Durham City 2-5 Esh Winning, Tuesday 30th November 2021

Durham City 2-5 Esh Winning, Northern League Division 2, Hall Lane (Willington), att. 59

Tonight is my second visit of the season to Hall Lane, home of Willington AFC, as it’s also the temporary home of crisis club Durham City. Booted out of their New Ferens ground in 2015, they’re living the nomadic life, first of all at Consett, approximately 15 miles north-west of Durham, and now Willington, 8 miles south-west. How they stay in business with no crowds to speak of, and groundsharing, is a wonder of itself, though they’ve teetered close to the edge this season, with games cancelled and the league demanding a bond of £1000 for Durham to continue. Someone…no-one knows who…paid up and the game continues. However, with one draw all season and nineteen defeats, relegation to the Wearside League is all but assured. A far cry from the halcyon days of the 1920s as members of the Football League.

Tonight I thought I was witnessing history as Durham scored in the last minute of the first half to lead 2-1. Along with 58 others, I could say ‘I was there when Durham City finally won a game of football.’ It wasn’t to last. Fellow strugglers Esh (it’s all relative) equalised within 2 minutes of the restart and ran out comfortable 5-2 winners. Tonight’s result, though, is the least of Durham’s problems. But at least they have a cool strip.

The Damage:
£5 ent
£1 half time draw
£1 donation
= £7

The Tunes:
Orbital II or ‘The Brown Album’ (Orbital)

Tow Law 7-1 Durham City, Tuesday 16th November 2021

Tow Law 7-1 Durham City, Northern League Division 2, Ironworks Road, att. 135

Dad nearly died yesterday. Choking on his porridge, the carers called 999 and between them, the paramedics and the staff at University Hospital Durham, he survived…and was sent back home at 4am. (Luckily, the cat woke me up at 3:45 for food.) I’d spent the evening at the hospital with him, only leaving when I was told by a nurse friend that ‘he can go home when transport’s available’ didn’t mean sometime in the next half an hour. ‘It could be hours.’ It was. So it was great that by this evening he was ‘back to normal’ – if normal means bedbound and asleep – and I was able to rescue my shredded nerves with a Northern League match.

Slim pickings this week too – Tow Law. No other league matches this midweek, no chance to expand on my number of grounds visited, just a simple trip out for enjoyment. And Tow Law IS one of my favourites, the Ironworks Road ground hanging off the edge of the North Pennines, proper middle of nowhere territory. A lovely drive too, up the back roads of County Durham, from the depths of the Wear near Willington, then up, up, up…to Tow Law…then down, down, down Ironworks Road to the ground. Love it. Plus the chance to see the Northern League’s worst team – Durham City.

Durham City, crisis club, seemingly on the brink forever, are hanging in there, surviving…just. Evicted from their own ground 6 years, playing at Consett, and now Willington, matches postponed this season through not having enough players, being forced to pay a bond just to be allowed to continue in the Northern League…Football League membership from 1921-28 is a long way away. (I must look this up. How many other Northern League sides are former members of the ‘EFL’? Ashington? North Shields?) Conceding 10 in earlier defeats to Boldon and Sunderland West End, the other week they exceeded even themselves by getting whacked 16-1 at Carlisle City. How bad could they be?

Well, I walked in 5 minutes late and within a minute the Durham keeper was picking the ball out of the net. 4-0 after 19 minutes, 6-0 just after the half hour, Durham pulled one back after 35. ‘Heads up, Tow Law!’ At half-time we had the unusual substitution of the away keeper, but what really kept the score down was the number of subs Tow Law made, as everyone got a trot out. The Durham reserve keeper looked a lot more assured, even if he looked a good 4 inches off 6 foot. Meantime, Tow Law, if not shot shy, were certainly shot-on-target shy, consistently blazing high or wide from long distance. Finally, the levy was breached, as, untrue to form, the keeper spilled a long shot and the rebound was tapped in. We were 74 minutes down, a minute after the away centre half was sent off for a second yellow, clipping the forward when clear. Still, there must have been envious glances, as the constant drizzle became more driven, and one guy was off to the warmth of the changing room. It’s now 16 defeats in a row and counting.

The Damage:
£5 ent
= £5

The Tunes:
The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (The Orb)