After the heady heights of Molineux I headed along the M18 to Thorne to see two new teams to the Northern Counties East League Division One this season, Club Thorne Colliery v Appleby Frodingham.
Thorne’s ground is to the north of the town through a housing estate
To get to park the car I drove past young aspiring children playing a competitive game. Unfortunately I also passed the burnt remains of the Pavilion and changing rooms damaged by a fire in mid May when a bench close by was set alight which spread to the building.
Grey overcast skies with a light breeze meant the 23 degrees felt just warm.
On entering the ground there is a large covered seated stand in the centre of one side of the ground along with portacabins which houser the bar, the food serving hatch and other admin areas. The rest of the ground is open apart from these buildings and is lined with trees of varying types. The grass pitch was a verdant green with good cover and looked quite flat. With the skies being overcast the floodlights were switched on from the start.
Football has been played in Thorne for over 100 years and their exploits in the 1927 F.A. Cup brought them to the fore. The Club joined the Yorkshire League in 1932 and yoyoed between divisions until they were part of the creation of the Northern Counties East League in 1982. They stayed only 5 years in the league before being relegated to the Doncaster League. Having won the top division they switched to the Central Midlands League and then unusually to the Humber Premier League for the 2023/24 season which they won and gained promotion to the Northern Counties east League.
Appleby Frodingham were formed as a works team for Appleby Frodingham Steel Company in the 1940’s and started life in the Lincolnshire League where they stayed until 1978 when they joined the Midland League. When that league morphed into the Northern Counties East league 4 years later they were founder members of the Premier Division. Problems followed and after folding in 1986 they reformed playing in local leagues as they made their way back to the Lincolnshire League in 1990 and switched again in 2002 to the Central Midland League and by 2008 were back in the Northern Counties East League. They find themselves back in that league for this season after a relegation and time spent again in the Central Midlands League and Lincolnshire County League.
Club Thorne Colliery 3 Appleby Frodingham 1
Tuesday 13th August 2024. Northern Counties East League Division 1. 18.45 kick off. 12th v 18th Attendance 170
Club Thorne Colliery F.C. The Chesterfield Poultry Stadium, Grange Road, Moorlands, Doncaster DN8 4NA
Club Thorne; Blue and Black vertical striped shirts with black shorts: Appleby Frodingham; White Shirts with coloured artwork on the front and red shorts:
The first 10 minutes was a bit like kids football, with everyone chasing the ball. After which the home team were well on top with Appleby Frodingham’s keeper making a great full length save to his left. Thorne now took control but Appleby Frodingham’s dogged defence was keeping them out. With half time approaching an Appleby Frodingham corner was defended and at the third attempt at clearing the ball found its way to Lewis walker, who outpaced the defenders to cut it back across the goal for Salmon Czubik to tap home for the lead. Armthorpe deserved their lead at half time on the number of chances alone.
The second half started with clear blue skies to greet the teams with the away team making one substitution. Appleby were playing with more intent but on 11 minutes they stopped to appeal for a foul which was not awarded giving the attacker time to flight a great cross onto the head of Lewis Walker who placed it into the top left hand corner with the goalkeeper stranded.
Appleby Frodingham did not give up and with 10 minutes left a three way inter-passing play gave Kurtis Gollings the chance to slam the ball into the bottom left hand corner. This though didn’t feel like a consolation goal as they pressed forward continually. With time running out they were denied a penalty as their forward looked to be brought down by Thorne’s goalkeeper. This was a more bitter pill to swallow with the resulting clearance finding Henry Parr who sprinted clear, kept his head and footing to draw the defenceless goalkeeper to hit the ball into the net for a 3.1 win.
Thorne we’re happy but Appleby Frodingham felt almost robbed of the draw. Both though will have taken heart of their performances at this early stage of the season.
Unfortunately there were no chips so I plumped for a hot dog, luckily it was only £1 wasted as the best thing about it was the red sauce. I should have chosen the pie and peas.
The hot dog may have been poor but the program was one of the best I have seen at this level, particularly the images, thank you.
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