were also promoted last summer on the same basis as the home side.
An early
start sees a walk down to Navigation Road, past Girl Boss, and a train to
Manchester Piccadilly - five football grounds en route plus Human Appeal, the
hat museum chimney and the flowerboxes at a rechristened Heaton Chapel &
Heaton Moor station.
Then a walk across town to Victoria, bypassing Clampdown Records and Gobstopper Candy. I reach Hanging Ditch, the National Football Museum and Chethams School of Music and Victoria station still advertising far flung destinations including Goole and Belgium.
Then the Leeds stopper, past Malta and Arrow Mills, into the Calder Valley under a bruised sky with intermittent sunshine. First is Todmorden, 'our incredible town' with Kindness signs in the hills, then Hebden Bridge with a plethora of dedication boards.
That leads me to Mytholmroyd and its Iron Man information signs, and onto Sowerby Bridge, gateway to the Ryburn Valley - Manchester 29 miles, Leeds 22 - and home to the Jubilee Refreshment Rooms. Halifax sees Shaw Lodge chimney, Hargreaves Foundry, Quality Street since 1936 and the Halifax Flour Society 1879 building.
Disappointingly the Mill Lane Social Club just outside Bradford is shuttered, the car on its roof seemingly repossessed. Fittingly, as we approach Leeds, there is Strachan - The Art of Fine Furniture.
Then to Leeds city centre, Friends of Ham, 'The Swine That Dines', Piranha Hair Design, the blue plaque denoting the home of Smithfield Ironworks, Bagel Nash, Delico Fine Foods, Virtuoso Legal and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. That leads me to Chapeltown and the Mandela Community Centre, the Dutch Pot West Indian takeaway, Petals & Stitches and Barakah Bros before I hit Potternewton. Numberplates today are CA51BAD, NN18 PEN and 1055 DD.
A walk across Potternewton Park and its run down mansion takes me to Roxholme Avenue, then Roxholme Road, and, ultimately, Bracken Edge. £8 on the gate and a crowd of 102 today - with about 20 enthusiastically supporting the Railwaymen.
The near side hosts a Bar Area, changing rooms and the all seater stand in the corner. Elsewhere it's a walkway on the other three sides, a partial one step terrace opposite and a mini astroturf pitch behind - three sides surrounded by residential housing, the other by trees (and bracken ?). At the top end Ammers advise us that 'Every Person Is Born With A Seed Of Greatness'.
Ammers are in
white and blue, currently sitting 12th and their season fading, starting with
no number 8 (12 instead), Shildon in change navy and red, who have qualified
for the play offs in fifth place. The away side have much the better of the
opening exchanges with their centre forward, Dean Thexton, somehow seeing his
shot blocked after an Ammers' defensive horror story. He has a goal disallowed
and is narrowly wide with two further chances.
But it's not all one way - the home team's Adam Priestley fires off two thunderbolts, parried away, and then sub Amir Berchil shimmies down the touchline and cuts back for Roy Fogarty to sidefoot into the far corner on 27 minutes. The Shells' sub, Billy Greulich-Smith, shoots straight at home custodian Max Culverwell when he should have done better, and we reach the break at 1-0. There is no tannoy or any announcements throughout the entire proceedings.....
The second period begins quietly with Thexton's scissor kick the closest to an equaliser. Then on 62 minutes Priestley beats Railwaymen keeper Shaun Newbrook to a through ball, cuts back inside past the centre half and exquisitely chips home to make it 2-0.
Thereafter Ammers try to put Shildon back in the game - heading against their own bar and then over Culverwell, with the ball being hooked clear on the line. Culverwell makes a wonderful save from Thexton on 90 minutes but the striker finally heads home in injury time for a consolation as it finishes 2-1 to Yorkshire Amateur.
