Chesterfield 2 Daventry Town 0

FA Cup, first round
Attendance: 5,269

A small cardboard box just outside the turnstile block containing aerosols and other items deemed to be potential weapons; a barcode reader rather than a craggy old man operating the turnstile; a sign saying ‘No alcohol beyond this point’; a loud PA system; and lots of yellow jackets. Welcome to the first round of the FA Cup and the big time, relatively speaking.

 

 

The three-year old Pro-Act stadium is smart and thoroughly fit for 21^st century  purpose but new grounds always make a died in the wool traditionalist like me think back to Staveley (which I past en route this afternoon) or Bacup. Feeling nostalgic I diverted to Saltergate, site of Chesterfield’s former ground. It’s now a near complete Barratt housing development. The name of the road is a nice touch, though: Spire Heights. (Chesterfield’s famous nickname is the Spireites. Geddit?) I also liked the name of the programme: Inspire. The atmosphere today was somewhat different to the last time I saw Chesterfield on that unforgettable pre-Christmas night in Droylsden five years ago which was no bad thing.

The appeal of today’s match was the visitors, Daventry Town from the fourth tier of the non-league pyramid. They are the lowest but one ranked club still in the competition (and one of three Southern League representatives) and this was the biggest game in their 127-year history having never previously made the first round proper. The size and noise of the away support befitted the occasion. There was more than six times the average home gate of around 122 and I was glad to ‘do a Motors’* and swell the numbers in the Purple Army by one.

For the first quarter Daventry seemed to be stumbling over themselves out of over-exuberance and nerves and barely got out of their own half. Then they settled down and - in what has to be called a purple patch - had two good chances when they broke through the Spireites’ back line.

The second half contained little to take my mind off the increasingly dank conditions, the sweeping rain pitter-pattering on the roof . There was a five minute delay while Beckley of Daventry received treatment on the pitch and was eventually stretchered off (although not seriously injured, it transpired). The visitors held out until 69 mins when a Chesterfield free-kick from the right was volleyed in at the far post. The chairman, in a suit and purple and white striped tie, came over to join us but we needed more than a talisman to get back into the contest. The hosts sealed victory on 89 mins when a 30-yard shot took a wicked deflection and went in off the underside of the bar.

Our goalie had played well and, in front of him Liam Dolman was immense too (in more ways than one). He looked more like a rugby prop forward, in fact. According to Wikipedia “during his time at Northampton Town, it has been alleged that he was the only obese player to be playing full-time in the Football League”. A goalmouth scramble and penalty claim in injury time failed to give Daventry the consolation they deserved. A minor pitch invasion greeted the final whistle after which the players come over for their farewells.

So for Daventry it’s back to the bread and butter of the league, a taste they haven’t had since Oct 8 since when they’ve played seven consecutive cup ties. Next up: Wellingborough at home on Tuesday. And for me? Back to basics at Nelson in three weeks. I’m longing for another Pennine backdrop.

* ‘Doing a Motors’ means to join the away fans of a non-league team at a big match even though you don’t ordinarily support them. The phrase was coined by a friend who, as a neutral, joined the Vauxhall Motors’ lads at their FA Cup tie at QPR in 2002.

Star turn: In the Chesterfield line-up today was Gary McSheffrey, ex-Coventry and Birmingham (pictured in  previous action shot).

Mascot mayhem: I liked The Guardian’s preview of Grimsby v. Scunthorpe. “Yesterday the club mascots, Mighty Mariner and Scunny Bunny, took part in a competition of their own by spinning around on the spot 10 times before attempting to score in a virtually unguarded net.  Such is the magic of the Cup.” The paper’s review of six classic first round ties is a good read. Gloucester played in the Cup today. Their abandoned ground is a tale of woe as BBC Online reported last week.

(Far) away the lads!: Spare a thought for the Wigan fans who ventured to Rubin Kazan (sounds like a magician’s exclamation), 500 miles east of Moscow, for their Europa League tie on Thursday. About 150 souls made the 5,000-mile round trip at a cost of about £1,600 each, some completing their journey on the sleeper train from the Russian capital. Admirable dedication or simply madness? Either way the fans are certainly putting the ‘adventure’ into “Wigan’s great European adventure”. Here’s a film that gives a frisson of what it was like out there.

Stamford 0 Hednesford Town 2

FA Cup, fourth qualifying round
Attendance: 668

The journey to Stamford is something of a pilgrimage for groundhoppers but not for much longer. One of the best loved non-league grounds in the country in a stunning but little known Georgian stone town closes at the end of the season when the club moves to a new out of town stadium. I’d tried to avoid viewing pics of the existing ground online as I wanted to see it for real first and today’s tie ­­- with Stamford bidding to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time ever - was the ideal opportunity.

Cameras are usually focused on three features: a church tower, row of almshouses (just the other side of a fence), and century old wooden main stand with red dogtooth fascia bearing the letters SAFC which you imagine would tumble to the ground if struck by an errant pass. The ‘A’ stands for association. The club is not called ‘Stamford Town’ either; the extra syllable just works better for chants not that there were many today. In fact – and for my third round running – the away fans were more vocal than their hosts.

Hailing from a Black Country former mining community, Hednesford are nicknamed the Pitmen. One of their fans sported a white miner’s hard hat with the initials HT painted in black on the sides and ‘The Pitmen’ on the front. Stamford have a great nickname too: the Daniels which is derived from Daniel Lambert, England’s heaviest man (at the time), who died in the town in 1809 weighing 52 stone.  The nickname is everywhere; the locals clearly cherish it.

For what was billed as Stamford’s biggest cup tie for 40 years the atmosphere was a little low key. The mature crowd was modest both in number and demeanor and typified by the mayor in this chains.

Rather like at my previous tie at Guisborough the hosts won the first half on points but had no goals to show for it and you always felt the visitors would make their higher status tell. (Conference North leaders Hednesford came into the match having lost only one League match all season while Stamford had only won two and lie close to the foot of the division below). Hednesford scored twice in the second half, both from soft penalties (the first pictured, below). They were the stronger side overall and deserved to win but, for the Daniels, this must have been a galling way to go out particularly at such an advanced stage.

“The men who could make history” was how a montage of Daniels’ pics was headed in the programme. Sadly not today. This season’s history is likely to be limited to the final match at the grand old ground next April with an appetiser against a potentially promotion chasing FC United of Manchester on Easter Saturday. Put at least one of them in your diary.

Programme notes: The Hednesford squad included Cameroonian Charlie Anagho-Ntamark. His surname reads like a couple of sets of Scrabble tiles. The Pitmen have two players with European experience: Nathan Woolfe with Bolton in the UEFA Cup in 2007 and Wayne Riley with Airbus in the Europa League qualifiers last July. Neil Harvey is a Barbadian international. An ‘in the hot seat’ feature reveals that Richard Jones of The Daniels has a phobia of worms and doesn’t like swedes either. Outstanding publication, by the way.

North/south divide: Distinct lack of teams from the north in the fourth qualifying round draw: just 14 out of 66.

Audio connections: I’ve made my debut as a 5 Live reporter. Responding to a tweet, I filed a 30-second report for The Non League Radio Show, as below. At the game I met the two lads behind the Cup Runnings audio blog too.

listen to ‘Up for the Cup on The Non League Football Show’ on Audioboo

 

Guisborough Town 1 Workington 4

FA Cup, third qualifying round
Attendance: 524

Many teenage girls would’ve checked Twitter on their mobiles on the evening of Oct 2 but very few, like my daughter, awaited score updates from the Cup replay between Guisborough and Jarrow Roofing. She was doing me a favour, of course. I have to admit I really wanted The Roofing to win just for an excuse to visit such a fantastically named club (OK, then, let’s have it in full: Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association) but it was not to be. 

Still, Guisborough – which I visited previously in 2007 – is closer to home and, being in my adoptive home county, I was happy to support them today. Remarkably, this was their eighth match in the competition this season having entered in the extra-preliminary round and required replays in each of the subsequent rounds. Entrants in the third round proper can win the competition with less effort. Workington are three divisions higher but bottom of the Conference North.

For the arboreally inclined the grandly named King George V Stadium is a treat. It feels like you’re in a forest with tall trees on three sides of the ground. The fourth side consists of the obligatory shipping container, four pollarded trees that look like giant Matchmakers and the back of a swimming pool (below). My nephew and occasional Cup companion Toby must have been the only person in the ground to have compared the ground to Bala Town which he visited while a student in Wales. “Is this the club shop?” he enquired. “Or is it the toilet?” Actually, it was the dressing room.

The KGV is probably best saved for a crisp autumn day when the leaves are golden. We were two or three weeks early for that and, besides, the weather could not have been more dank and gloomy.What a contrast to the previous round. The programme editor started his notes with: “Tonight we extend a warm welcome to…” It could, indeed, have been evening.

Guisborough came storming out of the blocks and dominated the first quarter having five good chances and deservedly taking the lead from one of them. They struck the bar on 38 mins then immediately the visitors equalised. I’d felt that Guisborough should’ve made more hay while the sun shone (figuratively speaking) and so it proved.

“How are Marske getting on?” a spectator asked us at half-time. I was confused, thinking he was asking about the mascot for the Great North Air Ambulance which was lumbering towards us. He was referring to rivals Marske United who were playing a third qualifying round tie just five miles away on the coast. The PA had earlier announced that Marske were 0-1 down to a lone jeer/cheer (it was hard to tell which).

I’d deferred my photography to the second half in the hope that the conditions would improve. They deteriorated and sea fret-like drizzle descended, causing one of the two FATV camcorder men (above) on the touchline to shield his lens with his jacket. No fancy gantries here. Things weren’t getting any better for The Priorymen either (great nickname, incidentally, coined from the town’s famous – and highly recommended – ruins).

 

Workington took the lead on 55 mins and, when they got the third soon after, it was all over bar the shouting. There was a lot of that towards the end from their fans, the self-styled “Carlisle ’aters” and “Barrow ’aters” (they are their nearest rivals, 50 miles away), enjoying their side’s first away victory of the season. Earlier they’d chanted “USA, USA!” to encourage their American goalie, Alex Wimmer, much like Reading fans used to support Shaka Hislop.

For the neutral a far better contest was by now reaching its climax at the seaside. Marske got the winner in injury time. What a pity that the draw sends them to Southport. Ho, hum.

Fashion notes: Workington’s away strip is a fetching combination of lime green, black and red. Talking of hideous strips have a look at this lot from last week’s Guardian online.

Programme notes: Today’s match was in the FA Cup and Guisborough’s left back has sticky-out ears. Insert joke here. Gavin Skelton of Workington played in the Scottish Cup Final for Gretna in 2006 and in the subsequent UEFA Cup qualifier against Derry City.

Seventies albatrosses around their necks: Much as Nottingham Forest will forever be known in the media as “former European champions Nottingham Forest” so Workington will always have the “ex-League club” prefix. They hosted a pre-Munich Man United in front of 21,000 and twice reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup in the sixties. Here’s an extract of an evocative amateur film about their final home league match in 1977.

Football in the back garden: This backdrop takes some beating. It’s Buckingham Palace which last week provided the venue for an amateur match staged as part of the FA’s 150th anniversary celebrations.