Damage in the Box!: ALSAGER TOWN (Wood Park)

After my recent excursion to Germany, it was back on home soil this weekend and a relatively local trip down the A51 to Alsager. This was due to the fact I was attending a Hallowe'en party in the evening and needed to be home rather sharpish. As touched upon, Alsager is not that far from home yet it is one of those grounds that I just haven't got around to visiting unitil today.

The Bullets now find themselves in the North West Counties Premier after being demoted a couple of years back due to ground grading. It is easy to see why the bureaucrats would do this (not that many seats you see) but I thought Wood Park was a decent wee set up. There is plenty of cover, admittedly mostly standing, with the social club/tea hut/changing rooms on on a higher level to the ground and you walk down a little slope to get to the pitch.

Today's opponents were Maine Road, from Manchester obviously, and it was a mid table clash but with Alsager thrashing rivals Stone 6-3 in midweek I was hoping for a similar goal fest today. Ahhh.

The game was complete crap as neither side could muster an effort which forced either goalkeeper into a meaningful save. There was lots of persperation but very little inspiration for the 39 hardy souls in attendance and the game was petering out to a drab 0-0 draw when, five minutes from time, Ian Maitland bundled in a cross shot from two yards to snatch the points for the visitors. The obvious frustration of conceding a late goal boiled over and a few moments later Alsager's Dean Williams was sent sent off for raising his hands to a Maine Road player after a clash in midfield.

Despite the very poor game a decent little tick and I was back in the house by 6.30pm.