Newcy Town

NEWCASTLE TOWN 3-1 GRESLEY
Saturday 20th October 2012
Northern Premier League Division 1 South
The Aspire Stadium, Buckmaster Avenue, Newcastle-under-Lyme

With Oadby Town not having a game today I am joined today by good friend and also their secretary Kevin Zupp, and we are heading west into Staffordshire, which for myself is the first time in two years for a game of football. The destination of choice is Newcastle Town Football Club, and was until Evesham United moved into their new ground the nearest step 4 ground I had not previously visited.

Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town in the potteries area of North Staffordshire, though should be noted that has or had no involvement with the pottery industry. In 2001 the town had a population of 73,944.

The Newcastle part of the name refers to a 'new castle' that was built in the 12th century, while the Lyme section could refer to the Lyme Brook or the extensive Forest of Lyme that covered the area with lime tress in the medieval period.

An apology now to the regular readers who were / are expecting a match report from the game. There is not going to be one as after uploading the ground and match photos I simply couldn't be bothered.

The match details are as follows:

Admission: £6
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 157 (official)
Badge: £3
Coffee: £1

Goal scorers / times:

Newcastle: Christian Millar (15); Thomas France (44); Neville Thompson (67)
Gresley: Jordan Gough (69)

If anyone is reading a report on the game, Gresley FC have one on their website: http://www.gresleyfc.com/first-team/report/6479

32 photos of the ground and game are in a slideshow below:


Next fixtures:

Saturday 27th October: Oadby Town v Harrowby United (United Counties League Division 1)
Sunday 28th October: Friar Lane v Enderby Town 2012 (Alliance Football League Bill Walton Cup 2nd Round - 10.30am ko @ Western Park [pitch 6], Leicester)

Ossett Town

OSSETT TOWN 0-1 WITTON ALBION

Saturday 17th March 2012

Northern Premier League Division 1 North

Ingfield, Prospect Road, WF5 9HA

Today sees a rare trip up to the Peoples Republic of Yorkshire for a visit to Ossett Town Football Club. This was not my original plan as I had penciled a game in the more local Northants Combination, but this suggestion from good friend Kevin Zupp who wanted to visit the ground before the bulldozers cometh. It was also agreed the double up with an FA Premier Academy game at Sheffield United which kicked off at 11.30am. I picked Kev up from Oadby Town FC in the morning and we set off, with the weather being drizzly and the forecast of sunshine and showers for the rest of the day. In fact the only rain we encountered was on the way home

Ossett itself is a market town in West Yorkshire and lies within the City of Wakefield Metropolitan Borough. The town is located roughly half way between Dewsbury (3 miles to the west) and Wakefield (3 1/2 miles to the east) and sits just off junction 40 of the M1 motorway. The population of the town is around 21,500.

The football club were formed  in 1936 and joined the Leeds League (later West Yorkshire League) until the outbreak of World War 2. During the war they played in the Heavy Woollen League, when after the cessation of hostilities in 1945 they became members of the Yorkshire League. Ossett remained members of the Yorkshire League until 1982 when it merged with the Midland Counties League to form the Northern Counties East League (NCEL). For the inaugural season they were placed in Division 1 North and finished in 6th place. Following league reorganisation a few years later they won the division 2 title and were promoted to division 1. A year later and Town were promoted for a second successive season after a 3rd place finish. After a number of years which can be described as consolidation in the premier division Town were promoted again in 1999 after a runners-up position secured their place in the Northern Premier League (NPL) Division 1. Just three years later and another runners-up position saw them promoted again to the premier division of the NPL. In the nine seasons spent in the premier division Ossett's highest finish came in the 2006/07 season when they ended the season in 10th place. Following relegation in the summer to division 1 north they currently sit in 16th place recording nine wins in their thirty two league games played. Current form though is very poor as there has been only one victory in the last ten games. This came on the 18th February when Clitheroe were dispatched 2-0. Last time out Salford City came away from Ossett with a 2-0 victory on Tuesday night.

Their opponents today have made the trek across from Northwich and sit in 3rd place in the league table, finding themselves eight points behind leaders Curzon Ashton. Their form since the turn of the year has been mixed but have won their last two league matches - 6-0 @ Bamber Bridge and 1-0 @ Clitheroe respectively.

The ground is easy to find being just five minutes from junction 40 of the M1 motorway. There is no parking for spectators at the ground but there is a (very) cheap public car park opposite which cost us 80p for four hours. The turnstile entrance is on Prospect Road itself and we were charged £7 for admission and a further £2 for a 32 page programme. The admission charge is what I was expecting but the programme was certainly not worth the money. On entering the ground the social club is front of you to the right with the pitch to the left. There is three sets of cover - 1) a large seated stand on the Prospect Road side of the the ground; 2) a section of covered standing on the far side next to the dugouts and 3) a small section of cover on the near side in front of the changing rooms. It is easy to understand why the land is earmarked for retail development with it being in a prime location in the town. When the club will move though is another matter as they will only relocate when the offer is right for the club, not the developer.

The game was one to forget with it being one of the worst I have seen at any level all season. Very few chances were created and very little football played. The only goal of the game came around the twenty minute mark. Ossett keeper Ashley Connor took a goal kick which was intended for Mark Ryan, though Ryan had decided to run upfield at the precise moment the kick was taken. Albion's Ashley Stott was the first to react and he calmly placed the ball past Connor. Cue chants of dodgy keeper from the visiting supporters behind the goal. In the second half, which was worse than the first Ossett resorted to hitting hopeful balls with the visitors easily containing their efforts. I was bored watching this long before the final whistle ended the afternoons proceedings, and was glad to get back in the car to make the ninety mile drive home.

  

Admission: £7

Programme: £2

Team sheet: free

Badge: £3 - on order

Attendance: 113

websites / sources:

Evo-Stik Northern Premier League - official

Ossett Town FC - official

A final note should be that of our first game of the day at the Sheffield United Academy. United welcome spectators to attend their academy games and there were around 65 people watching the under-18 game. Both games were on adjacent pitches and there is a "snack shack" serving drinks and hot food. There was no admission charge or programme / team sheet issued.

A slideshow of photos taken of the ground and game can be viewed below:

Game 527

Wakefield 0-3 Rossendale United

Northern Premier League Division 1 North

Saturday 16th February 2008

College Grove

For the third game in a row my original plan went out of the window, this time it was due to Goole not answering their phone. Why? Anyway I had confirmation that Wakefield was on and that back-up choice Stocksbridge Park Steels was off. For the first time this calendar year I had a travelling companion that was not a member of my familar but a good friend, Kevin Zupp who is Lutterworth Athletic's secretary and programme editor. We decided to head "up north" anyhow and left Leicester at around 12.45, with the plan being to stop at the services on the M1 before you get to Sheffield and try Goole again. Still no answer and we made the rather easy decision to go to Wakefield. With neither of us ever venturing into Wakefield before we relied on the sat nav to get us to the ground and we arrived at around 2.30. The ground is part of the Wakefield Sports Club set up which includes a floodlit hockey pitch and a bowls club. All three were in use this afternoon and we managed to get the last parking space in the complex. The football pitch is a tight enclosure with the turnstiles on the nearside corner nearest the hockey pitch. We were charged £7.50 admission which included a programme. There is a 300 seater stand on the far side of the ground with some open terracing to the left hand side (if facing it). The offices and clubhouse are all portakabins with merchandise and old programmes available before and at half time.




The game itself was not the best I have seen this season but was compeitive throughout. The home side probably had the better exchanges during the first half which ended goalless. The second half saw the visitors come out with all guns blazing and scored three goals inside eight minutes between the 52nd and 60th. The first came from Joe Booth* who scored with a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner. The second came five minutes later when two Wakefield players went for the same ball, clashed heads which allowed Rossendale to take advantage and double their lead when Phil Eastwood* scored at the second attempt. The third and final goal saw Eastwood score his second three minutes later to finish the game in terms of the outcome. To be fair to the home side they did create a few chance towards the end of the game but went unrewarded.

* - from Wakefield F.C. website

Game 511

ALSAGER TOWN 5-1 SPALDING UNITED

Saturday 25th August 2007

Northern Premier League Division 1 South

The Town Ground

This was not a planned visit by any stretch. I had planned to visit either Rossington Main or Welbeck Welfare but signs on the M1 saying "Junction 25-27 Long Delays" made me think whether it was worth the risk as I hate (like a lot of people) being stuck in traffic. Fortunately Donnington services were in the vicinity and from there I made a couple of calls to clubs in the Potteries area - Alsager being one of them and with the help of a Sat Nav arrived at the ground with about 15 minutes to kick-off.

The ground is a strange affair as it is situated behind a cul-de-sac in a housing estate. There is no parking at the ground so the only option is to park on the street and walk along a track between the houses in the corner of the cul-de-sac. The layout is such is that it appears to be on three levels - the clubhouse, changing rooms, turnstiles and catering hut is on the upper level, below of which is a small carpark for officials and players and below further is the pitch. On the far side which is where the dugouts are located is a small covered standing area which probably runs maybe half the length of the pitch and on the other side is two covered seated stands which take up probably two-thirds the length of the pitch.

It cost £6 admission and £1.50 for an all-glossy programme which I thought was expensive - not enough reading material to warrant the price. The game itself was pretty good with both teams trying to play the ball on the ground instead of hoofing it into the heavens though the homesters looked the more sharper in the first 15 mins and deservedly took the lead on 17 minutes through Dave Whittaker and two minutes later were two up when Danny George deflected a free kick into his own net. On 26 minutes Spalding were awarded a penalty but this was saved by the home keeper and within two or three minutes were made to pay as Chris Budrys put Alsager 3-0 up. Alsager didn't set on their laurels and went looking for further goals but not no avail.

Half Time: 3-0

The majority of the second half action came with the first 25 minutes when Alsager scored two goals in two minutes to increase their lead to 5-0. Peter Heler got the fourth on 50 minutes and Chris Budrys scored his second on 51 minutes. Spalding then played some better football, maybe because of Alsager taking their foot off the gas and got a consolation goal on 65 minutes Benger. To make things worse for the visitors they had two men sent off within a minute of each other - the first a straight red card for I believe an elbow and the second was for a second yellow card. This ruined the game as Alsager didn't play with the same impetus prior to the dismissals and at time it looked like Spalding would be the one to add further goals to the game.

Final Score: 5-1 (Attendance 76 - Non-League paper)