FA Trophy, first round
Attendance: 907
I’ve been waiting for a
good opportunity to visit Ramsbottom for ages – and not just because of its
name. I’d read that the club has a great setting and it’s currently very much
on the up having had two promotions to the giddy heights of step 3 Northern
Premier League since I first saw them in the Cup at Barnoldswick three years
ago. Stockport, of course, have gone in the other direction at roughly the same
pace and now languish in the Conference North, an exceptionally low ranking for
an ex-League club. I haven’t seen the Hatters since c 1982 when, as a student
in Manchester, I caught the bus with a friend and County fan to Edgeley Park
for a Friday night match featuring the wonderfully named Tommy Sword.
It’s fair to say that my
companion and nephew, Toby, and I did not see Ramsbottom at its best. We left
the sunshine behind on the other side of the Pennines and descended into a
cold, damp, foggy murk, various forms of precipitation taking it in turns to sweep
across the arena. The Rammy staff and volunteers – some of whom had been
preparing the ground since 8am with heaters, brushes and flamethrowers – had
done very well to get the game on.
Not canoeing weather, you
might have thought, but we passed a group that had just got out of the River Irwell
on our way to the ground alongside the East Lancashire Steam Railway. The Santa
Special was packed and about to depart while O Come all ye Faithful played on
the tinny tannoy. Canoeing or a packed train with steamed up windows? Mmm: tricky
one. We’d have gone with the canoeing if forced to make a choice.
We passed a cabin that’s
home to the Ramsbottom Homing (as in pigeons) Society and bought programmes
from a lady wearing a blue and white santa hat with “Rammy United” written in
blue pen along a stripe of white. We resisted the temptation to buy an “Up the
ram’s bottom” mug. Turnstiles were accessed through ornate iron, garden-style
gates set within arches in brickwork.
The traditional, homely
ambience (which reminded me of Matlock) was reinforced inside the ground by the
names of some of the clubs stalwarts adoring the pre-fabricated hospitality
suite and three basic stands viz Frank Rothwell, Jack Wolfenden, Harry Williams (after whom the ground is also named) and Ellis Timlin. Some of the seats came
from Maine Road and the floodlights and sponsor’s lounge from Boundary Park,
Oldham.
The black scoring tower of the adjacent cricket club was barely
discernable through the fog and the views over the trees up at the surrounding
hills were similarly obscured. The video cameraman sheltered under a plastic sheet
arrangement suspended over an aluminium frame like a toddler under a pushchair rain shield. Sleet and hailstones on
the turf glistened under the floodlights providing the only Christmas sparkle
while slide tackles carved soft furrows and the ball hit the grass with slap.
Full credit to the
Stockport fans. An FA Trophy tie against a small club might have been insignificant
but they turned out in number and were in good voice. They soon had plenty of
cheer about. The visitors took the lead through a penalty after just two
minutes. Hardly, the ideal start to a David/Goliath battle for us and the home fans but one that set
the tone for the afternoon. Rammy rallied, kept battling throughout (not helped
by some dubious refereeing) and had several great chances before Stockport
extended the lead on 25 mins following a free kick. Any match highlights
would’ve consisted of action from the first half and just Stockport’s third
goal (a free header from a cross) from the second half which seemed to go on
forever. Soon after the decisive strike we heard another mournful, haunting
whistle of the steam train returning to the station. (Echoes, literally, of the
North York Moors Railway at Pickering back in August.)
Many fans had left the
ground by the final whistle and we came very close to following them as the
players went through the motions. A Christmas cracker had turned into a damp
squib but one that I still enjoyed in a gritty, northern, “God, isn’t this
grim?” sort of way. I will return on a sunny day and linger longer.
Star turn: Stockport’s
line-up included the son of Remi Moses (ex-Man U in the 80s), Tunji, whom I last saw playing for
Hyde at Staveley. Brothers Grant and Scott Spencer were in opposition today.
Programme notes: Rammy News
evokes the spirit of the club (in this case, proud and cheery) as every good
programme should. Some quotes, first from a Tony Cunningham: “Let’s be honest.
Not too long ago the prospect of little ol’ Rammy playing the might of County
would have had us all being carted off!” Fan Darren Comer writes about the
previous round at Banbury: “I found myself boarding the coach armed only with a
rucksack containing the [Rammy] Ultras flag, a latex ram’s head, vuvuzela, a
four-pack of beers and a couple of the wife’s lovingly prepared sausage and
brown sauce muffins.”
Meanwhile, the supporters’ club rallies fans over
Christmas thus: “When folks find themselves pacing the streets, bored silly
after a day of mercilessly troughing their way through all manner of Christmas
junk what better than to shake off the cobwebs and come down to watch Rammy.” All
this and a retro ‘face in the crowd’ that looked like Scary Spice, notably absent from
tonight’s X Factor final. Perhaps she was making a return trip to the Riverside Stadium ...
Photo credits: Bit murky for my camera today so thanks to Andy Nunn and the Onion Bag blog for letting me pinch their shots of the steam train and turnstile block respectively. Click on the links to see the full sets.
