Train (Manchester to Ashton-under-Lyne): £3-20
Entrance: £7-50
I Paper: 30p
Tea: £1
Bovril: £1
Total: £13
Ashton-under-Lyne is located just to the East of Manchester, next to the ring road (the M60), and is home to two non-league clubs – Ashton United and Curzon Ashton. Again, I took advantage of my monthly trans-Pennine season ticket to get to Manchester for ‘free’ from Sheffield, before walking to Manchester Victoria for a 10-minute train ride to Ashton (return £3-20). On a busy train from Sheffield, I sat next to a drunk and cheerful Man United fan in a tie-dye t-shirt, who gave me his thoughts on the sports headlines as I tried to read the paper. He even gave me regular updates from the Spurs-Chelsea game! I didn’t have a chance to explain my destination for the day – I think he assumed I was also off to the Theatre of Dreams!
Curzon’s ground is about a 15-20 minute walk from the rail station, located within a sports village which includes athletics fields and racing tracks. The Tameside Stadium was similar to Nantwich and Witton in its spaciousness and modernity, with a stand of seating faced by a row of 8-10 terraces. Both ends had terraces with crush barriers, which probably put it ahead of Nantwich in terms of capacity. The only really distinctive feature of the ground was a statue outside which looked like a couple of rugby or football players grappling for the ball.
Like the game at Nantwich, today was an FA Cup Qualifier – only 10 games away from Wembley. I’d decided to attempt to follow the FA competitions wherever possible up till Christmas – even at these early stages (as I’d found out at Knaresborough) there is a certain magic to these qualifiers. The game was slightly disappointing to be honest, as the teams seemed to cancel each other out. Curzon Ashton oozed quality on and off the ball, while Lancaster were clearly a well-organised outfit who communicated well with each other. The main events of the first half were when the Lancaster number 10 skied a good opportunity over the goal, and when the Ashton goalkeeper was substituted on 20 minutes.
The second half was similar until the teams started to realise this was a knockout game – and it began to open out in the closing stages. Lancaster had a header tipped over from close range, before their number 9 had a right-footed shot saved by the replacement keeper. Curzon threatened, and nearly scored when their number 8 hit a deflected shot, only to be foiled by the away keeper. It finished goalless in front of a crowd of 302. Not the worst game in the world, but not exactly the most thrilling either. Perhaps I was paying the price for that brilliant game at Knaresborough! I sprinted back to the station for the 17.05 back to Manchester – one more ground ticked off in the North West…
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