Coming up....

So this blog has mainly focused on non league, with affordability being one of the main reasons, but I do go to league matches too, with 3 coming up in the first half of December.

First I'm continuing the plan to try to go to an FA cup match in every round for as long as there's anything nearby or it's affordable. Nearby to me the choice was narrowed down by the draw and Fleetwood's game being switched to a Friday night ruled that out. The choice became between Sheffield United or Sheffield Wednesday with them both knocking prices down to £10 adults, and with Sheffield United being the easier with their ground near the train station and not needing to add a supertram to the journey, I've got a ticket for Sheffield United vs Torquay United.

After that I'm lucky that my dad offered to get a ticket for Manchester City vs Bayern Munich for my birthday (£35!!!) so I'm at that on Wednesday 7th December, stating the bleeding obvious it's a huuuuge match!

Then I've been keeping an eye out for league matches being majorly discounted around the christmas period, and so far the one nearby that I've got a ticket for is Bury vs Brentford on Saturday 17th December, the match at Gigg Lane has been knocked down to just £5 for everyone to try to get a bumper ground, an impressive gesture in my opinion!

Chorley FC 2 Whitby Town 2



An exciting game at Victory Park from start to finish as promotion chasing Chorley drew with relegation threatened Whitby Town.

With how this season has panned out for these two sides so far - Chorley losing just 1 of 10 home league games and Whitby Town winning only 1 of all their 19 league games - anyone looking at the stats would've expected this to be a home banker. But Whitby have signed a batch of players in the past week to try to save their season, and it was one of these who scored a wonder goal in just the 2nd minute of this game.

Jimmy Beadle, a former fans favourite at Whitby who re-signed earlier in the week, announced his re-arrival midweek with a 40 yard screamer. And 2 minutes into this game with Whitby passing the ball around, Beadle got it and incredibly shaped up to shoot from 40 yards. His shot looped up high, sailed goalwards and dipped perfectly into the right corner of the goal. It was amazing that he even dared attempt this, and what a stunning goal it was. The Chorley fans were mainly in stunned silence, some even applauded such was how good it was.

Early on the Chorley players seemed to quite leisurely in their passing, they seemed to be expecting a routine win but as a result there were a lot of careless giveaways. Their only good chance early on was around the 17th minute, their player was put through in the box but the keeper chased out and managed to half block the shot so it rolled wide.

Meanwhile Whitby were playing the ball about with a surprising confidence, and a header from a cross from the left went just over the top right corner. Straight after that in the 20th minute they got a free kick on the left corner of the penalty area. It was hit low into the crowd, and a fluffed attempt at a clearance from the defender lead to the ball going straight through him, and straight to Whitby's Jamie Clarke, who slid the ball past the keeper and into the net from around 3 yards out to make it 2-0.

Whitby were on top at this point and a few minutes later a header was tipped over by the keeper and then a looping shot from 20 yards went just over the bar. But Chorley should've had a goal back around the 27th minute, a low cross from the left set up a one on one with the keeper from little more than 6 yards, but with an easy tap in expected he instead blasted it over the bar, an awful miss.

Beadle had the last decent chance of the first half, as his low shot from 20 yards which was going well wide to the left took a deflection along the way, in the end still going just wide to the left of the goal. At half time Whitby deserved their 2-0 lead.

Whitby tried to carry on the same way early in the 2nd half, and after a skewed clearance from a defender their striker was through on goal, but his attempted chip sailed wide to the right of the goal.

Then from the 60th minute onwards the game swung, as Chorley started to pile forward. First a shot on the edge of the penalty area went the wrong side of the right post, then in the 62nd minute a corner from the right was headed back across the goal and lashed into the net by Wayne Maden to make it 1-2.

Whitby were forced to retreat as Chorley took over, a shot in the penalty area went just over the top right corner, and then a 66th minute header was tipped over as it travelled towards the top left corner.

The game paused in the 73rd minute as Chorley's Tom Walker went down injured. There didn't seem to be anything that happened to cause it, but he stayed down and the stretcher was waved on. He was carried off very carefully, and the later news was that it was a suspected broken ankle. An ambulance appeared 15 minutes later and reversed into the ground behind one of the goals as play went on.

Meanwhile on the pitch, in the 77th minute Chorley's Steve Foster was put through on goal. Foster, Chorley's top scorer who scored in the 1-0 win at Whitby earlier this season, took his chance brilliantly, chipping over the advancing keeper from 20 yards, the ball landing low in the net to make it 2-2.

Whitby, who'd been camped in their own half for the previous 20 minutes, tried to respond immediately to this, first a shot went over the bar and then Beadle had another attempt, this time just from 25 yards and this time caught by the keeper.

Chorley continued to create a lot of chances, a sliding effort from wide right to get on the end of a cross from the left was blocked by a sliding defender, and as the game approached the 90th minute a header from wide right went into the side netting.

6 minutes were added on due to the injury and there was an end to end finale. In the 93rd minute Chorley thought they'd won it, a big scramble right in front of goal resulted in two different efforts both being cleared off the line, and as the ball was cleared away several of the Chorley players pleaded with the referee, clearly thinking the first of the two efforts had crossed the line.

As they protested Whitby rushed forward on their own counter attack, and a shot from the right edge of the penalty area was just blocked by the keeper. There was still time for a final Whitby attack, this time a low effort was caught by the keeper.

Full time 2-2, on paper a great point for Whitby but mixed with the disappointment of losing a 2 goal lead. On this evidence though Whitby have some good new signings and they look like they'll be climbing up the table soon enough. Meanwhile Chorley did well to battle back but will be disappointed not to get 3 points - a poor first half from them did the damage, but they showed their quality and ability to dominate in the second half.

Victory Park - Chorley FC - ground info

Victory Park has a capacity of 4,100, with 900 seats in the covered stand behind the dugouts, as pictured above. Opposite this is uncovered standing space, and then behind each goal is covered terracing. The appointment of Garry Flitcroft as manager combined with last season's promotion and a good start to the 2011/12 season has seen bigger attendances of 600-1000 to give matches at Victory Park an atmosphere.

Programmes are £2 full colour and I've read positive things about their content. I got a bottle of pepsi and a cheese and onion pie that came to £2.50 - I think that's £1.60 pie 90p drink. The cheese and onion pie I asked for was different from the norm - not bad but strangely quite sweet and I seemed to be mainly eating bits of potato..? I don't know if it's actually a cheese and potato pie or if there was some onion hidden in there too!

Anyway the food and drink is impressively served by around 7-8 girls on a wide counter so service is very quick - most clubs at this level have 2-3 people serving in a small area. There's also a merchandise shop open as you approach the ground.

As can be seen in the picture above, the ground is right next to housing and hidden behind a series of side streets. These are obviously the popular bits to park at for those arriving in their car but they might not be an option if you get there last minute at a game with a large crowd.

The ground's convenient for those looking to travel on the train, for the walk to the ground you pretty much just exit, turn left on the main road and follow it through 2 roundabouts and at the 3rd roundabout follow the 3rd exit. The station links up with Manchester, Bolton, Preston, Blackpool and others.

One thing to note if planning to get to Chorley from Manchester or Bolton is that the train goes via Horwich Parkway, next to the Reebok Stadium, so if Bolton Wanderers are at home that day expect a packed train there and back between Bolton and Horwich Parkway and for the train to get to where you're going 15-20 minutes later than scheduled.

Thankfully on the way home the police have the gate closed to the Horwich Parkway station and filter through the fans bit by bit when a train arrives, so although the train will be packed it's not a mad crush of thousands getting on at once!

Build-up: Chorley FC vs Whitby Town

Next up it’s the Evo Stik Northern Premier Division again, this time I'm watching high flying Chorley FC face struggling Whitby Town at Victory Park.

Chorley are in 4^th place in the table - in the 3^rd of 4 play off positions as it stands – with 40 points from 21 games. Garry Flitcroft, former player at Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City, is their manager, and he guided them to promotion from Division One North last season via the play offs after a 3^rd place finish.

Following that promotion they began this season with 4 wins to put themselves top of the table, but inconsistent results of late has seen them drop a couple of places and perhaps question if they'll be able to stay in a play off position. But a midweek 3-1 win away at table toppers Northwich Victoria will boost confidence in their chances of doing this, and maybe even mounting a serious push for the top of the table automatic promotion place.

Whitby Town are 22^nd - bottom of the table - with just 10 points from 19 games, having had just one league win so far this season. They finished 16^th in the same league last season. Former Newcastle United player Tommy Cassidy was their manager until leaving a month ago due to poor results.

New manager Darren Williams, a former Sunderland player, has been unable to improve results so far, with a midweek 3-3 draw at home to Stocksbridge Park Steels a rare point after a 7 match losing streak. However there is new hope for Whitby, with a batch of new signings made in the past week to try to improve their situation, including re-signing fans favourite and previous top scorer Jimmy Beadle, who marked his reintroduction at the Stocksbridge match with a 40 yard wonder goal.

A rundown of league results so far this season:

Chorley: WWWWDLWDWWWLWLWDWLDLW

Whitby Town: DLDLDDLWLDDLLLLLLLD

These two have faced each other in the league already this season as Chorley won 1-0 away to Whitby Town on the 3^rd September, Steve Foster getting the only goal. Foster is Chorley’s top scorer with 10 league goals, which is the combined total of Whitby’s top scorers Matty Tymon and Mark Robinson - both on 5 league goals.

Buxton FC 0 Chasetown FC 0

A disappointing stalemate at the Silverlands in front of a crowd of 344.

The first half an hour of this game went by without any incident at all. In fact aside from an early weak Buxton shot from the edge of the penalty area easily caught by the keeper, nothing at all happened.

The only moment of note in the first half came around the 34th minute, a Chasetown free kick was played wide right to the onrushing Levi Reid, his looping cross hit the bar and bounced down close to their onrushing striker, but it didn't quite find his feet and it was cleared.

Buxton thankfully came out attacking in the 2nd half to add a bit of excitement to the game. Unfortunately each time they piled forward the final ball was either underhit, overhit, blocked or cleared, so most of their dominance in possession wasn't turned into decent chances.

In the 61st minute Buxton were awarded a free kick from around 25 yards out, and a curling attempt went just wide of the top left corner of the net.

Ten minutes later a Buxton corner from the right was headed goalwards and there was a mad scramble pretty much on the goal line as players crowded in trying desperately to either finish or hack it clear - eventually it was cleared.

Chasetown had a big chance of their own around the 76th minute, a cross from the right was placed between the keeper and their onrushing player. The keeper was beaten to the ball and it was headed towards the empty net, but a Buxton defender got back in time to head the ball to safety.

Buxton were becoming frustrated by not being able to turn their possession into chances, and some questionable decisions from the referee weren't helping, the main example shortly after the 80th minute when a through ball towards wide left looked to be setting up a dangerous crossing opportunity.

Except meanwhile a Chasetown defender was blocking a Buxton player from getting forward, who shoved him over, leading to a bit of pushing/handbags between the two. Rather than just letting play go on, the ref stopped play, booked both players and bizarrely brought play right back to near the halfway line for a Buxton free kick. From this they had a header easily saved.

With the match approaching time added on, the Buxton fans were encouraging their team to try to have a late push forward. But instead it was Chasetown who attacked in the final few minutes. First one of their players ran forward, nutmegged the defender to go through on goal but his shot was parried by the keeper, and the other attacker following up was flagged offside.

Then they broke through again and a close range shot was blocked by the keeper. As the ball came back, the striker and keeper charged towards it... and the keeper just won the race. 0-0 it finished, leaving both teams still in the same positions in the table - Chasetown in 17th and Buxton still in a relegation place in 19th.

The Silverlands - Buxton FC - ground info

The Silverlands, the highest ground in England above sea level at over 1,000 feet about sea level, has a potential capacity of around 5,200, of which most is standing space apart from a 500 seater covered stand, see picture below.

Opposite this is a covered standing area (which bizarrely has about 15 seats in it near to the corner flag?). Behind the goals - on one side is an uncovered stand, and the other side is the Railway End, known as this because behind it (not directly behind it - quite far below) is where the train tracks run through. This stand is covered and pictured below.

The ground is well placed for getting there by train at just 0.31 miles from Buxton station, it's as simple as the maps suggest and aside from Holker Road being steep uphill it's an easy walk. Buses weave through nearby too. If getting there by car, parking on nearby side streets looks easy enough.

Buxton the place itself is really nice to visit - attractive buildings, good shops (and not just the usual chain ones either), and nice parks too, well worth going to when you get chance. The ground itself is one of the nicest at this level too.

Admission was £9, a quid above most in their division disappointingly. Clubs who decide to charge above the norm at this level don't seem to realise many visitors then drop buying something else to compensate - I changed my mind on buying the £2 programme. From the cover it looks like a fairly generic colour one. I did get a cheese and onion pie at £1.60 however, and it was really really tasty! 

Build-up: Buxton FC vs Chasetown FC

Next up it's Buxton FC vs Chasetown FC in the Evo Stik Northern Premier League at The Silverlands, and both these teams have claims to fame that may pop up at a pub quiz.

Ask the question "what's the highest ground above sea level in England?" and many people think the answer is The Hawthorns (West Bromwich Albion) at 168 metres (551 feet) above sea level. It is the highest Football League ground, but if teams within the non league pyramid are also taken into account it's only in 8th place. Recent grounds visited on this blog are higher, with Bower Fold (Stalybridge Celtic) in 7th place (170 metres) and Seel Park (Mossley) in 4th place.

It's Buxton FC's Silverlands ground that's in fact the highest of the lot at 304 metres (more than 1000 feet) above sea level, nearly doubling The Hawthorn's distance above sea level!

Meanwhile for the question "who's the lowest ranked team ever to reach the FA cup 3rd round?" the answer is Chasetown FC.

Chasetown originally got huge national attention in November 2005 when they got to the FA cup first round for the first time ever. With all eyes on the draw, with Chasetown the lowest ranked club left, they got a home tie against Oldham Athletic, sending the statisticians into a frenzy (there were six divisions and 133 places between the two clubs). The game was broadcast live on TV with a huge peak audience of 3.2 million, largely because unbelievably Chasetown took the lead, eventually the game ending in a 1-1 draw. The replay was won 4-0 by Oldham.

In the 2007/8 season Chasetown made it to the 1st round again, and this time beat Team Bath 2-0 to make the 2nd round for the first time, and they were drawn away to Port Vale. They drew 1-1 and incredibly won the replay 1-0, thus becoming the lowest ranked team to ever get to the 3rd round. They were drawn at home to Cardiff City and again surprised everyone by going 1-0 ahead, but eventually they lost the match 3-1, and in the end Cardiff went on to reach the FA cup final which they lost 1-0 to Portsmouth.

Recently Chasetown have also been ascending the divisions, their latest promotion at the end of the 2009/10 season from the Evo Stik Northern Division One South to where they currently find themselves. 2011/12 has not been a successful season for either of these teams as yet though, both have been knocked out of the FA Cup and FA Trophy and they're both struggling in the lower reaches of the table.

Last season Buxton finished in 6th place, just one place below the play off positions, and in their first season in this division Chasetown finished mid table in 10th. But at present this season Buxton are in 19th place - 4th to bottom and occupying a relegation spot as it stands with 16 points after 18 games played, with Chasetown just 2 places and 3 points above in 17th having played a game less.

Buxton started dreadfully with 5 straight league defeats, but things seemed to be picking up as they then won 4 of the next 6 league games. Then they lost 4-2 at Ashton United in a thrilling game as reported on here, and this was the start of what's so far been a 7 match run of league games without a win (4 draws 3 defeats). It's been too poor for the chairman's liking and earlier this week manager John Reed left by mutual consent, with player-coach Scott Maxfield taking up managerial duties for "the immediate future".

Chasetown have also had a change of management recently, with Charlie Blakemore moving up to join the board of directors due to no longer feeling he can commit enough time to the managerial role. He's been replaced by former Hednesford Town boss Chris Brindley, who's began well enough with 2 wins in his first 2 league games in charge.

Overall league results for both clubs so far this season:

Buxton: LLLLLWWLWLWLDDLDDL
Chasetown: DDWDDLLLWLWLLLLWW

Buxton beat Chasetown 2-0 at home and 1-0 away last season. After poor starts and recent management changes for both teams, this game is looking a difficult one to predict.

FC Halifax Town 0 Charlton Athletic 4

 

A fairly typical FA cup first round 'non league vs league' scenario at the Shay, where Halifax spent large parts of the match more than matching Charlton who are 3 divisions above them, but ultimately a difference in quality finishing and slightly better fitness lead to a ruthless late flurry of Charlton goals. The scoreline suggesting an easy win, but before the 80^th minute this wasn’t the case.

The game was scrappy for large parts of the first half – a fairly constant drizzle leading up to and during the game a big reason. Some might have wondered if the surface may have been given a bonus watering beforehand - the slippery surface acted as a bit of a leveller, Charlton struggling to put together the passing moves they were attempting.

Halifax spent the first couple of minutes running at Charlton which seemed to take them by surprise, but after that they were restricted to concentrating on putting in crosses from wide for most of the half, and when most of the time there was one player to cross to against Charlton’s fairly tall defenders, it was likely to be a fruitless exercise. Also from corners and set pieces they just weren’t looking likely to beat the Charlton defenders to the ball.

Charlton themselves weren’t having a lot of joy either, but there were signs that they would have opportunities – Halifax’s defence were showing some nerves, with some risky and sometimes wayward early passes drawing audible gasps from the home fans.

The one difference in an even first half was that Charlton were able to get on the end of some of their crosses. The early warnings came from a header from Taylor well saved by Halifax keeper Eastwood, and then Morrison having a goal disallowed, albeit him only getting to it after a fairly blatant push in the back of his marker.

Matt Taylor was again on the end of a cross in the 40^th minute and this time the keeper was given no chance, a looping header from the right went far above him and dipped perfectly into the left corner, a quality finish.

To their credit though Halifax responded immediately, a super effort from Tom Baker from 30 yards clipping the top of the bar just a minute later. They weren’t able to create something else for the rest of the half and they went in with the score 0-1.

Halifax manager Neil Aspin must have said something fairly rousing at half time as Halifax again began the half with a forward surge, and Jamie Rainford connected with a volley from the edge of the penalty area which Charlton’s keeper Sullivan parried away.

They continued to try to push forward but again they were mainly restricted to hopeful crosses from wide. But then Jason St. Juste came on in the 62^nd minute and his pace did seem to start causing problems for the otherwise resolute Charlton defence, and he got behind them a couple of times but was narrowly unable to get the ball to the onrushing Halifax attackers.

Really Charlton seemed to be creating nothing of their own and focusing on stopping Halifax from scoring, when out of the blue in the 80^th minute they ventured forward, and Johnnie Jackson’s left footed deflected effort found the net, and just like that the tie was finished.

Cue ruthlessness from Charlton, as late on they showed the difference in fitness of league teams. Danny Hollands made it 3-0 in the 83^rd minute, a close range finish after a goalmouth scramble.

A tiring Halifax were left with even more running to do as Danny Lowe was sent off a minute later, a late lunge on Wagstaff a sign of the frustration for a Halifax team who’s hard work didn’t deserve such a heavy defeat.

Whilst Wagstaff received treatment a streaker decided that'd be a good time to run onto the pitch. Unlike many streakers he was wearing a t-shirt.. unfortunately nothing else, not a pretty sight!!

The nightmare ending to the game for Halifax was completed in the 90th minute as Bradley Pritchard nutmegged the keeper with his finish. 4-0 to Charlton it finished, and whilst the national publicity is over for Halifax who will now hope to resurrect a promotion push in the Blue Square North, Charlton's next step in the FA Cup is a home game against Carlisle United in the 2nd round.

The Shay Stadium - FC Halifax Town - ground info

The Shay Stadium has the potential to hold a crowd of 14,061, of which 5,830 is seats. Fans are mainly housed in either the South Stand, a terraced section behind one of the goals, or the East Stand, an all-seater section along the length of the pitch. For games where a bigger crowd is expected such as the Charlton game I was at, the Skircoat stand (opposite the East Stand) is used for the away fans, and this is also all seater. The North stand is unused terrace behind the other goal, currently occupied by lots of flags.

Despite the bumper crowd of 4,601 for the Charlton match, I got a number of texts during the match from people watching it on ITV asking why all they could see was a nearly empty stand (the Skircoat stand that the Charlton fans were in). So when normal attendances are around 1,500 you can imagine the vast amount of empty space at the ground.

It looked much like FC United’s situation at Gigg Lane at present with the general empty spaces, but whilst they’re looking at building a 5,000ish capacity ground as a permanent home that’d much lessen the empty space situation, Halifax obviously own the Shay and as a result need a rapid ascent up the leagues to sustain themselves at that ground with the extra running and maintenance costs compared to a typical smaller non league ground.

At the moment the solution is charging above most of the other teams in their division, with adult admission £13 for Charlton and £12.50 normally according to the website (contrasting with the £10 admission for many others in their division).

The match programme was a whopping £3 - it was an FA cup special so I don't know if that's the norm, and to be fair there was a bumper amount of content to justify the high price.

Given the massive crowd I didn’t consider trying the food and drink, and from what I overheard they were struggling with the bumper crowd, a spectator returned to their seat on the 40^th minute saying they’d gone to 3 different bits which had all sold out of many things already, this before the half time rush of people!

Getting to the ground on public transport is easy enough when arriving via train – the station linking up with nearby Huddersfield, Leeds, Bradford and others. It’s a simple 10-15 minute walk to the ground – exit with Eureka on your left (childhood memories!), go left on the main road you can see in front of you, and then it’s really just a case of following the main road, going straight on at a few crossroads or mini roundabouts, and eventually the ground comes up on your right.

Obviously the ground has a car park, but to those fans used to parking on nearby side streets to get away quickly after the match, it’s not the usual scenario of smaller grounds – i.e. with mainly main roads and businesses nearby it’s not easy to park close to the ground. I didn’t see anywhere obvious along the way so it’s one to suss out beforehand.

The nearby area is mostly commercial and industrial – several large car washers and similar along the main road, various warehouses including the large Nestle building. It’s not the prettiest to be honest, but the ground itself does look impressive on the inside. The club will hope to continue ascending the leagues in the forthcoming seasons – the Shay is a ground that would have a cracking atmosphere with much bigger crowds than what they’re currently getting – the atmosphere of yesterday’s Charlton match a taster of what they’ll hope will be regular in the near future.

Build-up: FC Halifax Town vs Charlton Athletic

Sunday at 12:30pm - the biggest moment so far in the short history of the recently reformed FC Halifax Town - their reward for reaching the FA cup first round for the first time is a dream home draw against the highest ranked team (in terms of league tables anyway) in the draw. It's on ITV1, it's got all sorts of publicity for the club, and it'll be a huge crowd compared to what they're used to.

Of course FC Halifax Town are formed from the liquidated Halifax Town, who went into turmoil in the years after dropping from the Football League in 2002. The old club had their fair amount of scalps, and their furthest progress was when they reached the 5th round in 1953. Meanwhile Charlton reached the final in 1946 and 1947, losing in '46 then winning the FA Cup in 1947.

The game was selected for TV for the obvious 'David vs Goliath' situation - Halifax in the Blue Square North (equivalent of the 6th division if the Premier League is called division 1) against Charlton in League One, 3 divisions above. In fact just 3 seasons ago, when FC Halifax Town first began, the gap was a massive 6 divisions - the gap has been halved by 1 relegation for Charlton in 2008/9, and then successive promotions for Halifax in 2009/10 and 2010/11.

All of which would suggest this is likely to be a Charlton walkover, but at this stage of the FA cup the upset is always possible. Charlton know this all too well, having been knocked out in the 2009 FA cup first round to non league Northwich Victoria, a 1-0 loss to a late goal.

They progressed further last year, losing 3-0 to Tottenham in the Third Round. Not that they were particularly convincing along the way - it took a replay against both Barnet from the league below and then another replay against non league Luton Town to make it that far.

Halifax meanwhile were knocked out in the 4th qualifying round in the previous two seasons to Conference opposition, the round before the 1st round itself - so their progress this time is viewed as third time lucky. Along the way the "Shaymen" narrowly saw off Tadcaster Albion 2-1 at home in the 2nd qualifying round,
then they beat Lancaster City 3-0 as reported on this blog last month, and in the 4th qualifying round they scraped a 1-0 victory at Solihull Moors.

In terms of league form Halifax find themselves 11th in their league compared to Charlton 1st in theirs, and the contrasting league results so far show why:

Halifax: LWDDDDWLLWDWLWW
Charlton: WWWDWDWWWDWDLWWWW

In terms of goals, in 15 games Halifax have got 27 let 27 for a goal difference of 0, compared to in 17 games Charlton have scored 39 conceeded 14, a whopping +25. Halifax's top scorer is Lee Gregory with 9 league goals, Charlton's top scorer Bradley Wright Phillips is also League One's top scorer on 13 goals.

But anyone with any interest in this stage of the FA cup knows that league form doesn't necessarily mean anything in a televised first round match!

Glossop North End 0 AFC Liverpool 0

A crowd of 243 watched a fairly lively but ultimately goal-less encounter at Surrey Street.

With AFC Liverpool rock bottom in the table and without a win so far this season, Glossop looked to get an early breakthrough as they piled forward early on. A low cross from the left byline narrowly missed everyone including the onrushing striker, there was a 1 on 1 with the keeper but the keeper got the block in, and a looping shot from the edge of the box that took a slight deflection landed on the top of the net.

With Glossop unable to make early opportunities pay, AFC Liverpool began to show a little confidence on the ball themselves, and in the 12th minute had their first opportunity, their player found himself in a bit of space on the edge of the box but his high shot flew just over the bar.

Glossop pushed forward again in the 14th minute and a low powerful shot towards the middle of the goal was well saved by the keeper who somehow managed to deflect it upwards and over the bar with his reaction save. From the corner a header to the left corner of the net was blocked by a defender.

In the 19th minute an AFC Liverpool effort from 25 yards out intended for the top right hand corner went just wide. It had been a fairly busy opening to the half that unfortunately didn't last, as for the rest of the half the teams cancelled each other out. Glossop were looking marginally the better side and were getting a lot of crosses in but with little joy. AFC Liverpool could've made something from a 26th minute free kick from just outside the penalty area, but the finish was one that would've been a good rugby conversion - smashed way over the bar. Half time 0-0.

The 2nd half was much more entertaining and chances came right from the start - in the 46th min AFC Liverpool's striker was put through on goal but hit the bar with his effort. Glossop responded with a big chance of their own in the 49th minute, a downward header from a cross was cleared off the line. They had another chance from a header in the penalty area in the 57th minute but this was put over the bar and wasted.

AFC Liverpool fans and players wanted a penalty in the 60th minute as their player took the ball past the keeper and fell over the keeper. The ball was on it's way out for a goal kick though so the shouts were ignored.

Glossop had a spell of dominance for the following 15 minutes, starting with in the 61st minute a low shot towards the left corner was saved. A minute later from a looping cross from the right a header came back off the bar.

Next in the 67th minute a Glossop shot from the edge of a crowded penalty area deflected off one of the bodies, the deflection sending it over the bar. And then in the 72nd minute, one of their subs was set up on the edge of the 6 yard, a massive chance from close range but his shot was weak and saved. He tried to make amends a minute later by this time turning provider for a similar chance, but the player he set up was under pressure from a defender and as a result could only scuff his effort and the keeper gathered.

AFC Liverpool hadn't given up getting a goal themselves though, and having weathered that spell of pressure they had a 75th minute header towards the left corner cleared for a corner by a defender. From this corner the ball pinballed around before being struck from the edge of the penalty area but sailing over the bar.

In the 80th minute a Glossop player got the ball and cut inside from the left edge of the penalty area, then he attempted to curl it into the top right corner but sent it wide instead.

With both teams now attempting to get a late winner, AFC Liverpool almost did just that in the 88th minute, a cross from the left was well headed towards the top right corner, and only a brilliant reaction save from Glossop's keeper stopped this from going in.

Glossop had a couple of late corners in time added on, and in the 92nd minute from one of these they had a close range header... over the bar. 0-0 it was but an end to end finish, and aside from the last 20 minutes of the first half this was a pretty entertaining match that deserved a few goals really. Glossop fans seemed fairly disappointed, this result sees them slip down the table to 7th, whilst AFC Liverpool fans applauded their team off - they're still winless and bottom of the table, but maybe not for long on this evidence.

Surrey Street - Glossop North End - ground info

Surrey Street, home of Glossop North End who play in the North West Counties Football League (tier 5 of the non league pyramid) has a capacity of 2,374 including 209 seats. The opposite side of the ground and behind one of the goals have further small covered areas, and the rest is open space.

The ground is well placed for getting to via public transport, bing maps plotting it as 0.39 miles away from Glossop train station. It's easy on the bus as well with direct buses from Stalybridge, Ashton and other nearby areas. Buses go along High Street West/East (name changes as you go along it) and all you need to do is keep looking left and when you spot the Tesco, get off the bus. Then follow the uphill road with Tesco on your left, follow it as it curves right and the ground and turnstile appears on your right.

As the ground is tucked round the back of several large shops and warehouses there is decent parking space right next to it, otherwise the Tesco's large car park is the best option. Advice for those unfamiliar with the area is if coming up via car or bus, allow a bit more time than the travel info says. The one problem with Glossop is that the big main road is pretty much the spine of the place, and by that I mean everyone who drives in or out of Glossop goes along it, and as a result you rarely pass through Glossop without being in some form of queue.

Back to the ground itself, admission is £6 for adults. Programmes are only £1 - a good read and an absolute bargain at that price, it's much better than a lot of the £2 programmes clubs in higher divisions do. The front cover and advert pages are colour glossy and the rest black and white paper.

Now I couldn't pay this ground a visit without seeing if their pies really are as good as what everyone suggests. For those who don't know, Glossop North End's steak and potato pie won the "football pie of the year" award at the British Pie Awards in 2010. And the general consensus of everyone who tries them for the first time is that they really are THAT good.

So I got my usual pie of choice - cheese and onion - wondering if it's only their steak and potato pie that's so brilliant or whether the rest are great as well. Verdict is - BEST. PIE. EVER. It really was that good, miles better than any pie I've ever had!

In terms of price, I got it with a can of coke and the total came to £2.10, so that might be £1.40 pie 70p can? There isn't a list of prices but the bit with the pies in is labelled so you know which ones they've got. They don't sell chips by the way. This gives some people an excuse to have a second pie later on!!

Build-up: Glossop North End vs AFC Liverpool

So it's Surrey Street at 3pm today for Glossop North End vs AFC Liverpool in the North West Counties Football League Premier Division.

The clubs have had contrasting fortunes so far this season, Glossop are well placed at 6th in the table and just 3 points behind the top of the table club, and with 4 of the 5 clubs above them having played 1-4 more games. Glossop also have the division's best goal difference of +21.

Meanwhile AFC Liverpool, having been promoted to the Premier Division after last season, are struggling at the foot of the table. It looks grim for them with just 3 points from 13 games and not a single win yet, the only club in the division who haven't got a win yet.

So you'd think a club performing so poorly will have been taken to pieces in several matches and suffered some thrashings, but actually individual results haven't been that grim for them - of their 10 defeats only one has been lost by a 3 goal margin, 3 defeats were by a 2 goal margin and 6 of them have been by just the one goal.

These two have already played each other in the league this season, at AFC Liverpool on the 13th August it finished 1-0 to Glossop.

Here's a breakdown of how results have been in the league for both teams so far:
GNE, played 15: WLWWDWLWLWWWWLD
AFC Liverpool, played 13: LLLLDLLLLLDLD

AFC Liverpool's big problem seems to have been scoring goals as they've averaged just 1 goal a game. But in the last 3 league games, of which 2 have been draws, they've scored twice in each. Add to that a cup win at Flixton last week, and this is a club that are finally seeing a few minor reasons to wonder if things may begin to improve soon.

Glossop haven't struggled with goals lately and have registered a number of big victories, including a 7-1 and a 3 game run where they scored 5 goals in each game to win 5-0, 5-2 and 5-1. But they have been a bit inconsistent especially at home where in amongst the big wins have been two 1-0 defeats and a 0-0 bore draw.

Going off the table alone you'd expect today's game to be a home banker, but delving into the stats suggests this isn't a certainty by any means.

Mossley 1 Warrington Town 1

It finished deservedly all square at Seel Park, where these two sides largely cancelled each other out.

The game began with immediate action as straight from the kick off Mossley charged forward, and the ball was fed through to Lee Rick approaching the right corner of the penalty area. He lashed a powerful shot into the top right corner of the net, the goal timed at 18 seconds, with several groups of supporters still just entering the ground!

Rather than being stunned by this, Warrington instead reacted by pushing forward looking for an immediate leveller, and twice in the next 5 minutes there were dangerous low crosses from the right that narrowly evaded everyone as they travelled in front of goal.

Warrington continued to be the team on top for the next 20 minutes but were mostly restricted to little more than half chances, their big chance being in the 15th minute when the ball was crossed to the wide left of the 6 yard box, but from this angle the shot was skewed wide.

Then in the remaining 20 minutes of the half the teams became more evenly matched, with Mossley themselves creating a couple opportunities. First McNamara got the ball in space from 25 yards out but his shot was straight at the keeper, then later on Joe Heap hit a cross shot from the left that no-one could get a touch on as it travelled narrowly wide. 1-0 to Mossley at half time.

The second half continued to be fairly even with Warrington doing their best to push for the equaliser they deserved. And they got it in the 56th minute, from wide right of the penalty area near the byline a cross took a big deflection off a sliding Mossley defender, looping it over the keeper and perfectly into the path of Matt Cross to nod into the open goal from just a couple of yards out.

Mossley tried to respond to this and had occasional chances for the next 20 minutes, including a Nathan Taylor curling shot from the left side of the penalty area towards the right corner tipped wide by the keeper, a weak Steve Halford shot easily caught, a Harry Noon powerful shot pushed away by the keeper and another from Noon into the side netting.

Not that Warrington were just sitting back, they had a chance in the 84th min, a close range header from a cross was well saved. 5 minutes were added on giving both the opportunity to look for a winner, but both teams failed to get their final ball right, and a Warrington shot comfortably saved was all that happened, as a game of infrequent action fizzled out for a 1-1 draw.