A Shropshire Lad

This evenings visit to New Bucks Head, home of Telford United will see me

completing my tally of Conference League grounds.

On arrival of what I presumed to be Telford United's Car Park, I was informed that this was in fact the Whitehouse Hotels car park.

New Bucks Head like Fleetwood's Highbury Stadium is hemmed in by flats,and terraced houses on three side plus said Hotel.

There is however, college car parking on the other side of the road to the ground priced at a reasonable £3.

The ground has cover behind both goals, a main stand and open terracing opposite.

The atmosphere on the night was terrific and was one of  the best games I have attended to date.

The match a great advert for Conference League Football.

The Imps (Lincoln City) were slightly the more slicker of the sides in the first half.

0-0 at half time.

In the second half the Imps brought on Kyle Perry a former Telford United Player who scored a brace of goals against his old team.

Mills scored a consolation goal for Telford in injury time.

On tonight's performance both teams should have a good season in the Conference.

Final Score  Telford United 1 Lincoln City 2

Programme £2.50  Excellent

Attendance 2,323

Good selection of Food available but I took my own (pies)

Catch of the Day!

This was the journey I  had dreaded, a long journey of  4 hours of motorway driving with the added frustration of the last 12 miles being  stop and go at a snails pace until I entered  the town of Fleetwood, one of the UK's oldest fishing ports now steadily in decline.

Adding  more to my frustration  was the fact that there were no visible

signs to the football ground where Fleetwood Town were entertaining

Hayes and Yeading, however, Fleetwood isn't a massive town and after asking directions the ground was soon in sight.

Street parking was the order of the day as the ground is hemmed in on three sides by terraced housing. This is a throwback to the years of old time football before stadiums were built on soul-less industrial estates.

Consequently there is only a limited amount of parking at the ground and that is reserved for players and members.

The town itself looks a little tired  and a shade down at heel but the stadium is quite the reverse, with two excellent seated stands, and  covered terraces behind each goal.

The clubhouse was modern and roomy, and the officials very friendly.

Fleetwood shaded the first half, but on a couple of occasions however, Hayes came close to scoring.

Hayes were awarded a dubious looking penalty in the first half which Scott Davies managed to save.

Fleetwood had the ball in the back of the net  3 times, but only one counted.

An excellent Jamie Milligan curling shot midway though the second half which sent the Cod Army home happy.

Fleetwood Town 1 - Hayes and Yeading 0

Programme £2.50  - Excellent

Attendance 1376

Large variety of refreshments and food available.

Hail Hail the Celts are here!

Today's trip was to Nuneaton Town, take the Hinckley road from Nuneaton and follow the signs to the rugby ground who groundshare with the football team.

The locals refer to the town as the 'boro'', after the former club which went into liquidation. The football ground, the rugby ground and training pitches are set on an industrial estate.

On a dry day the car park turns into a dustbowl.

Today's opponents are Stalybridge Celtic, normally I take a neutral stance at football matches but teams with Celtic in their title get no support from me.

Patience was the order of the day as the match was delayed for 75 minutes as an air ambulance landed on the pitch to assist someone who had been taken ill.

After the long wait the match finally got under way, but for one Celtic fan  the wait was a waste of time,as  he was physically ejected from the ground by stewards after just 5 minutes play. 

Celtic minus one impatient fan, was followed by Celtic minus one player as a straight red card was issued by the referee for a particularly hard tackle.

As the game progressed, I began to warm to the battling ten men of Celtic and they were a goal up on 44 minutes with a  soft goal that seemed to trickle in off the post.

At half time the local cheerleaders come majorettes took to the pitch to entertain us further, although many supporters were already in the bar, looking at the football results as they came in.

In the second half, 'Boro' (Nuneaton Town) started to raise their game as Celtic tried to use time wasting tactics to keep their one nil lead.

Boro equalised late in the second half only for Celtic to score from a penalty shortly afterwards to win the match.

Nuneaton Town - 1 Stalybridge Celtic 2

Attendance 786

Programme £2.50 (poor)

Burgers were the order of the day - no pies!

Sussex by the Sea

Driving from Brighton to Lewes  the Amex stadium reveals itself like a large spacecraft that has landed  smack in the middle of  the countryside in a  large field.

I enter the car park to pick up my match day ticket only to be turned away with the suggestion I should park somewhere else  and catch a bus or walk to the ground.

There are only parking facilities at the ground for Supporters coaches, and those that work at the stadium. 

Fortunately, I  manage to find a space at  Falmer Railway
Station and for £4.00 I can park all day. 

Falmer is a picturesque village with a large duck pond and is a mere 5 minute walk from the ground. I could have parked here for free.

Never mind!

I had spent 45 minutes on the telephone booking my ticket and 30 minutes queuing to collect it at the ground  but apart from this all things are looking positive

The ground is on a par with Bolton's Reebok stadium.

The seat I was allocated  in the upper West Stand was perfect.
The seat itself was padded and very comfortable.

The teams came out to the rousing sound of 'Sussex by the Sea'.

Brighton were entertaining Gillingham in the Carling cup.

The'Gills' are two leagues below Brighton but gave them a couple of scares  in the first and second half, but overall, Brighton dominated the match, winning  with a penalty goal in the second half.

Brighton 1 - Gillingham 0

Crowd attendance - 16, 295.

Programme was of average fair, but priced very reasonably at £2.00.  Brighton had a good selection of food on sale but this  time I took my own pies!

Well, thats the 92 leagues grounds completed once again and now its back

to real football outside of the Football League!

Bring me Sunshine

There are a handful of clubs in Division Two of the football league who struggle with small crowds.
Barnet, Macclesfield and  Accrington are teams that barely reach 2000 supporters per match mark.


My journey today was to a club that could be added to this list, Morecambe.

The problem may be, with the exception of Accrington, that there is no league pedigree, as those teams have not been in the league very long.

I put off this journey last season as it is a long drive from Essex as I did with the journey down the coast at Fleetwood. I will make that this season too.

Morcambes new stadium, the Globe arena is a modern, neat, compact ground, with a nice touch of standing terracing opposite the main stand.

This terracing has no cover, surprising when you think of the amount of wind and rain  there is that drifts in off the Irish Sea.

Last season the club was voted the friendliest in the division which I can certainly vouch for as I was allowed in before the game to take photographs of the new stadium.

The pies were voted best as well, but I could not vouch for these as mine came from the Lidl store, down the road.  

The crowd behind the goal were young and enthusiastic and noisy to boot with a drummer in their midst active all aftenoon.

Their  opponents today  (6/08/2011) were Barnet  and there was very little to separate the teams apart from a Barnet wonderstrike midway through the second half.

Morecambe 0 - Barnet 1

The programme was of average fare, full of pre-season optimism and spelling mistakes, but you can't always get everything right. 

The crowd attendance was 1,874, only lowered by Macclesfield on this opening day of the season.

This was a shame really as the weather was dull and showery and  the only other competition  a day on the beach at the seaside was equally not well attended.

P.S.

I enjoyed the music before the match and at half time. 

Just before the teams came out on to the pitch, 'Bring me Sunshine'

by Morecambe and Wise was played over the tannoy.........bang that drum!