Salford City v Grimsby Town. Tuesday 17th September, 2019

Salford 1 Grimsby 0

My wife doesn't watch much football these days. This wasn't always the case, when we were first courting she seemed to enjoy coming to watch Rovers with me. There was one problem though. She was a jinx. Incredibly it wasn't until her 17th attempt that she actually saw Rovers win! To be fair we weren't living in Bristol at the time so most of the games were away - but still.

I'm not quite at this level with Grimsby, but I'm certainly no lucky charm. Tonight was my 7th game watching the Mariners and I'm yet to see them win.

This is the third season in a row I've teamed up with Pete to go and watch his beloved Grimsby Town. Usually our mate Tom is in tow. But the pull of league two action and a midweek overnighter wasn't enough to tempt him on this occasion.

So it was just me and Pete who enjoyed a pleasant 3 hour train ride from Bristol Temple Meads to Manchester Piccadilly. Sipping on coffee and enjoying the sunshine on green and brown september fields out the window. I also spent a fair chunk of the journey trying to get my tickets in order. In the pursuit of thriftiness I'd booked my journey through a site that broke down the long journey in to lots of short ones to save money. This was all well and good but it left us with no room for anything else on our pull down tables.

On arriving in Manchester at lunchtime it was time for a beer. Our first stop - The Piccadilly Tap. This was a stones through from the station and came highly recommended from internationally renowned groundhopper - Matt Losboyos. What a lovely bar this was, Pete and me supped on an IPA and a pilsner respectively whilst taking in a bit of Manchester out the window. Fair play to the homeless bloke who spotted a couple had left two half finished pints on the outside table. In he swooped in the blink of an eye and downed them both.

I went vegan at the end of last season. So far I'm not regretting it. I even managed two weeks in France without wavering. Following a plant based diet isn't always that compatible with a day out at the football though. We'd arrived in Manchester at 1pm and the priority before kick off was site seeing and a drink or two. Faffing about looking for a vegan cafe wasn't on the agenda. Thus we were picking up what we could on the go. By the time we finished a bit of culture at The People's History Museum, I'd only managed to source two bags of crisps and a vegan sausage roll from Greggs.

There was much to mull over from our trip to the People's history museum as we walked north towards Salford. We'd seen an excellent exhibition on the 18th and 19th century events that led to the Peterloo massacre of 1819. This included a biography of feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft who we learned had a lover called Fanny Blood.

Fittingly we stopped for a rest at a lovely old pub called The Starr Inn which may well have been standing at the time of Peterloo. Ten years ago it was bought by it's locals and remains a community owned pub to this day. We arrived just after 4 to find the door locked and a few twitchy looking locals waiting outside. The sign said it should be open at 4pm. One bloke, who we would later find out was called Tommy, was absolutely livid. by ten past 4 he was pacing up and down coming out with some choice words about the work ethic of the yet to materialise barman. As ten past turned in to quarter past his rage was at fever pitch. Dropping C bombs left right and centre, he noticed Pete's Grimsby shirt and tried to enlist us in the injustice of it all: "These lads have come all the way from Grimsby and they still can't get a fucking pint!" A brave local encouraged him to "chill your boots". Thankfully at this point the barman arrived, clearly having come straight from a job on a building site and opened up.

Inside the Starr inn was beautiful. Resplendent with curved green leather clad benches, little nooks and crannies and a well stocked bar. Remarkably, after a few sips of his first pint, Tommy calmed right down and like the other few locals in there made us feel very welcome. They were interested in the Bristol Rovers - City derby and asked lots of questions about Grimsby. In turn, they regaled us with all sorts of tales and educated us on the footballing geography of greater Manchester. Tommy revealed he was a Salford season ticket holder but said he wasn't going tonight as he was on the piss. I guessed he'd had a couple before the Starr had opened and almost pointed out to him that he still had 3 hours of drinking time before kick off, but thought better of it. Another regular had wondered in by this time. He was greeted by one bloke with the words "Knock off Ron you cunt" which seemed to be said with genuine affection. Ron also showed an interest in us. He was definitely friendly but I could understand very little of what he said due partly to his strong accent, and because he was absolutely steaming. Pete's ear was better than mine though and they bonded over fishing stories.

Inside The Starr Inn

So warm the welcome at the Starr that we could have happily hunkered down for the night but it was time to go to the game.

The meteoric rise of Salford City from the Northern Premier League Divison One North to the Football league in 5 years is well documented. This is thanks largely to the two part BBC documentary that aired a couple of years ago and the profile of the 'Class of 92' who took ownership of the club and have pumped in millions. This is their first season in the football league and unsurprisingly the ground, Moor lane, has undergone a complete transformation.

We were to be in the away end of what is now called the Penisnular Stadium. Over a thousand Grimsby fans had made the long trip across from North Lincolnshire and they were in fine voice from the off. Tommy had assured us we could "get a scoff" at the ground but my veganism tripped me up again. Whilst Pete enjoyed a pie I had another bag of ready salted crisps.

Moor lane is a neat modern stadium, it's near symmetrical with two equal size terraces behind the goals and two all seater stands along the sides. The flood lights are in the shape of the club new logo and there is what appears to be a permanent studio box in one of the corners of the pitch for pundits. Over the last few years Salford have been on the TV a lot and it looks like the Nevilles and Becks et al are expecting that to continue. The ground looks unrecognisable from the one that featured on the documentary and they are getting upwards of 2000 for every game, adult tickets of £10 must certainly help with this.

Grimsby were going in to this as the more in form team and there was lots of optimism behind the goal. One nice feature of the ground is that the stands are very close to the pitch. A fan in front of us was able to lean over the advertising hoardings and reach the poles holding up the back of the net to put a sticker on it. The atmosphere was good and Grimsby started well. They had the promising looking trio upfront of Moses Ogbu and veterans Matt Green and big man James Hanson. Green had a free header early on from a deep cross but could only find the centre of the goal and Salford keeper Lethren was able to tip it over.

Salford had a good outlet in their left back Touray, he was happy taking the ball down the wing at pace and looked a threat. The home team went 1-0 up with a free kick after twenty minutes. Long serving Grimsby keeper Mckeown either lost the flight of the ball in the wall or it took a slight deflection, as it flew past him as he was leaning the other way.

Shortly after the restart everyone thought Grimsby had equalised. They had a free kick infront of us just outside the area. Jordan Cook found the bottom corner with a beautiful curling effort. Cook celebrated with a knee slide right in front of us and the away end was a sea of limbs. The Salford players moped back in to position and as the Grimsby players got ready for the restart, the ref was just about to blow his whistle when the fourth official caught his attention. Apparently Matt Green had committed a foul by pushing part of the wall out of the way. The goal was disallowed much to our dismay.

Grimsby continued to dominate but the Salford centre backs were dealing pretty well with the high crosses in to the box. The disallowed goal seemed to deflate the away side a bit, but we still felt if they got an equaliser they'd go on and win it. They had plenty of corners and got themselves in to good positions but couldn't find the finish. Centre back Waterfall came closest right at the end, leaning backwards he managed to send a half volley towards the top corner but Letheren was there again to tip it over.

1-0 at the final whistle. We wondered off back to our hotel. In search of food we found a take away where I settled for a salty portion of chips. Coupled with my crisp eating I began to feel a bit shrivelled up. The next morning I bought a lettuce to much on to make amends.

Another enjoyable but winless trip to watch Grimsby. Hopefully they'll have me back again.

Welton Rovers v Bath City. Tuesday 12th February 2019

Welton Rovers 1 Bath City 1 (Welton win 5-3 on penalties)

How far away is Welton? That was the question I was frantically asking myself on this Tuesday evening. I'd originally planned to go to Cinderford for their game with Bristol Rovers development squad. That had succumbed to a water logged pitch so at 6.30pm, I was scouring the fixture lists looking for a game within an hours drive. Football league action was on offer at Newport and Swindon but I fancied a new ground. Seeing Welton were hosting Bath City in the Somerset Cup, I checked Google maps and discovered they played in West Clewes, near Midsomer Norton and within an hours drive of Gone for a Burton's Bristol HQ. Game on.

Nestled in the Radstock and Midsomer Norton area, Welton have been main stays in the Western League for over a century. They were set up as a sporting club in Victorian times for the local mining community. Judging by the ample size of the club house I expect they still serve as a main focal point in the community. With a well furnished bar I imagine the club house does a brisk trade even on non match days situated as it is on the main road. This is probably just as well because I doubt Rovers generate much money from ticket sales. Not because they don't draw in the crowds on match days. For tonight's game a few hundred were in and I gather that Welton are a well supported team at the Western League level. Their ground though is very porous. This is because it doubles up as a recreation ground and thus has entrances all over the place. It has two different play parks on the site, one directly behind a goal and another just behind the main terrace down one side of the pitch. Even walking in the main entrance practically waving my wallet around looking for a turnstile, I almost missed the man near a shed at the side of the car park who took my ten pound note and struggled to muster change from the £6 entrance fee.

The ground inside is a beaut. There's not much behind the goals apart from a car park on one side and the afore mentioned play park behind the other. On the length of the pitch nearest the entrance though, there's the big club house complete with pitch facing tea hatch, two covered stands side by side and then a good size uncovered terrace beyond them. On the other side of the pitch were the dugs outs and a raised walkway that went the length of the pitch and separated it from the gardens of near by houses.

It was clear Bath City had bought a decent following and there was a good buzz around the ground. A Bath fan I encountered, who seemed to be in the know, said they were putting out a strong team as a lot of the players were "on the naughty step" after a 3-0 defeat at the weekend in the league. I was pleased to see Ryan Brunt in the starting line up. Still only 25, I remember the big centre forward being a cut above - and the main man for at least one season 5 or 6 years ago in a struggling league 2 Bristol Rovers side. Injuries have taken their toll and now he is back playing regular football hoping to help Bath get promoted in to the National League. 

After an impeccably observed minutes silence and an appearance from the Mayor of Midsomer Norton who was wearing a quite fantastic rainbow coloured blazer, the game kicked off. With Welton being in the Western League Divison One, there is 4 divisions between the clubs and as Bath were putting out a strong team - I presumed this might be a one sided affair. 

I should have known better. The Cup is a great leveller and the teams settled in to a full blooded and pretty even opening set of exchanges. I'd wandered over to the play park behind the goal that City were attacking presuming I might see a lot of action. The Welton keeper quickly struck me as a character. He was roundly ignoring the manager and much of his team telling him to kick his goal kicks to his left and kept on driving them down to his right, the side that all the big Welton players had vacated.

City were struggling to create much of note so i ambled on down past a short piece of running track and round to the dug outs. By the time I got there, the Welton bench were still offering constructive feedback to their keeper re his goal kicks:

"I can't kick it to the left - the floodlights are in my eyes"

"Fuck the lights - get a cap".

Welton had some quality and were undoubtedly well up for it. As the half progressed they were growing in to the game. Their number 6 in midfield was impressing and had a good chance to give them the lead when he headed just wide after he'd had a shot blocked out to the wing.

Towards the end of the half it all got a bit heated between the two technical areas. One of Bath's star players - Ross Stearn went on a run through midfield and was hacked down. The City bench erupted, taking issue not just with the challenge but also claiming that a Welton player had yelled "foul him!" just before he was bought down. The Welton management duo were in no mood to be peace makers and the resulting bad blood niggled on for the rest of the game.

It would be ungentlemanly of me to quote too much of it, not that it was particularly unsavoury. Highlights included Bath City being accused of being "big time Charlies", Welton were accused of lacking class, "oh and that's class is it?" came the retort. Someone got called Des Lynam apparently as an insult and then there was a bizarre exchange between Gerry Gill the Bath manager and a Welton kit man about which club had the most volunteers.
"That's why these games are a waste of time" was all the increasingly frustrated Bath manager could offer up as a rallying cry as the game progressed. 

At half time I had a nice cup of tea and a warm in the club house and enjoyed the tanoy man reading out the half time draw. I couldn't see him but his voice was beautiful, the kind of accent you only find on a rural Somerset man of a certain age. The way he encouraged the crowd to "come and support the first team - down the Gorge - at Cheddar - on Saturday" had me reaching for my diary.

Tough in the tackle, composed in possession, Welton were well organised and they continued to compete well in to the second half. Their centre forward was wearing a Petr Cech style hat and was full of running, defending from the front, he never gave the Bath back 4 time to pass it out of defence. On a rare occasion when Bath did get a clear sight on goal, the still capless Welton keeper pulled off a great save, tipping over from a pile driver to keep things at nil nil.

With a few minutes to go the dead lock was finally broken. Target man Brunt, who had largely been kept quiet to this point, showed a bit of class and bought the ball down with back to goal before turning his man and getting a quick shot away. It was saved by the Welton keeper, but he could only parry to Tom Smith who put the rebound in to the net. 1-0 Bath City.

A final throw of the dice came from the Welton managers as they chucked on Aaron Seviour as a late sub. They won a free kick on the right and after it went in to the mixer, the Bath keeper failed to gather and Seviour was first to react, slotting the ball home with his first touch. Wild celebrations in the terraces and in the Welton dug out which drowned out the final whistle seconds later. 

There's no extra time in the Somerset Cup so it was straight to penalties. I walked round behind the goal just in time to see 5 great pens from Welton and one blasted over from Ryan Brunt which meant the home team emerged victorious by 5 to 3. The crowd and players were as delighted as you would expect having knocked out a strong Bath City who are 4 divisions above them.

I felt privileged to be part of the crowd that I found out later witnessed Welton beat Bath City in a competitive fixture for the first time since 1950. A cracking cup tie in a decent ground.