Grand Finale

Ivybridge Town  6  Dartmouth  0

South West Peninsula League – Premier East

Admission / Programme - £6 / £1

The final destination on what had been a memorable SWPL Hop, was to be the Erme Valley Playing Fields home of Eastern Division champions elect, Ivybridge Town.

Ivybridge have been the dominant force in the division over the season, and a win over bottom of the table Dartmouth would leave the rest needing snookers, which they were never going to get, so in terms of the hosts, they were not only hosting a Hop game, they were in effect bidding farewell to the league as they will be playing in the Western League next season.

The bus squeezed into the car park, and Steve joined me just afterwards having made the journey from Callington with plenty of time to spare. Ivybridge, like Elburton, did a great job on the food and drinks front, with very nice pasties on offer, but space in the bar area was at a premium, so it was a case of going al-fresco, or, standing room only. We chose to stand, it was dropping cold outside, but, at least it was dry, and the pitch did look in excellent condition.

Ivybridge is a small town thirteen miles to the East of Plymouth, and since becoming a town in 1977 it has grown rapidly and now provides home to over 11,000 inhabitants. The football club was established in 1925 and started life in the Plymouth & District League, thereafter playing in the leagues various guises before becoming founder members in 1992 of the Devon County League.

They won the league in 2005-06, and then the following season when the South West Peninsula League was formed, they again became founder members, being placed in the Premier Division. They remained in the Premier section until 2019 when the league was split into East and West divisions, whereby the club became members of the East Division, a league they are about to bade farewell to as they move upwards.

So all looks good on the field for Ivybridge, but what’s the ground like?

Set a couple of hundred yards from the A38, behind a tennis centre, the ground is in a very rural setting with the River Erme and mature trees running down the West side of the ground, while the narrow road to Ermington runs to the East of the complex. The clubhouse and dressing rooms are set behind the North goal while the only cover at the ground is on the East side where an Atcost style seated stand is located.

Apparently, the pitch did used to be further South on the footprint, and this did cause some debate amongst the fraternity, I mean, was this a new ground or was it not? If we are talking pitch overlap, then it appears there isn’t any, so for some that makes it new, but for others as it’s all part of the same footprint, in which case it isn’t. I’ve never been before so I don’t care, we’ll let those that do care and indeed worry about such things!

Anyway, a nice setting, and again, a good crowd of 388 rocked up to watch a game that was a bit of a slow burner to begin with, but eventually the champions elect got into their stride and the goals started to flow.

It was 1-0 at half time to the hosts but they turned the screw and rolled out with a 6-0 victory. Owen Pritchard got a hat-trick, Connor Rush grabbed a brace while Bailey Mabin netted a solitary effort. The champagne was still on ice, but we’d gone beyond snookers now, it needed a stewards enquiry and some form of heavy punishment from a Financial Fair Play body to deny them of this one, and that ain’t going to happen!

But that was the Hop, it was all over, back on the bus to Exeter for some, while others made their way back to various parts of the UK. It had been superb, the clubs who hosted had done a magnificent job including Honiton who you had to feel desperately sorry for. But, none of it would have been possible without the drive, the organisational skills and the passion of Phil Hiscox who did an absolutely superb job of putting the whole event together.

I said at the very start of the first blog around the event that the thought of an organised Groundhop filled me with dread, well, you know what, next year the South West Peninsula League, thanks to Phil, is heading to Cornwall with the base being in Truro.

I wouldn’t miss it for the World! 

 

Spuds

Elburton Villa  1  Bovey Tracey  2

South West Peninsula League – Premier East

Admission / Programme - £6 / £2

Back at the Holiday Inn, Steve and I enjoyed a couple of overpriced beverages on our return from Holsworthy, it had been a great day, and after the disappointment of Honiton, it was as much of a relief than anything that the day went to plan.

The Saturday involved a trip further West, I was hot footing it to St David’s again while Steve was travelling by car, for he had a somewhat off-piste adventure to contend with in the afternoon. It was a bright morning, and barring a weather related disaster, all was set fair for a good day, which was to start in Kernow, it was Passport’s at the ready!

Liskeard Athletic was the first port of call, the first game on their Lux Park pitch since December, it all went to plan even if we were hit with a rain / hail storm in the first half. Over 500 rocked up to see the local derby against Dobwalls, but the home side ran in 2-0 victors. I won’t blog it as I’ve done Liskeard before, but game two, that was a different matter….

Steve had been to Elburton Villa, so he was off to watch Callington Town Reserves on the plastic, but I boarded the fun bus and we made our merry way back across the Tamar Bridge and to the East of Plymouth. The traffic as we got into Plymouth was a little sticky, but before long we were climbing the hill and turning right into the car park at Villa, a ground that has been on a SWPL Groundhop before, but, when they played on the top pitch, as opposed to the bottom pitch which they play on now.

The sun was shining, and Elburton had got the beer flowing, so knowing that the afternoon game on the Saturday is usually the poorest attended on the Hop (due to alternative options), they clearly worked on the principle that selling beer and food was the best way to make the money!

The bar, at the top of the bank before you enter the ground, while tight space wise, was doing a roaring trade, and before we knew it, the players were about to head down the bank to get the game underway.

What’s the deal with Elburton Villa then?

The club came about in 1982 following on from former guise Elburton Red Triangle, starting out in the Plymouth & District League before becoming founder members of the Devon County League. 

When the Devon County League merged with the South Western League in 2007 they did of course become founder members of the South West Peninsula League, making their debut in the Premier Division.

By 2016 they had been relegated to Division One West, but by 2018 they found themselves back in the top flight again, eventually settling at Step 6 when restructuring saw the Premier Division split across an East and West Division, with the East being their home since then.

They’ve never played in the FA Cup, nor have they ever won the FA Vase, but they do keep trying!

The ground is part of a large expanse, with the car park just off the main road, and the old pitch directly in front. You walk to the right of the old pitch where the bar and the dressing rooms are located, then in front of you, set in something of a bowl is the new pitch. 

Steep grass banking adorns two sides, behind the top goal and down a large part of the South side of the ground. A small area of cover sits right at the top of the bank behind the goal, while at the bottom of the banking on the South side is a small Atcost style seated stand for around fifty spectators. You can stand behind the opposite goal, but the North side of the ground is out of bounds.

A good number of spectators chose to stand on the top of the grass banking, myself included, and it was from that vantage point on a lovely Spring day, that an entertaining spectacle broke out in front of the crowd of 311.

Visiting Bovey Tracey took the lead in the 12th minute through Josh Haynes who controlled and finished well, and then the same player made it 2-0 on the half hour mark. The game took an interesting turn ten minutes into the second period when Mitch Thomas slid across goal to block an Elburton shot, only to be sent off for handball. Turned out that Thomas did not use his hands to stop the ball, it hit him full in the spuds, which video evidence later confirmed, and pleasingly, the red card was overturned on appeal!

Elburton converted the penalty thanks to Bentley Alcantara, and from that point onwards the hosts took the game to the visitors, but it was to no avail, other than in injury time when an on field altercation saw both sides have a player sent off, namely the aforementioned Alcantara for Elburton, and Neil Last for Bovey Tracey. No hard feelings though, they shook hands, had a bit of banter and spent the last few moments watching the game together!

And that was Elburton, it was time for the last episode of Whacky Races to start as the bus and all of those in cars headed back out of Plymouth in an Easterly direction, albeit not far, Ivybridge which was a mere 7 miles away, the show was nearly over, but not quite…..

 

Proper Job

Holsworthy  0  Bude Town  0

South West Peninsula League – Premier West

Admission / Programme - £6 / £1

It was from the East Division to the West Division for the final game of the day, and I have to say, of the six games we got to over the weekend, this, in terms of an overall experience was the best of the lot.

Holsworthy had done a proper job, turning the local derby against fierce rivals Bude Town into a real community event, so much so a crowd of over 900 rocked up to watch it, and other than a goal, the evening had pretty much everything, but more on that later.

We are talking a proper old club when we are talking about Holsworthy AFC. They were formed in 1891 and played in the North Devon League until 1953 when they moved to the Plymouth & District League. 

In 1971 they moved to the prestigious South Western League, where they spent an unbroken thirty years before making a sideways move to the Devon County League in 2003, winning it at the first attempt.

When the South West Peninsula League was formed in 2007, the club became founder members, starting out in the Premier Division before being relegated to Division One West in 2010. Always on the border between the East and the West Division’s, they moved to the East in 2019, but were then moved back West again at the end of last season.

They did trouble the FA Vase briefly in the late Seventies and early Eighties, but they didn’t win it! 

So, after a brief moment of parking confusion in the middle of the North Devon town, we eventually got dropped off just outside the turnstiles, and were met with quite a noise as we entered, only it seems the club had the idea of organising a DJ for the event, and if they wanted to upset the neighbours, they were doing a right good job of it, the volume was loud!

The ground is a lovely old fashioned town centre ground, with a good sized clubhouse and dressing room building behind the goal, along with a temporary bar, and a very impressive outdoor catering facility that produced excellent burgers! An old school style stand sits along one half of the touchline, while it’s hard standing apart from the areas that were out of bounds, namely part of the dugout side of the ground. Viewing wise, given the size of the crowd, spots at pitch side were at a premium.

The atmosphere by kick off was electric, the away fans were in good voice, a smoke bomb landed on the pitch just before the game got underway, and the pitch itself looked fine, thanks to some excellent work, which included the use of heaters and a gazebo on one are that was of concern. The DJ (Disco InKernow) had whipped the place up to a frenzy, this was Step 6 football, but not as we know it!

The game might have ended 0-0 but it was a proper old fashioned battle. The referee had his work cut out as tackles flew in and no holds were barred. You sensed, as much as there was respect between the two clubs, on the field, they both desperately wanted to stick it up each other!

Ok, so it finished 0-0, but, a great game of football to watch that kept you continually engaged with proceedings, and in the end, probably from a points perspective, the right outcome, although of the two clubs, Bude would probably be the most frustrated at not getting the three points. Prior to the game Holsworthy had been on a run of six successive defeats, while Bude had been unbeaten in the last three.

Holsworthy though, just wow, and if ever a club deserved a game to be on, and to have a successful evening, it was them. They did a fabulous job in terms of the arrangements and in terms of doing what’s important on occasions like this, catering for the crowd, and making sure they had every opportunity to spend some money!

Spend a few quid we did, the bar did a roaring trade, the catering facilities likewise, and as the blue smoke from the visitors pyro’s wafted across the pitch as we left the ground, we left feeling like we’d been treated, like we’d been well looked after, like we were part of something that for Holsworthy Football Club was something quite special.

They did not disappoint, take a bow guys, the night was yours!

The T-Side

Torridgeside  0  Okehampton Argyle  3

South West Peninsula League – Premier East

Admission / Programme - £6 / £2.50

The time had finally come, after a few years absence, the South West Peninsula League was to finally host another of it’s legendary Easter Hops!

It’s widely accepted on the circuit that the South West event, hosted and organised by the brilliant Phil Hiscox, is the best of the lot, and that’s meant with no disrespect to any other organisation(s) that may also arrange such events. It’s renowned as the best for a variety of reasons, not least the fact that it’s stage in a truly beautiful part of the UK.

I’ve never been to an organised Groundhop before, the sheer thought normally makes me recoil in discomfort, but as soon as I saw the plans for Easter in Devon, I’d made my mind up, my virginity was going to be truly broken.

Starting on the Thursday night in Honiton, the event would them move on to North Devon taking in Torrington, Torridgeside and Holsworthy on the Good Friday, and then on Easter Saturday we would head down the A38 to Plymouth for games at Liskeard, Elburton and Ivybridge.

Five of the seven venues I’d never visited, and with coach travel arranged from Exeter for the Friday and Saturday games, it was the ideal event. Accommodation was booked in Exeter, a full weekend game and travel ticket was purchased, and after a bit of encouragement, I talked Steve into joining me!

The South West has had an absolute mullering with the weather, and having lost a record number of games for that very reason, the South West Peninsula League is now at a stage where it is having to cram games in. In the run up to the event it felt like the conditions were utterly relentless, week in and week out games were being called off in droves, take Liskeard for example, they hadn’t played a home game since December, and no game at all since mid-February! We are about to enter April….

Anyway, the journey down from Belper was in large parts monsoon like, and as much as clubs had worked like Trojans to prepare the pitches and all the other things that are needed from an event that is going to attract attendances way beyond what they would normally get, you were in the lap of the Gods somewhat.

I arrived at the Holiday Inn around 1.30pm, Steve was a few minutes before me. We travelled separately as he was doing the event by car for reasons that will become clear. It was hammering it down, and after checking in we decided to have a relaxing afternoon sampling Exeter. The noises out of Honiton we relatively positive, and as much as we boarded the train knowing that the match referee would have the final say, you did feel reasonably confident we would be getting a game in.

To cut a long story short, after a wee dram in the town, we got to the ground an hour before kick off, the crowd was already pretty large, but it seemed a very small area of the pitch was of concern, and we are talking VERY small. The referee had form it seems, we had an assessor present, and despite the pleas from both teams and indeed from Phil Hiscox, even offering to narrow the pitch to cut the area out, he was having none of it, so back to Exeter we went, and you had to feel for Honiton, this has happened to them twice now on a Hop.

By the way, while on the subject, every pitch the following day, did not look as good as Honiton’s did, just saying…..

So, it was an early start on the Friday, while I trotted down to St David’s to catch the bus, Steve was off to AFC St Austell in the car. I’ve been to Torrington before so I won’t blog it, but it went very well, the game finished 1-0 to the hosts against high flying Crediton United, we were truly underway, and at the final whistle it was back on the bus for a journey of just under a mile to the neighbouring club in the town, Torridgeside!

Torridgeside are a relatively new club, only being formed in 1989. They made waves in the North Devon League, joining in 2003-04, working their way through the divisions before a runners up spot came in the Premier Division in 2015-16, and that ultimately earned them promotion to the South West Peninsula League.

A best finish in the First Division East came in 2018-19 when they finished fourth, and this was more than enough to see them accepted at the new Step 6 Premier Division East. A couple of Covid years interrupted matters, but since normality resumed they have finished 17th and 12th respectively, also competing in the FA Vase for the first time this season, losing at Cheddar in the First Qualifying Round.

This time around, it has been a struggle and prior to the game they sat third from bottom of the table, with the visitors sat in the top six.

The ground at Torridgeside is on the very edges of Torrington, and with the bus dropping us off at the top of the driveway to the ground, you take a steady walk round the edges of the rugby pitch (Torrington RFC) before arriving at the entrance and the very smart new clubhouse that I understand was only finished in the week prior to the game.

Food and drink was readily available, and after a chat with a fella from Shrewsbury who I’ve known for some time (get well soon mate!), Steve rocked up after his journey back from Snozzle and we could do a bit of exploring. Pretty much everything is down one side at Donnacroft, a small seated stand and a further area of cover are in situ either side of the dug outs, while the other three sides, while accessible, were of the grass variety and having done a lap, I was only just about ankle deep at certain points! But, it was a beautiful and picturesque setting, and the pitch, given it was covered in snow the previous morning (I’m not joking), looked in excellent shape. 

The crowd of 451 watched a first half that Okehampton dominated, and indeed raced into a 3-0 lead. You did fear that the hosts were going to get a proper walloping, but a combination of Torridgeside regrouping, and the visitors taking their foot off the gas, we had no more goals in the second period, but, you couldn’t at the same time argue about the outcome of the game.

Torridgeside did an excellent job of hosting the game, and they dealt with the large crowd admirably, hopefully, like all clubs who played the hosting rolls over the weekend, they made a few quid out of it.

But then it was back to the bus, a pitch inspection at Holsworthy had proved positive, we had another game to get to….

Everywhere They Go

Scotland  0  Northern Ireland  1

International Friendly

Admission / Programme - £35 / £5

So I’ve got this work trip to Scotland in the diary for March, and as much as I scoured the fixture lists for something in the Scottish Football League, the Lowland League and the West of Scotland League, I couldn’t find a thing. It was very odd, I mean, it’s March and we’ve had three months of monsoons, why on earth would no one be playing midweek?

Then, when the every reliable ‘Scottish Football Fixtures’ website ticked over to show the games for Tuesday 26th March, I realised that I’d been suffering from a long standing brain fart! It was the International Break, and, Scotland were playing Northern Ireland in a Friendly at Hampden Park. That would completely explain why the rest of the Country was having a night off, but, could I get a ticket?

Quite easily it seemed, register on the SFA website, pick your seat, pay your money and then bingo, you’re off to Hampden to hear the roar, all for the princely sum of £35.

The journey was the tried and trusted waddle over to Crewe before catching the not that reliable Avanti West Coast service which thundered up through Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle before hurtling over the River Clyde and into Glasgow Central a few minutes after 3pm.

Hotel choices had proved tricky due to the combination of both the football and the Easter holidays, so my work expenses budget meant the usual twenty yard walk to the normal venue had to go by the wayside and this time it was further to walk to the Maldron which sat to the North of the City Centre.

My trusty companion arrived half an hour after myself and before long we were happily cocooned in the nearby Wetherspoon’s, wondering what to spend our nightly food allowance on, and trust me, you can get a good fill in Spoons on our budget, but, according to the rules, only one alcoholic beverage is permitted!

One alcoholic beverage later, plus a couple more we had to grudgingly fork out for, and it was time to wander back down to Central to monitor the travel situation to Mount Florida, the station that serves Hampden Park.

Glasgow was busy, fans of both sides were milling in the pubs and in the streets, all quite cordially it seemed, and upon arriving at the station I was met with a barrier / queue system which soon found it’s way to the platform and onto a somewhat packed wagon, albeit for only ten minutes until we alighted again.

With the area around Mount Florida busy, and the pubs seemingly rammed (I tried one, they wouldn’t let me in, full it seemed, or was it the fact I was a Sassenach?), I decided to make my way to the stadium, a stadium I’ve never previously visited.

Older readers (Derek, Steve etc) will recall Hampden from it’s former glory period when it was a cavernous bowl holding 140,000, and many a glorious battle took place between Scotland and England, and of course Rangers and Celtic. These days it’s a modern all seater stadium holding around 52,000, but, and you won’t see this on any tickets or official ground plans, it has a Rangers End, and a Celtic End!

The Rangers End is at the Western side of the ground, nearest Mount Florida, whereas the Celtic End is at the Eastern side of the ground. Why do they do this, simply because of the parts of Glasgow where fans of the two clubs travel from, in other words, it’s designed to help keep the peace!

I was in the Rangers End, as were the Norn Iron fans, and given the historical and political backgrounds quite appropriate I thought, in fact as one of my Scottish Colleagues (who supports Celtic) said to me, “It will be one big Rangers-fest”, but more on that later….

No beer could be had in Hampden, you cannae get a pint in Scottish professional grounds, they can’t trust you with it! So on a freezing cold night, I took my seat and watched the players warm up, and the atmosphere build.

Hampden Park then, it’s a bowl, put simply, no other way to really describe it, other than on the South side where the dressing room / offices / corporate stuff is, an extra upper tier exists in the stand. Sat behind the goal, it’s quite a distance to the pitch, but then again it always was back in the day, at least back then if anyone wanted to have a go at invading, the police and stewards had half a chance of stopping them before they got as far as the pitch!

Since qualifying for Euro 24 in Germany, the Scots have been on a bad run, and most recently they lost 4-0 in the Netherlands. Northern Ireland didn’t qualify and are rebuilding under Michael O’Neill with a young side.

So, the fans, well I was a bit surprised, they really didn’t like each other very much it has to be said. It all started with the Northern Irish National Anthem (God Save The King), and then went up a notch when the Ulster Boys launched into a rendition of ‘Rule Britannia’. It seems such ditties are very much English, not British, and certainly not Scottish in the Scots fans eyes. However, a fifteen minute long rendition of ‘Scotland Get Battered’, while not political, nationalistic or religious in any way, caused the most disquiet, probably because it was a bit close to home in terms of it’s accuracy!

So, with much gesturing and taunting going backwards and forwards, I decided to pay attention to what was going on in terms of the game. To be honest, I don’t really like International Friendlies, they tend to be slow, dull, uncompetitive, and marred with far too many changes. This game, to be fair, wasn’t especially dull, but it was bereft of chances, with the only goal coming in the first half courtesy of Liverpool’s Connor Bradley who looks a real talent.

Scotland huffed and puffed in the second period but couldn’t find a breakthrough, and that meant another defeat in the build up to a major tournament, which is something of a headache as far as Steve Clarke is concerned. Northern Ireland were loving it, Scotland were indeed getting battered again, everywhere they go……

I tried to get the train back but gave that up, the queue was nearly back to Kilmarnock. So instead I decided to jump on one of the many double decker buses that was bound for the City Centre, in which I arrived at around 10.30pm. It was straight back to the Hotel for me, I had work the following morning, and, I’d spent all my budget!

Right then everyone, after me “One Two Three Four, Scotland Get Battered……”

Zingari

MSB Woolton  1  East Villa Rail  1

Liverpool County Premier League – I Zingari Cup Group Stage

Admission / Programme - No / No

When I were a nipper, everyone seemed to have a newspaper delivered to their house. We had the Daily Mirror in a morning and then the Derby Evening Telegraph at teatime. We did eventually move to the Daily Mail in a morning, whereas on a Sunday we would indeed have the weighty tome that was the Mail on Sunday. 

My Grandma and Grandad, just a few houses up the lane stuck with the Daily Mirror and DET routine throughout the week, but on a Sunday it was the Mirror and the People, which to be honest I preferred because of the football transfer gossip columns, which the Mail on Sunday didn’t bother with.

Non-League football results were not easy to come by back then, we had no internet, so you had to rely on what you could glean from newspapers, so one of my Sunday rituals would be to pore through the scores. Looking back, many of them at the time meant nothing to me, like the Irish and Welsh results that used to appear, but what I do remember, and I can’t remember which of the papers it was, but they always listed the scores from the Irish Zingari League.

I’d got no idea what it was, where it was, who any of the teams were, but I did like the name. How many leagues have a word starting with a ‘Z’ in them? Not many I would suggest…

Anyway, in years to come I was to discover it was a Liverpool based league, and the ‘Zingari’ word effectively meant gypsies. The league merged with the Liverpool County Combination in 2006 to form the Liverpool County Premier League, but it seems the Zingari, or I Zingari link as it’s now known (probably deemed politically incorrect to stereotype the Irish, so just use the letter ‘I’ instead!), remains in the form the now League Cup.

I’ll be honest though, I had no idea that the Zingari link remained until as recently as last Saturday morning. I had a plan, and that plan fitted in nicely with the fact I needed to be home by a sensible hour as it was Wedding Anniversary day, and we had a meal booked that evening. A 1.30pm kick off at Tintwistle Athletic looked the favourite but early on Saturday morning I discovered they had switched the game from their usual home on West Drive to a 4G in Hyde, so I decided to shelve that plan.

I’d spotted the night before on the socials that MSB Woolton (a team who had applied to join the North West Counties League) had a home game against East Villa Rail, at their Leisure Simpson home on the South side of Liverpool. The game was also a 2pm kick off, so it fitted nicely with the evening plans. Upon further inspection, it was a League Cup Group Stage game, hence my re-acquaintance with the word Zingari (but no Irish remember!)!

MSB Woolton also applied last year but didn’t make the cut, so I’ve worked on the assumption that a second successive application means they’ve got themselves into a better place to make the step up, and from what I can pick up in terms of the noises being made, things are looking somewhat more favourable.

The journey to Liverpool was punctuated by slow moving traffic at varying intervals, notably on the M6 just beyond the Thelwall Viaduct where the junction with the M62 was proving to be a bit of a challenge. With that navigated and time having been lost, it was down past Widnes and then Southbound down towards Halewood, before heading back in again towards Allerton. The Leisure United Simpson complex was just of the A562 main road which conjoins Hunts Cross and Allerton, and is set in a relative area of greenery, with a cemetery to the South and woodland to the West.

There are a number of complexes like the Simpson around the Liverpool area, and my guess is that they are all part of the same organisation. They do appear to be named after people, my favourite is the Jeffery Humble Centre, I should imagine Jeff was a smashing chap!

Anyway, I arrived, the car park was roomy enough, and having made enquiries, it seemed MSB were playing on the pitch to the immediate South of the car park, one of three artificial surfaces at the complex. It was a standard 4G cage, but it did have a small area of cover on the one side that was accessible to the public. It was also noticeable that a number of advertising banners, and some MSB Woolton regalia was decorating the perimeter, so it looks very much like this part of the complex is very much the clubs own.

In the centre of the complex is a single level building that houses all of the dressing rooms, and a cafeteria area. Does it meet Step 6 standards, well, I assume it must be close. I notice you cannot access the pitch itself without going through the building so that solves the admission / enclosed issue, but I guess time will tell.

I’ll be honest, I know very little about MSB Woolton, or at least I didn’t before now. It seems they are a huge and incredibly well respected charter standard club with teams of all ages playing under the banner. They play out of two sites, the other being at Camp Hill, and in terms of their longevity, well it seems as big and as respected as they are, they haven’t been around an awful long time, ten years at the most, and as for the MSB bit, seems they are a firm of solicitors who sponsor the club, and they always come in handy!

While this was a cup tie, from a league position perspective, Woolton sat fourth and as long as though they will make the top five, which means they can go up. That looks like it should be ok, but breaking the top three looks a challenge, with the visitors sat second, eleven points ahead of them having played two games more.

The game itself, played in blustery conditions was a tight and entertaining affair. The hosts took the lead in the first half through a Callum Griffiths penalty, and then we had a spot of controversy right on the stroke of half time when what looked like a perfectly legitimate second goal for Woolston was chalked off following intervention from the linesman.

East Villa Rail regrouped and found an equaliser in the second period when Daniel Lowey finished well from a tight angle after some excellent build up play. Both sides had a go as the half wore on, but neither could find a breakthrough.

So that was it, an honourable draw, and the opportunity to find out what MSB Woolton are all about. If all goes to plan they will be a North West Counties League side next season, as the non-league game on Merseyside starts to build it’s profile with more clubs stepping up from the County leagues.

It’ll be one to watch with interest, and remember, if you are in Liverpool and you ever need a solicitor……