And so to Carleton Road and Frenchfield Park for my first ever Northern League fixture between Penrith and Whitley Bay in Division One.
Penrith AFC was founded in 1894, playing in local leagues before joining the Carlisle & District League which they won several times. The club moved to the North Eastern League for the 1907/08 season.
Before the start of the 1948/49 season 'The Bonny Blues' were elected to the Northern League where they remained until 1982 - their best finish being runners up in 1962.
The team became a founder member of the North West Counties Football League and finished second to Stalybridge Celtic in 1984. Promotion in 1987 to the Northern Premier League Division One saw a three year stay and then relegation back to the NWCFL.
The club rejoined the Northern League for the 1997/98 campaign and fortunes have fluctuated ever since, with four seasons in the Second Division and then promotion back to the top tier.
The Bonny Blues changed name to Penrith Town in 2007, and moved from Southend Road to Frenchfield Park. Thereafter there was a reunion with breakaway Penrith United with the club becoming Penrith AFC once more in 2008.
17th out of 22 last time, the club currently lie 18th and last in the league following Team Northumbria's close season resignation and disbandment, and Blyth FC's demise four games into the season. The Bonny Blues remain the only Northern League top flight side situated on the west side of the country.
The visitors, Whitley Bay FC, play at Hillheads Park
adjacent to Whitley Bay ice rink; there has been a football club in Whitley Bay
since 1896 when it was founded by Liam Patrick Mattimore, an ex Brazilian
captain (!!). The club was known as Whitley and Monkseaton FC, before changing
name to Monkseaton FC and then Whitley Bay Athletic.
After many years in the minor leagues, Whitley Bay Athletic joined the Northern Alliance League in 1950, claiming the title once. The Bay then opted to play in the powerful North Eastern League between 1955 and 1958, but the team struggled - subsequently successfully applying to the Northern League and dropping Athletic from the club name.
The Northern League championship was won in 1964/65 and 1965/66 along with several local cups over the intervening years.
The Seahorses took up their position in the Northern Premier League Division One in 1988 and won promotion to the Premier Division, as league winners, in 1991. However two relegations in 1995 and 2000 took the Bay back down to the Northern League.
Whilst there has been the occasional flirtation with the league title, the Seahorses have enjoyed considerable FA Vase success - four time winners in 2002 (beating Tiptree), 2009 (Glossop North End), 2010 (Wroxham) and 2011 (Coalville Town).
The current campaign has been another disappointing season, with the Bay lying 12th, a position they cannot improve upon before the season's end.
So on a glorious spring morning, with the sun beating down,
there's some familiar sights. T & T Pound Plus no longer selling ELCTRICAL.
TOILETORIES, queues on Barton Bridge due to a 'stranded vehicle' and then on
the M61 'Incontinence Supplies at Internet Prices' before I pass a forlorn
looking Botany Bay. A couple of car registration plates too - M3 CRY and the
excellent WH05 BAD !!
Then onto the M6, inevitable barrier repairs and delays between junctions 32 and 33, motorway graffiti 'Democracy is fracked' and some glorious views of the Cumbrian countryside. Past the pretty multi-coloured painted terrace houses in Tebay, Shap Summit at 1036 feet, Katy Cropper Sheepdogs and then off at junction 40 with the sign for Ullswater Steamers.
A quick stroll round Penrith with its artisan shops and impressive clocktower, and JR Arnison & Sons, drapers, costumiers and milliners since 1742, before I head out to Carleton village, turning at the Cross Keys pub, passing Hunter Hall school and the cul de sac finishes at Frenchfield Sports Centre.
A vast complex of football and rugby pitches - and vicious speed bumps !! - with Penrith AFC's modern stadium at the end. £6 on the gate and the all seater grandstand and clubhouse and bar are immediately to my left, Blues CafĂ© to my right. Opposite is the three step Walter Brogden Stand, terraced but with six plastic chairs.... The rest of the ground is tarmacked flat standing with some wonderful views of snow capped hills and Beacon Edge, with the A66 passing behind the goal to my right.
The Bonny Blues are naturally in blue with white trim, the
Seahorses in change yellow and black as the match kicks off under blue sky and
sunshine but with a chill wind. The latter explains the high number of balls
that sail over the perimeter fence, epitomised early on when after one match
ball flies out of the ground, the replacement is shanked to Bay keeper Daniel
Lister who manages to punt that straight over the fence too !!
On ten minutes the referee awards a throw in to the Seahorses - a truly appalling decision. Bay lose possession and Penrith's captain Grant Davidson sets a swift counterattack going. The ball is played out to Matty Clarke on the left side and he speeds down the wing before crossing for Martyn Coleman to sidefoot home and the Bonny Blues lead. A dubious assist for the referee ?? !!
The Seahorses come more into the game as the half progresses, Olly Martin's header just over the bar from a corner their best effort but the half ends 1-0 to Penrith, despite Stu Dixon's flapping in the home goal.
The second period sees the Seahorses start brightly, Jonathan Wright given far too much time and space to turn and shoot - wildly as it happens. Davidson has a shot deflected just wide for the home team.
Then on 70 minutes Bay's offside trap is breached and Davidson plays in Coleman, who takes the ball past Lister but the angle is too tight and his shot trickles agonisingly onto the post and into Lister's hands. No matter as within a minute the trap is broken again with Shaun Gardner releasing Adam Main and he deftly finishes past Lister.
Lister makes a superb tip over save from sub Max Brown to keep the score at 2-0, with the Seahorses struggling to create a chance worthy of the name, and the Bonny Blues see the game out at 2-0 to take their recent run to one defeat in eight in front of the crowd of 157. Three vital points with relegation issues yet to be confirmed by the FA, but Penrith know that 4 points from their final two games will see them avoid bottom spot - remarkable given that their first league victory was only achieved in January.
