St MIRREN (Love Street)

A theme that seems to be running through quite a few of my visits this season is that of grounds that are soon to be gone. So it was with this in mind that a chance occured to visit two grounds that will/may be no more by 2009. St Mirren was already in mind as they are due to move in January 2009 so it was a case of trying to find a suitable Saturday before then. When, because of a race meeting, Ayr’s game versus Brechin was moved to the Sunday it was no contest. This would be the weekend, as St Mirren were home to Falkirk. A hotel in Glasgow was booked and it was north I headed (no clichés about taking the high road!)

Love Street, the home of St Mirren, was pretty easy to find as it located just off the M8 near Glasgow airport. Arriving in good time meant parking in the street near to the ground was also simple enough. Walking around the stadium it was difficult to understand why the club is moving. The ground looked more than adequate for the needs of club. However, the ground has been sold off to clear debts and (shock! horror!) a supermarket is to be built in its place.

I was disappointed to find that there was no club shop at the ground, so I could not get hold of a badge. It was then off to the ticket office where I purchased my ticket (£18) for the North Stand. This proved to be as hassle free as the lady in the ticket office suggested it would be. When I phoned earlier in the week and asked would there any danger of there being no tickets available she just burst out laughing! After purchasing a programme (£2.50) it was a quick walk into Love Street itself and the entrance to the North Stand. This is where most of the St. Mirren fans appear to be heading to as well. To get into this stand you have to walk up a large ramp, which stretches from the turnstiles over the corner and into the back of the stand. It is a large seated terrace stretching the length of the pitch. It was then a quick trip to the serving hatch to purchase a bridie (£2.40) and well worth the price it was too!

It was then a case of taking your seat, or at least a seat, as nobody appeared to be sitting where they were supposed to be. Nevermind, this suited me as my ticket had an obscured view behind one of the posts! It was now a chance to have a look at the ground it its full glory. The Main Stand is very basic with only a seated section on the top level. It doesn’t run the length of the pitch, only a section on the halfway line. This stand is the smallest and looked the oldest of the four. The stand is behind the goal at one end of the pitch and would appear to be the best view in the ground, yet this is the away end, which today houses a small pocket of Falkirk fans. At the other end is the Family Stand, which is seated terrace with a cantilever roof. Also, behind that stand, in the corners, are remnants of the old terracing which were curved and gave a tantalising glimpse of the ground before redevelopment. It was easy to imagine the bowl shaped ground with big banks of terracing filled with the fans cheering on “the buddies”.

Anyhow, back to the game and quite frankly it was crap (I do seem to be having a bad run of late) and possibly one of the worst games I’ve seen in recent times. Admittedly 10th v 12th in the league table was never going to be a classic but even so you expect something to happen, but nothing did, in the first half anyway. It was goalless at half time. I don’t know what they put in the half time cuppa but the second half kicked off and within two minutes Falkirk took the lead. A cross was whipped in and headed home by Graham Barrett, with the goalie rooted to the spot. This lead didn’t last and two minutes later a silly handball by Kevin McBride gave away a penalty and Billy Mehmet tucked it away to level up. However that was the end of the thrills as the game reverted to the malaise of the first half as both teams settled for a point.

Despite the poor game it was brilliant to get a chance to visit Love Street and to see a match before it is no more. All that remained was a quick trip back up the M8 into Glasgow and off into the city for a couple of beers...................hic!!



Saturday 20th September 2008

Scottish Premier League

St Mirren 1-1 Falkirk

Attendance: 4,134

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