Greenalls Padgate St Oswalds

Wednesday 19th August 2015
Cheshire League Premier
Greenalls Padgate St Oswalds Fearnhead Tetley Walker F’tang F’tang Ole Biscuit Barrel 1 Garswood 3 ht: 0-2 att: 48 hc

£1 Entry, No Prog

from Tetley Walker Sports Club

Greenalls Padgate Saint Oswalds, one of an elite group of seven syllable teams. A team name so long, even
when it is acronymed it’s as long as Bury. At 31 characters, including spaces, it must be amongst the longest in the UK. One would expect its history to be likewise stretched and ungainly, but it is almost disappointingly
straightforward. Greenalls, a brewery side, were founded in 1963, merging with neighbouring Cheshire side
Padgate St Oswalds in 2003, simple as that I’m afraid. Not quite the epic history of Dagenham and Redbridge.

GPSO are one of a glut of teams in the Cheshire League from the Warrington area. Grappenhall Sports, Eagle Sports and the visitors this evening, Garswood to name a few. GPSO’s honours include winning the Cheshire League in 2010-11.

Their shared their Tetley Walker Club ground in Long Lane with Tetley Walker FC and Fearnhead FC. Tetley Walker once played in the NWCL division two, finishing 2nd in 2001, but dissolved shortly after. Fearnhead played in the Cheshire League but they too folded, in 2005. I couldn’t find any info on Walker Juniors, who are listed on the perhaps out of date sign, outside the club.

The ground has a stand, which is always a bonus at county league level. It’s a four-steps cosy brieze block, corrugated iron affair. The stand sits along the entrance to the large club house and Long Lane, with the other three sides backing on to housing.

It was only because we allowed loads of time that the M6 didn’t scupper the game. The other Dave wasn’t so lucky, missing the first 20 minutes due to traffic at Knutsford. How you can have a sheer volume of traffic standstill in summer, when people are on holiday, on a non-descript Wednesday, is beyond me.

Thanks to this, Dave missed Garswood’s opener. A clever one-two on the edge of the box fell nicely for their forward to side past a defender and slot into the corner. Dave was present for the second, shortly after his arrival. A clever feint on the edge of the area and a low punt found the bottom corner. We thought it had missed, on account of it going through the net, but the referee was behind the actio and saw it go between the sticks, luckily!

I was seriously impressed with Garswood in the first half. In fact, both teams looked much better than county level, but I thought Garswood in particular were oustanding – probably the best step seven side I’ve seen. As if I needed further proof, shortly after the restart, they did a Ronaldinho style free-kick. Seeing the keeper off his line their left winger hooked the ball expertly, dropping in the far top corner, over a flailing back-stepping GPSO keeper – it was a moment of pure class.

Garswood could and should have had three or four more. The GPSO keeper played a blinder. Greenalls got a consolation back at the end, but the result was never in doubt. Superb game in a really good county league ground.