Stalybridge Celtic

Date: Monday December 28th 2009
Ground: Bower Fold
Comp: Conference North
Match: Stalybridge Celtic A Southport A  HT: 0-0 ATT: 
                Abandoned on 85 minutes scoreline 0-0 due to floodlight failure

Additional: Entrance £10, Programme £2.00, Coffee/Tea £1.00

Bower Fold in pictures

This should have been a classic. This was the game of the day in the Conference North. Stalybridge were fifth, but with enough games in hand to go top. They were the form team, playing the current leaders, Southport. Their last defeat was at Southport, so there was a revenge element also.

Matlock Town

Date: Saturday December 12th 2009
Ground: Causeway Lane
Comp: FA Trophy Round One
Match: Matlock Town 0 Kidderminster Harriers 2 HT: 0-0 ATT: 460
                         Matthews 74, McPhee 90(p)
Additional: Entrance £8, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £1.00

Causeway Lane in pictures

This match appealed to me as a potential cup upset, with Unibond Premier team Matlock Town facing Conference big guns and ex leaguers Kidderminster Harriers. Causeway Lane, I’d heard in non-league circles, was a bit of a classic too.

Belper Town

Date: Tuesday December 1st 2009
Ground: Christcurch Meadow
Comp: Unibond Div One South (step 4)
Match: Belper Town 1 Leek Town 1 HT: 1-0 ATT: 167
                         Stevenson 2: Ashman 90
Additional: Entrance £7, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £0.80

Christchurch Meadow in pictures

Watching Leek Town this season started out idyllic, seeing six wins out of six to start with, including a 5-1 win at home to Brigg and a 1-0 away FA Trophy win over local rivals Kidsgrove. As it inevitably would, things went downhill a bit, with a lot of frustrating home draws mixed with a 5-2 defeat at Carlton. I was still enjoying following a team again, though, despite Leek reaching terminal velocity down the Unibond South table.

Cammell Laird

Date: Tuesday November 17th 2009
Ground: Kirklands
Comp: Unibond Div One South
Match: Cammell Laird 2 Leek Town 0 HT: 1-0 ATT: 101                
Morgan 13, Corrigan 61
Additional: Entrance £7, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £0.80

Kirklands in pictures

This match was very much a ‘what the hell am I playing it’ excursion, joining an embarrassingly long list. Driving to Birkenhead on a school night, in driving rain, to watch a Leek performance every bit as awful as the dank weather. And I didn’t even have my first choice camera, so my pictures were awful, too.

Shifnal Town

Date: Tuesday November 10th 2009
Ground: Phoenix Park
Comp: Midland Alliance (step 5)
Match: Shifnal Town 0 Barwell 5 HT: 0-3 ATT: 76
                         Julien 15, Cunnington 26, McDonald 43, Wykes 50, Green 69

Additional: Entrance £5, Programme £1, Coffee/Tea £0.80

Phoenix Park in pictures

Shifnal Town play in the Midland Alliance, a solitary step five league with just one division. I think it is the only step five league that doesn’t have a lower step six league. Its feeder leagues are the Midland Combination and the West Midland Regional Premier. Shifnal were champions of the latter in 2006-07.

Ellesmere Rangers

Date: Tuesday November 3rd 2009
Ground: Beech Grove
Comp: West Midlands Regional Premier League
Match: Ellesmere Rangers 3 Bloxwich United 2 HT: 1-2 ATT: c98

(No scorer stats or attendance on WM(R)P website)

Additional: Entrance £3, Programme £1, Coffee/Tea £0.70

Beech Grove in pictures

This Ellesmere is a small market town in Shropshire, not the Ellesmere as in Ellesmere Port. This Ellesmere is properly in the middle of nowhere, so remote that it is described as being near Oswestry, a town quite humble and anonymous in its own right.

Wolverhampton Casuals

Date: Tuesday October 27th 2009
Ground: Brinsford Stadium
Comp: West Midlands Regional Premier League
Match: Wolverhampton Casuals 2 Dudley Sports 2  HT: 2-1 ATT: c45

Additional: Entrance £3, Programme £1.00, Coffee/Tea £0.60

Brinsford Stadium in pictures

This was my first ever West Midlands Regional Premier League game. Their Premier division sits at step six of the non-league pyramid, rather like the Midland Combination. It is comprised of a lot of Birmingham based clubs with a few outshoots in Shropshire and Herefordshire. Promotion from this division is into the Midland Alliance.

Carlton Town

Date: Saturday October 24th 2009
Ground: Bill Stokeld Stadium
Match: Carlton Town 5 Leek Town 2  HT: 2-1 ATT: 97
Gent 26, Ball 38 Jenkins 64p, Whitman 73, 76: Johnson 1, Cope 89
Additional: Entrance £7, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £0.80

Bill Stokeld Stadium in pictures

Leek Town were in need of a win here. Their early season table topping form was deserting them. They came in to this game down in sixth with Carlton mid-table.

Winsford United

Date: Tuesday October 13th 2009
Ground: Barton Stadium
Match: Winsford 0 Newcastle Town 1  HT: 0-0 ATT: 97
Boast 79
Additional: Entrance £6, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £0.80

Barton Stadium in pictures

This was a late decision. I was originally going to watch Leek Town at Market Drayton, but MDT had an FA Trophy replay. So I decided to finally capture the closest ground (step 6 and above) that I had yet to visit. It had the added bonus of being against a Newcastle side who had started their season with 10 straight wins. Could Winsford stop their spectacular run?

Ossett Town

Date: Tuesday September 8th 2009
Ground: Ingfield Stadium
Match: Ossett Town 3 Kendal Town 2  HT: 1-1 ATT: 233
Hardaker 19, Lee 56, Hollindrake 71: Wain 30, Steel 77
Additional: Entrance £7, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £1.00.

Ingfield Stadium in pictures

 

Ossett is one of those unusual small towns that boasts two similarly sized non-league football teams. With a population of a little over 20,000, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield, it is host to Town (Unibond Premier) and Albion (Unibond Div One North), both grounds near the town centre. These double team towns aren’t actually as rare as you might think,  like pairs of prime numbers. There’s Atherton with its Laburnum Rovers and Collieries, Ashton in Makerfield with its Athletic and Town and Ashton under Lyme with its Curzon and United, to name a few. It’s always been Ossett I think of, though, when it comes to two team towns.