Penistone Church (04-01-2014)

Penistone Church 3 – 1 Athersley Recreation Reserves (Sheffield County League Cup Quarter-Final), 4^th January 2014

Tea: 70p

Oxo: 80p

Train (Sheffield-Penistone): £5-80

Phone home! £1-60

Total: £8-90

I depressed myself over Christmas with thoughts of how many more places I needed to visit to see all grounds from the Premiership to Step 6 in Northern England. At the current steady rate of 30 a year it will take me until the end of 2016 to see games in all the remaining games. And they are getting harder and harder to travel to!

Back on the groundhopping trail after the break, I opted for a ‘local’ game at Penistone, which is just North of Barnsley, roughly a 40 minute train ride from Sheffield. According to the league website, this one kicked off at 1.30, so I set off at 11.30 unsure whether this would be on with the wet weather we’d had so far in January. Games at Shaw Lane and some in West Yorkshire had already fallen foul of the conditions, so I was taking a risk on this one. I had visions of reaching the ground and turning round immediately for the return train to Sheffield. It looked ominous as I arrived at the ground, where there were barely 10 cars outside. Unless they’d done some serious car-pooling, it looked unlikely that both teams were here. Entering the ground, I found the groundsman putting out corner flags, and upon enquiry I realised that kick-off was actually 3pm!

I spent an hour wandering round Penistone in the wet and cold, had lunch and headed back to the ground at 2.30. So much for my aim of getting back in time for the Arsenal-Spurs game at 5.30! Further disaster followed when my phone battery died, and I was unable to let Mrs Groundhopper know the changed kick-off. Fortunately, I had my iPod, so was able to take the obligatory photo of the ground. This was free entry and was a pretty decent ground for this level. To the left as I entered was a covered stand in the black and white colours of Penistone Church – a short section of terracing followed by around 100 seats further towards the half-way line. The rest of the ground was uncovered – the far side bordered by a fence next to a training pitch. In fact, it was only possible to walk around two and a half sides of the ground, as the far goal was off limits to spectators. I liked the ground, but was feeling slightly grim what with the cold weather, flat phone battery, and my unnecessarily early arrival. Still, the game was definitely on – one positive today so far!

The first half started at a fast pace, exactly what I expected from this league. Penistone looked far stronger, with one midfielder cutting inside before shooting over on his left foot. Athersley responded when their number 9 put a header over after a smart passing move. A flicked header from Penistone forced a save on 15 minutes, and was only a matter of time before a goal came – number 6 putting the home side ahead on 30 minutes. Athersley looked slightly off the pace, and there was a lot of backing off from the ball, which allowed Penistone to attack easily.

Athersley clearly had a rocket up them at half-time, and came out looking to take this match by the scruff of the neck. Their vocal captain (number 6) rattled the crossbar with a superb shot, before Athersley forced a point-blank save from the home keeper. The away side deservedly equalised on 67 minutes when their number 10 smashed in from just inside the box. Penistone still looked strong and ready to take the initiative when they needed to. On 75 minutes, their number 4 headed in from a corner to make it 2-1. Despite this there was a still a match to be won here. It just wasn’t going Athersley’s way, with their captain hitting the bar a second time. Now, Athersley were open to quick counter-attacks, and were carved open on 82(ish) minutes. The ball was played to the right of the penalty area, and from a tight angle, the Penistone striker caught it crisply, hitting a superb goal into the top corner. It reminded me of Batistuta’s brilliant goal for Fiorentina against Arsenal at Wembley, and finished the game off for Penistone. After a slightly inauspicious start, I’d seen a competitive and entertaining game to light the January gloom – and all for free!