Bus (Stockport-Manchester) = £3-10
Train (Manchester-Clitheroe) = £10-90
Entrance = £7
Programme = £1-50
Tea = £1
Total = £23-50
A running theme in my ground-hopping for 2014-15 is travel delays and hold-ups. Today's visit to another corner of East Lancashire brought more fret on the way to a ground on my 'difficult' list (both in terms of time and distance). The train from Sheffield-Stockport was no bother, except a 10-minute delay. I could still make the train from Victoria to Clitheroe, so was sure that once we got past Stockport I should be ok. Lo and behold, the train sat outside Stockport for 5-10 minutes, before pulling in, followed by an announcement that the train would be delayed by about an hour. In these situations, its impossible to know what to do. Staying on the train would add more time, whereas if I got off I could pretty much guarantee that any delays would be suddenly resolved!
I opted to take control of the situation, and headed out of the station onto the main road, hopping onto the 192 Stagecoach bus into Manchester. It was packed and due to the train delays, there were large queues of confused travellers congregating round the bus stops. On top of that, the City-Tottenham game was a 12.45 kick-off so the bus was full of fans desperate to reach the ground in time. It felt like the slowest bus in history, and I wasn't sure that I would make it to the city centre in time for the 13.06 from Victoria. To top it all, I'm sure I saw the train I had been on fly past on a bridge we went under! We made it to the centre at about 12.45, and I half power-walked/half sprinted to Victoria. Thankfully, I now have a mental map of Piccadilly-Victoria so was able to navigate this without too many problems.
Onto the 13.06, and to my relief there were no more delays as we trundled through a string of Lancashire towns on the way to Blackburn. Clitheroe is North of Blackburn, on the boundary of the Forest of Bowden, and is the end of the line, so (like Colne) this felt like the back end of nowhere. Arriving in Clitheroe at 2.20pm, I had time to explore the town. This proved to be the most interesting town I've visited this season, with a bustling market, a castle, and rows of independent/local shops nestled in cobbled streets. This is well worth a visit, even if you are not an avid non-league hopper! Today's game at Shawbridge was an FA Trophy preliminary vs Droylsden. The ground was another Lancashire gem, with a few covered sections mixed up with some truck containers, which doubled up as the tea-hut and hospitality bar! I took up my place in the main stand, and sipped some tea as the players warmed up.
The game was chaotic and unpredictable, though from a neutral's perspective, the quality was somewhat lacking. For the opening spell, the away side looked stronger and more determined, with 8 whacking wide on 10 minutes. Despite their early threat, it was Clitheroe who took the lead on 13 minutes when 10 slotted in a side-foot volley after some probing work down the wings. Gonzalez made it 2-0 on 22 minutes when he slotted in from close-range, and suddenly it looked like this could be a rout today. This didn't materialise, and the rest of the half had the team's evenly matched. Droylsden's right back launched a superb box-to-box run which he couldn't quite convert into a clear-cut chance, whilst a mix-up between him and the away keeper at the other end nearly resulted in Clitheroe's third. Clitheroe's 11 hit a swinging shot wide, whilst Droylsden's 10 had a left-footed effort deflected past the post.
2-0 up at half-time, and Clitheroe looked like they should be heading for the next round. The second-half started as equally balanced as the first had been, and the game was on when Fernando Moke was brought in the area, and 10 converted the resulting penalty. Droylsden now looked fired up and up for a fight. Stephen Hall went through and had his effort well-saved by the keeper's legs. At the other end, David Lynch scuffed wide after some excellent one-touch football. Moke threatened again at the home end, with his drilled shot saved, while Clitheroe's Gonzalez was tackled by the keeper when clean through. The game had suddenly opened up. Droylsden then equalised when number 10 was brought, and again calmly slotted in to make it 2-2. The home crowd were perhaps understandably frustrated by the award of both penalties, and the volume definitely went up a notch as the game went into the closing stages. The away side looked like they had grabbed a replay, until David Lynch slotted in a cross from the right-wing in what must have been the dying seconds of the game. The home crowd and players were jubilant, and all the refereeing decisions were forgotten as they celebrated a win which looked like it had evaded them. This was a mad game of football, and had been an excellent afternoon's entertainment. The long trek back to Sheffield on public transport was well worth it to see this lovely Lancashire town, and an open game of football against great surroundings.
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