Heaton (26-10-2013)

Heaton Stannington 3 – 0 Birtley, Northern League Division 2 (26^th October 2013)

Total costs for the Newcastle ground-hop = £142-10

Ground-hop ticket: £20

iPaper: 30p

B&B accommodation: £30

Metro ticket: £2-50

Train ticket: £61
Taxi: £11-60

Tea and sausage sandwich at Team Northumbria: £3

Fish and chips: £5-60

Tea at Heaton: £1
Tea at Newcastle Benfield: £1

Team-sheet at West Allotment: 10p

‘Three Miles West Magazine’: £2
'Northern Conquest Magazine’: £4

Game one of my first ‘ground-hop’ weekend in Newcastle – the North Tyneside hop, organised to celebrate the 125^th anniversary of the Northern League. I started at the pre-dawn time of 5.45am to make the 10.30am kick-off, and after a 2 hour train journey from Sheffield, just made it on time. Heaton Stannington’s Grounsell Park is located a short walk from Chillingham Road on the Newcastle metro system, and was fairly easy to find. The ground was positively bustling with ground-hoppers from all over the country judging by the accents.

After collecting my programmes for the day (in a pack of 4), I took up my place on the corner flag and surveyed the ground. The ground had the usual metal pole round the pitch, and on the opposite side to the entrance there was a grassy embankment which looked fairly muddy this morning. The entrance side had a short section of terracing, and an even shorter section of wooden decking, with spectators crammed in. The club had only recently joined the Northern League, so obviously hadn’t had the capacity to develop facilities as they might have liked. Still, I had received a friendly welcome on entering, and the atmosphere was jovial and relaxed.

The game was rather less friendly, and was fiercely contested by both teams. Heaton, in black and white stripes, took the lead early on when their number 9 slotted in a penalty. The away side – in light blue shirts – created a couple of chances, with numbers 5 and 9 missing half-chances. The home side made it 2-0 shortly after, and were looking like they would add to their tally when their number 3 (a Joe Hart lookalike) hit over from just inside the box. Birtley’s number 9 missed a chance when clean through on the keeper, and so they went in 2 nil down at half-time. It was a good competitive game so far, if made a little bit scrappier by the state of the pitch.

Heaton came out looking determined to get the third goal, with numbers 8 and 9 firing over just after the break. Birtley did create the odd chance, but their 9 wasted another chance when he took too many touches in an over-elaborate dribble inside the penalty area. Then – in the controversial moment of the match - a Birtley player swung a fist at one of the Heaton attackers, catching him in the jaw. The referee missed the incident, and was consulting his linesman on what had happened when the Birtley bench signalled a substitution, conveniently of the offending player. To much outrage from the home bench, and even the neutral ground-hoppers, the referee let the substitution go ahead, and the hot-headed Birtley player escaped a certain red-card. The moment was captured on video, and ended up on the Northern Echo website! It later transpired that the player had broken his opponent’s jaw in the attack, so there must have been some impact for that to happen.

There was still a game going on here, and Birtley’s number 15 had a shot well-saved by the home keeper, before missing an absolute sitter shortly after. Heaton looked fired up by the injustice of the missing red card, and made it 3 nil on 83 minutes, with their number 9 grabbing his second of the game. Thanks to the bobbly pitch, their number 5 almost gifted a consolation to Birtley late on when a back-pass went awry. Then Heaton’s number 11 hit the away post on 90 minutes after an excellent dribble into the box. This had been a tough game, and not exactly entertaining, but had been a good start to the day. Time for a breather before the next game at West Allotment Celtic at 1.15pm.