The satnav was on for this one and it found the ground right enough. The only problem was it was about 100 metres away and I was stuck in some new estate bedeviled with cul-de-sacs. I couldn’t even just park up and cut through a ginnel/snicket/alleyway, as there were none. Admitting defeat, I put the name of a street the other side of the ground into the satnav. Even getting out of the estate was a mission.
I found a car park. Why would Clitheroe need a car park? It was free after 6, and it was after 6. I was halfway to the ground when I thought I’d better check my wallet. A fiver. Here we go, back to the car for change, but luckily there was a cash machine at the Tesco over the road. (As it was, the turnstile took cards, as did the social club.)
Up a cobbled street, of course, towards the ground’s entrance. Once inside, programmes were available (woo hoo!) and then a little walk around to the halfway line as the teams were due out. Tonite’s visitors were Sporting Khalsa and this was their longest journey of the season, unsurprising really, since they’d come all the way from Walsall. This is their first season in the Northern Premier West, laterally moved from the Midland division, their more natural home, and probably where they’ll be back to if the right teams get promoted/relegated. Both sides began in the bottom half of the league.
The teams out, I popped to the social club behind the goal for a beer. Despite its size, and toilets, ambitious plans are afoot to knock it down and replace it with something which includes a ‘second floor viewing gallery’. Can’t wait! An adjacent covered outdoor area also had a small bar, as well as picnic tables. More picnic tables were to be found at the opposite end of the Topside terrace. Be nice when the sun’s out.
This terrace contains most of the ground’s capacity, a frugal 2,500. The 4 steps have cover most of the way along the touchline, save for a gap in the middle. One thing I did like was the odd beer barrel intermittently placed on the terrace, handy for putting your pint on. And my Bavarian Pilsner was so nice I was tempted to have a second, but I resisted the temptation. Driving. As for ‘Topside Terrace’, the pitch has one hell of a slope on it, from one side to the other. So much so that in the gents’ toilets a ‘UAV Mapping and Topographical Survey’ showed the heights above sea level of each corner. It ignored the hump in the pitch where each goal was. I’d wager the crossbar is lower in the middle of each goal.
The far end also had small cover over the central bit, as well as a couple of steps of terracing. A couple of stewards and the youth were the only occupiers, though the latter didn’t have a drum like everyone else and just kept themselves to themselves. Indeed, what chants there were came from a few middle aged blokes near the halfway line. Clitheroe ‘is full of tits, fanny and castle’. I didn’t know it had a castle. Must come back sometime.
Opposite sat the main stand, which occupied one half of the side of the pitch rather than be sat on the halfway line. 260 seats and high enough up that they probably had a decent view. Further along was a smaller social club, the 1877 Suite, or somesuch, named after the year Clitheroe first had a football team (but not this one). The programme had an excellent piece on both sides’ histories, and I was bemused to see them claim 1877 as Clitheroe FC’s founding date, when the programme then admits it was no such thing. Odd types, these Lancastrians. A small viewing gallery offered the best view of this, or any match. No wonder they want more of it in the new social club.
Finally, the Bar Side, behind the goal, where you enter via the turnstiles. Half a dozen seats in one corner, and a couple of steps of terracing. Cosy. A scoreboard in the corner completes the scene. A side in the 8th tier of English football with a better scoreboard than my beloved Barnsley. Good on ‘em. Cracking little stadium too.
The match was marvellous. Clitheroe were on top first half and went 2 goals ahead. Despite looking comfortable, they then conceded a goal just after the half hour, then an equaliser on the stroke of half-time as the keeper went wandering. Second half, much more even, Sporting scored a super 3rd, as the right back cut inside from the left to drill home from 25 yards before leggin it to the half dozen Khalsa fans on the Topside. However, with time running out, Clitheroe pressure paid off as their right winger whipped in a cross which eluded everyone and landed in the far corner. The least the home side deserved. A cracker.
The Damage
£11 ent
£2.50 prog
£5 ABK Bavarian Pilsner
=£18.50
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