Morpeth Town 2 Bristol Manor Farm 0

FA Vase quarter final
Attendance: 718

We’d all been on a journey to reach this match. Bristol Manor Farm had driven 314 miles having come a similar distance for the previous round at Sunderland RCA. The hosts, meanwhile, had taken 108 days to get to this point. Astonishingly, that’s how long it had been since their last home match (on November 11), the intervening fixtures having been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. They last played at home on a Saturday the weekend the clocks went back.

Before the monsoon they began their Vase campaign with a 5-4 win with the last touch of the game at West Didsbury & Chorlton having been 4-0 up at half-time. They had a walkover in the second round when 1874 Northwich were unable to field a team for tie rearranged for midweek. The next match due to take place at South Shields was postponed eight times before being staged on Consett's 3G pitch, Morpeth winning a thriller 10-9 on penalties. Morpeth surrendered home advantage to get the fourth round tie played at Vase holders North Shields in a gale. Then came a long trip to Hertfordshire to beat Berkhamsted and so to today. My journey was a bike ride along Druridge Bay in the morning (see last pic). Always nice to make a full day out of a fixture if you can. This was the furthest north I’d ever watched a match.

I approached the ground on a country lane. “Prepare to navigate off-road,” instructed the sat nav. Ah. The “off road” bit was actually the track to the car park. That was full so drivers were told to return the way we came and take the first right. This led towards a farmhouse and again I thought I’d gone wrong but, no, an expected dog leg led to pitchside. I parked right behind one of the goals. All this for £6. What a bargain. That would barely buy you a cuppa in the Millionnaire League.

As soon as I stepped out of the car I knew I was going to enjoy this one. Craik Park boasts a superb, secluded, sylvan setting that would be heaven on a summer’s day. Tall trees surround the pitch, conifers (or is it a giant hedge?) on two sides and deciduous on another in a style that brings to mind Guisborough’s ground. The clubhouse and changing rooms are half-hidden in the woods (see below). The whole place has the feel of a Scout campsite than a football ground. As modern grounds go (Craik was purpose-built in 1994) the scene takes some beating.

The main stand is set back from pitchside, the gap to the touchline denoting where a running track used to run. Opposite is a new barn-like cover (see below) but the eye is caught by a peculiar small, temporary stand just 10-seats wide that is positioned behind one of the goals as if mimicking it (see first pic). You feel that just by removing a couple of strategically placed steel rods the whole thing could collapse in an instant. There is a similar structure at Tadcaster Albion. The club had had heaters on the pitch all week to get the game on. Across large swathes the surface was as soft as putty.

Considering this was what the club described as “the most important match in our long 132-year history” they may have been a little disappointed that the gate didn’t reach four figures. The only sound was the shrill shreiks from the young lads behind the goal that brought to mind those England schoolboy internationals at old Wembley. (Always great to see so many youngsters enthusiastically supporting their local, non-league team).

In an exciting, end-to-end game Morpeth took an early lead when Swailes (see ‘Old warhorse’ below) scored with a flying header from a corner. They pretty much bossed the rest of the half and should’ve put the tie to bed by half-time given the number of good chances they had. Bristol, who came into the match off the back of 13 straight wins, had the better of the second half and richly deserved an equaliser. I felt sorry for them when, in the dying seconds, Morpeth sealed victory – and that with a tap-in following a mis-hit.

So the journey continues for The Highwaymen (see below). They will be travelling precisely the same distance as Bristol did today – to Bowers & Pitsea in darkest Essex for the semi-final first leg. Assuming the tie is still alive for the second I highly recommended going along. There will be a good craic at Craik, to be sure.

Names that stand and deliver: I always like nicknames that both reflect a club’s location and have an air of menace. The Highwaymen, the nickname for Morpeth, a town located on the old Great North Road, is a cracker.

Old warhorse: You wouldn’t pick a fight with 45-year-old Chris Swailes of Morpeth. He looks as hard as nails. Click here for an interesting profile on the ex-Ipswich, Bury and Rotherham defender. He’s described as having a “love affair with the Vase”. Ooh, err, missus.

Pics and clips: Bristol Manor Farm went to Craik from their home ground, The Creek. Click here for pics of a match there in 2011. The club is the only one in steps 1-6 with ‘farm’ in its title which relates to the city’s Manor Farm estate. Highlights of today’s game are here.

Sunderland RCA 3 Sleaford Town 2

FA Vase, fourth round
Attendance: 109

It’s funny how often the most hidden grounds are in the smallest settlements. I recalled Parkgate, Emley and Barton in my approach to Meadow Park, home of Sunderland RCA. I’d been there on Google Earth, of course (but not too much for fearing of spoiling the surprise) and I recalled that access was via a modern close but I still couldn’t quite believe that Beechbrooke would lead to my journey’s end. Remarkably, though, after several wiggles, it did. There was no signage at the top of the close when I arrived at 12.20pm which didn’t help although by kick-off there was a small red sandwich board with an A4 sheet slid into a plastic sleeve indicating ‘Sunderland RCA’. No beckoning Wembley arch here, to be sure.

I’d arrived early for a bike ride. Ryhope (the initials stand for Ryhope Community Association) is a former pit village on the coast between Sunderland and Seaham. It also lies on route 1 of the National Cycle Network and the Walney to Wear coast to coast route. The match was a a good opportunity to ride the routes and get a feel for the area at the same time. I ended my tour by checking out the ‘view from the cemetary’ (see bottom pic) since this is the name of a blog-like section of the club’s website and programme.


The view is expansive and unhindered. If you like to watch your football surrounded by gravestones Ryhope is the unquestionably the place to come. The church provides one of the ground’s main backdrops, the other being the chimney belonging to a Victorian pumping station. Deciduous and evergreen trees add a little extra appeal. This place would be nice on a summer’s day. The accommodation consists of a battered, bomb-proof main stand and lean-to with corrugated roof and posts made from what looks like rusting Meccano. What I initially thought was the kazi is actually the dressing rooms which are connected to the pitch via a path bounded by a faded, red rope.

“So how do you play this game, then?” the old bloke behind me (they’re all old blokes at Northern League grounds) jested with his companion. He, like me, probably hadn’t seen a match for weeks. The lawnmower patterns and a sanded area of the pitch told the sorry tale of our mild and relentlessly wet mid-winter. Boy, it was good to be back. My long wait had perhaps over-raised my expectations about a sense of occasion. We’re just talking the last 32 of the Vase here, after all, although this was the furthest either side had been in the competition.

Including Old Salty, last encountered at Newton Aycliffe in September, the crowd only just surpassed three figures. Sunderland were playing at home and Ryhope Colliery Welfare (amazingly this village is home to two Northern League clubs) were hosting South Shields both of which will have knocked a few off the gate. I was one of the very few to be sporting club colours (and I’d bought my black and red scarf primarily to wear at Knaresborough Town) while the sound of the seagulls and an ice cream van (what?) rose above the murmur of conversation. All the talk was about that the classic Vase tie between South Shields and Morpeth on Wednesday. Such a pity that the Shields derby in the next round today was not to be but RCA served up an absorbing alternative.

RCA have been scoring goals for fun in this competition, all curiously against Yorkshire opposition. They put three past Bridlington, four past Silsden, five past Hemsworth Miners Welfare and four past high-flying Tadcaster Albion. More were to follow today although the opposition came from Lincolnshire.

Sleaford took an early lead but RCA fought back to go in 2-1 up at half-time. After the break Sleaford regained the initiative and deservedly levelled on 70 mins albeit following a defender’s error. I really, really didn’t want extra time not least because I’d have to miss it to be home by 6.15pm for a meal out. To my relief six minutes from time RCA settled the tie when Charlton spotted the Sleaford keeper off his line and lobbed him in style from 30 yards out, leaving the goalie backpedalling and pawing at nothing. (Click here for the goal within the highlights). How I cheered. Right at the end a player from either side was left sprawled on turf following two fouls in the space of a few seconds which triggered a melee and Sleaford sending off. For me, a great day out could not have had a more satisfactory conclusion.

Further reading: One of RCA’s former players, Joe Dixon, has a hugely detailed and beautifully curated website about this playing days in the 60 and 70s. Full of newspaper clippings, it’s like an open scrapbook and so evocative of the era. All of his career was spent in the regional leagues. An average Joe in the broader scheme of things but all the more interesting because of it.

Programme notes: A line from the aforementioned View from the Cemetary in the programme made me laugh out loud: “This Vase run is fairy tale stuff. Most exciting thing to happen in Ryhope since the chip shop caught fire.”

Penistone Church 3 Knaresborough Town 0

Northern Counties East League, first division
Attendance: 80

Peering up to the floodlights in the gloom my son and I could see the rain sheeting down cinematically and it barely abated the whole match. Showers rattled the roof of the stand where we cowered and  the subs and the lino squelched in front of us in the touchline mud. The conditions when you visit new grounds have a great bearing on the experience and that was certainly so today. The weather was grim.

Pity because Penistone’s ground (near Barnsley) would make for a good trip on a sunny day with a bike ride along the nearby Transpennine route into the bargain, perhaps. (Click here for pics by a chap who had the sense to go to Penistone on such a day last August for the club’s debut in the FA Cup). There is a Pennine backdrop to the far touchline while the church tower appears behind the near touchline with roofs of terraced houses visible behind the single stand. It has just two rows of seats and PCFC painted white on black on the wall at the back.

A smart, proud club sporting Juventus livery, Penistone is enjoying only its second season in the pyramid. I was confused on arrival. A sign in one direction said ‘pay kiosk’ and, in the other, ‘over 35 spectators and players’. I thought that the Church may have instigated an admission scale according to age and I might be in for a sort of pre-pensioner discount. But it transpired that the latter sign led round to a veterans match on the pitch behind the ground.

There was no getting away from the fact that today’s match was a very run-of-the-mill league fixture. The interest for us was visiting a new ground, getting out of the house on a dull day and seeing our local lads into the bargain. (I last saw them at Hall Road Rangers). Town went one down in seconds and were played off the park thereafter. A woeful performance by Knaresborough, in fact. My son joined me in anticipation of an “away the lads vibe” but it seemed that we were ‘the lads’ and we weren't exuding much vibe come the final whistle. I like to go to church at Christmas but the village chapel on Christmas Eve will probably be easier to enjoy.

Programme notes: Among the pen pictures was reference to Alvyn Riley who has “a wand of left foot” and James Young who has “a cultured left foot”. They’d go well in that Daniel Day-Lewis film ...

Off the rails: Lincoln Moorlands Railway, also in the NCEL first division, are taking some tonkings. They’ve conceded 11, 12 and 14 goals in matches so far this season and are only one defeat or so away from a minus 100 goal difference. An end of season trip to see them trounced at Yorkshire Amateur (long wanted an excuse to go there) is in order. New Mills are struggling too having lost all 19 matches to date in the Northern Premier League first division and scored only 11 goals in the process.

Rub-a-dub-dub: Great write-up and pic, below, in The Guardian about when Bournemouth played Man U in 1984. Ah, those were the days ...

Cup runners: I've come across a couple of blogs of lads on FA Cup trails, both southern based. One blog is here and the other here.

A spot of egg chasing: I experienced another new ground in vile weather last month: Harrogate RUFC’s new enclosure with clubhouse. I watched the match against Preston Grasshoppers (15-5) in the fourth tier of English rugby.