Penrith 2-1 Northallerton Town, Wednesday 4th November 2020

Penrith 2-1 Northallerton Town, The Frenchfield Stadium, Northern League Division 1, att. 120

Welcome to ....

I was due to visit Penrith AFC a fortnight ago, when, as I was about to set off from the Wetherspoons in town, I got a call from the hospital.  There’d been complications with regards to my dad’s operation to have a pacemaker fitted, his blood pressure had plummeted and it was ‘touch and go whether he’ll make it.’  Cue a teary mad dash across the North Pennines in driving rain to Darlington Memorial Hospital…to find his blood pressure had recovered, he looked like he was going to survive…and the consultant could go home having stayed on an extra four hours to ensure her patient didn’t bite the dust (a major downside of the job, one would think).

Welcome to...(II)

Anyway, here we are and he’s still alive (just), still very weak, but in rehab awaiting a fairly imminent departure – home, not to the graveyard.  I figure if he’s home, I won’t be able to travel too far from my County Durham base, so best to get one of these further flung destinations out of the way.  Plus Penrith is actually a place worth visiting. Last time I went off the beaten track to visit the Neolithic stone circle of ‘Long Meg and her Daughters’ and then the town’s castle.  The former was good for a quiet moment’s contemplation (I could have done with that later!) while the latter was good for teens hanging out together after school.  My town had a pizza shop the cool kids used to congregate around.  What a difference.

Long Meg and some of her daughters.

Today though I called in at Brougham Castle, just outside Penrith and right next to the A66 I came in on.  It’s a spectacular location too, based as it is at the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther.  It was open as well – as long as you pre-booked!  I hadn’t.  Why would I?  Oh yes, there’s this thing called ‘Coronavirus’.  Oh well, I saw it.  With time on my hands, I decided to drive to Ullswater, about 6 miles the other side of Penrith, through more amazing countryside, before accidentally coming across Pooley Bridge, a place I’d only ever heard of on Look North (the local news for the…ahem…north region, which I forget includes the far north-west).  It now has the world’s first stainless steel road bridge (wow!), replacing a previous one washed away in storms 5 years previous. 

Brougham Castle

All that still gave me time to hit Penrith for pre-match tucker, so I was back to where it all began: ‘spoons.  And what with the country being placed on lockdown from midnight, this seemed the place to be; I saw more cleavages in an evening than I have in 6 months, as several small gangs of young females entered.  (Not many males though; maybe they were appearing later.)  I was also taken aback to see some underboob action.  See this from ‘Urban Dictionary’:

Hands down, one of the finest aspects of a woman's anatomy that can be enjoyed in any public venue.

Underboob is achieved by wearing a very short halter top or cropped tank, also known as an underboob shirt, which exposes the bottom areas of a woman's breasts.

Much like the combination of low-rise jeans and a thong, the underboob shirt can only successfully be worn by select few women.

In an ideal situation, a hottie will wear an underboob shirt to accessorize her low-rise jeans/thong combination. When this happens, all men in the vicinity will regard her as "hot" or "a sexy bitch", while their wives/girlfriend may refer to her as "trashy" or "a slutty bitch", but that's okay. Everyone knows she's a sexy bitch and they all want to do her.

Anyway, imagine a blonde wearing THIS but in yellow.  In Penrith.  (She was later thrown out for ‘playing with the switches’, ha ha)

Back to reality.  Penrith is a decent-sized place (pop: 17,000) plus surrounding villages, but their football team is poorly supported.  Possibly this is historic (Penrith also has a rugby club) but it can’t be helped by the location of the Frenchfield Stadium – a couple of miles out of town, the floodlights highly visible at night from the A66, as I discovered on my last visit.  Still, what it does have is a magnificent stand, with social club at the back, with full view of the pitch, though a small platform behind the seats allows for standing.  Probably the best view in the Northern League, given how low most of the stands are elsewhere.  Opposite was a small (metal) terrace with roof, while a wooden fence surrounded the rest of the ground, perfectly in keeping with its country surrounds.  Though being a night game, we also had an array of brightly lit lorries climbing the hill of the A66 towards the promised land of County Durham.

Inside the clubhouse

A second bonus was the appearance of former Northern League chairman and erstwhile Northern Echo correspondent Mike Amos, who’d brought along a few copies of his book to sell.  I grabbed the last one of 6.  He lacks ambition, does that lad.  Mind, he can’t have been impressed as I took to picking an argument with his mate, the PA announcer.  The latter had used the mic to welcome the news that Sheffield Wednesday’s punishment for breaking FFP rules (or ‘cheating’ as it’s known) was to be reduced from a 12 points deduction to 6.  This will be the difference between them going down and staying up, mark my words.  Or at the very least, provides the impetus for them to shoot up the table.  ‘Justice’ my new friend called it.  (Yes, he’s a Wednesday fan.)  Licence for every team in the Championship to continue overspending in the vain hope of reaching the Prem.

Practicing?  Should be experts by now...

I’d done a lap of the ground pre-match, but as much as I love to stand, I couldn’t resist a view; back row of the stand.  A local came out and I swear he scowled at me, but he lightened up when I offered him the seat, thinking I’d upset a regular.  No, he was fine, he’d stand.  He was rewarded too, as Penrith battered a Northallerton side 6 points ahead of them in the table.  Woodwork was struck twice, the keeper pulled off 3 or 4 great saves and yet more shots were off target.  It coulda…shoulda been half a dozen.  Instead, we reached half time one-all.  The only conversation around me was how many Penrith should be on…I heard anywhere between 3 and 6, and as I say, I’d have gone high.  They certainly didn’t look a bottom 4 team (indeed, joint bottom till they destroyed Billingham Town 5-2 in the basement battle I missed two weeks earlier).

The ref points this way, the player that.

The second half was nowhere near as fraught, though Penrith continued their ability to find the woodwork within 2 minutes of the restart when a hook rebounded back into play.  Otherwise, chances were fewer, despite the added space as the teams tired.  And perhaps that was the key to ‘The Bonny Blues’ (Penrith’s) victory, as a lazy challenge resulted in a penalty.  Portly/stocky striker Kingsley Grandison bagged his second (the 1^st, a lovely strike on the edge of the box from a corner).  Be wary the non-league centre forward who doesn’t look quite the part for football; he will undoubtedly be the cleanest striker of a ball at the club.  Or a fat lump making up the numbers.

Each team even has their own tunnel.

The Damage:
£6 ent
£1.50 tea (most expensive in league; do teabags cost more over the border in Cumbria?)
£1 minute of 1^st goal (I got the 3^rd minute.  I lost.)
= £8.50

…plus a tenner for the book, all about life as a reporter in the north-east.

The Tunes:
Hunky Dory (David Bowie)
Settle (Disclosure)
The Book of Traps and Lessons (Kate Tempest)
Favourite Worst Nightmare (Arctic Monkeys)

Spick and span in the corner.

Down the touchline.

The standing enclosure.

Toward the Main Stand.

The Main Stand.

Inside the clubhouse.

The Penrith Pensioners.

Those by the touchline.

The deciders of the goalden goal time.

Who doesn't love a Neolithic stone circle?

Consett 4-1 Billingham Town, Tuesday 3rd November 2020

Consett 4-1 Billingham Town, Belle View, Northern League Division 1, att. 150

Welcome to....

It was early Saturday evening and like most normal people, I was checking out Consett AFC’s twitter feed.  They had a match the following Tuesday and there were still a few tickets available: on sale 10am Monday, just give the club a ring.  So I did, and by quarter past I was in.  Ticket purchased, I just had to show myself at the turnstile on Tuesday and I’d be granted entrance.  My name is, indeed, on the list.

The Main Event.

As part of my 2020-21 Odyssey to see a game at every ground in the Northern League, I’d noticed a problem.  Capacities of stadia in Northumberland and County Durham were at present capped at 150 due to Covid-19.  Consett were one of those teams who sold out every game.  Indeed, their crowds pre-Coronavirus were normally 400+, so I envisaged midweek games were perhaps my best chance and this was it.  I love it when a plan comes together.  (Not sure how I’m gonna do Ashington, North Shields and Whitley Bay.  Could I apply to be a matchday mascot?)

Welcome to....(II)

Consett’s stadium is a new build (2013), and like many a new ground in England, lacked character.  There was a small stand down one touchline towards one end while an identical stand on the other side sat dead on the halfway line.  There was no terracing, no cover for standing supporters.  But I mustn’t grumble.  For all the charm of their previous ground, they’d had something like 19 postponements due to the state of the pitch.  A new (plastic) pitch would put paid to that.  It was also a novelty to see a flat pitch in the Northern League.  The new location offered the chance to build a large social club with adjacent car park.  The club has even gone with a modern twist on its rename, Belle Vue becoming Belle View.   Good for those of us who failed GCSE French.

The stand on the social club side.

Otherwise, all I know about Consett was from a comedy sketch by north-east club comedian Bobby ‘The Little Waster’ Thompson in the early 80s.  ‘Giro City’ he referred to the town, on its knees following the closure of its steelworks.  The Consett crowd lapped him up.  ‘I’m up to here in debt’ he said, holding his hand just above his 5 feet nothing head.  ‘I wish I was a bit taller.’  If you can’t laugh at your own plight, what is there left?  Fast forward to 2020, a world as bleak as Consett in 1983.

Still, their names make me laugh.  Who'd call their kid 'Peter Welfare Officer'?

Tonite should be a cakewalk.  Consett, one of the leading contenders, against whipping boys Billingham Town, one win and 11 defeats behind them.  And so it proved in the end, 4-1 to the Steelmen, and 3-0 by half-time.  However, the damn only burst with a dubious pen as the Consett forward put his leg across the defender in my eyes.  Until then, 25 minutes in, for all Consett's possession, Billingham looked comfortable.  Indeed, you know you’re struggling to break down the opposition when your best attacking player is your left back.  (He was tremendous by the way, albeit he could improve his crossing.) 

I was most impressed with the addition of the poppy.

It was cold too.  Very cold.  The guy at the turnstyle said it was chilly tonight.  ‘What?  It hasn’t even started yet has it?’ I prematurely replied.  I’d not long since got out of the car and the chill factor hadn’t hit me, but it did.  I edged around the pitch and found myself where the tunnel was.  A bagpiper stood, in full kit, ready to go.  Was this the norm?  Do Consett come out to a bagpiper every game?  I guess not, as he led the players to the halfway line in prep for a minute’s silence for Remembrance Day.  I am an idiot.  Lest we forget.

Am I seeing things, or is that a bagpiper?

The Damage:
£7 ent
£1 half-time draw
= £8

The Tunes:
6 Music (Steve Lamacq / Marc Riley / Gideon Coe)

Consett prepare to take a corner, 2nd half.

2nd half, Consett kicking this end.

A rare sighting of the author, Covid-19 mask and all.

A despairing dive for the pen.

Corner action.

The view from behind the goal.

The 'Other' Stand, opposite the social club.

Down the touchline.

Tonite's teams.

What a load of rubbish, what a load of rubbish.

A minute's silence in remembrance.

  

 

 

Bedlington Terriers 2-1 Heaton Stannington, Saturday 24th October 2020

Bedlington Terriers 2-1 Heaton Stannington, Doctor Pit Park, Northern League Division 2, att. 81

Welcome to ....

Why do Bedlington have a sheep on their badge, I wondered?  Turns out it’s not a sheep – it’s a Bedlington Terrier.  But of course it is.  I have no idea what a Bedlington Terrier (the canine kind) is.  But now I do, a silly looking mutt no self-respecting individual would be seen walking down the street with.  Not even Bedlington.  Two dogs (isn’t that an alcopop?) were in attendance, but disappointingly neither were of the local breed.  Oh well.

The Kennels/changing rooms.  Genius.

I got to the ground early.  I’d intended to have a little look around the town centre, but my route took me through there and the phrase ‘nothing to see here’ sprung to mind.  No worse than anywhere else, a couple of pubs and a Greggs summed it up.  But The Terriers were playing Heaton Stannington, from down the road in Newcastle, so I had to make sure I was one of the first 150 through the door.  I needn't have worried.  The crowd was 81, including a decent amount from Heaton.

The social club (with upstairs exec box?)

I was accosted as I entered for the half-time draw.  Go on then.  ‘What do I win?’  ‘Half the pot.’  Sounds good.  I never did hear what the winning number was though.  Did I win?  While I had his notice, I asked him why Bedlington’s crowds were so poor.  It’s not that long ago they won the Northern League 5 times in a row.  ‘You tell me’ came the reply.

The Main Stand

The ‘café’ was just opening so with tea not ready yet, I did a circumference of the ground as both teams warmed up.  From an ‘exec box’ above the social club, to loose chairs in the main (only) stand, to a sign in the tunnel referring to the changing rooms as ‘The Kennels’ (brilliant) it had its quirks.  Two sides of the ground were very enclosed, with neighbours’ back fences providing the outer boundaries.  And with most spectators on the Main Stand side, I had the perfect perch in the second half as I stood on the opposite side inbetween the two benches.

Freestyle seating in the Main Stand.

The first half I stood behind the far goal, with my cuppa.  This was a useful tool to prevent the Covid-police from telling me to put my facemask on.  Bedlington may not have many fans but they had 5 stewards, often patrolling, keeping us safe.  Tea finished, facemask on, I was ready to see the Stan keeper pull off a couple of diving saves right in front of me.  Bedlington looked the better side and the front two were a handful – so Heaton broke upfield and a shot rebounded to Joe Kerridge who drove into an empty net.  Was he 10 yards out, or 20?  I couldn’t tell.

2nd half view, towards the stand(s).

It’d been a hard fought battle and the second was more of the same, on a cloying pitch under a drab sky.  Chances were at a premium when a Terrier took on a defender and the lunging tackle brought a penalty.  This was the cue for the ref to be surrounded by at least 8 away players as they contended that their man had got the ball (putting it out for a corner).  I thought they had a point, but ‘it’s one of those’.  The ref may not have been able to see the touch from his angle.  Even the home manager admitted he’d have been unhappy had it been given against his side.  The keeper dived left, the ball went right.

Heaton defend a corner.

Terrier tails were now up and a few minutes later the ref gave the home side another spot kick.  ‘You’ve had two f***ing shockers ref’ shouted a Heaton sub, though complaints on the pitch were at a premium, as the ref initially allowed play to continue following the foul, with the keeper saving the shot with his legs.  The penalty went the same place as the first, as did the keeper, 2-1 Terriers.  This it stayed despite a couple of late deadball situations, including the keeper coming up for a corner.  And despite a few comments between subs and players, it was all smiles between the benches at the death – as it should be.

The winning penalty.

The Damage:

£5 ent
£1 half-time draw
£1 tea 
= £7

The Tunes:
Whirlpool (Chapterhouse)
Nowhere (Ride)
6 Music (Gilles Petersen)

Behind the far goal.  Didn't Everton's once look like this?

Behind the near goal. (Note: they're leaves, not tickertape.)

The scoreboard.  Switched off dead on full-time.

The home dugout.  An enraged sub?

The dugout touchline with neighbours' back fences.

The Main Stand.

Doctor Pit Park panorama.  Classic alliteration.

The far goal.

The Jack Carter Stand.

A local hedge.  I couldn't resist.