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Today's game at Birks Road, Cleator Moor, was my third consecutive football weekend in a row. Being up in Cumbria for Easter, I decided to find a local game. Often when I am up here, most of the local sides are away, but today I had a choice of Workington, Celtic, and even Carlisle City. Cleator Moor is about 4 miles from the in-laws' home so was perfect for an (almost) end-of-season match with the sun shining. Cleator Moor is a town just outside Whitehaven, with strong connections to mining, industry and railways of times past. I am often reminded that it is not part of Whitehaven but is a town with its own identity and community. The football club is renowned locally even though they are currently in the Step 7 Wearside League, so I wanted to satisfy my curiosity.
The club's Birks Road ground is located just off one of the main streets in Cleator Moor, behind a doctor's surgery. Initially I managed to get lost on the way in, going too far down the road and turning down a cul-de-sac. Needless to say I could still have got in as a gate was invitingly open next to the pitch!
When I arrived at the ground, I found a neat set-up. Most of the ground 'furniture' was clustered around the near side, with a car park, modern club-house and a covered standing area in close proximity. The area behind both goals was bounded by high fences and in the distance was a magnificent view of nearby fells and mountains.
Celtic started today at 6th in the league, whilst the visitors Silksworth were 4th. However, the home side had played 8 less games - incredible considering there are barely a few weeks of the season left. When I looked at Cleator's fixtures, it seemed they had a packed April and were still due to be playing when the rest of the Wearside had finished.
The first half was an evenly balanced affair. Silksworth had an early shot blocked on the line, while Cleator's number 9 could only watch as he nearly made contact with the ball across the face of the goal. Silksworth's number 7 bore a strong resemblance to Michael Laudrup but his football was not quite of the same quality! There were some physical battles at either end of the pitch but the referee let the game flow without too many cards. One of the away fans from Wearside grumbled "we get nought from refs over here". Quite apart from refereeing decisions, it must be a long journey to come across to Cumbria - and in fact, teams have to come twice, with nearby Windscale also in this league.
Cleator Moor Celtic came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. They hit the post early on with a header and had a cluster of chances which flew wide or were foiled by a tenacious keeper. Celtic's number 10 very nearly made the breakthrough but a fantastic diving save by away keeper (in front of the distant fells) put paid to that. So it finished all square, and I headed back to base via a bracing walk with the wind blowing strongly. As I am writing this in mid-May, I can now see that Celtic finished a creditable 3rd in the league (behind Jarrow and Redcar), whilst Silksworth finished 6th. Cleator Moor are one to watch, and they may well be on their way up to Step 6 in years to come.
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