06/08/17 Review: Hallam vs Bootle

Hallam 3-0 Bootle (FA Cup Qualifying Extra Preliminary Round)

Sandygate

Today I experienced football in Sheffield for the first time and it certainly won't be the last. Yes that's right, I was in South Yorkshire to visit "the world's oldest ground" and it would be my second match of the season watching a match from one of the world's oldest competitions, The FA Cup. I have always had ambition to go to Sheffield for footy and of course I have had my eye on both Wednesday and United, as well as the original team, Sheffield FC. With this part of the country being famous for creating the beautiful game, I was very much looking forward to shaking off a stag-do hangover gained in Nottingham the night before and this was the perfect way to do it.

157 years not out

Whilst doing a bit of pre-match research earlier in the week, I came across some very interesting facts about Sandygate. In February 1867 the goodly folk of Sheffield clubbed together to create the first ever football tournament, the Youdan Cup, and it was quite the big deal about town. With Hallam claiming the trophy and the £2 prize money after beating Norfolk by two rouges to nil in a goalless game, they became the first ever champions of football. For those of you, like me, who are wondering what the blooming heck a rouge is, it is a separate score recorded when a shot is off target in terms of missing the 4 yards wide goal, but would have gone into a goal of 12 yards. I can't begin to fathom why they got rid of this very simple and not at all ludicrous rule!

Sandygate looks in good nick too!

I got to the ground just before the 3pm kick-off this afternoon and allowed myself a bit of time to wander around. Amongst the 300 or so here at Sandygate it seemed like a good chunk of them were in the bar, which was absolutely rammed. Thankfully my hankering for a beer wasn't that desperate today and so I gave the Clubhouse a miss and instead found myself a prime position in the main stand to view the game. The ground itself was very well kept and as you can see the picture it has had some vital reconstruction to keep it in good nick, but it also had some of the old features and there was a fair bit of memorabilia around the ground, which is very nice to see. Today's opponents from Merseyside are in the ninth tier of English football, which is one higher than the Northern Counties East Division One hosts, so therefore I based my pre-match prediction on this and predicted a 2-1 victory for Bootle. Nicknamed The Bucks, Bootle have only gone out of The FA Cup twice in the past ten years before today and on the other hand Hallam have not won a match in this competition since 2009- so surely the firm favourites would be Bootle!

All ready to get started in Sheffield

The game started off in decent form, with Hallam looking the brighter of the two in the opening half an hour. Bootle's Michael Ordish had the first shot on target and even though it was an ambitious 30-yard strike, it was the first test for the Hallam shot-stopper Dave Darwent. At the other end, The Countrymen were pressing to open the scoring themselves and it would be the hosts who got the goal just before half-time. A well-worked corner was eventually crossed into the box, before a header was nodded back across goal to leave Roebuck with a simple finish. Hallam 1-0 Bootle. So with that exciting climax to the first 45, it was time to get a can of coke and see what was going on around the ground. I spent a good portion of the break listening to two Hallam fans talking about all things non-league. From the Northwich derby of yesterday to the politics of Clapton FC, it was interesting to hear genuine fans talking about something other than how Arsenal and Chelsea are getting on. As I mooched around I heard a couple of Merseyside veterans discussing a trip to Scarborough's new ground, a venture that I will also be aiming to make this season myself. Behind the goal at Sandygate I also spotted a few Ireland flags blowing in the wind and even a Sweden one- I'm not sure if these were left by far away visitors or locals, but I'd be interested to know if anybody has any info.

One chap also helped himself to the coat-hanger aka tree

The second-half turned out to start off just as dramatically as the first had ended, and within a couple of minutes we were shouting as another goal went in. Sam Fewkes was presented the ball out wide on the right and as he hit an early cross towards goal he got more than he bargained for as his cross lobbed the Bootle keeper and went into the bottom corner of the net, bouncing through a hole in the netting and back out- confusing many a fan who delayed celebration until the Ref confirmed it had definitely gone in. Hallam 2-0 Bootle. With this crucial second goal going in, the game became much more end to end in the second-half and both sides had chances to score. The away side had another long-range drive that was saved with ease, whilst Hallam's number 11 attempted a diving-header to try and grab a third goal after a stunning cross from Simpson at right-back. With time now getting on, the Countrymen Captain hit a decent free-kick that was well saved and when Bootle were presented with a set-piece in the 80th minute they should have scored but Ant Rendell headed straight at the keeper on this occasion.

Bootle piling on the pressure in the dying embers

There was to be one more goal this afternoon and unfortunately for the travelling fans it would not be for their side. The number 12 for the home side had come off the bench and on the counter attack he worked himself a nice solo goal to end the match. Gibson ran in on goal in the 83rd minute and after skipping past a Bootle defender he hit a neat left-footed finish into the net and gained a rousing applause from the 310 in attendance. Hallam 3-0 Bootle. With the game all but over, the visitors rolled the dice and decided to throw their big centre-back up-front to make an attacking 3-4-3 formation, hoping to grab at least a goal to show for their efforts. Despite testing the keeper with a couple of shots, playing some good controlling footy and even winning an indirect free kick inside the box, the Bucks could not get a goal and when the whistle blew to end the match it was the home side that would enter the next round of the cup- just 13 wins away from the final at Wembley!

There's nout better than happy Yorkshiremen

So with the game done and dusted I was on my merry way back to Stoke-on-Trent knowing that my long weekend was over. I'd started it off with FA Cup football in Heanor on Friday and it had ended with another successful outing to a wonderful and historic ground. My next match will be another FA Cup Qualifier, this time in the form of a Replay as I head to a very local ground to see Rocester against Sporting Bromsgrove.

04/08/17 Review: Heanor Town vs Aylestone Park

Heanor Town 0-1 Aylestone Park (FA Cup Qualifying Extra Preliminary Round)

Town Ground

My second game this week would also prove to be my first competitive fixture of the 2017/18 season and it was another jolly jaunt to sunny Derbyshire to see what Heanor Town was all about. Just four months and a minimum of eight matches earlier than the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and the rest of the big boys enter, early August proves to be the date of the first FA Cup ties for the clubs towards the bottom of the English pyramid and this Friday night fixture would see the visit of Leicestershire outfit Aylestone Park, who were making only their second ever appearance in one of the world's most famous cups.

The magic of the cup was alive in Heanor tonight

This would be the second time that I myself entered the FA Cup at this round, having gone through to the Old Spotted Dog at Clapton this time last year for a derby match between them and London Bari. As you can probably guess by now, tonight's game was by no means a classic and will probably struggle to linger in my mind for too long as the season prolongs- but that doesn't mean to say that I wasn't pleased to be out in the sun for some non-league goodness at what would be my 80th ground to date. My journey from Stoke took roughly an hour tonight as I drove an almost identical route to the one that I'll also be making in the morning as I head to Nottingham for my mate's Stag Weekend- yup, I'm starting to become far too friendly with the old A50 these days. Having been down in Leicestershire on Tuesday night for a pre-season game between Loughborough Dynamo and Grantham Town, I had hoped for a better match tonight in terms of goal-scoring and with this being a highly-anticipated opening to the season for both sides, I predicted a 2-2 draw seems as I didn't know a heck of a lot about the sides playing.

Is there a better sight than a packed Clubhouse?

With Heanor being placed slap-bang in the middle of Nottingham and Derby, it has a fair sprawling of fans from either side of the border and with both Forest and County beginning their Championship campaigns tonight too it seemed to bring plenty of folk out in full footballing spirit. From the moment I relinquished my 6 quid to enter the Town Ground, I got the feeling that I was at the home of a lovely little club. On the left as I entered was the pitch for the senior side, in front of me was a kids training session going on and over on the right was the Bar- which as a whole unit is also the host venue of Heanor Cricket Club. Additionally, there was a lot of greenery about and I think that all-in-all I was reminded of a community atmosphere similar to that of the place I grew up, Flamborough Head. I popped my head into the busy Clubhouse and helped myself to a pint from the bar, before heading back outside and towards pitch-side with little over 10 minutes to go until kick-off, and at this point I was approached by a chap in a Manchester City baseball cap who wished to question me about my football top of choice for the evening.

Happy National Beer Day, by the way

Although it is tough to make out in the above picture, I was wearing my CD Guadalajara football shirt that was released as a stand against homophobia back in 2015, which contains the rainbow coloured stripes. The middle-aged man stated that he did in fact like the top, before asking me if I knew that the coloured stripes represent. After I confirmed that I was aware of the clothing I was wearing, he simply smiled and walked away- and with that awkward interaction completed it was time for the match. Both sides entered the fray with a look of stern concentration upon their faces and as the ball was placed in the centre-circle I braced myself for the 90 minutes ahead. The Lions started off with a roar and put their travelling foes on the back-foot instantly with some assertive play and a couple of chances from set-pieces. One free-kick and three corners later and the game settled down a bit, which played into the hands of Aylestone. Marriott made the crucial error in the 6th minute as the right-back took a casual approach to using the ball inside the box. Ryan Foster saw his chance and nipped in to take the ball away from his opponent before the left-winger then lofted the ball over McCormack to give his side an unexpected early lead. Heanor 0-1 Aylestone.

Not the start the hosts had wanted

As there had been an early goal, I was half-expecting goals galore by the end and with Heanor looking fairly dominant I still would have put money on them turning this around. Whilst Seaton was doing his best impressions of a Brazilian international with no-look passes and back-heeled shots, it was in fact Fyfe who looked to be the bright spark in my eyes. On 13 minutes Marriott looked to make amends for his error and after nutmegging the Park left-back he hit a cross into the box, only for Heanordinho to flick a half-chance wide. The game continued in a very similar format and with Brown testing the goalkeeping skills of Aylestone's giant number 1 there was still plenty of time for something more to happen in this match. At the other end Foster almost doubled his tally for the day as he this time cut into the centre of the pitch before hitting a right-footed drive which had to be denied by McCormack, who refused to be beaten again.

The Mascot had started to think about his half-time pie by this point

Just one more chance was to come through in the first-half and it would be from star man Fyfe again. From the middle of the pitch, he was passed the ball before successfully doing a Zidane turn around one defender, dinking the ball past another and then hitting the ball past Leicester's answer to Andre the Giant. Unfortunately for the winger his shot wasn't quite perfect and instead of finding the back of the net it hit the post and found its way back into the grateful arms of the floored keeper. At half-time I popped back over to the Clubhouse and caught up with the action from the big screen- Sunderland were holding Derby to a 1-1 draw, which is how things would finish-up there. I wasted no time in getting back out to the field here at Heanor and before I knew it we were up and running again- I was still confident at this point that we'd get plenty of goals!

Half a dozen or so began to shout "come onnnnnnnnn, Heanor!"

Despite the chanting from the stand, the Lions could not get their pressure to pay as Aylestone absorbed all of the attack attempts of Heanor, showing sponge-like resilience without looking too stretched. With an hour gone the hosts won a free-kick in a good position, but Fyfe had an effort that I can only compare to one of those FIFA moments when you forget to let go of the shoot button as your effort embarrassingly balloons high, wide and not too handsomely into a tree. As time ran out I started to put things into perspective and I thought about how Heanor Town were looking like being one of the very first sides to be dumped out of the Cup this season- and to be honest they didn't look gritty enough to get the crucial goal. Pearce came on for the visiting side and he looked very agile as he looked to counter the Heanor attacks and stretch the defence. On one occasion he showed some good trickery and composure to win a corner despite being on the attack in a one-on-five situation. The fans had started to turn against the Ref too at this point and I tended to agree that he was often failing to hurry things along. One angered man in shorts shouted out "get out the way, twat!" at the man with the whistle as he took a ball to the stomach and therefore blocked an attacking move for the Lions. The 87th minute saw the final chance fall to the home side and it was a guilt-edge one- but as with the rest of the match the attacker wasn't up to the challenge and scooped his effort over the bar.

All growl, no bite for Heanor Town tonight

After a good 5 minutes of injury time, the Ref put the hosts out of their misery and called the end of the game. In my opinion, this game could have gone on for another 90 minutes and Aylestone would have held on to this one. They arrived with a plan, soaked up all of the Heanor pressure and took their one real chance to seal a big win and entry into the next preliminary round. Both sides will now look towards their respective League campaigns and hopefully for Heanor Town they will bounce back from a morale-damaging defeat which left everyone wondering what could have been on an evening of a more cutting-edge finish. The FA Cup weekend for me will continue on Sunday as I visit "the world's oldest ground" in the heart of Sheffield- Hallam vs Bootle is my venue of choice after tomorrow's madness in Nottingham. See you all on the other side!

01/08/17 Review: Loughborough Dynamo vs Grantham Town

Loughborough Dynamo 0-2 Grantham Town (Pre-season Friendly)

Nanpantan Road

A very busy week for 'Pint of Football' was supposed to start on Monday night as I rushed home from work in order to get on down to Stone Dominoes vs Abbey Hulton, however my discovery of that match being cancelled left me downtrodden and full of indigestion until 24-hours later when I could make my way over to Loughborough to see the mighty Dynamo face the Gingerbreads in my final pre-season outing before the season begins on Friday with an FA Cup trip to Heanor Town.

Tonight's location, Nantanpan Park

Although I've never visited the South Kesteven Stadium, this would be my second time seeing Grantham Town- with the first time being just under a year ago as I saw them lose out to Rushall Olympic at Dales Lane. Knowing that they'd ended last season just 5 points outside of the Evo-Stik Premier Playoffs last season meant that I'd have to make them favourites for tonight against an opposition who finished just one place above the drop in the league below. I decided to go for 3-2 to the visitors in my pre-match prediction. Nantanpan Park itself is a quaint little ground just off the M1 and overall I couldn't pick out too many moans or groans with the Dynamo's home, but if I'm honest I had seen far superior grounds at this level and the likes of Harrison Park and Wincham Park stack-up pretty well in comparison. Despite this though, I was pleased to be in Loughborough to tick off my seventh ground from this division and it seemed like I wasn't the only one as many a Lincolnshire lad huddled around with a brew in one hand and hopes of a promotion push in the other. Of course my enjoyment of the away side is much deeper than my solo trip to see them last season as one of my good uni mates Jack grew up in Grantham and I've taken a vague interest in them since we became pals. I also can recall fond memories of a drunken me chatting with Adam Stevens and Danny Martin (the Manager and Assistant at the Gingerbreads) during Non-League Finals Day in 2016, so it was great to see them still at the club and continuing to build a good team ahead of their opener against Marine in just over a week's time.

Top lads!

Anyway, enough reminiscing, on with the footy. I quickly popped into the Clubhouse and grabbed myself a beer to nurse during the first 45, before taking a seat. Nantanpan Park is one of those outside-of-the-box kind of grounds that has its main stand behind the goal and although this is not my preferred location to view the beautiful game, I got down with the locals and tried my hardest to blend in with my bright orange Greuther Furth top on. In a rare moment of coincidence and slight lunacy, both sides emerged in orange kits for ready to start proceedings. As one fan shouted out "it's a bit of a bloody kit clash", the game got underway with the orange and black side kicking towards me and the mustardy orange home team kicking away. In fairness, as the match got going the kits weren't that much of a clash and Grantham Town certainly didn't look confused about who to pass to as they seized the early grasp on the game. With little over a minute played, the visitors won a corner and looked ready to open the scoring early. The ball was crossed in from my left and after two unmarked attackers missed attempts at a header, it would eventually fall to a third unmarked man in the form of Sam Purcicoe who had time to control the ball in the box and then hit home a 2nd minute goal for his side. Dynamo 0-1 Grantham. The following 20 minutes or so continued to prove to me why the Leicestershire side had managed to ship 94 goals last season in the league and they looked unable to defend any set-piece thrown into the mix.

This would be a common site throughout the first-half

The term "friendly" seems to be used loosely in some parts and tonight's game was no different. Dynamo in particular were keen to treat this game like there was points to be won and they set the tone with some pretty rash tackles. Josh Andrews and Ash Hodgkinson both gave the visiting strike-force a stud or two to think about and in the end the Ref had to put Hodgkinson in the book, dishing out a rare pre-season yellow card to the meaty defender. Purcicoe continued to look to add to his early opener my making himself known to his opponents from free-kicks and on a good day he could well have bagged a hat-trick within the opening 25 minutes after he mistimed one header and had the other blocked by a Dynamo defender. At the other end, Loughborough looked to counter whilst they settled into the game, and were it not for what looked like a DDT from a Grantham centre-back on an opposing striker they might have carved a chance of their own on the break.

The view from the other end

As you can probably tell from my picture above, the grass on the Loughborough pitch was looking pretty darn immaculate ahead of the new season and I had to mention to a bystander that I was impressed with the surface. After the lass turned to me and asked if it was real, I politely smiled before she openly stated that the pitch back in Grantham looked nothing like that. Back to the action and Loughborough had their first proper shot of the match, with a snapshot out of nowhere registering the first intent from the hosts to get back in it. At the other end Kegan Everington hit one against the Dynamo crossbar and in the dying embers Lee Shaw was put through one-on-one but somehow looked bereaved of confidence and hit his close-range shot straight at Charlie Taylor, signalling half-time and time for a wander back into the Clubhouse.

Everyone seemed keen to sample the burgers

As with any trip I make to grounds up and down the country, I like to point out the obscurities and laugh at the oddness surrounding me- and tonight was no different. After spending a good chunk of the break amongst the travelling fans, I decided to nip into the Gents toilet and a this point I was bet by a mahoosive boiler! Ironically, the tap next to the boiler had no hot water, so I thought it was safe to assume that this big boy just supplies the steam for the Loughborough Dynamo post-match Steam Room sessions!

One player even forgot his towel!

I then continued to do the nerdy Groundhopper thing of walking around every inch of the ground to see what was going on; taking pictures of the corner flags, chatting to locals, sampling the beer and chips, and whilst on this journey I came across something that I have seen a million times but until now not really made a point of- that white garden chair that is at every ground! Nobody ever seems to be sitting on it, heck, it is mucky as hell and it lives as a rogue feature of the ground in a place that nobody ever sits, but it is always there! When I went to South Normanton, it was there. When I went to Eccleshall, it was there! Last season at Clapton, there was hundreds of the buggars and not one was being sat on. WHO ARE THEY EVEN FOR?

Don't even try to pretend you've not seen these on your ventures

Okay, so just short of driving myself insane looking for chairs, I stopped my walk around the ground and headed back over to the seating ready for the second-half just in time as the players resumed their places on the field. Just under 100 or so were in attendance and although it had been a chatty crowd it wasn't exactly one that jumped up and down, so in the 50th minute when a toddler picked up the ball and waddled over to hand it to Kieran Preston we were treated to the largest applause of the night at what was a very cute moment indeed. A future ballboy in the making, no doubt! Meanwhile on the pitch itself there was little to excite, despite the hosts looking fairly confident on the ball- with some away supporters taking the time to discuss an apparent new roundabout in Mickleover. As thrilling as that was, I wanted another goal and in the 72nd minute I finally got what I wanted to satisfy me before my trip home to Stoke. George Couzens had made his way from the bench on to the field and he rewarded the manager's faith in him my slotting home the second goal to seal it for the Gingerbreads. Dynamo 0-2 Grantham.

The home side couldn't make the pressure pay

This one was not the goal-fest I'd expected and it'll go down as the second lowest scoring match I'd visited in pre-season, after Macc Town's 1-0 win over Bury, but even so it was a perfectly good game. I think both sides will be satisfied enough with the outing and as this is the second to last friendly for the two clubs, they'll see it as another useful exercise in gaining match-sharpness. On a good day, I'd like to think that a more ruthless Grantham side could have run riot at times against a 50/50 Dynamo defence, but from the second-half showing it was one of those games that could've quite similarly ended all-square. After the Ref blew the for the final time, I departed Nanpantan Road and jumped back on the M1 briefly in my pursuit of home. All being well, I'll be hoping for a couple of FA Cup bouts this weekend to sandwich in a Stag Weekend that I'm attending for my good pal Sam. Friday should see me take a ride out to see Heanor Town take on Aylestone Park in Derbyshire before a Sunday afternoon trip to a place that claims to be the home to "the world's oldest ground", which of course means I'll be at Hallam to see them face North West Counties outfit Bootle. Should be a couple of crackers as the FA Cup gets going- see y'all there and best of luck to Dynamo and the Gingerbreads for the season ahead!

22/07/17 Review: Stockport County vs Macclesfield Town

Stockport County 5-2 Macclesfield Town (Pre-season Friendly)

Edgeley Park

Now that pre-season is up and running, it was that time again when I'd meet up with my Silkmen bro Will to head out to a Macclesfield Town away day. In 2016/17 we had gone through to Leek and Nantwich to see Friendly victories and we were hopeful of seeing a good outing against local rivals Stockport County- I'd predicted a 2-1 victory for the away side today. We got the day up and running when Will arrived at 12ish by heading off to the train station and after the 30 minute journey packed with Stag and Hen parties going off to Manchester, we jumped off and hunted down the first of many pre-match pubs.

Another town, another ground

We went to a few very interesting pubs on our walk to Edgeley Park, to say the least. The Armoury was our first stop and we enjoyed the company of fellow Macc fans as well as a few County folk too- which I always love to see. Things took a turn for the worse in The Jolly Crofter, as we entered to some funny looks from locals who seemed somewhat offended by the red Macc top I was sporting. One man in a County top even took the effort to down his pint before grunting as he made a swift exit. We quickly supped up and left for our final pub before the match, this time at The Pineapple. To call this bar a rough-and-ready kind of place is an understatement and we soon realised that we were in a memorable part of the world. One local, who'd smashed two pints of John Smith's whilst we'd been there, kept telling us that the great thing about The Pineapple is that "you get what you get" and we weren't arguing. With a round costing me £2.60, yup, we really couldn't give a hoot about the crumbling walls, rusty freezer in the hallway or bucket under the sink in the toilets- we were there to drink.

Unlike the chap from The Jolly Crofter who couldn't bare our presence

With the clock now reading 2:45pm we thought it would be best to wander over to Edgeley Park in time for the big kick-off. I was feeling optimistic for the afternoon ahead after seeing the new look Macc side defeat a strong Bury outfit on Tuesday, but Stockport would provide a whole new type of challenge in what would prove to be a game of two halves. Edgeley Park is a massive 11,000 all-seater stadium that in my opinion is too good to be sitting in the realms of the sixth tier of English football. Having been County's home for over 100 years, Edgeley Park has been a significant point on the sporting map after hosting the once Division One side as well as being a temporary home for Sale Sharks Rugby Union Club and even the host ground for a Lacrosse World Cup in the 70's. Nowadays it is listed as a Stockport Council asset and gathers rather less in the way of attendance, but nevertheless it is still an amazing ground for this level and I was glad to be finally making the visit. The game itself got off to a good start for Macc as they looked to build early momentum in front of goal. Just 4 minutes into the match and we were cheering as former Dover Athletic forward Tyrone Marsh headed home past Ben Hinchliffe, a nice goal all-round after a great cross from Jared Hodgkiss who had been impressive in Tuesday's win. Stockport 0-1 Macc. This set the tone for a goal-filled afternoon and for the next few minutes the fans were treated to some end-to-end action that almost saw both sides score. Durrell, Marsh and Wilson were all looking threatening for the Silkmen and at the other end Stockport's two forwards, Oswell and Warburton, were looking likely to get amongst the goals- and it was the latter who would equalise on 12 minutes. Macc had gone close themselves as winger Elliott Durrell had a shot on target, but from a quickfire break County soon got the ball into the feet of Matt Warburton and he darted into the box before wrong-footing Shwan Jalal to hit home the equaliser. Stockport 1-1 Macc.

All action so far at Edgeley

With not even 20 minutes on the clock we had already witnessed a couple of decent goals, but the best was yet to come and the third goal was a particularly nice finish. On Tuesday night I had the privileged of seeing Scott Wilson hammer home a beautiful winning goal against League One Bury and when he picked up the ball from Courtney Richards he had just one thought. The midfield maestro took a touch to set himself up before curling a perfectly-placed hit into the corner of the goal. Stockport 1-2 Macc. The rest of the first-half continued to entertain us, with Macc going close through Wilson, Baba and Marsh again, whilst at the other end Oswell was looking dangerous. He was denied by a great Jalal save after thumping a close-range header towards the Iraq international keeper. At half-time it remained 2-1 to the visitors and we had been left happy with some of the attacking displays of the new lads.

Time for a celebratory Hot Dog

With no chance of a half-time beer in the ground, we settled with a hot dog and a brew before heading back in to have a natter with a couple of fans. As with us, the general consensus was that the new-look Silkmen squad looked fresh and full of attacking ideas- this would not last into the second 45!

Let the second-half commence

Five Subs came on for Macc and the much changed line-up would prove to be lacking in terms of belief and sharpness as Stockport turned on the style for a goal-glut of a second-half. Just 4 minutes in and County were cheering an equaliser as Jason Oswell got the touch from a well-worked corner. Stockport 2-2 Macc. As with the opening to the last half, this one was goal-filled too and as Ryan Lloyd almost restored Macc's lead at one end it was Warburton who added to his tally for the day at the other end with another nice finish- the number 10 was in fine-form and this would not be his last effort on target against a now lacklustre defence. Stockport 3-2 Macc. Now coming up to the hour-mark and Stockport were at it again. A corner was this time finished off again by Oswell as he joined Warburton on two goals for the day- more poor defending was not helped by the second-half goalkeeper Alex Gogic on this occasion. Stockport 4-2 Macc. And when the going is tough, quite often the morale goes completely down the pan and in this instance County were gifted the chance to extend their lead further as former Manchester City and Motherwell centre-back new boy Kieran Kennedy got himself in an unfortunate muddle that resulted in him bundling a man in blue to the ground and offering them a spot kick. The lethal Warburton dispatched for his hat-trick and that would be the end of the goals on this on this sunny afternoon. Stockport 5-2 Macc.

Macc's only hope was for a storm to call it off

I know that this particular entry has read as a fairly condemning second-half from a Macc Town point of view, but when all is said and done I actually look back at this outing as a positive one for the Silkmen. We started the game with a strong XI that lead at the break and with only four players remaining in the squad from last season, it was all-in-all a very useful match for John Askey to learn a bit more about our strengths and weaknesses. For County though, who finished just a point outside of the Playoffs last season, this one will have proved to be a confidence boost ahead of their season in the National League North. With over 1,100 here this afternoon, the people of Stockport will have left with a big grin on their faces and we were more than happy to join them out in the town afterwards- I mean, it was just a friendly after all?

Game over, back to the pubs

We ended up back in The Armoury with some die-hard Stockport fans and having exchanged some great stories Will even swapped phone numbers with one lad and I'm more than sure that our paths will cross again. Here's to the next one!

17/07/17 Review: South Normanton Athletic vs Matlock Town

South Normanton Athletic 1-3 Matlock Town (Pre-season Friendly)

MJ Robinson Structures Arena

Day one of my Annual Leave from work got off to the perfect start this evening as I managed to hunt down some Monday night pre-season action over in Derbyshire. With a choice of three fairly obscure and somewhat distant grounds in my hand, I decided that the two hour trek to Maes Tegid to see Bala Town take on Chester was a step too far and I really didn't fancy tackling the M6 during rush hour to see Atherton Laburnum Rovers versus West Didsbury & Chorlton, so that left me with the mere 96 mile round-trip to Alfreton.

But on a luscious Monday night, what are miles really? 

In a similar fashion to my first outing of 2017/18 last week, I was yet again looking forward to seeing a decent Evo-Stik Premier side and the visiting Gladiators would expect to gain a solid victory on this gorgeous Summer's eve against Midlands Premier League new boys South Normanton Athletic. Having made the 11 mile hop across the county, a strong squad including ex-Burton Albion hitman Shaun Harrad turned up at the MJ Robinson Structures Arena meaning business and from the offset it was clear to see that a fair sprinkling of fans had travelled too- which is always nice to see during pre-season. I may have arrived with a good 20 minutes to spare before kick-off, but I still wasn't early enough to grab hold of one of those rare luxury non-league ground parking spaces and so I made do with parking up on the road before heading inside. Upon entry, I was pleasantly surprised by the very reasonable £2 entry fee for tonight, especially having paid a fiver for the pleasure of seeing the Nantwich win at Eccleshall's Pershall Park the other day.

They must've got the memo about World Emoji Day

When I made my way through the turnstile and into the surrounding village of blue metal cabins, I looked around and sought out the Shiners Bar, tucked in between the Club Shop and the cleverly named Shiners Diner. After being fooled by the purely "for show" draught pumps in the bar, I ended up purchasing a can of Fosters from the nicely presented Clubhouse. With it being so hot still outside I found myself being one of just a couple of indoorsy types and so I decided to join the many and bask in the final rays of the day. I sat grasping my cold beer with my feet aloft, listening to the funky dance beats being thrown out by the speaker system and before I knew it, boom- game time!

Delightful

The many Matlock shirted supporters soon scarpered away from the porch area and over to populate pitchside, whilst other folk stuck around near the bar and watched from the still decent view behind the goal. I decided to go for a mooch about as the match began, walking past The Shiners Stand and past a Family Stand adjacent to the corner flag- if you hadn't guessed by this point, the hosts like to call themselves the Shiners! The game had started fairly evenly, despite Matlock turfing out eight first team players, and the hosts seemed fairly comfortable in the opening ten minutes. Having won promotion from the East Midlands County League last season, albeit by default, South Normanton Athletic will this season be playing in the fifth-tier of the non-league pyramid and would be in the mood to gain early momentum following their 5-0 weekend win at Swanwick, but tonight's side from two divisions above would provide a whole new test. I had predicted a 4-1 victory for the visitors but based on my only other outing to see Matlock, a 0-0 draw at home to Ilkeston last season, I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd stole a 1-0. This was ruled out 24 minutes into the game though, as the hosts were awarded a penalty. Shane Newton stepped up and coolly put home the opening goal to give South Normanton the lead. Sth Normanton 1-0 Matlock.

So far, so good for the Shiners

The match had so far been lacking in chances, but it was by no means a bore. There was a very physical edge to the match tonight and apart from speedy winger Abou Sylla trying to mix it up with some great runs from the left, it was a pretty feisty affair. Ex-Scunthorpe United man Cleveland Taylor was doing his best to boss the midfield as Matlock got their way back into it, but it would be their big Summer signing Shaun Harrad, who still currently holds the record for most goals scored for Burton Albion in a Football League season, that looked likely to score. With 30 minutes on the clock, Harrad got a snapshot away and was only just denied by the post- but he was not finished yet. The Gladiators continued to press and was it not for the impressive defensive displays of Dom Allen and Mark Strzyzweski they would have been back in it much earlier. However, it was not until the 40th minute when Rose levelled up the game- as he latched on to a right-wing cross and hit a shot towards goal, which Strzyzweski almost kept out with a last-ditched effort to slide the ball away. Alas, this was to no avail. Sth Normanton 1-1 Matlock. This was not the last goal of the half though, as Matlock headed towards the Shiners goal again. Amongst a few more vicious tackles, of which one gained a yellow card which was openly questioned by one fan who asked "how can you book someone in a Friendly?", there was another ball poked into the box and this time Harrad pounced to give his side the half-time advantage. Sth Normanton 1-2 Matlock.

Time for me to take in a bit more of the ground

A few of the Matlock lads spent the break discussing happy away days and I overheard one lad laughing with his mates about the time they apparently drank Colwyn Bay dry. I had been speaking to my friend Will earlier today about our footballing ventures together and it got me thinking about what weird and wonderful places you get out and about to for the good of your team. Since I've started Groundhopping, Will and I have managed to check out some great pubs in places as far and wide as Watford, Nantwich, Stone and Leek all in the name of football. That list is set to be added to on Saturday as we go to watch our beloved Macc Town face Stockport County at Edgeley Park. In the meantime though, I supped a beer on my own and headed back out for the second-half.

8:35pm, still mighty fine in South Normanton

There was to be just one more goal in the final half an hour of the match and it would come from Matlock's Trialist, Luke Thorogood, as he slid home a tidy finish that certainly won't harm his chances in the pursuit for a deal with the club. Sth Normanton 1-3 Matlock. Since arriving on to the field for the second-half, Kevin Hemagou had looked pretty good for the Shiners and the former Mansfield and Belper forward had a couple of half-chances to bring the home team back into it. With five minutes to go, another goal looked to have been scored after a goal-mouth scramble saw a Matlock defender head past his own keeper, only to be denied by a man on the line who seemed to boot the ball off the line and on to the crossbar. It seemed impossible for the ball to stay out, yet Scott Spering ordered play to continue and with that there would be no more goals. The full-time whistle sounded the end of this decent Friendly encounter and I headed back to Stoke with the sunset disappearing as I drove down the A38. As always, I'd like to wish both sides good luck for the upcoming season and I will no doubt see both of these sides again as I continue to travel around a lot of the grounds in the Evo-Stik and Midlands League divisions.

Goodbye for now

11/07/17 Review: Eccleshall vs Nantwich Town

Eccleshall 1-5 Nantwich Town (Pre-season Friendly)

Pershall Park

Hello folks and welcome to the magical world of the 2017/18 Season. I am delighted to be able to say that it is finally time for 'Pint of Football' to come out of hibernation and get back amongst the beautiful game. To start off my campaign, I decided to try once again to make it out to Pershall Park after having three efforts scuppered in the past couple of seasons. Back in March I'd had to reroute my Sat Nav whilst on my way down to Eccleshall following a flash flood, and my other two proposed trips were also called-off due to the weather- so surely my best bet would be to plan a visit in mid-July where the weather would be excellent? Wrong!

Still, at least it wasn't postponed this time

With strong sessions of rain baring down on Staffordshire all day long, I finished work by 6:30pm and sat pondering whether I would have to resort to full-length trousers for the 8-mile drive over to the home of the North West Counties League side as they welcomed a side who will be competing in a league three steps higher this season. The Evo-Stik Premier League Playoff Semi-Finalists from last season would surely start the evening as favourites and in what turned out to be one of the rare moments where I guessed a scoreline before the game, I went for a 1-5 win for the Dabbers. My trip started off in a fairly usual way, with me rushing down country roads towards a postcode that I'd plucked off the Google in a rushed walk to my car. Needless to say that when I "reached my destination" with just 10 minutes until kick-off, I could not believe that the view facing me was Pershall Park.

Maybe this is their Training Ground?

Several wrong turns later I passed by a dog walker on the side of the roadway and asked him for directions. He answered my request with an opening statement of "oh, crumbs- well this isn't it" before very graciously taking a moment to turn me towards my destination. I was directed into a football field with now only 5 minutes until kick-off and told to park up on what was the actual pitch of a junior football side's match. I kid you not, I was literally parked not 6 inches away from the corner flag! Alas, I had no time to worry about ruining these kids' fun and I dashed through the pitch towards the ground- and more importantly, the bar!

Here we go then

I endured the tedious queue at the Clubhouse bar for my can of Carling, in which every fan who ordered a pie had to wait whilst the solo server made the 10-mile trek over to the microwave to heat it up, before jogging out to the halfway line ready to see the lads get going- ahh, it's great to be back. With roughly 100 in attendance, I made it out just in time and saw the home side emerge in their blue strip ready to do battle with their opponents in green. Nantwich appeared to be readily anticipating this one and had been out on the field for a good length of time, meanwhile the Eagles soared out casually at 7:47pm for this 7:45pm match. Even the Ref seemed in a relaxed mood and had to rally the troops by saying, "guys, do you wanna come and do the handshake?" to which the players obliged. The first 10 minutes of the game were pretty much in favour of the hosts and already I had picked out numbers 10 and 8 as the string-pullers for Eccy. As a Groundhopper I always think that the best way to get off to a strong start in Pre-Season is by getting an early kick to allow you to blow off the cobwebs- so that's exactly what I did. As the ball bundled towards me I overheard one fan say to another "ooh, how's your touch?" and thankfully I was able to avoid potential disaster as I touch a firm touch before passing the ball back to the throw-in taker.

Phew

The displays of the 22 players on the pitch was decent, but not amazing, as you'd expect for an early Friendly match and the only difference for me in terms of the two sides was that Nantwich looked to be one pace quicker when reacting to the second ball situations. I did wonder whether the Dabbers were starting a strong line-up and as I heard murmurs around the ground, it seemed that they were giving a few youngsters and trialists a chance. Despite this though it wasn't a bore- and with 25 minutes gone we were treated to a zigzag of action starting off with a Nantwich corner. The Eagles keeper soared above the packed box and snatched the ball into his arms, before releasing the ball straight out to allow for an Eccy counter. This attack was decent and it saw the ball end up in the net courtesy of the number 9 poacher, however the lino put a halt to the celebrations by waving his spoil-sport flag. The following move from the Dabbers was good enough and after some great play by the Nantwich forward the ball was eventually hit out-wide to the left winger who punted the ball out of the keeper's reach and into the goal for the first time in the match. Eccleshall 0-1 Nantwich. The next 10 minutes passed by with a decent strike a piece on goal, both from free-kicks, before we would eventually see another first-half goal. The Eccleshall strikers linked-up well on the offence and when the number 9 struck the woodwork, his mate was there to follow-up and tap home a deserved equaliser. Eccleshall 1-1 Nantwich. There was to be no more goals in the first-half, apart from an offside Dabbers strike, and so before I knew it we were already on to half-time. I popped back into the Clubhouse, grabbed another beer and a pie just in time to sit down for 15 minutes and watch Holby City.

Sod that, I'm here for the good stuff

After the excitement of watching many a surgery I headed back out to the rainy pitch to find a Nantwich Town transplant of their starting eleven. I'm not sure if the whole team had been replaced, but weirdly enough the kits had! The Dabbers stepped out this time in yellow and they looked a completely different side in the second 45. Eccy had also rang a few changes and even decided to play two centre-backs wearing the number 4! This magic trick wasn't enough though, and before the hour mark the first of four second-half goals came. The new powerhouse up-top for the Dabbers soon found himself outdoing the young Eagles right-back and he set himself up for an easy finish. Eccleshall 1-2 Nantwich. Two minutes later and it was this time the left-back of Nantwich making the forward move and he looked keen to exploit a shaky second-half Eccleshall defence. As the blues failed to clear their lines, the ball was eventually lofted over to the number 3 who duly added goal number 3 by poking home another goal for the visitors. Eccleshall 1-3 Nantwich. The vastly superior away side had to wait a further 8 minutes before adding their next goal, even though they almost got it from other means. A 70th minute corner was well won amongst a plethora of Eccleshall defenders and Theo Stair's header went into the empty net ahead of the frantic home keeper. Eccleshall 1-4 Nantwich. The Eagles changed their keeper for the final 15 and despite making a couple of decent saves he was powerless to resist conceding one final goal. A good run from a Dabbers sub led to a bullet-strike from range which pinged into the net and sealed a second-half rout for the Cheshire side. Eccleshall 1-5 Nantwich. Without checking it out I can't be certain, but the side that played the Second-Half for the Dabbers were much better than that of the first and I would therefore state that the four-goal team would probably be there or thereabouts the first XI for the Evo-Stik Premier side. For Eccleshall, it'll now be an away trip to Uttoxeter at the weekend and Nantwich will continue to build on their preparations by facing Market Drayton Town. My next outing won't be until next week unfortunately and it'll probably end up being another Moss Rose visit- but be on the lookout and I'll be posting soon enough from another trip to one of the great teams nearby. Cheers to Eccleshall for providing me with my first ground of 2017/18 and good luck to both sides for the upcoming season!

I told you I wasn't joking!