Chasetown (28-09-2019)

Chasetown 5 - 1 Spalding United (FA Trophy), Saturday 28 September 2019

Petrol estimate £17
Entry £9
Total £26

Stourbridge (29-10-2016)

Stourbridge 1 - 2 King's Lynn (FA Trophy 1st Qualifying Round), Saturday 29 October 2016

Train (Sheffield-Derby) £11-30
Train (Derby-Stourbridge) £17-20
Entry £10
Programme £2-50
Tea £1
Provisions £2-36
Bus £1-50
Total £45-86

Like last week’s game against West Brom, King’s Lynn’s FA Trophy trip to Stourbridge felt like the end of a chapter. The game today meant that for 14 consecutive seasons I have been to at least 1 King’s Lynn away game. This has taken in FA Cup and FA Vase runs, the glamour of the United Counties league, right through to the Unibond, Evostik, and Southern Leagues and our one solitary season in the Conference North. With our new arrival on the way, I may be less able to get to games in future, so it was nice to have one final opportunity – and in a ground I’ve not been to before.

Stourbridge is not too far away from Kidderminster, and has a similar feel about the town. There are winding streets with independent shops and it is good to see that the town has retained its identity with so competing many towns and cities nearby in the West Midlands. The town’s football ground – the War Memorial Athletic Ground - is a vintage Southern League ground. The ground is set back a little from the main road, behind some red gates and some high stone walls. With brown leaves now under foot, this felt like a worthy way to close a chapter this season.

Inside, the ground did not disappoint. Behind the far goal was some covered sweeping terracing, with a corrugated iron roof, while the main stand to the left was something of a classic. The intimate feel of the main stand reminded me of Gresley Rovers’ Moat ground. From a distance the main stand looked like a barn or even a cow shed - inside there was a narrow walkway at the back, with red seats seemingly squeezed into any available space. To top it off, there was a row of covered terracing just alongside the stand, where supporters were starting to gather for a smoke and chat before kick-off. Like Gresley’s ground, the War Memorial Ground is three-sided, as they share their grounds with a cricket club (internet research now reveals that international cricket has been played here in the past!). I could also wax lyrical about the floodlights, but there is not enough space here to do them justice!

So to the game. Stourbridge actually currently play in the Evostik Premier, and are doing very well this year, and have had a magnificent FA Cup run (they eventually reached the 3rd Round in the end, defeating Northampton en route and losing only to a late goal from Wycombe Wanderers). King’s Lynn were very much underdogs today, as they are now pretty much an average Southern League side. To put the cat amongst the pigeons, we scored early on, when Toby Hilliard slotted in from a central position in the box. Stourbridge were huffing and puffing but couldn’t carve many opportunities – the most I noted was a catalogue of penalty appeals, and an effort from Kayelden Brown which went askew. Then just as the half began to close out, Stourbridge’s Stuart Pierpoint gave away a penalty, which Michael Clunan coolly converted. What a first half!

In the second half, a decent cup tie emerged. While there were not too many chances, the midfield battles grew in intensity and the pace quickened. An early effort from Stourbridge’s Brandon Hague was parried away, and then soon after (just when it seemed we had weathered the storm) Lee Smith’s own goal for King’s Lynn gave the Worcestershire side a lifeline. The home side’s switch to 3-5-2 seemed to be paying dividends.

The banter and atmosphere from the home crowd was building – at one point the ball came flying towards the terraces and a fan punched it straight back. One home fan yelled out ‘That’s the beach volleyball team sorted – and you’re in George!’ The game was on a knife-edge now. King’s Lynn were reduced to 10 men when Kurtis Revan received a second yellow card. But still we clung on. Luke Benbow rifled a free-kick about a foot wide for the home side, and then Alex Street pulled off a brilliant point-blank save to tip another effort over. The pressure continued as Stourbridge grabbed corners and free-kicks in dangerous positions. Somehow we withstood the pressure and came away with a fantastic 2-1 win, taking us into the FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round. This was a special trip and will live long in the memory even if I don’t make it to a King’s Lynn away for a while.

Market Drayton (01-11-2014)

Market Drayton 2 - 2 King's Lynn (FA Trophy 1st Qualifying Round), Saturday 1st November 2014

Train ticket (Stockport-Stoke) = £12-70
Bus (Stoke-Market Drayton) = £6-20
Entrance = £7
Programme = £2
Tea = £1
Total = £28-90

Around 18 months ago, I very nearly came to see King's Lynn against Market Drayton, but instead managed to get away tickets for Newcastle-Liverpool (where the away side won 6-0 in a precursor to the 2013-14 season). By complete coincidence, today's game also coincided with the repeat fixture at St James Park. Today I'd opted for the long trip to Shropshire instead to see my first King's Lynn away of the season. I absolutely love these away games in the FA competitions, and have happy memories of early qualifying rounds when we used to be drawn away - Maldon (2004/05), Banbury (2005/06), Tring Athletic (2006/07) and Lincoln United (2007/08). This was another tricky ground to do, so I was delighted to be able to double this one up with a King's Lynn away.

Market Drayton sits in an awkward location from a public transport point of view, nestled between Stoke, Shrewsbury, Stoke and Telford. From the East of the Pennines, this is probably best-reached via Stockport. Again maximising my season ticket, I changed trains at Stockport and arrived at Stoke just after 12, in time for the 12.20 bus out to the town. The ride was along winding country lanes, and its a good thing I'm not a queasy traveller as it was quite a bumpy ride at times! I arrived at Market Drayton just after 1pm, and went for a wander round the town. This was obviously a quiet market town, with not much going on, though I did find an impressive church when walking down a back street. After deciding there wasn't much worth seeing in the town I headed for the ground - Greenfields. This was buried at the back of a lane which led to a rugby ground, tennis club and finally the football ground on the right. This was a curious ground, with the turnstile/entrance, an entire stand and the dug-outs made from wood. This was well-crafted and must be designed to be long-lasting, so I have to take my hat off to the carpenter who put it all together.

Today's game should be a straightforward win for King's Lynn, who are a league higher - on paper that is. King's Lynn definitely started more strongly, with Jackson Ramm cutting inside before having his shot smothered by the home keeper. Thomson then missed a sitter, while Dan Quigley combined with Spriggs in a smart move. Market Drayton's tactic was clearly to counter-attack, and they did this effectively on several occasions. It was to the delight of the home crowd that they took the lead when Askey made it 1-0 on 18 minutes. The away side continued to pour towards the home goal, and shots rained in from Bridges and Thomson, who rattled the post with one effort. Market Drayton's best chance came when O'Reilly hit a volley wide. We then had an offside goal disallowed, and Thomson missed when clean through. Maybe this wasn't going to be our day? This feeling was reinforced when we won a penalty at the end of the first half, only for Thomson to have hits shot well-saved by the home keeper.

King's Lynn started the second half again full of aggressive attacking. Spriggs, then Jones, had shots saved early on, and it seemed as though the match might turn shortly. Again, against the run of play, the home side doubled their lead after some nifty footwork from Joe Wolley allowed him to slot in. King's Lynn looked fired up for it now, but Market Drayton were clearly determined to hold the lead and pull off a shock. King's Lynn's 10 again hit over from close range, Frew hit another shot straight at the keeper, while Smith had a header over. Both defences looked completely ragged at this point, and the game was clearly there for the taking. But we just couldn't score! Frew, who had worked hard and been effective for much of the game, rattled the cross-bar, with the follow-up effort swept up by the Shaun Rowley. Then the substitute Sam Mulready poked home from close range to make it 2-1. The light was closing in, and we now had a nervous final few minutes. The teams continued to fight for the game, but King's Lynn looked buoyed by the goal. On 87 minutes, George Thomson popped up in the box to smash a superb first-time volley into the top left-hand corner of the goal. This was definitely deserving of an equaliser at such a late stage. The game as a whole had been the most absorbing I'd seen all year, and I was pleased to be able to go to another obscure ground with 'The Linnets' once again!

Clitheroe (18-10-2014)

Clitheroe 3 - 2 Droylsden (FA Trophy Preliminary Round), Saturday 18th October 2014

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.