Aston Villa

Date: Thursday 21st May 2009 7.00pm

Ground: Villa Park

Match: Aston Villa Reserves 3 Sunderland Reserves 1 HT: 1-1 ATT: 5,337
Comp: Premier Reserve League North/South Play-off Final
Additional: Entrance FREE, Programme £1 Chips £2 Coffee/Tea £1.20

Villa Park in pictures

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I’d wanted to do Villa Park for years. Every FA Cup draw for the last decade I have prayed for Brighton to be away at Villa. The ground is a world famous venue, considered by some to be one of Archibald Leitch’s best works. It is 112 years old, the first ground to stage Internationals in three centuries and the most used FA Cup semi-final venue. Being so steeped in football history it was a ground I had to go to sooner or later. It was also by far the closest of the 15 grounds I had left to do of the 92.

I’d looked into going earlier this season but the ticket price of £35 was prohibitively expensive and the tickets also seemed hard to come by, despite Villa not attracting capacity crowds too often.  As the season was drawing to a close, I stumbled upon a message on Tony’s non-league forum saying that the Premier Reserve League play off final was free on Thursday 21st May. It was the opportunity I was looking for.

The fixture was Aston Villa v Sunderland. These two were the winners of the Premier Reserve League South and North respectively and this was the play-off to decide the ultimate Premier Reserve Champions. The final league tables were as follows.

Premier Reserve League North

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Sunderland Reserves (C)	20	13	4	3	33	13	+20	43
2	Manchester United Reserves	20	10	6	4	35	19	+16	36
3	Blackburn Rovers Reserves	20	9	6	5	30	19	+11	33
4	Newcastle United Reserves	20	9	5	6	34	30	4	32
5	Manchester City Reserves	20	10	0	10	32	29	+3	30
6	Wigan Athletic Reserves	20	8	3	10	25	36	−11	24
7	Liverpool Reserves	20	5	7	8	26	26	0	22
8	Everton Reserves	20	5	7	8	19	25	−6	22
9	Hull City Reserves	20	6	4	9	22	36	−14	22
10	Middlesbrough Reserves	20	6	3	11	26	33	−7	21
11	Bolton Wanderers Reserves	20	6	3	11	22	38	−16	21

Premier Reserve League South

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Aston Villa Reserves (C)	16	11	3	2	29	13	+16	36
2	Tottenham Hotspur Reserves	16	10	1	5	26	19	+7	31
3	Fulham Reserves	16	7	5	4	28	20	+8	26
4	Portsmouth Reserves	16	8	1	7	18	25	−7	25
5	West Ham United Reserves	16	7	1	8	19	26	−7	22
6	Arsenal Reserves	16	5	3	7	17	22	−5	19
7	Chelsea Reserves	16	5	3	8	28	26	+2	18
8	Stoke City Reserves	16	4	2	10	18	23	−5	14
9	West Bromwich Albion Reserves	16	4	2	10	20	29	−9	14

 Villa Park is easy to get to by car but something of a problem when it comes to parking near the ground. Villa Park is very close to junction 6 of the M6, but even for a game that had an eighth of the normal crowd parking near the ground was quite stressful, with no residential parking allowed for match days. I ended up paying some gnarly, sotted but charming blokes £5 for parking on a business forecourt. It could’ve been a dodgy scam but as entrance was free I was happy to pay it. This is the advantage of driving an old banger; you’re safe in the knowledge that no discerning joy-rider will steel it – or any other form of thief, for that matter. This was opposite The Holte pub, which was about a three minute walk to the Trinity Road Stand

I was running a little late having underestimated the M6 traffic and got in a few minutes in to the game. Going by train is probably the less stressful option, changing at Birmingham New Street for Witton which is right next to the ground.

The match was better than I expected, the youngsters playing some excellent one touch football, which was for the most part almost non contact. It was such a nice change to see no fouling or diving or rolling around. The youngsters seem to have a much better attitude than their seniors in the Premier League proper. As such there was no injury time.

Villa Park with only 5,337 in was a tad eerie. It was good to see the world famous architecture, the Leitch stands and the famous Holte end but being mostly empty didn’t feel quite right. Better this than £35 when full, I feel.

They opened up two stands for the game. The Trinity Road Stand, the three tiered side stand and the Holte End. The stewards let me switch stands at half time in order to get a shot of the Trinity Road Stand, which I was sat in in the first half.

Villa Reserves deserved their win, with particularly good performances from Nathan Delfouneso and Marc Albrighton – names to watch out for in the future.

The nearest ground out of the 92 now is Hereford’s Edgar Street at more than 100 miles. It was good to get Villa Park, albeit an empty one, I feel like I’ve got one over on the Premier League.

Stocksbridge Park Steels

Date: Saturday 25th April 2009 2.30pm

Ground: Bracken Moor / Look Local Stadium

Match: Stocksbridge Park Steels 1 Retford 0 HT: 0-0 ATT: 385
Comp: Unibond One South
Additional: Entrance £6.00 Tea/Coffee £1

Bracken Moor in pictures

This was the last day of matches in the Unibond One South division. Retford were effectively the Champions, with Stocksbridge guaranteed a place in the play-offs. Going in to the final week Belper had a chance to make this fixture vital in deciding who gets the automatic promotion place. They just needed to win their game in hand at home to Rushall Olympic to be one point behind Retford going into the last game. They could only draw 2-2 however, meaning that in order for Belper to win the title, themselves and Stocksbridge had to win their final games with a combined goal difference of 23. So Retford were Champions. In no parallel universe were we going to get the scores Stocksbridge 12 Retford 0 and Loughborough Dynamo 0 Belper 11.

Ball Haye Green

Date: Saturday 18th April 2009 2.30pm

Ground: Ball Haye Green WMC

Match: Ball Haye Green 1 Norton 1 HT: 0-1 ATT: circa 68 (hc)
Comp: Staffordshire County Senior League Premier Division (Step 7)
Additional: Entrance £2.00 (including programme) Tea/Coffee 50p

Ball Haye Green WMC in pictures

I’d never been below step six before this game. Grounds for step six clubs and above, must have floodlights and at least 50 covered seats. I’ve never set myself any rules for the grounds I visit, but prefer them to have floodlights and at least one reasonable stand. Otherwise they’re just pitches really.

Pwllheli

Ground: Canolfan Hamdden Dwyfor
Match: Pwllheli 3 Barmouth & Dyffryn Utd 1 HT: 2-0 ATT: circa 93 (hc)
Comp: Welsh Alliance (Welsh Step 3)
Additional: Entrance £2.50 No Programme Tea/Coffee 50p

Pwllheli’s ground in pictures

Entrance to the Ground

I am becoming more and more enchanted with Welsh football this season, and this game was the first time I’d dipped my head below the top division. As you may imagine the Welsh Leagues have to divide into regional divisions very quickly, such is the size and geography of Wales. After the Welsh premier division you have their second tier, which is split into two – north and south. The Cymru Alliance, representing North Wales and the McWhirter Welsh League, representing the South.

NEWI Cefn Druids

Date: 27th March 2009
Ground: Plaskynaston Lane
Match: NEWI Cefn Druids 6 Gap Connah’s Quay 0 HT: 0-0 ATT: 150
Comp: Welsh Premier League
Additional: Entrance £6 Programme £1.50

Plaskynaston Lane in pictures

Entrance to Plaskynaston Lane

Friday night and another trip to North Wales and its Premier football league, this time to the oldest club in Wales, Cefn Druids. Founded in the early 1860s as Druids FC, they are the oldest club in the world, outside of England, and are thus nicknamed the Ancients. (Oswestry Town, now The New Saints, are older but play in England, despite always having played in the Welsh league system.)

Everton

Ground: Goodison Park
Date: Saturday 14th March 2009, 3.00 pm
Competition: Premiership
Match: Everton 3 Stoke City 1 HT: 2-0 Att: 36,396
Jo 18, Lescott 24, Fellaini 90 Shawcross 52

Additional: Entrance: £28 (cheapest) £34 (Upper Bullens) Programme: £3.00 Coffee/Tea £1.70
Goodison Park (Stadium) and Stanley Park (Park) in pictures

Everton are one of the 12 founder members of the football league, established in 1878 as St Domingo FC. They have been playing top division football since 1953-54 without a break. Only Arsenal have had a longer continuous stay to date, since 1911. However, Everton have contested the most seasons in the top flight.

They are one of the big names in English football having won the league on nine occasions and finished runners-up on seven. They have won the FA Cup five times and been losing finalists seven times.

Connah’s Quay

Ground: Deeside College Stadium
Date: Friday 6th March 2009, 7.30 pm
Competition: Welsh Premier League
Match: Connah’s Quay 2 Airbus UK Broughton 3 HT: 0-3 Att: 215
Additional: Entrance: £6.00 Programme: £1.50 Coffee/Tea £1.00

Deeside College Stadium in pictures

Words may follow later

Accrington Stanley

Ground: Fraser Eagle Stadium Date: Sat 21st February 2009, 3.00 pm
Competition: League Two
Match: Accrington Stanley 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 1,123
Additional: Entrance: £13.00 Programme: £3.00 Coffee/Tea £1.50

Fraser Eagle Stadium in pictures (to follow shortly)

Accrington Stanley are not to be confused with Accrington, the club who were one of the twelve founder members of the league. I had this pointed out to me Saturday much to my horror. I felt like an experienced astromoner who’d just realised the moon wasn’t made of cheese.

The Oldest Football Ground in the World

Sandygate Saturday 3rd January 2009;  Northern Counties East Premier Division;
Hallam 6 Lincoln Moorlands Railway 1 HT: 3-0 Att: 60;

Sandygate in PICTURES

Having picked off a rare new league venue last time out at Morecambe, it was back to grass roots football on Saturday at Hallam FC, whose grass lays claim to the oldest pitch in the world. I was privileged once again to have the company of my Uncle Don and his brother-in-law Cyril, both from Sheffield. They’re enjoying this groundhopping and have already requested a visit to Stocksbridge Park Steels some time soon. Cyril says it is a picturesque one.
It seems incredible to me that 44.6 miles from my house and just 2.9 miles from my Uncle’s house lies the oldest football ground in the world, belonging to the second oldest football club in the world (probably). If Hallam FC were in America there’d be road signs within a 100 mile radius, inviting people to divert off the free-way, for the attraction. Upon which they’d find a souvenir shop, café and some man taking photos of you by the entrance sign. I’m sure it’d be a money maker over there.

Morecambe

Ground: Christie Park
Date: Saturday 13th December 2008, 3.00 pm
Competition: League Two
Match: Morecambe 1 Darlington 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 1,873
Howe 66
Additional: Entrance: £13.00 Programme: £3.00 Coffee/Tea £1.00

Christie Park in pictures

Two grounds backwards, two grounds forwards – finishing last season on 76/92 I am now back on 76/92, Rotherham & Morecambe replacing Rotherham and Colchester, if you know what I mean.

It was nice to be going to the game as an away fan, as I was accompanying Tom to watch his beloved Darlo team (they’re just friends now though after this performance). It was an excellent day out and fulfilled all the criteria of a great away day experience except one…the one that is often conspicuous by its absence – a good result.