Ground #10 in my quest to see all 40 Northern League grounds in a season, and it’s a return to Kimberley Park on a Thursday night. (Top Northern League groundhopping tip: Newcastle Uni, Easington and Esh Winning tend to play midweek games on a THURSDAY night.) The only ground I know named after a firm who make sanitary products, Kimberley used to be a big local employer. And it’s a nice name for a football ground. Unfortunately, Prudhoe Town FC are now defunct, and it’d be a shame to waste a good ground, so now it’s the home of Newcastle University FC, 11 miles or so away.
And what a great way of enticing sporty students to come to Newcastle – the chance to play in the Northern League, against ‘proper’ teams, rather than college opposition. Tonite would be the turn of Washington, 2nd off bottom and struggling. Surely an easy win for the students? Well, not quite. Despite dominating possession and chances, the Uni were one down at half time when a hopeful long ball resulted in the centre half and keeper colliding, leaving an open net. You just don’t see this type of goal often enough at professional level.
2nd half was proper one-way traffic, and it’s to Washy’s credit that they put bodies on the line (literally: one of the Uni’s shots came off a defender lying prostrate). Time and time again attacks came to nothing as Washington defended in numbers. On the occasion a ball was cleared to a Washy forward, it came straight back. Wing backs on the overlap were always free, but somehow the final ball kept eluding the Uni forwards. Then, into the last 10 minutes, a low (mishit?) corner cannoned off possibly someone’s shin and flew through the crowd into the bottom corner. The Washy levy had broken, and 2 quick goals followed. I had to feel for them.
Before the equaliser, the Uni lads were becoming fraught, especially the assistant coach who traded a few choice words with the Washy centre half and captain. The away side were also racking up the bookings. It was all a bit feisty and I was loving it. The constant near misses only stoked my hope that the strugglers would hold out, but it was not to be.
A pity the crowd was so low as well (49). Not quite a seasonal record (the forlorn Durham City, sharing at Willington, had an earlier crowd of 43) but unsurprising, given the Uni’s own ‘traveller’ status. There were problies 20 more in the adjacent social club, and afterwards I noticed they had a match on. I got home to discover England were playing. I’d sooner be at Kimberley Park, with its stand several metres from the pitch, a small terrace at the entrance (again, several metres from the pitch) and a few chairs and tables underneath a propped cover. They even have a refreshment hatch, presumably shared with the social club, offering chips amongst other fayre. Not bad when there’s hardly a soul here!
The Damage:
£5 ent
£1
= £6
The Tunes:
BBC6 Music (Steve Lamacq / Marc Riley / Gideon Coe)
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