Damage in the Box!

FRICKLEY ATHLETIC (Westfield Lane)

After all the hassle of last weekend it was a relief to wake up to glorious September sunshine and the latest step on the road to Wembley. The weather was still brilliant as we arrived in Yorkshire and at the ground of Selby Town for their game with Guiseley. However the notice on the door of the turnstile soon turned the smiles to groans it was GAME OFF. Oh dear. Due to the bright sunshine it never even occurred that this match would be off and it never even entered ones mind as a consequence to make a phone call to check. Groundhopping rule number one...always check!!

It was a quick scan of the paper and the nearest game to Selby was Goole v Quorn. This was a run of the mill league game and therefore did not appeal. It was FA Cup day and an FA Cup tie it had to be. Pickering was next to be considered, but given it was fast approaching 1.30pm it would be cutting it a little fine. Next on the list was Frickley Athletic v Skelmersdale United, an all Unibond league clash but it was Premier v Division One. A higher ranked team that was struggling against a lower ranked team that was unbeaten. It had the making of a classic cup tie. A quick phone call to check the game was on, yeah wise after the event I know, and it was a quick dash to South Elmsall.

South Elmsall is a former mining village, near Wakefield, that was brought to its knees, like most mining towns of Britain, by Thatcher in the 1980’s. Its local team, Frickley Athletic is named after the colliery. The ground is located on Westfield Lane close to where the old mine used to be and the landscape is dominated by a slag heap, which towers over the terrace on one side of the ground. The other side of the ground is a huge wooden stand which gives you great views of the aforementioned slag heap, oh and the pitch as well!

In fact, the ground recently made it into, ironically, a Daily Telegraph list of 50 things we love about Britain. I quote “16.Frickley Football Club is renowned for having the bleakest football ground in the country. It’s overlooked by a slag-heap which dominates the ground much as Mount Vesuvius does Naples-albeit rather less picturesquely. In the depths of winter, though, with snow dusting its summit, it’s a remarkable sight. Visiting fans are often found taking more photographs of the slag heap than the football.” I can vouch for that!!

It was £8 to enter the ground and a further £1.50 for the programme. Another £2.80 bought you the delightful combination of steak pie, chips, mushy peas, gravy and mint sauce. As I’m watching my figure I declined this offer. Honestly. They had a social club in which you had the chance to wash down the local cuisine with a couple of beers, if you so desired!

The game itself though was hugely disappointing and never really sparked to life until the last quarter. Skelmersdale dominated the play but alas the final ball into the box was poor and they never really created any clear chances. Frickley looked very nervous, you could tell they were a team very low on confidence and nobody wanted to take the responsibility of driving the team on. It was a complete shock when Frickley took the lead on 72 minutes, but it was in very dubious circumstances. There was a handball in the box, which only the linesman interpreted as deliberate, as the defender was very close to the ball when it was fired in and didn’t really have any chance of getting out of the way. You could say “I’ve seen them given” but it was harsh. Danny Walsh still missed the penalty as it was well saved, but he fired in the rebound to atone for his original error. You could see the confidence lift in the Frickley team and despite Skelmersdale continuing to push for an equaliser, Frickley now looked very dangerous on the break. However, despite 5 minutes of stoppage time Frickley held on to go into the hat for the next round.

Saturday 13th September 2008

FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round

Frickley Athletic 1-0 Skelmersdale United

Attendance: 240

RUSHALL OLYMPIC (Dales Lane)

The heavy rain that has been battering the country is every groundhoppers nightmare. Plans have to be re-arranged, frantic phone calls have to be made, websites have to be trawled for news and poor old club secretaries have to be harassed. On Saturday morning I ticked all those boxes!

My original plan went belly up at 7pm on Friday when Monmouth was called off. This was to be the first leg of a “double” with Portishead (which was also off). Next in line was a trip to Worsbrough Bridge Athletic but a phone call at 11am put paid to that idea. It was a case of phoning until I got a definite YES off somebody. This ray of light came about when I phoned Rushall and I was reliably informed their game at home to Lincoln United would be going ahead and the pitch “can take anything that is thrown at it”. With these words echoing in my ears it was to the Midlands I headed.

Rushall is a district of Walsall and Olympic play about 3 miles out of the town. The ground was pretty easy to find as it located just of the main Walsall to Lichfield road. The only inconvenience was the road works on the Walsall ring road, which added a further 20 minutes to my journey. It was whilst stuck in this traffic jam the heavens opened again and it absolutely hammered down. I thought to myself here’s another wasted trip. I pulled over and rang the club again just for re-assurance and again they reiterated that there is no problem with the pitch.

I parked up at the ground with 30 minutes to spare, paid my £6 to get in and another £1.50 for the programme which contained a whopping 80 pages, of which only 13 pages were advertisements. Fantastic value. The first port of call on entrance was to inspect the pitch and amazingly there was not a drop of surface water to be seen, the pitch was in superb condition. What a relief I can tell you!

The sound of the referees whistle to kick the game off was music to my ears, it was game on and it was underway. Well, what can I say about the game? It was absolute dross! It ended goalless and to be honest if both teams carried on playing until next Saturday they wouldn’t have scored. The closest either team came to breaking the deadlock was two chances for Rushall in either half. After 15 minutes Paul Szewczyk should have done better when one on one with the keeper, but it was smothered very easily by the goalie. The second decent chance came with only a few minutes remaining when a long range effort by Richard Beale was well saved by the Lincoln keeper.

Other than that it was mainly pot shots and half chances with neither keeper being really tested, both defences were on top. The only other talking point of the game was when Lincoln’s Tom Mallison was shown a straight red for elbowing Nicky Preston, only 14 minutes after coming as a half time substitute.

Lincoln had been hammered 4-1 by Rushall on the opening day of the season and it think it was their intention not to let it happen again. Rushall were more than happy with the point as it put them top of the league table. However, despite the poor game I was just happy to see a match so I can’t complain too much. I’d have been just as annoyed sitting in the house watching the vidi-printer. Here’s hoping for better next weekend.

Saturday 6th September 2008

Northern Premier League Division One South

Rushall Olympic 0-0 Lincoln United

Attendance: 117

LYE TOWN (Stourbridge Road)

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than a good old midlands derby in the cup. It was either this or work! Lye Town of the West Midlands Regional League were taking on Southam United of the Midland Combination, both leagues are classed as step six, five levels below the conference. To be honest this game never even registered with me as it was announced very late on that it was to be taking place on a Sunday. This is because The Stourbridge Road Sports Ground, where Lye play is also home to the cricket team and they have priority over the grounds use. So armed with my trusty non-league directory it was to the outskirts of Stourbridge I headed.

The ground turned out to be very easy to find as it is on the main A458 Stourbridge to Birmingham road and it is impossible to miss coming from Stourbridge. After parking up and having a quick (non-alcoholic) drink in the social club I entered the theatre of dreams. It cost £4 to get in and a further pound for a, quite frankly, crap programme. It was just 12 pages of filler, nothing to read as such. I can’t complain too much as at least I got one. There were many disappointed hoppers present who did not acquire a programme and the club seemed reluctant to print any more.

As you can imagine with a cricket field on one touchline, the ground was only three sided. Behind one goal there was a grass bank (which gave the best view of the ground) a covered stand, which had terracing at the side down the other touchline and behind the other goal a covered terrace, which had a curved roof, which looked different to your usual covering.

As mentioned before lots of hoppers were present and swelled the attendance to 133, which is treble the normal gate. A few of the faces I recognised so there was ample opportunity for a chat and a general catch up. The game itself was a scrappy affair with neither side creating any clear chances. Lye had the better of the opening exchanges and took the lead just before half-time when Francis Allen headed home.

Southam came out in the second half and quickly levelled through a Danny Adams header. The game seemed to spark to life, with both teams playing better football. However it was Southam who were to get the advantage when they took lead through substitute Jim Graham on 66 minutes and this was more or less the end of the contest. The game reverted to the scrappy play of the first half, with neither team looking like scoring, though Lye were denied a penalty in the dying moments. Southam held on to go through to the next round and a home tie with Gornal Athletic and my spectacular weekend double-header of cup football was at its conclusion.