Rock On - Druids Avoid Becoming Major Twits

And so to The Rock for a Welsh Cup 3rd Round match between Cefn Druids AFC and the visitors from the coast of the Vale of Glamorgan, Llantwit Major FC. It's a cup tie postponed for a week due to international call ups - Cefn Druids contributing three players to last weekend's Home Nations Futsal tournament !!

Cefn Druids, 'The Ancients', is the oldest football club in Wales. In 1872 Plasmadoc FC, founded three years earlier, became Druids (ancient mystic men of Celtic civilisation) when the various colliery and quarry teams around Ruabon and Cefn Mawr were brought together under one banner.

In 1876 the Druids entered the FA Cup - the first Welsh club to do so - and in 1877 contested the very first Welsh Cup game. The club won the Welsh Cup in three consecutive seasons between 1880 and 1882, and have won the competition 8 times in all.

The Ancients joined the first Welsh league in 1890, and in 1920 merged, first with Rhosymedre to be called Rhosymedre Druids, and then with Acrefair United in 1923 to become Druids United. Enthusiasm had waned by the 1980s as the Druids were being outstripped by local rivals Cefn Albion (established in 1967). Another merger in 1992 between these two clubs saw Cefn Druids AFC born, playing at Plaskynaston and adopting the white and black colours of the original Plasmadoc.

The club was rebranded as Flexsys Cefn Druids in 1998 and that season saw them crowned as champions of the Cymru Alliance earning promotion to the League of Wales. Subsequent sponsorship deals saw the club renamed NEWI Cefn Druids, after the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education, and then Elements Cefn Druids before reverting back to Cefn Druids in 2010.

The Ancients dropped down to the Cymru Alliance as the new 12 team Welsh Premier League was born in 2010 and moved from Plaskynaston, showing its age and now a supermarket, to The Rock. In 2012 the club were Welsh Cup runners up, reaching the final for the first time in 108 years, which brought a brief foray into Europa League football.

In 2014 Druids were promoted to the Welsh Premier League but lasted only one season before being relegated. Last season's Cymru Alliance champions Caernarfon Town were deprived of a Welsh Premier League license, as they officially did not exist as a legal entity having failed to file accounts in August 2015. In the ensuing fiasco runners up Cefn were promoted back to the Welsh Premier League.

The Druids recently made headline news when it became known the club had failed to sell a single season ticket, not helped by having to play home games for the first two months of the season at The New Saints' ground whilst their new 3G pitch was laid. Season ticket sales have 'surged' since the announcement....

Llantwit Major FC, 'The Major', was formed in 1962. A selection committee picked the team until the club joined the South Wales Amateur League in 1971. The 1980s saw three league titles and three Corinthian Cup successes but thereafter fortunes were mixed.

The visitors from the Windmill Ground were promoted to the Welsh Football League Division Three, three tiers below Druids, for the start of the 2012/13 season. They currently sit 4th (out of 16), and progress in the Cup has come with victory over Sully Sports and a giantkilling - beating Llandrindod Wells of the Cymru Alliance, two divisions above.

And so on a grey mild December afternoon Christmas shopping creates snaking lines of traffic, woeful driving and, naturally, roadworks.... Onto the M56, past the Stretton Fox, then a softly belching Stanlow before crossing the Welsh border and bypassing the floodlights of the Racecourse at Wrexham.

Left at the Ruabon Wheel and then past a caravan dealers, which appears to have sprung up amidst a forlorn and crumbling church. Right into High Street and then into Rock Road, where the Ancients' home is just beyond Rhosymedre Methodist Church, and where the road is currently blocked by two fire engines.

The Rock is reached either by a footpath up the hill or, further up, the car park off Rock Road. The stadium has literally been hewn out of the rock, with houses perched atop the precipice and looking down onto the pitch. At one end is the car park, club shop and Druids Social Club - this end also hosts, strangely, a Welsh flag with Aston Villa printed on it.....

The popular side supports a refreshment bar and a very tidy main covered all seated stand with the black and white seats patterned to spell out CDFC. At the far end is a solitary steward with his pedal cycle, behind which are fields where an onlooker has precariously perched himself on top of some rocks for a free view. Across the way is the sheer rock face in front of which is a tarmac walkway and brick built dugouts bisected by a two tier open press box/ photographers platform.

After a minute's silence in honour of Chapocoense and Druids' player Adam Eden's father who passed away this week, we are underway with the Ancients in black and white, and the Major in change all red. The Llantwit Major contingent, with a 300 mile round trip, occupy the front row of the main stand for 'their cup final'.

The underdogs are not overawed and shape the better early chances. Robert Jones is just wide from a free kick, and Glyndwr Davies heads the resulting corner over when he should have done better. Druids have plenty of the ball but struggle to create openings; Jordan Harper charges down Jack Lansdown's clearance but the ball runs wide, and Fisnik Hajdari's long range effort sails over.

Half time sees the game goalless and with little indication of a three league gulf between the two sides. Much merriment at the break too that Bala's game at Airbus was postponed shortly before kick off due to a 'hazardous floodlight', and much berating of the referee by Llantwit fans 'because he's from North Wales'.

The second half is far more open as the Druids, no doubt following a half time haranguing, begin more positively and are helped by an early goal. Harper is felled in the area and Mike Pritchard squeezes the penalty inside Lansdown's right hand post. Six minutes later the ball falls to Corey Roper whose shot seems to be going wide until it is deflected by a Llantwit leg inside the near post to make it 2-0 to the Ancients.

The play becomes end to end with the Druids looking the likelier to add to their advantage - Steve Blenkinsop skying over from a parried shot. But there is no further score and, as the rain sheets down, the Major are denied a consolation as sub Luke Cox sees his shot saved by the onrushing Michael Jones in injury time - in truth the first save Jones has had to make….

Fog On The Line - Villagers Lost In The Mists Of Time...

And so to Hind Heath Road and the Sandbach Community Football Centre, for a clash between two newcomers this season to the North West Counties - Sandbach United and Charnock Richard. The M6 Motorway Services Derby anyone ?? !!

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.

The visitors hail from Mossie Park, and a village more renowned for its motorway service station than its football team - Charnock Richard.

In 1933 the Chorley Sunday League became the Chorley Alliance League and a Charnock Richard village team was entered, competing until the outbreak of the Second World War. The club was reformed at the end of the War, winning the league title in 1947/48 but then ran into difficulties and closed down at the end of the following season.

The present club was reborn in 1955, playing in the Chorley Alliance League then the Preston & District League, with a brief flirtation with the Bolton Combination. In 1993 the Villagers joined the West Lancashire League and after winning the Premier Championship seven times, including four consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2015, moved up to the North West Counties this summer, and lie third but with a minimum of three games in hand on Whitchurch Alport and City of Liverpool above them.

And so on a gloomy freezing Saturday afternoon it's onto Manchester Road, then past North Cestrian 'Where Individuals Thrive' and Denzell Gardens shrouded in mist. Through the confusing new Bowdon roundabout and joining the M6 'Smart' motorway and 13.75 miles to the end of roadworks - so all the way there, then !!

It's a blanket of fog making the PIES graffiti barely visible, but astonishingly (OK unsurprisingly) a huge amount of drivers/ imbeciles choose the no lights option.... Off at junction 17 and to the outskirts of Sandbach where I turn near the Hightown Drinking Fountain, one of 77 listed buildings in the market town.

Then onto Hind Heath Road and the Sandbach Community Football Centre. Plenty of car parking and an overflow at the cricket club across the road, which is doing a sideline in selling Christmas trees. A green Shogun sporting what can only be described as a car tattoo, a golden 'The Fat Frog', draws in and then leaves immediately….

Outside the sign tells us Proud Sponsor's (oh dear !) Planet Environmental and then we see what £2m FA and council grants gets you in terms of facilities - an impressive clubhouse on the popular side, 3G pitch, 9 other pitches, 40 teams and over 600 players. Despite, or because of, the new floodlights not much of this is in evidence because of the murk. Two sides are fenced off and out of bounds (ignored), and the near end supports two open, but covered sheds....

The referee, after some debate, decides to start the game as he can see both goals from the centre spot and indeed it's only in the two far corners that the action is particularly fuzzy. Sandbach are in maroon and light blue, with Charnock Richard in white with green trim.

United start the stronger and have a decent shout for a penalty when Danny Bartle appears to be clipped. Shortly after an incisive pass inside the left back sees Omar Mballo score with aplomb for the home side.

As much as Sandbach have controlled the first quarter hour their lead is wiped out soon after. The Villagers' Ollie Evans is tripped in the box, and Nathan Fairhurst calmly hits home the penalty. The away side take control, dominating proceedings with some lovely one touch football. United keeper Ryan Moss makes two fine saves but is beaten by Carl Grimshaw's majestic header from a precision Mark Adams cross for the Villagers to lead 2-1 at half time.

Conditions deteriorate during the interval but the second half gets underway with Charnock again creating opportunities. Ten minutes in, a through ball is cleared desperately by Moss ahead of the onrushing Evans but straight to Adams who lobs home from 40 yards to make it 3-1.

Evans and Grimshaw have chances to extend the lead, but Sandbach respond. Bartle has a shot cleared off the line after some particularly kamikaze defending, then blazes over from six yards and the Villagers' Adam Halton makes the save of the day, turning aside a piledriver - 'Quite how he saw that in this fog - unbelievable'.

By this time we are largely guessing what is going on; the fog means we can no longer see the far touchline and on 74 minutes the referee abandons the match to some disgust. 'Conditions are no different to 3 o'clock' is the general consensus but the fact that we only hear the referee blow his whistle three times, and cannot see him is probably why he brings matters to a premature end......

Little Devilment From The Red Devils As Port Weather No Storm

 And so to the Angel Telecom Stadium, the sponsor's name sounding much better (for once !) than the original Keighley Road Stadium. It's the home of the Cobbydalers, Silsden AFC, and the venue for today's North West Counties fixture against Whitchurch Alport.

The first ever Silsden AFC was formed at a meeting at Silsden Liberal Club in September 1904, adopting the blue and white playing kit that had been used by the recently defunct village rugby club. A field adjacent to the original rugby field on Keighley Road was hired – and that same field is used to this day.

The Cobbydalers played in a variety of local competitions, bouncing round the Keighley & District, Bradford & District, West Riding County Amateur, South Craven, Airedale & Craven, Bradford Amateur and Wharfedale (Saturday) Leagues. When Keighley Cup holders Keighley Shamrocks withdrew from local football due to ground problems in the summer of (19)69, the club's players moved en masse to Silsden and a period of success was to follow. Seven Keighley Cups were won and the West Riding County Amateur League title was lifted at the end of the 1971/72 season.

But the club were expelled from the league at the end of the following term for failing to raise a team for a league cup final against Lower Hopton - citing injuries, which coincided with six players travelling to Wembley to watch the Leeds United/ Sunderland FA Cup Final....

The club joined the West Yorkshire League, which they won in the 1975/76 season. The Cobbydalers were then promptly expelled from this league following incidents between Silsden and Fryston players at the league's end of season presentation evening.

Having been readmitted to the West Riding County Amateur League at Division 1 level, promotion to the Premier followed two seasons later. Almost inevitably the club was again thrown out of the league 'for violent and abusive conduct by players and officials both on and off the field'.

As if a third expulsion in six years wasn't enough, the club saw their facilities taken from them by the trustees of the ground. Sunday team Silsden United were installed as tenants and became the new Silsden AFC. Having rejoined the Craven League in 1980, the Cobbydalers were swiftly promoted but resigned from the league at Christmas 1988.

For seven years Silsden was without a Saturday team. Then Silsden Juniors took up the mantle in 1996 and, five successive promotions later, reached the West Riding County Amateur League Premier Division.

The Premier Division was won twice in 2003/04 and 2004/05 and after the second title the club was elected to the North West Counties, initially groundsharing with Keighley Cougars RLFC at Cougar Park. Having been promoted immediately to the Premier, the Cobbydalers moved back to Keighley Road for the start of the 2010/11 after the ground was extensively refurbished, and a £1.2m Sports Club erected. They were relegated back to the First Division at the end of last season.

The visiting side from Yockings Park, Whitchurch Alport FC, 'The Reds', was formed in 1946 and joined the Shrewsbury & District League. The club was named after Alport Farm on Alport Road, the home of local footballer Coley Maddocks, who was killed in action in the Second World War. As 1947/48 champions of the Shrewsbury & District League, the club was elected to the Birmingham League - but news of the proposed Mid Cheshire League reached the ears of the committee and this led to them becoming founder members.

Affectionately known as the 'Allbran Allstars', Alport were champions of the Mid Cheshire League in 1970, and are ten time winners of the Shropshire Cup. The Commander Ethelston Cup has also been won on numerous occasions, and the Reds became the last English club to win the Welsh Amateur Cup in 1974.

The club took the decision to move down to the Mercian Regional Football League in 2012, and, after squad strengthening and ground improvements, applied to join the North West Counties for the 2015/16 season. Initially denied by the FA, they were admitted on appeal. A torrid inaugural season ensued, with just two league victories and finishing bottom of the table.

And so onto Manchester Road and immediately the scene of some kamikaze and atrocious driving - a car stopped in no man's land at the traffic lights causing chaos, another car hits bus, and bus wins as the road is strewn with wreckage. Further on Indian restaurant Exotica has proved, well, too exotic for Sale and closed, but WAGS Grooming Salon next door is still flourishing.

Then Smart Motorway, with '32 vehicles running out of fuel in September' - so 32 not so smart drivers.... The average speed cameras prove no impediment for an Impulse Plants 'lorry-train' hurtling past me, as I join the M66 where hills are bathed in sunlight and I am (unfortunately) reacquainted with the blot on the landscape that is wind turbines.

Then Baxenden, the home of Holland's Pies, before turning onto the M65 and ignoring signs for Shuttlewoof Hall (a dog day care centre - what else !!). The motorway is brought to an abrupt end by Boundary Mill, and the bottleneck that is Colne....

Through the sprawling Cowling and then into Glusburn and Cross Hills, or Cross Hills and Glusburn if you approach it from the opposite direction.... Progress is halted by a huge freight train and two ambulances at the railway crossing, before a left turn and over the River Aire to the outskirts of Silsden, the home of the Ecology Building Society.

This brings me to Silsden Sports Club, where parking remains difficult after last year's floods, so, bearing in mind the marooned BMW in the mud trap at Eccleshall last season, I park on the main road.

Inside one end houses the impressive Sports Club and the 1904 Suite - an upgraded Portacabin - plus, new for this season, outside toilets. Two flags flutter side by side - SY13 Alport On Tour and Silsden AFC Keep The Faith.

The near side supports the McNulty Stand, an abandoned refreshment bar and a small covered shelter; opposite are two stone built dugouts and an advertising hoarding announcing 'Good Luck Silsden AFC From The Lost In Barrow Family'. Behind them the village of Silsden looks down on the ground and, nearer, the Leeds Liverpool Canal with barges chugging along, comfortably outpaced by the cyclists on the tow path.

But all around is breathtaking scenery, and after the announcer has sympathised with Alport's traffic problems in Colne 'But we have that for every away game', he comments on the picturesque surroundings 'And yes those are real cows – and sheep'.....

Silsden are in red and black, in keeping with their alternate nickname 'The Red Devils', whilst Alport are in change all blue. There is to be no repeat of last week's 'The Curious Incident of the Dog on the Pitch' - Whitchurch having a goal disallowed due to a stray mutt on the field of play - as the only dog inside the ground is safely leashed.

Alport start brightly, playing with confidence as befitting a team currently second in the league, but the Cobbydalers create the first real chance - player manager James Gill shooting over from a training ground move at a corner.

Whitchurch have played some lovely possession football without looking like scoring. So it's a surprise when a hopeful hoof from the back finds captain Si Everall bisecting the two home centre halves, and he comfortably rounds home keeper Callum Jakovlevs to sweep the ball home.

The home side fail to learn their lesson and Everall is put through again, but this time is forced wide. Fellow strike partner Matt Ashbrook hits the side netting, whilst for Silsden Ross Wilson goes close twice and Kyle Hancock volleys over - but in truth away stopper Danny Read is barely troubled.

The second half sees the Red Devils press without really threatening, aside from one unorthodox Read save. Midway through, with Alport playing on the break, Ashbrook is tripped by left back Josh McNulty for a soft penalty. Mike Blundell calmly slots home to double Alport's advantage.

The Cobbydalers go to three at the back, which just leaves them even more horribly exposed. With ten minutes to play the game is put to bed; a two on one , and Everall superbly finds Blundell and his deft chip over Jakovlevs sneaks in, just. The Alport ultras go wild....

Silsden have one cleared off the line and Read makes a decent stop from a quickly taken free kick but that's it. 3-0 to Alport, a ninth successive away win and top of the league, a complete transformation from last year's shambles.

On the way out, the one man public information service that is the stadium announcer thanks us for our support. And then, ahead of next Saturday's Macron Cup tie at New Mills (an equally idyllic panorama) tells us, tongue in cheek, 'And if you fancy following us next weekend, we're in Derbyshire - that's near London'..........

 

Villagers Soar As Eagles Have Their Wings Clipped - Eccy Thumped !!

And so to Mossie Park, and a village more renowned for its motorway service station than its football team - Charnock Richard. The visitors from the Adverc Stadium at Pershall Park, are 'The Eagles' of Eccleshall FC - 'We Play For The Badge & The Oat Cakes - We Are Eccy !!!' for today's North West Counties Division One fixture.

In 1933 the Chorley Sunday League became the Chorley Alliance League and a Charnock Richard village team was entered, competing until the outbreak of the Second World War. The club was reformed at the end of the War, winning the league title in 1947/48 but then ran into difficulties and closed down at the end of the following season.

 

The present club was reborn in 1955, playing in the Chorley Alliance League then the Preston & District League, with a brief flirtation with the Bolton Combination. In 1993 the Villagers joined the West Lancashire League and after winning the Premier Championship seven times, including four consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2015, moved up to the North West Counties this summer.

Eccleshall Town FC was established in 1908 but the most successful local team of that era was Eccleshall Comrades, set up in 1918. The Comrades' most famous player was the FA Cup Final scorer and winner (for Wolves), and England amateur and full international, The Reverend KRG Hunt. The club also featured in a curious incident when Stone Christ Church were defeated 5-0. The game ended 10 minutes early when first one ball burst, then another and there were no more available.......

 

Both clubs became defunct and the current club was founded in 1971 as Eccleshall Town Old Boys, the team made up of locals and staff from Eccleshall Secondary School, where they played their home games.

 

The Eagles joined the Staffordshire County League (North) in 1979, moved to Pershall Park in 1982 and ascended to the Staffordshire Senior League - now the Springbank Vending Midland League - in 1984. As Eccleshall FC championships were won in 1990 and then consecutively in 2001/02 and 2002/03. With work complete on the stadium the club moved up to the North West Counties Football League in 2003, but several seasons of inconsistency have followed, and last term's 16th place finish owed much to the ineptitude of the two clubs below them - Atherton Laburnum Rovers and Whitchurch Alport.

So on a bright October afternoon it's onto Washway Road, past a white van seemingly held together by gaffer tape and drawing up at the lights where Maidments are ludicrously championing themselves as 'Serious Crime Solicitors'; amusingly there is a To Let sign above the office.

 

Phil Novak and the Rat Pack are on at Garvey's, and then it's just another gridlock day at the Trafford Centre and Barton Bridge. Onto the M61 and that 'Incontinence Supplies At Internet Prices' sign and then off at Botany Bay. Through Euxton and into Charnock Richard, with Mossie Park down Charter Lane, just beyond Bevonair Hair Salon and Dignity Wigs, and just before you reach the village centre.

 

The ground is on the opposite side of Charter Lane to the old Mossie Close ground where the club were based from 1968, after playing elsewhere in the village. £4 in at the gate but you can watch the game for free from the car park....

 

Immediately inside is the entrance to the changing rooms, then the refreshment bar and, curiously, a converted garage. The small main covered seated stand is situated midway down the popular side, with a walkway and barriers that appear to be made from roller shutters surrounding the pitch. Two sides are tree lined and the far side is adjoined by the village cricket pitch.

The Villagers are in white and green (club colours have always contained green since the 1955 reformation) and the Eagles, who can only name two substitutes to the home side's five, are in change all red. One linesman has a paunch whilst the other is just plain obese, and they are joined by (we soon discover) a cantankerous referee.

 

The visitors' tactics of one up front, flood the midfield, contain and frustrate works well for the first three minutes. Then Spencer Bibby's cross finds an unmarked Carl Grimshaw and he sidefoots home. With second playing next to bottom the home crowd awaits a lorry load of goals, but surprisingly the Eagles swoop to equalise on ten minutes - some shambolic defending allowing Tom Wakefield the freedom of Mossie Park and he dinks over the keeper to level.

 

The rest of the half sees the Villagers in the ascendancy with the vast majority of possession, plenty of passing but unconvincing in the final third. Nonetheless they come close three times - Ollie Evans' horror air shot, Bibby's fierce strike well saved by the Eagles' stopper Stuart Robertson, and a deflected shot that just swirls wide.

 

The second period sees Charnock Richard, laboriously, dominate proceedings and the Eagles offer no attacking threat whatsoever, giving some respite to the heavily perspiring fat assistant referee. Grimshaw blazes over when he should have done much better, Robertson makes two fine saves, two shots are cleared off the line and two strong penalty shouts are waved away.

 

Finally, at the midpoint of the half, Robertson's goal is breached - a glorious scissor kick executed by Mark Adams from a cushioned header back, and a piece of skill quite out of keeping with the overall quality of the game.

 

With just under a quarter of an hour left the ball is played into Grimshaw, who appears to be crowded out by three defenders. To a plaintive cry from the crowd 'Don't shoot Carl, you'll never score from there', he rockets the ball home, via a stanchion, from a seemingly impossible angle.......

 

The 3-1 win takes the Villagers top, and leaves the Eagles flying low in 21st with 5 points from 13 games.

Nomads' Home Run Continues As They Strike Old Gold...

And so, because of a family wedding (cheers Lindsey and Pete !), to Sunday football and a trip just over the border to the Deeside Stadium for a Welsh Premier League game between Connah's Quay Nomads and Carmarthen Town.

Before the Nomads, Connah's Quay FC was founded in 1890 and disbanded after a second Welsh Cup final loss in 1911. Connah's Quay & Shotton was then formed in 1920 and beat Cardiff, featuring several players in the team that beat Arsenal in the 1927 FA Cup Final, in the 1929 Welsh Cup Final. Six months later the club went bust....

 

The existing club was formed in July 1946 as Connah's Quay Juniors, and a senior team was formed and joined the Flintshire League in 1948. Prior to the 1952/53 season the club's suffix changed to Nomads; the Nomads joined the Welsh League (North) and, despite returning to local leagues for 7 years, rejoined it in 1966. In 1974 the club joined the newly formed Clwyd League and, following 3 successful seasons in the Welsh Alliance, became founder members of the Cymru Alliance in 1990 then the League of Wales two seasons later.

 

The Nomads, an odd name for a club that had spent 51 seasons at the Halfway Ground, moved after a season of groundsharing at Rhyl to its current home, the Deeside Stadium in 1998. After bereavements and retirements the club was taken over by gap personnel in June 2008 to become gap Connah's Quay Nomads.

 

2010 saw the club narrowly miss out on the cut off for the Super 12 League - thus the club began the 2010/11 season in the Cymru Alliance which they won the following season but were deprived of promotion after failing to gain a domestic license. Notwithstanding this setback the Nomads were again crowned Cymru Alliance champions in 2013 and this time the ascent to the Welsh Premier League was granted.

 

Last season saw the Nomads qualify for the Europa League - and a giant-killing as the club beat Norwegian team Stabaek over two legs before bowing out to Vojvodina from Serbia.

The first attempt to form a Carmarthen Town team came in 1920 through Jack Harding, a Geordie who settled in the town, but it lasted only three years. Harding went on to play for the St Peter's and Quay Rovers clubs, both of which folded in 1939.

 

Undaunted he founded a Carmarthen Athletic team after the Second World War, but the players were not fully committed. Indeed one match was called off as most of the side were engaged in bell ringing on a Saturday.....

 

Finally he established Carmarthen Town FC in 1950 at Penllwyn Park, moving to the newly created (and current home) Richmond Park in 1952. Election to the Welsh League followed in 1953, with thereafter intermittent promotion and relegation.

 

1976 saw the 'Old Gold' nearly fold and it was the disbanded reserve team's committee that came to the fore and took over the running of the club. Twenty years later the Welsh League Championship was won and the Old Gold were into the League of Wales.

 

Subsequent years produced a Welsh Cup win in 2006/07, and European football via first the Intertoto and then UEFA Cups. These included matches against AIK Solna, FC Kobenhavn and most recently SK Brann of Norway - with Carmarthen (narrowly !) losing 3-14 on aggregate..... The Welsh Premier League restructure in 2010 saw Old Gold just scrape into the top 12.

So it's past the fire ravaged Bayer building no more - torn down for a new housing development - then the Bridgewater Retail Park, currently occupied by all of two stores, and no surprise that the chumps who ran Champz Bar have seen it fail. Then, in radiant sunshine, to the M56 before it becomes the A494.

 

Off at the A548 and into Deeside Enterprise Park, with its massive solar farm and signs warning of 'Steam Clouds'. Then over the magnificent cable-stayed Flintshire Bridge (no Oresund but impressive nonetheless !), past the gas fired Connah's Quay Power Station to the Deeside.

Parking is alongside the stadium at Coleg Cambria which also houses Toy Box Day Nursery and the North Wales Indoor Athletics Centre. £7 in - still great value for top flight Welsh football - sees one side with the main covered grandstand and a flat standing area in front. Opposite is the press box and dug outs, with the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight pub behind.

 

Both ends are open circling the athletics track that surrounds the pitch with the Flintshire Bridge backdropping the near end. There's also a covered disabled area, with one wooden bench, in the corner and, strangely, a children's play area contributed by Forest School.

I don't profess to understand how this season's Welsh Premier League fixtures have been compiled but it's definitely, er, unusual.... Bangor City started the season with 5 straight home league games then 4 away, The New Saints played Bala home and away in four days and today's Nomads game is the fourth of six consecutive home league fixtures followed by five away - bonkers !!

 

The teams enter the fray to the sound of AC DC's Hell's Bells, with the Nomads in red with white trim, and Carmarthen in old gold and blue. Lee Idzi, the Carmarthen keeper, wears all white with one red and one green sleeve - a strip more appropriate to a Tour de France rider than a goalkeeper....

 

From the start it's end to end - Nomads' John Disney heads just wide from Nathan Woolfe's cross, whilst Old Gold's Liam Thomas breaks free and forces an excellent save from home custodian John Danby. Les Davies' free towering header drifts just past the post, Disney has one cleared off the line and Matty Williams hesitates in a one in one allowing Idzi to parry, as the Nomads dominate without troubling the scorers.

The second half sees Williams and Thomas both go close for their respective sides before a double substitution for the home side has an immediate impact as Nomads’ Nick Rushton nips in front of Idzi to head home a Woolfe centre.

The match threatens to boil over with increasingly physical challenges before Old Gold’s captain Lee Surman is sent off for a reckless challenge on Davies. Old Gold bring on target man Mark Jones and he provides an aerial threat to the makeshift home centre back pairing. His presence produces the away side’s best opportunity with Danby flapping at a cross and Ceri Morgan shooting miserably over. Nomads’ manager Andy Morrison’s vehement exhortations serve only to confuse his players and the match splutters to its conclusion and a 1-0 home victory.

Heys Gunned Down As Bullets Finally Fire

And so to Adie Moran Park, the home of Prestwich Heys, for the visit of the only unbeaten team in the league, Alsager Town, in a North West Counties Division One fixture.

 

The home club's origins can be traced to February 9th 1938 when a meeting was called at the Music Room of the Heys Road Boys School with the idea of forming an Old Boys Association - the football arm becoming Heys Old Boys AFC. The Heys gradually progressed through the Bury Amateur League and South East Lancashire League, changing their name to Prestwich Heys AFC in 1964. The team joined the Lancashire Combination for the 1968/69 season.

 

Thousands flocked to see the Heys play in the FA Amateur Cup, with the victory over Sutton United in 1969 attracting nationwide coverage, coming a week before their opponents were due to meet Leeds United in the FA Cup. Truly the Heys' heyday !!

 

The club became a founder member of the North West Counties League in 1982 but were demoted to the Manchester League in 1986 due to ground grading issues. Under manager Adie Moran the Heys were champions for three successive seasons between 2005 and 2007. Tragically Moran was killed in a swimming accident in Sri Lanka at the age of 43 in June 2007 which left the club reeling.

After relegation battles, the club renamed the ground in honour of Moran and last season won the Manchester League Premier Division - thereby returning to the North West Counties Football League this summer after a 30 year absence.

Alsager Town are known as The Bullets, after the former Royal Ordnance Factory (now BAE Systems) in the nearby hamlet of Radway Green which produced small arms ammunition for the British armed forces. The club was formed in 1965 as Alsager FC from the merger of Alsager Institute and Alsager United, with the current Wood Park ground acquired in 1967.

 

The Bullets' 51 year journey has incorporated four name changes - 1973 Alsager Town, 1986 Alsager United, back to Alsager FC in 1988 and then to Town again in 2001. Initially starting in the Crewe League, the club joined the Mid Cheshire League for the start of the 1971/2 season and stayed there until being forced out of business in 1988 due to a lack of funds and poor support.

 

The club reformed after a season's absence in 1989 and started again in the Crewe League, then the Mid Cheshire, before spending one season in the Springbank Vending Midland League and then achieving promotion to the North West Counties Football League in 1999. Further success took the club to the Northern Premier Division 1 in 2006 and then Division 1 South for a season, until the Bullets were forcibly relegated for failing FA ground grading requirements.

 

The last six seasons all involved relegation dogfights, with the 2011/12 season preceded by a catastrophic fire at the ground which meant that the club were forced to play all games away until November. Last season started in similar vein - 5 points from 17 games, bottom of the table and a change of manager. An almost Lazarus like recovery ultimately ended in relegation on the final day.

Onto Washway Road, past Sunsation Tanning Centre I notice the 12 foot giraffe (and baby) have gone walkabout and Elvis is still threatening a comeback... Then an empty M60 with a sign proudly proclaiming '17 miles of roadworks'.

 

Normal service is resumed on Barton Bridge - gridlock caused by rubbernecking. An accident on the opposite carriageway necessitating 3 ambulances, 3 police vehicles and 3 recovery trucks, with the tailback stretching to four junctions.

 

Then it's off at junction 17 and into Besses O' Th' Barn, down Thatch Leach Lane where the local youths are doing kamikaze wheelies and onto Sandgate Road to the old Grimshaw, now Adie Moran, Park. Ample parking and £4 in reveals a small covered area to my right in the shade, and a treatment room, office, changing rooms and club bar to my left. Two sides of the ground are backed by housing, another by the M60 and electricity pylons and the final one by trees - apparently with security patrols !

 

A single railing and walkway surrounds the pitch, and the only seating is for those in the know - 16 elderly patio chairs !! Oh and a sign 'If you are the last one out, please lock the main car park gates'.....

 

Heys are in red shirts and white shorts, the Bullets in black and white stripes. The home keeper sports a strange navy and sky blue concoction, whilst his opposite number is wearing a rather dreadful yellow and black ensemble.

There is a minute's silence in memory of Daniel Wilkinson, the 24 year old Shaw Lane Aquaforce/Association player who died during the match at Brighouse last Monday. Then we are underway in glorious sunshine, the cloudless blue sky only punctuated by several aeroplane vapour trails.

 

The first half settles into one of Heys dominance, content to keep possession and make the Bullets work whilst waiting for the chances to come. And they do as Alsager frequently find themselves a man adrift at the back - Danny White's chip just over the bar and captain Jake Wood's header just wide from a corner representing their best opportunities.

 

Then just past the quarter hour a deflected shot loops up and Heys' Paul Tierney reacts fastest to get there first and head past that dreadful yellow and black number. Shortly after the mercurial Erike Sousa shoots wildly wide for the home side in a two on one.

 

With the Bullets misfiring, the half degenerates from one of craft and guile to more of graft and bile. Tetchiness, four bookings, some agricultural challenges and a referee who can't play advantage, ably abetted by two linesmen, one tubby and the other just plain old, hard of understanding regarding the offside rule.

 

At half time Heys lead and the Bullets look spent. To my left a 45 minute telephone conversation about 'her mother's health', to my right a discussion about japonicas - different......

 

The second period continues in similar vein despite a double substitution from the visitors - Heys enjoying the possession and the Bullets firing blanks. However the home side struggle to chisel out opportunities and their only real chance sees Tierney put through but his shot lacks placement and draws a routine save.

 

Then Heys have a real let off as substitute Mark Grice, all alone on the penalty spot, blazes well over the bar when it seemed easier to score. Straight down the other end Prestwich almost double their lead as a fine swivel and volley whistles just past the post.

 

This seems to be the trigger as the Bullets come out all guns blazing for the final twenty minutes. A double barrelled salvo from the visitors' captain and centre half, Paul Taylor, steals the points. First he heads powerfully into the top of the net from a corner, then a throw in is flicked on for him to head home the winner at the far post. The Bullets nearly rifle home a third at the death but their unbeaten start is preserved with the 2-1 victory.

Fish and Chipps Twice !!!

 And so, on a weekend of other insignificant derbies, to the one that really matters - The Fish Derby at, appropriately enough, the Anchor Ground. The Salmoners of AFC Darwen host the Pikes of Pickering Town in the Buildbase FA Vase First Qualifying Round.

Darwen FC was formed in 1870 and was a member of the Football League between 1891 and 1899. In their first season they were relegated from the First Division, finishing 14th of 14, and becoming founder members of the new Second Division. In 1893, after finishing 3rd, they were promoted via the test matches (the Victorian version of the play offs !!), but relegated the following season.

 

In their final season as a league club they set two unwanted Football League records that still stand - the most number of consecutive League defeats (18) and the most number of goals conceded by a club in a Football League season (141). The club nickname, 'The Salmoners', is a throwback to the salmon and pink shirts they wore at this time.

 

After leaving the Football League the club moved from Barley Bank to the Anchor Ground, and joined the Lancashire League, which they won in 1902. They then entered the Lancashire Combination, playing there for the next 70 years (apart from a World War 1 break) and winning it four times.

 

After their last championship in 1976 the Salmoners joined the Cheshire County League before becoming inaugural members of the North West Counties Football League in 1982. In 2003 Carlsberg Tetley tried to wind up the football club but liquidation was avoided.

 

However in April 2008 another winding up petition from Bee radio station was joined by Thwaites Brewery and ING, and in May 2009 Darwen FC was liquidated. That same month AFC Darwen was formed, playing in the West Lancashire League for one season, before being re-elected to the North West Counties for the 2010/11 season, and winning promotion to the top division two seasons ago.

Pickering Town FC, the visitors from Mill Lane with an ‘unusual’ badge, was formed in 1888, the same year the Football League was founded. The Pikes for many years competed in the local Scarborough and York Leagues, before stepping up to the Yorkshire League in 1972.

 

The club became founder members of the Northern Counties East League in 1982 when the Yorkshire and Midlands Central Leagues merged. The Pikes' best finish was as runners up in the Premier Division in 1992/93, losing out to Spennymoor United on goal difference.

 

1998/99 was a terrible season as, following a 1-11 walloping by Bedlington Terriers in the FA Cup, the Pikes were relegated. Promoted back in 2001 Pickering reached the FA Vase quarter finals in the 2005/06 season, losing out to eventual winners, the Dabbers of Nantwich Town.

So passing the 12 foot giraffe and baby sculpture, part of Sale Art Zoo, then Heart for Art (coming soon !) it appears Elvis is making a comeback..... at Garveys... To the M60, smart motorway and only 14 vehicles ran out of fuel in August, before I join the M61 - where I resist the urge to pull over for 'Incontinence Supplies at Internet Prices'......

 

Just beyond Botany Bay and then the M65 leading to the Devil's Road, the A666, which takes me into Darwen. Onto the Anchor Estate where the Anchor Ground is situated, surrounded by housing on two sides and the Crown Paints facility on the other two.

 

Inside the dressing rooms are in one corner, whilst the clubhouse and snack bar is again the smart Howarth Timber & Building Supplies Stand. The other three sides are uncovered terracing (No Standing On The Grass !) with only a railing protecting the pitch. There is the ubiquitous shipping container behind the goal at the Darwen End, which is overlooked by Darwen Hill and the impressive octagonal Jubilee Tower, from where you can view five counties and the Isle of Man on a clear day.

Before kick off we're treated to firecrackers and fighter jets flying past in formation. Darwen are in all red and the Pikes in change lime green. Within ten seconds the Salmoners are on the attack, and Nick Hepple's low shot to the corner forces a good save. Three minutes in the Pikes net, with Robert Chipps scuffing his shot past home keeper Danny Jackson, after some awful defending.

 

The game is stretched but chances are few and far between, and starts to become niggly as both sides have penalty claims turned down. Pikes' captain Nial Tilsley is forced into a change of footwear and spends the rest of the half wearing one blue and one black boot - wonder whether that will catch on ??

 

The second half sees Tilsley wearing two blue boots and a fairly mundane start until, after great work from Ged Dalton, Chipps scores with a wondrous finish into the top corner. The Salmoners take the game to the Pikes and almost immediately pull one back as Hepple, clearly offside, bursts through and scores at the second time of asking. This one of a series of baffling decisions from the referee and his assistants ('It's embarrassing').....

 

The comeback is almost complete when Hepple's acrobatic and thunderous volley hits the underside of the bar with twenty minutes to go. Sixty seconds later he is dismissed for a second yellow card for dissent.

 

The Pikes weigh Anchor and comfortably repel the Salmoners in the final twenty minutes. Ryan Blott has the opportunity to seal the victory with a couple of minutes remaining but, having rounded Jackson, hits the post and sees his follow up smuggled off the line. It is immaterial and the Pikes avoid extra time and go through as 2-1 winners.