27 Oct 21: Callington Town v Wadebridge Town

Two games in two days and another East Cornwall affair. This time, I was heading to Marshfield Parc, the home of Callington Town who were playing hosts to Wadebridge Town in a SWPL Premier Division West match.

Despite living only ten miles away in Saltash for 36 years of my life, I’d never been to Marshfield Parc but, as Callington Town were only formed in 1989, by which time my allegiances to Plymouth Argyle had been firmly established, maybe that’s not too surprising.

Callington is the home of Pasty giants, Ginsters, who are the largest employer in the town and sponsor the football stadium. This also gives context to the club’s nickname – The Pasty Men.

In their short life, Callington Town have won the South West Peninsula League once and the East Cornwall Combination twice. They’ve also won the Cornwall Charity Cup in 2013/14 and the Charity Vase the following year. At the time of my visit however, they were finding life in the SWPL Premier League West a little tough. Their 14 games so far had yielded only 1 win and 3 draws and they sat second bottom in the table.

Their visitors, Wadebridge Town, had had a mixed start themselves but were surely the favourites on paper with their 6 wins and 5 defeats from 11 games putting them comfortably in mid-table in 9th place.

It’s not a long drive from Saltash to Callington but, as always, it’s the fine tuning at the end to find the ground that causes the trouble. Having already ‘turned right’ too quickly and had to make a u turn (Margaret Thatcher would turn in her grave), I then got caught up in a maze of one way and no entry signs around Callington Community College before parking up in a car park close enough that I could see the floodlights and making the short walk up to the ground.

Once again I managed to pick up a matchday programme and a 50/50 half time draw ticket (with assurances of how I would find out if I’d been successful – these assurances turned out false and, once again, I’ve returned home with an unchecked raffle ticket in my pocket).

The ground comprises a small seated stand on the halfway line on one side, flanked by home and away dugouts. There is standing room behind railings on three sides of what looked an enormous pitch and on the bank in the far corner is a club house with an outside terrace affording a decent view of the pitch below. While it doesn’t come into its own on a windy October night, I imagine it’s a pleasant vantage point at the beginning and end of the football season.

I picked up a pasty from the clubhouse (almost certainly a Ginsters and, despite local wisdom, much tastier than the ‘award winning’ offering from Launceston the previous evening) and took my place pitch side.

1st Half

The first half started brightly for the home side and, as early as the 4th minute, a close range shot crashed off the crossbar and a follow up was cleared off the line by a Wadebridge defender. It was in the 26th minute that Callington went one better and when a defender failed to cut out a high ball, the Callington striker was left alone in the middle of the penalty area from where he smashed the ball home to make it 1 – 0.

The first half ebbed and flowed from then on but, just before the break, Callington almost doubled their lead when another shot thumped the bar.

2nd Half

The Pasty Men could have regretted missed chances in the first half but it didn’t appear to have affected them negatively as, ten minutes after the break the ball was rifled into the net from just inside the box to make it 2 – 0.

The whole game had been a bit niggly and the referee had obviously had enough of the players’ whining when, on 62 minutes, a Wadebridge player was sin binned for talking out of turn once too often.

Callington took full advantage of their extra man and, a minute later they went 3 – 0 up courtesy of a close range bullet header. A fourth was added almost immediately and, by the time Wadebridge were back to a full compliment, the game was over as a contest.

Wadebridge did get a consolation from the penalty spot towards the end but it didn’t stop the form book being torn up and Callington taking all 3 points with a morale boosting and fully deserved 4 – 1 win

Final observation: You can tell I’m in Cornwall as, just like at Launceston the previous night, there was a tractor parked in the corner of the ground.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

26 Oct 21: Launceston v Liskeard Athletic

Having decided to visit my Dad for a week, I found myself in Cornwall with some free evenings and plenty of time on my hands. Luckily, I have the groundhopping bug and there is often a programme of midweek football that I can exploit.

Pennygillam (is there another football ground name that shouts “CORNWALL!!!” any louder?) beckoned for the South West Peninsula League Premier Division West game between Launceston and Liskeard Athletic.

Launceston (pronounced Lawn-Stun by most or Lan-Sun if you’re Cornish) sits on the Devon/Cornwall border alongside the A30 and is sometimes, but wrongly, considered to be the ‘Gateway to Cornwall’, an honour which is obviously held by Saltash.

The modern incarnation of Launceston FC (the Clarets) has existed for 99 years having been formed in 1922 and, in that time, have won five league championships and six cup competitions in various South West league structures, the last of which was the South Western League Cup in 2006/07.

In there current league campaign, they were sitting 11th (of 17) at the time of this game with 14 points from their 14 games so far. Their visitors, Liskeard, appeared on paper to be favourites – unbeaten with 26 points from 10 games and sitting in 3rd place with games in hand over the teams above them.

With a 7.45pm kick off time in my head, I nonetheless opted for a good 20 minute contingency on the 38 minute driving time indicated by Google Maps and it was just as well I did as I entered Pennygillam as the ball was kicked off…at 7.30pm! Note to self – take more notice of the host club’s social media than a (otherwise excellent) groundhopping app run by Norwegians 😉

Pennygillam is a pleasant little ground: a covered seating area on one side of the grass pitch and railings around all sides for standing supporters to lean on. Dugouts opposite the ‘stand’ and a friendly social club in the corner by the entrance. The floodlights beamed down on the pitch and, behind them in one corner, a large wind turbine loomed above the ground.

Ist Half

As was expected, Liskeard started the stronger but Launceston weren’t just here as a punching bag and played their part in making this a contest. It was the visitors that drew first blood. A defence splitting crossfield ball let in a pale blue shirted striker who cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner on 17 minutes.

This lead was nearly doubled five minutes later when a wayward back pass went past the keeper and, luckily for the Clarets, rolled just wide of the post.

The visitors were in control for the rest of the first half and had a number of decent efforts from the edge of the box which the keeper did well to repel. The big talking points at the break however were two possible red card decisions. The first, when a player who had been fouled kicked out at his aggressor and was lucky only to see yellow. The second involved a player being unceremoniously bundled into the advertising hoarding. This one didn’t even warrant a booking in the eyes of the referee but it did end up with the ‘victim’ being ‘sin binned’ for ten minutes for dissent (apparently the SWPL is trialling the sin bin this season for such offences).

Being in the West Country this week, it seemed rude not to half a pasty at half time and, at the kiosk, I also picked up an increasingly rare beast in non league football in the form of a matchday programme.

2nd Half

Whatever was said at half time obviously had the right effect on the Launceston players as the second half was a much more even affair. Both sides had their chances but I had to wait until the 86th minute for the second goal – a well taken free kick from just outside the box to give Liskeard a 0 – 2 lead.

Launceston did grab a consolation late into stoppage time courtesy of a close range volley but the final was blown on a deserved 1 – 2 win for Liskeard.

A decent game, three goals, it didn’t rain and (unlike the West of Scotland Football League which I am used to these days) I even got to see linesmen that ran the line.

• 

• 

• 

• 

23 Oct 21: Maybole v Bellshill Athletic

Another taste of WOSFL Conference A this weekend as I travelled South to watch Maybole take on Bellshill Athletic at the Ladywell Stadium.

Maybole is a town in South Ayrshire, apparently well known in the past in shoe and boot making circles. I don’t know if this included football boots although there appears to have been plenty of interest in the sport prior to the formation of Maybole Juniors FC in 1946. I learned that Norris McWhirter (of the Guinness Book of World Records fame), a feature of the Blissboy’s televisual life in the 70s/80s, was descended from the McWhirters of Maybole.

Other than having won a few Ayrshire League and Cup competitions over the years, the biggest claim to fame of the town’s football team appears to be playing Rangers in the 2nd round of the Scottish Cup on 27 Jan 1900. Rangers won 12 – 0.

I try to concentrate on the home side when I visit new grounds but on this occasion, I was keen to see how the visitors looked. Bellshill looked like a club in disarray having sacked their manager and his entire coaching staff the previous week (leading to their planned fixture against Maryhill being called off). Unsurprisingly, social media was painting a partisan picture of who was right and who was wrong but it seems to have stemmed from disagreements between ‘the committee’ and the managent team which came to a head in the week running up to the Maryhill game.

It wasn’t entirely clear where the players stood on this but there was enough evidence in twitter comments from players to back up a rumour that many of the playing side had voted with their feet and that Belshill might have to field the U21s for this game, the first under a new manager.

Before the game, the teams sat midtable in 7th and 9th positions with only 3 points between them but the effects of the last couple of weeks might well be telling.

I arrived at the Ladywell Stadium in good time and was greeted at the gate by friendly staff who relieved me of my £6 entrance fee and £2 worth of half time draw tickets (on the promise that they would make every effort to find the winner during the break – I’ve lost count of the times I’ve got home and found tickets in my pocket that I have no idea whether were winners or not).

I immediately liked the ‘stadium’ which comprised two covered areas (one seated and one standing) on one side of a grass pitch. Grass areas were open to stand around the pitch and there were also banks of uncovered seating on the far side of the pitch by the home dugout and behind one goal. The was a gusty wind blowing but it was dry and mild, perfect for watching football.

Ist Half

The game started with Belshill looking confident despite the behind the scenes goings on and, after knocking the ball around confidently in the opposition half, they forced a save from the home keeper and a corner in the first minute.

The bright start didn’t last however a the black shirted hosts took the lead from their first attack in only the third minute. When they doubled that lead five minutes later, it looked as though the visitors would be getting a thumping this afternoon.

Perhaps they were saved by a message from Francis ‘Rossi’ Donlevy (one of the friends who ‘benefit’ from regular Saturday afternoon score updates from my travels) who suggested that I was in for another goal fest. Of course, this resulted in the next 35 minutes showing little sign of another goal other than an effort from Belshill which was cleared off the line in the tenth minute.

Maybole dominated the rest of the half without seriously threatening to score again and the half time whistle blew with the home side leading 2 – 0.

2nd Half

Seemingly determined not to follow the script, Belshill went at their opposition from the re-start and found themselves right back in it as early as the 47th minute when they pulled a goal back. Could this be the start of an unexpected come back? Almost certainly not as this was suggested in my next message from Mr Rossi.

Maybole bossed most of the rest of the half, pushing and pushing for another goal, but Belshill defended manfully, putting their bodies on the line with a number of important blocks, keeping them in the game.

I spoke briefly with a man who was watching his son playing for Belshill and he confirmed that this was an entirely new team and that the previous first team had all left the club with the previous manager. This made the away side’s performance all the more impressive and they could perhaps be forgiven for communication problems at the back which had led to the goals conceded early on.

Maybole finally got their breakthrough in the 78th minute as they killed off the game with a neat finish. Only the width of the post prevented a 4th goal two minutes later but the game played out to finish 3 – 1 to Maybole.

A good game which Maybole thoroughly deserved to win, but Belshill should take a lot of positives from their performance which bodes well for a turn around of fortunes as they gel as a team.

16 Oct 21: Muirkirk v Whitletts Victoria

The league programme was much reduced this weekend but I had decided I would visit Bellshill Athletic for their Conference A clash with Maryhill. These plans were dashed late on Friday however when I discovered that Bellshill had parted company with their manager and all of his coaching staff leading to the club being unable to fulfil the fixture.

I went back to the drawing board and eventually came up with a plan to travel deep into East Ayrshire for the South Challenge Cup clash between Muirkirk and Whitletts Victoria.

Nothing much to say about Muirkirk I’m afraid. There are a couple of former players who’ve gone on to make the grade at professional level but I’m afraid I’ve never heard of them so I’m not going to elaborate. What I can say however is that the village is in the middle of a particularly picturesque part of the county, surrounded by countryside and I (mostly) enjoyed my journey. The Satnav led me down some narrow country lanes with ended in a diversion back to the main road (which I’d turned off a few miles earlier) due to roadworks in the wonderfully named village of Sorn (Statutory Off Road Notice anyone?) and added five minutes onto my journey but, hey-ho, it’s no big deal and I still managed to get to Burnside Park ten minutes before kick off.

I paid my £6 ‘Bill’ (sorry, DI Burnside is lodged into my head) at the gate and entered a tidy little ground which was a breath of fresh Ayr (okay, you can stop now, Andy) compared with some of the leisure centre pitches I’ve been to in recent weeks.

A fairly bumpy grass pitch is surrounded by railings on all four sides, dugouts opposite each other on the halfway line, two urinal/toilet blocks (no roofs) at either end of the pitch and a covered area oddly situated to the side of one of the goals. Changing rooms are in a building just outside the arena and the ground also boasts a snack bar (which served me a decent scotch pie at half time). There are trees/woodland on two sides of the ground and open countryside at one end. I liked it (although maybe not so much if it had been raining.

While this was a cup game, both sides play in the same league (WOSFL Conference A) so I was able to cast an eye over the league table to gauge form. The visitors sat 3rd in the table compared to their hosts’ 8th place but there were only 4 points between them so, given Muirkirk’s home advantage, I was expecting a close game.

First Half:

The Kirk started on the front foot and their pressing very nearly led to a first minute goal after the visiting keeper was forced into no man’s land. After that however, the Vics took control, spent a lot of time in and around the Kirk penalty area and looked like the only team likely to score until suddenly, the hosts took a 14th minute lead completely against the run of play!

The home fans weren’t happy for long however and four minutes later, a penalty shout for a handball was ignored by the referee to good effect as a Vics player slammed the ball into the net to draw the teams level. Better was to follow just after the half hour mark when a nice turn and shot from the edge of the box saw the ball nestle in the net to put the visitors ahead. Whitletts were in total control now and the ball was in the net again five minutes later but ruled out by the referee for offside. Offsides at this level are always a bit hit and miss as the linesmen appear to be there only to judge whether a ball goes out of play as they rarely move from the halfway line.

Second Half:

Whitletts started the second half as they finished the first and, after a free kick wasn’t cleared properly, they put themselves into a commanding 1 – 3 lead only six minutes after the restart. When a Vics attacker was unceremoniously pulled back when in on goal ten minutes later, the ref adjudged it a clear goal scoring opportunity and reduced the home side to ten men. This effectively ended the competition and another fierce drive soon after would have made it 4 if it had been a couple of inches lower and not crashed off the bar.

Strangely, the next goal came from the ten men after a poor clearance from the Vics keeper left an open net into which a Muirkirk player adeptly placed the ball from distance. The unlikely come back was dashed almost immediately however as a headed goal completed the 2 – 4 Vic(s)tory for Whitletts.

Other observations:

This wasn’t a particularly dirty game but you wouldn’t have known it if you were blindfolded as both sets of players (and coaching staff) seemed to greet any challenge with shouts and screams of indignation as though they’d been mugged. Once again, I was glad I wasn’t the ref – what a thankless job that is.

I’ve noticed lately that the height of surrounding fences/walls are totally inadequate in terms of keeping the ball inside the ground. Burnside Park is no exception. Only the trees outside the arena managed to prevent the ball ending up in the river below my side of the ground. The unsung hero of the day however was the guy who’s job it was to retrieve these balls. He seemed to have an eagle-eyed homing sense when it came to finding the balls in the woodland and this has probably prevented Muirkirk from going bankrupt over the years.

Another six goals (that’s 28 in my last 4 games), an entertaining game, pleasant surroundings and a mild and dry afternoon. A good afternoon.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

9 Oct 21: Finnart v BSC Glasgow

Checking out my options for a new ground visit today, I had eight choices within a realistic distance. It was wet however and had been for a few days so I didn’t want to go too far, get soaked, and possibly find a late postponement.

In the end, I went for the plastic pitch option at relatively local (just over 13 miles) Springburn Park.

• 

Springburn Park is currently home to both Finnart and BSC Glasgow so both sides were playing on familiar territory, although it was Finnart that were the ‘official’ home side on this occasion.

My pre-match research uncovered next to nothing about the ‘home’ side today but, although the WOSFL website refers to them simply as ‘Finnart’, I found other sources that named them ‘Finnart Star’. I prefer the latter and stuck with it through the entire afternoon before reluctantly abandoning the Star.

The club’s Facebook page proudly states that Star are an “amateur team from Bridgeton since 1979.
Most successful Sunday team ever with 8 Scottish cups” although they have recently graduated from the Sunday leagues to the newly formed WOSFL Division 4.

While they may be newcomers to the league, Finnart appear to have hit the ground running and, at the time of my visit, they were sitting pretty at the top of the league with 31 points from their 14 league games to date. BSC Glasgow, on the other hand, were propping up the table with only one win and a total of 6 points from their 12 games.

Another reason for wanting to stay fairly local on a wet Saturday afternoon was that recent outings have shown me that I am running out of West of Scotland grounds with covered areas for spectators. An enquiry through Facebook (which answered very promptly – thank you!) confirmed that there was no shelter at Springburn Park so I invested in a new umbrella in an attempt to keep myself dry on my footy travels through the winter months.

I arrived at a very quiet Springburn Park with ten minutes to spare, paid my £3 entrance fee (bargain) and entered what is, I’m afraid an astro turf pitch which railings along one side and not much else. There wasn’t even any shelter for the coaches/substitutes so I imagine they too have to resort to umbrellas when it rains. I’ve been on a bit of a pie drought of late and, this afternoon, I had no choice in this regard as there were no refreshments available. The reason for the quiet was that there were only about 15 supporters in attendance when I arrived, although this doubled to a ‘respectable(?)’ 30ish by the time the first goal had been scored.

True to ‘table form’, it was Finnart that took the lead in the 7th minute although that was after they had nearly been caught flat-footed in the opening minute when BSC hit the bar! It didn’t really look like a top vs bottom clash and the ‘visitors’ equalised about 10 minutes later, setting the scene for an end to end first half.

Finnart re-took the lead in the 22nd minute but were pegged back again in the 35th when a mix up at the back saw their goalkeeper and defender collide to leave a BSC player with the simple task of rolling the ball into an empty net. The half time whistle blew on an unexpected 2 – 2 stalemate.

Into the second half and Finnart took the lead for the third time on the 53rd minute. This time there would be no fight back for the basement side however and although they never looked wildly convincing, Finnart added another 2 goals before the end to record a 5 – 2 victory.

So the ground was disappointing but I got to see an entertaining game with another 7 goals (to add to the 15 I’ve witnessed in my last two games) and the new umbrella wasn’t required in the end.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•