Ashton United 4 Buxton 2

A cracking end to end game at Hurst Cross from start to finish ended with a thrilling win for Ashton United, in a game that swung between spells of dominance for both teams throughout.

Ashton were on a winless run of 4 games before this fixture and the start to this match suggested they would be heading for a defeat. Buxton attacked immediately, and in the opening minute as a scrap for possession was developing on the edge of Ashton's penalty area the ball came out to Martin Pembleton - his low shot evading all the bodies in front of him and going straight into the bottom left corner of the net with the keeper only seeing it late.

The following ten minutes were relentless Buxton pressure and several more good chances, with Ashton rattled and left resorting to wildly hoofing the ball away and doing nothing but defend, and a whitewash was looking a distinct possibility.

After these ten minutes one of the Ashton forwards managed to get his chest to one of the random punts forward and pass it to a fellow player, thus the first moment they’d kept possession for more than a second!

Ashton then began to settle into the game and started to create half chances. Buxton were still having the better opportunities, but as the first half continued the dominance was gradually switching from Buxton to Ashton, and from around the half hour through to half time it was Ashton who were now controlling the possession and pegging Buxton back. Very good chances weren’t quite converted, and the half finished with Cahill being carried off injured after coming off worst from his own sliding challenge, Kosylo on in his place.

Buxton fans may have welcomed the half time whistle in the hope their team would get themselves together and begin the second half as they began the first. Instead the reverse of the first half happened – Ashton the ones bombing forward, and in the opening minute of the second half a powerful Liam Dawson shot from an acute angle wide left of the penalty area somehow went between the goalie and the left post and into the net to make it 1-1.

They had a couple more good chances before around the 50^th minute Buxton thought they’d retaken the lead – a shot was parried by Ashton’s keeper straight to a Buxton striker who nodded into the empty net, but the linesman raised his flag – goal disallowed. The Buxton fans were furious as the last touch before it was headed in was off Ashton’s keeper, but I believe one of these recent rule changes means the linesmen go off whether the player is offside when the initial shot happens and ignore if the goalkeeper gets a touch. I don’t really know why someone at the FA or wherever thought this would be a good idea but it doesn’t half infuriate the fans!

Anyway this incident merely seemed to spur on Buxton who spent the following 15 minutes relentlessly attacking. They couldn’t quite convert any of an array of good chances during this spell, but ironically just after Ashton managed to get the ball and create two good opportunities of their own, Buxton then got their goal on the 69^th minute, with Kieran Lugsden on the edge of the penalty area slotting it low into the bottom left corner to make it 2-1.

Ashton reacted quickly to this and piled forward, winning a free kick right on the left edge of the penalty area, with some fans howling for a penalty. Anyway as a couple of Buxton players had a moan about this, the free kick was taken quickly - scooped high into the penalty area - and from the edge of the 6 yard box Aaron Burns headed it into the top right hand corner for a 73rd minute equaliser, 2-2.

End to end attacking ensued and there was no predicting how this would go. Straight from a Buxton attack, Ashton broke forward themselves and in the 81st minute Peter Wright got the ball on the edge of the penalty area. Wallop would be word for what happened here - he smashed it emphatically into the top right hand corner and for the first time on the night it was Ashton United in the lead at 3-2.

With Buxton pushing for an equaliser, on the 85th minute the substitute who came on at the end of the first half -  Matthew Kosylo, making his Ashton debut - got the ball in a central position outside the penalty area, and a looping shot dipped into the top centre of the goal, finishing off an amazing spell of 4 goals in 16 minutes, and a thrilling turnaround to give Ashton United a valuable 3 points.

Hurst Cross - Ashton United - ground info

If visiting Hurst Cross, expect to feel like you're in different worlds when walking in the surrounding area and when in the ground itself.

I say this because Hurst Cross the place itself is, lets be honest - rough. Very rough indeed in fact. But don't let this deter you from Hurst Cross the ground, as once you're in it the atmosphere is friendly from fans and officials.

Public transport - the ground is 0.9 miles away from Ashton Under Lyne train station, walkable but the advice would be if you're not in a group walk this briskly, keep your head down and don't draw attention to yourself! There's a bus stop just outside the ground linking to some local areas, or at the end of Queens Road there's Mossley Road, on which the bus stops have better links to all the surrounding areas. Same advice if walking alone.

If arriving in the car there is no car park, but plenty of side streets leading off Kings Road that most supporters park on.

Admission is £8 adults, £5 concessions, consistent with the Evo Stik Premier League in general. There's a small 250 seater stand, the rest is standing space and mainly uncovered, so cross your fingers it's not a rainy day!

Ashton United's programme has been criticised in previous years but within the month they've changed to an improved full colour one. They announced this as them having "gone digital" as if it's something innovative - in reality it's just them catching up with many teams in their division. Anyway it's £2 and looks decent.

In terms of food and drinks, pies are £1.60 and I forgot but I think the pie and chips option was £2.60/80 and the chips were around £1.30? I went for the chip barm at £1.40 - really good chips, the muffin was a bit solid on top - not quite stale but think of when you get muffins and then have them the day after their use by - edible but dry. Cans of coke and such are 80p, they were selling off bottles of lucozade for a £1 so I went for that (convo I overheard: "that's the first we've sold all night!", "I know! They go out of date soon!", "sshhh!").

Tomorrow - Ashton United vs Buxton

So Mossley have been playing in a tinpot cup tonight "The Doodson Sport Cup" vs Curzon Ashton and for what it's worth they've won 2-0, a small consolation having lost 4-0 at home to Curzon in the league last month. I decided I value £8 too much to blow it on that, so I looked for a proper league game in the nearby area. With all but one of the other Tameside and very nearby clubs either not playing midweek or also playing pointless cup games, the one normal league match happening nearby that I'll be at tomorrow will be at Hurst Cross: Ashton United vs Buxton.

Ashton United have been fairly consistent in being around mid table in the Evo Stik League Premier in recent seasons (those unfamiliar with this league or non league in general - the Evo Stik Prem is the one above Mossley and the one below the Conference North. The likes of FC United and Chester are also the Evo Stik Prem.) and so far it's going the same way this season as they find themselves 12th out of 22 before tomorrow's games.

Buxton are currently two places below in 14th, but it is expected they will climb as the season progresses - last season they finished just below the play offs in 6th place.

League form has been contrasting for the two in the months of August and September:
August - Ashton: W D L W W L = 10 points
August - Buxton: L L L L L W = 3 points
September - Ashton: W L L D L = 4 points
September - Buxton: W L W L W = 9 points

Summary of that is that Buxton had an unexpected DREADFUL start of losing their opening 5 games, and although in September they've been inconsistent, they've somewhat recovered with 4 wins in the last 6 league games. Meanwhile Ashton United got a decent 13 points in the first 7 games followed by just 1 point in the last 4 games. So although Buxton are 2 points below Ashton United, then with Buxton improving and Ashton dropping downwards in recent games, Buxton are likely to be hoping to get a good result at Hurst Cross.

Last season Ashton United beat Buxton 2-1 at home in February, and a month later they drew 1-1 at Buxton. The season before, Buxton won both games. The season before that, Ashton won both games. In other words recent history tells us nothing of what to expect! This is a tough game to predict, and surely that alone sets this up to be an interesting game for the neutral.

Stalybridge Celtic 2 Gloucester City 2

With Hyde also drawing 2-2 away at Eastwood Town today, Stalybridge will view this as 2 points thrown away.

They started well enough, passing the ball about with the confidence you'd expect from a team who've begun with 9 wins 1 draw. Chances were being created, a goal was on the cards. And from what I'd read beforehand, Stalybridge had been threatening a thrashing from the way they've been playing so far this season - it was looking like this game could be shaping up to be just that.

12th minute and Gloucester ripped up that potential script - a punt forward caught out the Stalybridge defence who were unsure how to deal with it, Morford finding himself in space entering the penalty area slotted it into the left corner to give Gloucester a shock lead.

Stalybridge tried to continue piling forward as they had been but there were signs of their young side looking rattled. As the half continued, the longer they couldn't make a breakthrough the more desperate their passing became - it started getting rushed and trying to play killer passes too soon, and as a result Gloucester were able to frequently intercept and look to catch them out on the break, with several big chances created by them whilst Stalybridge looked like they were running out of ideas. Frustration was getting to Stalybridge, not helped by some questionable decisions by the ref who seemed to let a lot of blatent Gloucester fouls go ignored.

Then just before half time, Stalybridge were trying another hesitant attack that wasn't really going anywhere. Lloyd Ellams got the ball about 5 yards outside the penalty area and there wasn't a pass on. Gloucester had backed off to mark up and block all his passing options - but they hadn't considered that he might just have a shot himself. Into the top corner it sailed, and the teams went in level.

Stalybridge tried to push forward again at the start of the second half and Connor Jennings got the breakthrough in the 56th minute, Lloyd Ellams running through on goal passing it to Jennings on the left side of the penalty area and he curled it into the top right corner, a cracking finish and as it stood this would put Stalybridge top of the league, with Hyde who were 2 points above them before the game currently losing 2-1.

The outright top scorer for Stalybridge has been Phil Marsh so far this season, but he was replaced in the 60th minute. In truth the game was passing him by and he didn't seem to be doing much to try to play a part - perhaps his form going to his head here. He had a hissy fit as he went off, but the manager appeared to be sending the message that he's not keeping players on who don't put the effort it.

Unfortunately this didn't seem to help out Celtic, who didn't really create much in the following 20 minutes and the game was becoming scrappy. This suited Gloucester who were relying on set pieces and counter attacking moments caused by Stalybridge mistakes. And it was one of these mistakes that gave them the equaliser - Adam Kay, a 66th min sub for Stalybridge, was in truth having a shocker and was one of the main reasons why they had become so scrappy. With several easy passing options ahead of him he instead played an aimless pass straight at a Gloucester player, who passed forward putting Steve Davies through on goal, and he chipped the Stalybridge goalkeeper in the 82nd minute to make it 2-2.

Stalybridge rallied forward again from this point on, gaining many corners and having a number of shots saved or narrowly wide. But time ran out for them and Gloucester celebrated the draw, a cracking point from their perspective.

As the disappointed Celtic fans left the ground, I heard one say "well, at least Hyde are losing 2-1 so we'll gain a point on them". To add to their disappointment, a minute later Hyde scored a last minute equaliser.

Bower Fold - Stalybridge Celtic - ground info

To get to Bower Fold you go along Mottram Road, the main road that pretty much forms the spine of Stalybridge itself. Stalybridge doesn't always have the best reputation, I'd say you can judge the areas of it based on Mottram Road - the lowest part of it when you get onto it from Stamford Street is the rough area - you'll be able to tell from the grotty scrotes bumbling around and the poor standard of driving from the people emerging from the run down side streets.

But as you go up Mottram Road the standard of person, housing etc improves, with Bower Fold in a fairly decent area. Carrying on upwards past the ground this rule continues all the way to Mottram roundabout, at which point the road goes downhill as does the standard of person again - funny that.

Anyway you can get to Bower Fold from Stalybridge train station, Multimap plotting it as a long but just about walkable 1.06 mile distance. Just be aware that from the train station to the ground is mainly uphill so you won't want to do this journey in a rush. If getting there on the bus it's a similar walk from the bus station which can be a bit of a chav hangout at times - if you can jump off the bus on Acres Lane (where the Tesco is) then go for it as you also cut out 5-10 minutes of the uphill walk. Alternatively you can get a 236 or 237 bus up Mottram road which stops 20 seconds walk from the ground. Or if you're getting to it going down Mottram Road the same buses stop right outside the ground.

As you can see in the sign above, if you're going in the car the club has started charging a quid to park in the car park on a match day. If you're going for a regular match I'd recommend driving a little further up Mottram Road and you'll see Woodlands Road on the left, there's usually plenty of parking space either there or on one of the roads just off it and it's just 5 minutes walk back down to the ground. Woodlands Road and the surrounding bits are a pretty well off area too so the car's guaranteed to be safe. However you might have difficulty getting a space if you go to a match when there's a big crowd there - sometimes FC United have home games there when Gigg Lane isn't available and I gather all nearby roads are packed when this happens.

For Stalybridge matches it's £10 adults, £6 concessions. You then have a choice of 2 terraces or 2 seated stands, and unlike some clubs in the division it's no extra cost for the seated areas. No segregation either, which is nice. After entering the turnstile the food and drink greets you a couple of steps later and the usual gusts at that ground means you're likely to be greeted with a waft of the tempting smell of pies and pasties. Once you go past this and enter the terrace behind one of the goals you're likely to spot someone with a large cardboard box - they're selling programmes - £2 and pretty decent.

Bower Fold has a potential maximum capacity of 6,500, with 1,500 seats, much more than most in the Conference North. Before the start of the 10/11 season, Stalybridge became a full time professional club. They put together a squad of younger players with a lot of potential, with an ambition to keep a settled team for a number of seasons so they can gel and improve as a team and hopefully eventually be competing in the conference division itself. In truth their ground is crying out for the bigger crowds they'd get in the conference - the seated areas in particular frequently looking far too empty with the current 400-500 crowds they're getting.

Tomorrow - Stalybridge Celtic vs Gloucester City

Back to non league football tomorrow and I switch my attentions to the Blue Square North division (aka the Conference North).

10 games have been played by the majority of the teams in this division, and there are two Tameside teams in the top 2 places of the table at present. With Droylsden struggling in 8th, Hyde and Stalybridge have both enjoyed an incredible start - Hyde have played 10 won 10, Stalybridge played 10 won 9 drawn 1.

Tomorrow Hyde are away at struggling but not to be underestimated Eastwood Town, and Stalybridge will be hoping for a slip up they can take advantage of. Stalybridge have won their previous 4 games against Gloucester, and given their positive start anything but a win in this game would be disappointing for them.

Gloucester will look to a good defensive record to help them get something tomorrow, having conceded just a goal per game so far, the same amount as Stalybridge. The reason why despite this Stalybridge are 2nd and Gloucester are merely 13th lies in goalscoring - Gloucester have only scored 9 goals so far, compared to a whopping 28 goals scored by Stalybridge, making them the league's top scorers at present. Stalybridge will be looking for an early goal tomorrow to continue their current momentum.

Manchester City 2 Birmingham City 0

I'm not going to go into a systematic report of all the chances in this game - it's been done by thousands of reports by now. The following paragraphs after a brief bit about the stadium are some opinions / general slating of a Birmingham performance for which the term "super ultra defensive" wouldn't suffice.

In terms of the stadium itself I feel like I'd be insulting people's intelligence if I review it! I went last season for a City vs Tottenham league match and the atmosphere was deafening - half the crowd there and a tenth of the enthusiasm last night in comparison but still exciting nonetheless. Closing the top tier as you can see from the picture above was a smart move to make sure most sections below were at least three quarters full.

The programmes are £3 - steep yes but pretty well filled up with info actually, worth it as an occasional souvenir. I can't comment on the food/drink as I haven't looked - I'm presuming the usuals for any team above non league - high prices and mass produced poor quality pies that you'd only go for if you've not had time to have tea before getting there. City Shop's worth a browse if you get there too early but unsurprisingly prices are steep - £8 mugs and glasses the cheapest thing I spotted!

The match itself - obviously the pre-match interest was all about Owen Hargreaves, and to a degree the return of Kolo Toure. The two were perhaps the best performers - to be honest both did very little but did what they had to do well, no City player really had to do much at all for the entire match.

The quotes from Chris Hughton today after what I saw last night are UNBELIEVABLE. I've not seen a side be that defensive for a long time. Whilst not expecting a team from the division below in an away match against a top side to risk piling forward, Birmingham were laughably defensive. They pretty much didn't leave their own half for the opening half an hour, their first chance at all in the 34th minute, and even at 2-0 up they made pretty much no effort to try to get a goal back at all bar a few late half chances by which stage the City players had fallen asleep. Or might as well have.

What did Hughton say? He "hailed" his side's performance, saying "of course we came wanting to win the game" "we put City under pressure" "we were unlucky not to score" and various other lies along those lines. They played merely to not be thrashed, there was never anything other than a City win on the cards from the start, they didn't put City under any pressure at all. It was shockingly defensive - remember how defensive Greece were when they won the Euro Championships? It was much, much worse, as there was never a chance of them snatching a winner, no waiting for the opposition to slip up, nothing like that. They made Greece look attacking. They made McLeish's tactics from last season look attacking. For a Birmingham team that aren't THAT bad at the end of the day, it was a pathetic display of waving a white flag for 90 mins and praying for sympathy.

They did get sympathy in the 2nd half - City got their goals and then gave up really. The whole match really was a training exercise for them - an easy introduction for Hargreaves, an easy reintroduction for Kolo Toure. In fact aside from Birmingham's one fortunate chance on the 34th minute when they surprisingly almost scored, their only other chances were late on when City had spent so long playing a training exercise they'd automatically gone into post-training warm down mode.

It was efficient, tidy and job done from Man City. They did what they needed to do, Tevez and Balotelli moped around doing very little but did enough to create some chances for themselves and Mario got his (uncelebrated) goal. For a team with so many ambitions this season they were never going to put more effort into this than they needed to win it and fair enough really. Aguero an unused sub, just there if he was needed. Birmingham could have made them put some effort in here if they'd have wanted to - but that never happened.

After a week and a half of being virus-ridden - Man City vs Birmingham tomorrow!

So I'm finally starting to recover after being floored by a virus/flu or whatever it was and thus can finally get back to putting something interesting on here!

Mossley won again on Saturday, 2-1 vs Salford City, so after a terrible winless start they respond with a massively unexpected 3 wins in a row!

Turning attentions away from non league tomorrow however, as I'll be going to the newly renamed "Etihad Stadium" for Man City vs Birmingham. Yes the Carling Cup isn't high on the agenda of many teams anymore and City in particular will be likely to rest a lot of players, but such is their strength in depth now that their 2nd choice team is exciting in itself, with attacking talents of Tevez and Balotelli likely and this may be the first game in a City shirt for Hargreaves. Of course the away side are unlikely to be looking to throw this game away having won this cup last season - and with their manager Chris Hughton already beginning to feel pressure as Birmingham have struggled in the Championship so far.

I went to City's ground last year when they played at home to Tottenham in the league and it was stunning - and the atmosphere was near deafening. Obviously the crowd won't be the same tomorrow but I'm still very much looking forward to going back!





Alas the virus continues..

Had hoped I'd be better for city under 19s vs barca under 19s but the virus has stayed just as bad all week!

Scores from Tuesday night were:
Garforth Town 0 Mossley 1(!!!)
Woodley Sports 2 Lancaster City 0

Hopefully I and also this blog might be back in action for next week - the good news is if I improve I'll be at Man City vs Birmingham in the league cup! Yes I know it's not much compared to the premier league, champs league and fa cup but it's still big in my eyes compared to what I can usually afford to see!

Got a virus...

..No don't panic it's not of the computer kind - my glands are up and got all the general virus stuff - exhausted all the time, aches and pains all over etc, went gradually more ill as the weekend went on and have had to take the day off work yesterday and today (first days off sick I've had in a year of working there so I assure you I'm not being 'soft'!)

Anyway not posting this to moan, mainly just to say that as I'm not well enough for work then I can't justify going to Woodley Sports vs Lancaster City tonight as originally planned, it'd do me no favours in trying to recover. I'm hoping I can fight it off in the next few days so I can get back to work and can still go to Man City u-19s vs Barcelona u-19s in the Nextgen series this Thursday.

Disappointed as Woodley vs Lancaster is set up to be an intriguing one, here's the build-up I'd already created for what it's worth - Lancaster are currently top of the table and unbeaten, going to Woodley's plastic pitch (Woodley unbeaten at home so far) which they just don't seem able to perform on. In the 2009/10 season, Lancaster City were on an incredible 12 game winning streak (including a 7-1 win at home to Woodley) top of the table and looking well on their way to go up, when the winning streak was brought to an abrupt halt with a 4-1 defeat at Woodley. It seemed to knock Lancaster's confidence as their results after that were very inconsistent, and Halifax went on their own winning run to overtake Lancaster and go up, with Lancaster losing in the play off final to an 87th minute Colwyn Bay penalty.

Last season Lancaster again lost at Woodley, just 2-1 this time, and beat them 2-0 at home. But a couple of months later they were drawn away to Woodley in the FA Trophy and managed to get a 1-1 draw to send it to a replay. Lancaster finished 8th last season having had to sell off some of their best players to try to ease financial difficulties. Lancaster have never beaten Woodley on their artificial surface, but will be eager to come away with something to continue their strong start to the season.

Meanwhile Mossley are away to Garforth Town tonight. Mossley lost 2-1 there last season whilst on a long run of defeats. I like Garforth's ground having gone to that match last season and would've liked to have gone to this if it was a Saturday match, maybe next season. Mossley will be hoping their 6-2 thrashing of Ossett Albion wasn't just a case of a rare 3 points due to Ossett's shambolic defence, and that they can get a result tonight to build on that victory.

Right, I'm off back to bed.

Mossley 6 Ossett Albion 2

After scoring just 5 goals in their opening 8 league and fa cup games and going 3 home games in a row without a goal, Mossley emphatically reversed their recent poor form with a 6-2 mauling of Ossett Albion.

Ossett Albion have finished second to bottom for the past 2 seasons, each time being lucky enough to get reprieves to stay in the division. This defeat puts them bottom of the league (Mossley now 4th to bottom), and on this evidence they will be there or thereabouts for the rest of this season.

Mossley began on the front foot, and had definitely set out to take their opponents by surprise in the early stages. They got an early breakthrough in the 4th minute - Cameron Darkwah, on a month's loan from Stockport County, was blatently tripped in the penalty area. He picked himself up and slotted it low into the corner.

The early goal gave Mossley some much needed confidence and in contrast Albion were rattled. Mossley were piling the pressure on, repeatedly winning corners, and wide midfielders Kayde Coppin and Joe Heap were repeatedly running at Albion's crumbling defence. And it was Joe Heap who gave the home team breathing space in the 24th minute, cutting through from the right side and shooting on the edge of the 18 yard box. The goalkeeper got a hand to it to take out most of the power of the shot, but it wasn't enough to stop it rolling over the line.

The team celebrated with group hugs all round - and unfortunately made that common mistake of not concentrating as the game restarted - poor defending leading to Dale Kelly receiving the ball in space and 1 on 1 with the keeper and curling a shot into the net to make it 2-1. There were further signs of nervous defending during the course of the 1st half which a stronger team would have exploited better, but Albion struggled to keep the ball enough to make anything from their chances.

Two moments in the next 13 minutes could have changed the rest of the game if they hadn't have gone in Mossley's favour. First, after Ossett tried to break up the home team's flow with a few trips and poor tackles, the opening goalscorer Darkwah let the frustration get to him and lunged in on a defender. I was near to it and winced from what I saw - it was dangerous and the defender was lucky to not be injured. He went down as if badly injured and handbags were thrown, but by the time the ref had calmed the situation and the player was moved to the touchline he was suddenly fine and ready to come back on. Perhaps this made the ref's mind up to just give a yellow - some might have given a red.

This was crucial for Mossley as Darkwah was their star player and an outlet for all the midfield creativity, and he scored again in the 38th minute with a goal that might not have been... the increasingly influential Joe Heap went on another run, crossed from wide left and Darkwah took the ball round the keeper and rolled it in. Except at that moment a defender charged in and cleared it - but the linesman gave the goal. From where I was stood it looked like it was cleared on the line and shouldn't have been given... but the defender who cleared it surprisingly didn't complain.

Mossley then added another on half time, a low shot from Cavell Coo on the edge of the penalty area took a deflection and nestled in the corner. 4-1 at half time, the Mossley fans were stunned!

The goals continued right at the start of the second half as Darkwah got his hat-trick - a poor backpass from the defender and a sliced clearance from the keeper gifted the ball to him. He was still at a difficult wide angle but slotted it in like it was easy. Darkwah was outstanding throughout and on this evidence Mossley will rue that it's only a month long loan of which 2 weeks have already gone (unfortunately he wasn't allowed to play in the fa cup games).

Mind you Darkwah wasn't the only one to put in a star performance here - Joe Heap, prolific for the youth team last season, put in a superb performance to show why he ought to be playing for the first team more often. He was menacing throughout with frequent runs at the defence, and in the 53rd minute he stepped up for a free kick from around 25 yards out slightly left of centre and curled it perfectly into the top right corner.

6-1 and Mossley could have had more - more chances came and went including an effort from Lee Rick from the edge of the penalty area narrowly deflected over by a defender. Lee Rick, signed from Hyde near the end of last season, was back from injury and worked well with Alex Byrne in central midfield to give Mossley a strong backbone to play around, something they've looked like they've been missing lately.

All 3 subs were made by Mossley by the 72nd minute, and unfortunately Cavell Coo was forced off injured with just over ten minutes left. The ten men were still able to create the odd chance but had long since taken their foot off the gas, and Albion got an 86th minute consolation as Marc Thompson curled a low shot into the bottom right of the goal from close range.

Full time 6-2, a morale boosting victory but against clear relegation candidates. The next two games against two teams who tend to be mid table in recent years - Garforth Town away on Tuesday night followed by Salford City at home on Saturday - will surely be a much tougher test than this.

Build-up: Mossley vs Ossett Albion

Whilst it's far too early in the season to label a match a "relegation six pointer", it's difficult to see this game as anything else given the start these two teams have had.

Lets put it this way, here's a basic form guide from the beginning of the season till now:

Mossley AFC: League: Lost 2-1, Drew 1-1, Lost 4-0, Drew 2-2, Lost 3-1,  Lost 4-0. FA Cup: Drew 0-0, Lost 4-0.

Ossett Albion: League: Lost 4-2, Lost 3-0, Lost 3-0, Lost 2-1, Lost 3-1, Won 3-0. FA Cup: Lost 6-0.

It's obvious that a combination of a lack of goals and leaky defences is a problem for both teams, and this combination makes it difficult to know what to expect - whilst there's every chance that poor finishing will lead to two poor teams cancelling each other out in a boring game with few goals, there's also the possibility that both defences will be so poor that each team could be gifted a number of "sitters", leading to a high scoring scrap. Or maybe after not seeing a single Mossley goal in the previous 3 home games I'm just clutching at straws!!

The poor start for both teams has left Ossett Albion 20th (third to bottom) joint with 3 other teams on 3 points, with Mossley bottom of the table on 2 points.

Both teams could argue they've had a difficult start, having both already played against Witton Albion, Skelmersdale United, AFC Fylde and Curzon Ashton. Some at Mossley pointed to this as the main reason for being bottom of the table, but after being humiliated 4-0 at Runcorn Linnets from the division below it's increasingly looking like it could be a long hard season.

Ossett Albion are used to this scenario in recent years, having finished second to bottom in the previous two seasons. Both times this should have seen them relegated, with two teams supposed to go down each year, but due to reprieves because of teams folding, not going up or down into this league etc, they've remained in this division.

The worry for them and any other struggling team in the Evo-Stik Division One North is that the previous two clubs that've finished bottom of this league and been relegated - Leigh Genesis and Rossendale United - have both ceased to exist shortly after.

The early signs are that this season will be another struggle for Ossett Albion, who until the latest league matches on Monday August 29th had lost every game. Mossley were taken by surprise on that day, as after Curzon's 4-0 demolition job at Seel Park, news filtered through that Ossett Albion had beaten Durham City 3-0 to put Mossley bottom of the league.

Optimism from this victory has likely been stifled in the following weeks however, with Ossett Albion being ripped apart 6-0 at home to Witton Albion in the FA Cup, made all the worse by current top scorer Richard Tracey (scorer of Ossett Albion's 4 games in their past 2 league games, including a hat-trick in their 3-0 win vs Durham) going off with a hamstring injury which may keep him out tomorrow.

In the past 2 seasons when Ossett Albion have finished in a relegation place, Mossley have twice beaten them at home, 2-1 in 09/10 and a 4-0 trouncing in 10/11. But at home Ossett Albion have caused Mossley problems, a 1-1 draw last season and they beat Mossley 2-0 the season before. With Mossley obviously a much weaker team than last season, Ossett Albion will surely be hoping to take at least a point from their visit to Seel Park this time round.

Mossley 0 Runcorn Linnets 0

Sometimes there can be games that despite being goal-less are still quite exciting and eventful... not this one.

Unfortunately the disadvantage of picking a first game to write a match report on before it happens means that sods law will kick in - the game will be so lifeless that there will barely be anything worth reporting on!

There was a crowd of 228 which is above the norm for Mossley (usually more like 150) mainly because a lot of Runcorn Linnets fans made the trip and gave it a bit of an atmosphere.

To be honest - for the entire first half neither team looked likely to score. Runcorn Linnets perhaps had the only goalscoring chance - their player to the right of goal received the ball on the edge of the penalty area in space... and sliced it horribly wide. Mossley had a few long range bobblers on target and then late in the half had their own close range chance - but Cavell Coo hit it straight into the goalkeeper's hands.

At half time I moved to the covered stand behind one of the goals and kept nearly getting hit by stray balls - even when the match wasn't taking place the finishing was woeful!!

Mossley had more of the possession in the second half but this counted for little as they never seemed close to an end product. Then out of nowhere - a low free kick which was going to miss by a mile took a big deflection and hit the post! Not too long later Runcorn also came close - a powerful shot from outside the penalty area hit the top of the bar.

That was about it - Mossley's defence seemed to get bored at one point - a harmless long ball went in their direction - one of them attempted a volleyed clearance - sliced it horribly into the air. Another of the defenders chased it... and did exactly the same thing!!?! And then would you believe it - a third defender chases this - could have just knocked it out or taken it down, what does he do? - HE SLICES ANOTHER VOLLEY HIGH INTO THE AIR!?!?! Runcorn could have had a sitter from this, but in keeping with the rest of the game, mucked it up.

Both teams had several late free kicks and corners, but neither could do anything with them. The game goes to a replay at Runcorn Linnets this Tuesday night (won't be at it due to me not being able to get home after it on public transport) and the winner will be away to Squires Gate two weeks today, as Squires Gate won 1-0 at home to Atherton Collieries today. Judging off today's match, the replay is likely to also be very close and is very hard to call.

Seel Park - Mossley AFC - ground info

So as it's the first ground I've been to since beginning the blog I start with info about Seel Park, home of Mossley AFC (I'm keeping match reports as separate blog entries so that will follow after this).

It's difficult doing a ground review of somewhere I've been to many times by now in that anything like first impressions have long since been replaced with familiarity.

Seel Park is tucked around the back of a row of houses and the Highland Laddie pub (hate it - avoid) and the first view you get as you get on the path/small road to the turnstiles is the picture above. The main selling point of the ground is already visible - the various grassy hills in the distance. To illustrate this, once you get through the turnstiles and carry on to pitchside, your view will be similar to the following:

The ground is in "top mossley" and is pretty much top of a hill with a big drop round the back of the stand you can see on the other side of the pitch in the picture. Building a ground basically on a hill like this and maintaining it through the years (Mossley were formed 1903) is an impressive achievement.

In truth, if you were to ignore all the surrounding views and just concentrate on the ground itself, this would be a typical lower non league ground - paint is peeling everywhere, stone tiles wobble underfoot, the covered stands make odd sounds when the winds get up which never inspires confidence if you're stood in them... and it depends on your preferences whether this makes the ground a mess or whether in your eyes this is the essence of non league.

The one disadvantage to the nice view of the hills you get, is that the fence at the back of the stand on the opposite side of the pitch in these pics is very small, and presumably hasn't been extended so the view of the nice grassy hills isn't blocked out... as a result the ball flies out of the ground in that direction at least 10 times per match, which regularly puts paid to any hopes of flowing football.

In terms of food and merch: Programmes - the club does a good quality full colour programme at £2 - many clubs have cheaper but you pay for quality and detail here. Prices of food about the norm - pie and chips at £2 is the best bargain in my eyes and very good pies too. There is a very small shed to the right of the stand you're in when you first enter the ground that merch was available from at half time for a lot of home games last season - I've not noticed it open yet this season.

Entry fee - unfortunately Mossley have upped the price to £8 despite the rest of their division remaining £7.

Getting there - if you're local there's bus stops just round the corner with buses linking to Ashton, Stalybridge, Hyde, Oldham, Saddleworth etc. If you're coming from afar then the ground is very close to mossley train station which links with Manchester Victoria and Huddersfield stations. Be warned - although online maps will tell you it's a ten min walk from station to the ground, they fail to tell you that THE ENTIRE WALK is steep uphill - don't arrive late and do it in a rush, and allow 15-20 mins if you're not a fast walker! The upshot is it's brilliant to go back down after the match and you'll be back to the station in a flash!

FA Cup today!

So it's Mossley vs Runcorn Linnets in just over an hour's time in the FA cup preliminary round - #nonleagueday is currently a trending topic on Twitter which is a brilliant achievement when people pay no attention to non league the majority of the time!

The FA cup is perhaps the main thing each season which brings widespread attention to some non league clubs who manage to make it through all the qualifiers, and Mossley were so close to making it to the 1st round last season - winning 4 rounds of qualifying before being draw at home to Blue Square Prem side Darlington (3 divisions above Mossley) in the 4th and final qualifying round - where a bizarre if entertaining for the neutrals match finished Mossley 2 Darlington 6, with Mossley having THREE players sent off during the course of the game to kill off any chance of an upset. Oh and the stadium announcer shouting abuse at the ref after some of said sending offs.

Could Mossley go a step further? Unfortunately we're not anywhere near as good as last season, with nearly all of last season's team having switched to Curzon Ashton and Woodley due to the directors choosing to cut wages (whilst also putting up admission prices so we cost more than anyone else in our division, which hasn't gone down too well with the last two home matches having finished 4-0 defeats, hardly value for money!!!)

But it would great if we could get a bit of a cup run going again - financially and might be a boost for club morale, and from a fan's point of view it'll be a nice distraction from our poor league form and could mean some new away grounds to go to - love the train journeys to somewhere I've not been to before!

Fingers crossed and really looking forward to this one - hoping there'll be a larger than normal crowd too for non league day!

Non league day tomorrow

I've been plotting this for a while and non league day being tomorrow has given me a kick up the backside to get on with it!

Tomorrow is the FA cup - no, Budweiser haven't shifted the first round - it's a preliminary qualifier, and with the Premier League and Championship not happening due to the England match which I'm listening to as I type this, there's a push for encouraging these fans to give their local non league club a go.

Now the match I'll be at is Mossley vs Runcorn Linnets, which may not benefit from this opportunity so much (reason is there are a lot of other matches nearby - Oldham at home, Hyde at home, Curzon at home, Woodley playing at Glossop, FC United at home... you get the idea) but will be intriguing - Mossley are in the division above but are yet to win a match and are bottom of the league... Runcorn Linnets in contrast are yet to lose a game - the division difference may count for very little!

A little about me before I concentrate on more interesting stuffs

(No unfortunately I don't live at a farm - this is a holiday pic! Yes that's Jodrell Bank in the background :-))


So that's me above and a brief intro follows..

So I see plenty of groundhopper blogs are about - and as someone who travels to other grounds now and again I thought I couldn't really call myself that, as most weeks I'm watching Mossley! Most groundhoppers seem to focus far too much on pub reviews from what I notice.. so as someone who gets trains and buses to a ground, goes direct to it and directly back home most of the time, I'm hoping what I write will be a different slant and less self indulgent (yes I know this intro is very self indulgent but this will be a rarity I swear!)

So last season I went to the following team's grounds: Mossley, Stalybridge Celtic, Hyde, Woodley Sports, Glossop North End, Curzon Ashton, Ashton United, Garforth Town, Harrogate Railway Athletic, Lancaster City, Manchester City (so it won't forever be non league!)

This season I've so far just been to Mossley home matches, but will be going to similar grounds as above depending on finances and what lands on Saturday afternoons (Tuesday night matches difficult when in a 9 till 5 job).

As well as non league I also have a ticket to see Man City EDS (reserves/youth) vs Barcelona youth at Hyde's ground in a few weeks (might see a future massive star, the likes of Iniesta, Fabregas and Messi have all played for that youth team in the past), and to see an Olympic football quarter final at Old Trafford in the summer of 2012 (same scenario in a way could be some future big stars on show), and I'm hoping to see Man City at home at some point when I can afford it (or if my manager surprises me with offer of a free ticket as he can't go as he did for Man City vs Tottenham last year!) and possibly some other higher profile games, we'll see how the season pans out.

Enough about me now, self indulgent first post done with.