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.