el Queso Grande's Groundhopping Tour 2007-8

The background music is "Cavatina".

Arngrove Northern League Division 2: Birtley Town 2-1 Hebburn Town

Another change of plan at short notice, found me able to take in a Bank Holiday Monday game for a change, and, having had no game previously in mind, I made the short trip to Birtley Sports Complex to watch Hebburn for the second time in 9 days.

The celebrities seem to follow me about! League Chairman Mike Amos (pictured),   League Secretary Tony Golightly and Martin and Denise Haworth who manage both the League web site and The Northern League Club were also at the game, as well as Washington midfielder Craig Marron. I also bumped into an old workmate, Billy Black from Sunderland, a former referee who is now being called upon as a referee's assessor. Good to see your old friends.

Birtley's Barrie Smith sets off on a run.

Andy Mallinson denies Hebburn's Tony Hanson.

Birtley went straight into the attack and had more of the play than Hebburn did, but they were unable to convert the many chances and half chances they produced. Inevitably, according to the law of sod, in the 16th. minute, Hebburn's right-winger, Tony Myers, found himself inside the penalty area with the ball at his feet and far too much room to himself and he sent a good shot past Andy Mallinson in the Birtley net. Birtley continued to pressure Hebburn and John Sherlock and Barrie Smith could have sent them in at half time with a 3-1 lead, had their shooting been just a little more accurate.

John Sherlock bursts into the Hebburn penalty area.

Andy Mallinson snuffs out another Hebburn attack.

Hebburn brought the game to Birtley at the start of the second half and could have sealed a victory, had a Gary McCartney rocket shot onto the bar rebounded inside the goal rather than outside it. Although Hebburn were not casual bystanders, Birtley did have more of the game after that and two late goals in 6 minutes gave them the points. On 76 minutes, Luke Kerry, a 60th. minute substitute for Chris (Nippa) Hepple drove into the penalty area displaying not a little skill and set up Barrie Smith to score from a tight angle on the right hand side of goal. In the 82nd. minute, some lovely dribbling by John Sherlock saw him beat 2 Hebburn defenders and set himself up to score into the far corner.

Ouch! Birtley's Jed Ramshaw almost gets a knee-up!

Hebburn keeper Gary Rogers prepares to take a last-minute free-kick in an attempt to force a draw.

Birtley have had an excellent start to their Northern League season and do not appear to be overawed by their new surroundings, this was their third victory in four games and remain unbeaten in all of them.

Off the field, the Birtley committee seem to be doing their best to make match days attractive to any and everyone, a good selection of club merchandise has appeared and they have finally begun to display a team sheet for both teams, which I found to be lacking last season. Even the raffle prize was very attractive, being two VIP tickets for the upcoming Newcastle United v West Ham United match at St. James' Park.

Only downer today was that all the programmes had been sold by the time I arrived, 20 minutes before kick-off. 

Arngrove Northern League Division 1: Washington 2-1 West Auckland Town

Due to a change in plans, I was unable to get to my intended game, Guisborough Town v Birtley Town, so I found myself at Albany Park yet again. Although it was no classic, there was a lot of entertainment, especially the niggling between Willie Moat and Mark Bell in the West goal!

West's goalie, Mark Bell, threw the ball into goal when colliding with one of his defenders after rising well to claim a right-wing cross 1-0.

Dale Jardine ran onto a peach of a pass from Scott Nicholson to equalise 1-1.

Craig Marron scored with one of his trademark free-kicks from the edge of the penalty about 15 minutes from time.

Beer £1.50 a pint for Camerons Smooth, chips and gravy £1.50 and very tasty.

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round: Hebburn Town 1-3 Tow Law Town

Were it not for the football, my first ever visit to Hebburn would have been eminently forgettable. The club is obviously in need of some help, as the ground, clubhouse and surrounds need some upkeep. I walked through the gate, unchallenged, an hour before kick-off, but went back to pay my £3 admission when I bought a copy of the not-too-bad 50p programme. I was disappointed when I overheard 4 Tow Law supporters bragging at half-time that they and some 15-20 others had gained free admission. We all know how much our clubs need our money; the least they could have done was to have gone back as I did and paid their money to the guy on the gate. This same guy had to put up the nets and place the corner flags before he went onto the gate.
The John Smith's Smooth was OK but not top standard for £1.90, but, the worst bit was that, there was "nae bait!" Not a cup of Bovril or a pie in sight. The Refreshments Cabin was closed and shuttered. The only comestibles to be had were ready salted potato crisps from the bar. Neither was there a raffle or some similar fundraising scheme.

The Refreshments Cabin is closed.
The playing surface, however, was in immaculate condition, although it took both sides a few minutes to begin playing anything good on it.

Oh, what a GREY day!

Tow Law's Mark Eccles sends a shot just wide of the post.

TowLaw's Craig Tate, (my MOM) opened the scoring with a free kick from the edge of the penalty area. Just before half-time, Gary McCartney woefully missed a penalty for Hebburn.

Hebburn's Gary McCartney hitting the post from the penalty spot.

 Arngrove Northern League Division 2: Marske United 1-2 Birtley Town

Almost 100 miles round trip for this game, which was Birtley's first following their promotion from the Wearside League at the end of 2006-7. Nice day, Marske's clubhouse looks a little shabby since the last time I was there in 2003, although the John Smith's Smooth was good at £1.85 a pint. The burger from the barbecue tent at pitchside was excellent at £1.80. I met the Marske programme editor, Moss Holtby, and congratulated him on winning the "Non-League Programme Of The Year Award" for 2006-7. Moss's production is a massive 100 pages and is full of interesting information and it still only costs £0.50!

A well deserved result for a hard-working Birtley side who had the lightweight John Sherlock playing the lone striker's role. The Birtley Assistant Manager, Paul Foster, seemed to be expecting a thrashing, when I spoke to him before the game, due to the fact that they couldn't field a better formation than 4-5-1. In fairness, Sherlock did well, producing some clever lay-offs to his supporting midfielders. Birtley's central defenders Andrew Ord and Scott Garrett did a great job, keeping quiet the combined threat of David Onions and Benn Thompson for most of the game.

Marske went ahead on 15 minutes when David Onions latched onto a loose ball following a right-wing corner.
Birtley equalised on 28 minutes through Linton Smith who was left in the clear by a ball from John Sherlock. Sherlock again was the provider on 62 minutes, setting up Barry Smith who finished well.
Pity the referee forgot to turn up, he might have enjoyed the game as much as I did! One of the Assistants officiated and the Marske Chairman ran the line, with the agreement of the Birtley management.

Marske's David Onions rises to head a left wing corner just over the crossbar.

Preparing for a Birtley free-kick.

Nice day for it!

Birtley on the attack.

Birtley's Linton Smith bringing the ball under control, just before he scores the first goal for Birtley.

Arngrove Northern League Division 1: Sunderland Nissan 2-0 Billingham Town

Gary Pearson got the first with a free kick from about 25 yards, with Darren Collier apparently unsighted, as he didn't dive until the ball was up to him. The second was an easy score by Stuart Dixon, following some very good work by Andrew Stephenson. One to watch, this lad, Andrew Stephenson; playing a right wing-back role, he displayed a lot of confidence for a 17 year-old.
Town's strategy was open to criticism, playing a lone striker against three centre-halves of the quality of Justin Keegan, Paul Stephenson and Andrew Reay was never going to yield dividends. When they finally played two up front, they started to look better and only a fine block by Paul Stephenson prevented Tony Chapman from pulling a goal back after he had rounded Craig Shields.
Over the 90 minutes, Nissan deserved the victory.

Quite a good attendance, good number of Billingham Town fans, plus the usual ground-hoppers. Notable among the crowd were League representatives Mike Amos and Martin and Denise Haworth, as well as some team managers in Kenny Lindoe (Consett), Neil Hixon (Seaham Red Star) and Paul Baker (Newcastle Benfield Bay Plastics) and Washington FC's Assistant Manager Paul Brown.

Went along to Albany Park, Washington FC's home ground, to watch a friendly game between Washington Albany Park from the Durham Alliance League and Washington Colliery FC from the Stepy's Coaches Durham Sunday League Division 3. I know two brothers who play for the Colliery and they had invited me along to watch them in action.

I think they suffered a culture shock! Albany Park is actually Washington FC's reserve side and quite a few of those in the side have featured in Northern League games and they were very well organised throughout. The result was 6-1 and, in fairness, the margin could have been a lot bigger.

I enjoyed the evening, the sun was shining, there were a good few spectators enjoying the evening air and the liquid refreshment available from the Football Club bar. 

Friendly Match: Ryton 2-1 Washington

I really enjoyed my first visit ever to Kingsley Park. Nice little clubhouse, good pint of John Smith's Smooth for £1.70. Very friendly people. Hot dog and a chicken and leek Cup-a-soup for 60p each. Nice, tight, little ground, pitch on the narrow side, though, doesn't suit wide players, I would think. Kingsley Park is in a delightful setting, with picturesque views over the Tyne Valley. Only problem I came across is that you can't walk or watch the game right round the pitch, which I tend to do during games.
The football wasn't as good, though. Ryton went into the lead just before half-time, when their No.10 found himself one-on-one with Washington goalkeeper Ben Starford, the ball was on it's way into goal, when Liam McBryde desperately tried to clear without success. Ryton's second came halfway through the second half, from a Chris Oboke left foot free kick on the edge of the area after Danny Anderson had tried to remove the shirt from a Ryton forward's back! Martin Houlahan got a late consolation goal for Washington.

I intend going back to Kingsley Park, on 5th. January 2008, when Birtley Town will be the visitors for a League game.