The Berwick Charities Cup Final 2025.

Having watched Berwick Rangers play Cowdenbeath in the afternoon, I made my way to ‘The Stanks’, the area just outside the Elizabethan Castle walls. Berwick Rangers played some of their early games here.

This is the third year I have been to this competition, but the first final I have been able to attend.

Thanks to the community, this cup has been played for over 100 years, raising funds for local charities. Much needed today as it has been in all its years.

The match kicked off early, 18.56, after the teams had been led onto the pitch by a lone piper.

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As normal, it was an amazing sight to see the pitch, restored every year for this competition, enclosed on two sides by castle ramparts, and lined by a narrow local road on the other two. Looking beyond, you can see a beach and the North Sea. A good crowd had gathered. Mainly sitting on the wall or standing pitch side or on the road. A collection was taken for the fund, and a table heaved with the donations for the raffle.

As usual, an ice cream van was in attendance behind the goal.

The evening had cooled from the 20 degrees of the day, except if you were playing. Evergreens were from Chirnside north of Berwick in Scotland and Hadda Mad Dogs from Amble in England. So it looked like the normal borders rivalry and skirmish.

Evergreens 4 Hadda Mad Dogs 2

Saturday 26th July 2025, 18.56 kick off. The Berwick Charities Cup Final, The Stanks, Berwick Castle, Berwick Upon Tweed.

Evergreens, all green with the goalkeeper in all pale blue.

Hadda Mad Dogs, black shirts with lime green shoulders and sleeves, lime green shorts, goalkeeper in yellow top black shorts.

The referee had a lime green shirt and socks with black shorts. There was a lot of confusing green everywhere.

The first 14 minutes were very even with the full backs playing nearest the road, making some fierce tackles.

On 15 minutes, a ball was hit down the left for Evergreens number 6 to run past all defenders and Cross for a forward to score unopposed.

Evergreens didn’t hold the lead for long when 6 minutes later, number
11 sored a similar goal for Hadda, receiving a pass from the left and clipping the ball past the goalkeeper.
Just before half time, the Hadda goalkeeper made a crucial save at the foot of the post to keep it at 1.1 at half time.

Evergreens came out strongly in the second half, and within 25 minutes they had added three more goal to lead 4.1.
First, a header through to 12 who coolly drew the keeper to score. A few minutes later, 11 received the ball on the centre spot and fired home. The fourth was a tap in by 9 who had been left on his own.

Madda did get one back on roughly 40 minutes when their number nine received the ball nearly 30 yards out, turned and smashed it into the top right-hand corner of the net. The best goal of the evening, but too late as Evergreens saw out the rest of the game with ease.

As usual, it is always a joy to watch football in this location, a community event, competitive to the end and in good humour. Please keep it going. We need more things like this.

A great start at Berwick Rangers.

My first League game of the 2026/26 season was a Scottish Lowland League game between Berwick Rangers and Cowdenbeath. It has not been long since both of these teams were playing in the SFL. Dropping out is a big disadvantage because it is so difficult to get back.

Although Berwick Rangers are based in England, they continue playing in the Scottish football system like their nearby neighbours Tweedmouth Rangers FC, who play in the East of Scotland League. Berwick don’t only play in Scottish football rather than English they also play in Tweedmouth rather than Berwick, the river Tweed separating the two. Cowdenbeath have the nickname of ‘The Blue Brazil’, a little irony, I believe. They do play in blue. I have, in previous years, reviewed a book about the fall of the ‘Blue Brazil’.

I started my afternoon with a Haggis and cheese backed potato at the Riverside Café with a short 10-minute walk from there to the ground. The café was also feeding a fan from Aberdeen who had travelled down for the game.

The ground is behind housing with a large area for parking and is shared with Berwick Bandits, the Speedway team. Once through the turnstiles, where they were collecting for new floodlights, the ground looks large with a main seated stand on one side and covered terracing on the other. The pitch was a lovely green looking to have been well prepared for the new season. It had been cut in circles around the centre spot for a pleasing pattern.

Although it was 20 degrees, it seemed chillier in the wind, which was making grey and white clouds scurry past. The big reveal of the match was that Berwick would be wearing their new third kit for the first time.

Berwick Rangers 2 Cowdenbeath 0

Saturday 26th July 2025 Lowland League, 15.00 pm kick off . Shielfield Park, Tweedmouth, Berwick Upon Tweed, TD15 2EF. The Gers v The Blue Brazil, Attendance 541

Berwick Rangers, All black kit with some yellow edging, goalkeeper in blue top and black shorts.

Cowdenbeath, Light blue shirts with white shorts, goalkeeper in all yellow.

The game kicked off, and the first 20 minutes were uneventful as both teams looked to find rhythm and pattern after the break from competitive football. Cowdenbeath scored after 23 minutes, but it was disallowed for off side. the game now stopped while an official walked round the ground to deal with a blue flare that had been thrown onto the edge of the pitch in celebration. Some players took advantage of the stoppage through an unofficial drinks brake.

The game continued in a dull fashion, but on 38 minutes, Berwick took the lead through Mikey Mbewe, who stroked the ball along the grass into the net after a corner from the left and two blocked shots. At half time, I felt that both teams were trying to blow away early season cobwebs.

The second half started much brighter with Cowdenbeath’s attacks coming from mainly down the left, and both teams had more chances in that period than the whole of the first half. The more competitive game was ended with 20 minutes left when Rangers, number 8, Stuart Mair, controlled a strong pass, turned and from 20 yards hit the ball sweetly into the top right hand corner of the net. With less than 10 minutes left a heavy tackle by a Cowdenbeath defender caused some reaction, and the resulting ruck was reviewed by the referee and his linesman with only one yellow card being issued.

Cowdenbeath scored with 2 minutes left but were again denied by the linesman’s offside ruling.

Berwick fans seemed happy with the result and felt that the team would do better than a relegation battle this season. They deserved to win, but Cowdenbeath need to go back to review how they can be more effective and proactive upfront.

The chips were a great start for this seasons chip league with a healthy score of 70. They were golden, crisp, tasty, no taste of fat, soft inside, if anything a bit dry. I decided against a Scotch Pie as I was not in Scotland but then foolishly bought a Bovril at half because, as I revealed in a recent blog, it was invented in Scotland. I made a mistake there.

Great to visit a friendly ground and hope that either of these teams can challenge this season to return to the SFL.

Non-League Club Directory

This time of year, I usually advertise the new seasons Non-League Club Directory. Unfortunately this year I have recieved the email below that gives the sad news that the 2024/25 edition was the last one and after 47 publications there will be no more. Thank you for those many seasons of joy when thumbing through the many pages of tables and results of teams I had never heard of and aspired to visit in the future. In the early years it was invaluable for addresses to grounds now so easily found via Google Maps.

I will cherish all 47 editions that sit on my shelves and once again thank you and wish you well in your continued support for the game at this level.

Email from The Non-League Club Directory

Thank You…

You may or may not have heard that unfortunately last year’s edition of the Directory was in fact the last one.

Between myself and James Wright we tried our best to keep it going, for another season at least, but for a number of reasons it has not been possible to continue.

As some of you will know the above was where it all started 47 editions ago. Football has changed for the better, and worse but the one thing that remained the same throughout, the passion of real non-League followers and your support of the Directory, as well as our other publications such as Team Talk magazine.

Whether you bought just one edition or have the complete set (you must have a very strong book case!) thank you so much.

Good luck to you and your club for the season ahead.

All the best

Mike & Tony WilliamsCopyright © 2025 Mike Williams Publishing, All rights reserved.

The Football Season just gets a little nearer

July 4th, was an exciting day for many football fans with the draws for the FA Cup Extra Preliminary round, the first round of the FA Vase, the FA Trophy and the FA Youth Cup being made.

I was also privileged to attend Two Football Podcasts in Sheffield as part of the Crossed Wires Podcast Festival. In its second year in Sheffield, and this year being sponsored by BBC Sounds.

Crossed Wires adds to the many festivals held in the city, e.g. ‘Off the Shelf’, ‘DocFest’ and the music festival, ‘Tramlines’. I have seen some good football related talks at the first two.

My first Podcast was John Murray and Ian Dennis, BBC radios senior football commentators, chatting about their experiences in covering football all over the world. Working from a script, the Podcast was to a live audience and recorded for later transmission this summer, ‘The Football Daily – Commentator’s View’ took their usual chatty style although without their normal third compatriot Ali Bruce-Ball.

It was unbelievably relaxed and flowed often without their script. Putting faces to voices was unusual, although I was able to recognise both of their voices. What I took away from the hour was the amount of research they put in to each team, season and game with Ian Dennis showing his red book that he produces for each season and updates each day.

Ian Dennis is the usual commentator for the Saturday 3 pm kick off game and it was great to hear how proud he was to welcome the many millions of listeners each week when the ‘World Service’ hand over to his commentary.

Later in the day I was back to hear an hour Podcast by the BBC Sheffield Football team who cover the six senior teams in the area with commentary, phone ins, interviews and updates regularly. The Podcast was called after one of their shows, ‘Football Heaven’ but this had a strap line of ‘Access all area’ with them being able to air their own views as it was not to be broadcast.

Rob Staton, Andy Giddings, and Adam Oxley were able to tell of their most difficult match, interviews, phone in, club, journey and much more. These three have had very interesting careers so far, surviving a few scrapes on the way. Great to hear peoples true and frank views on all aspects of covering local football in a mostly humorous way.

As well as two informative and happy hours of football chat they were performed in the old Cole Bothers building which is slowly being cleared and brought back to life after John Lewis abandoned the City, something locals will never forgive them for.

Let’s not forget Bovril.

The thick, warming Bovril at Clay Cross FC one evening game to help see off the cold made me wonder where Bovril started to become an iconic football drink.

Bovril is a drink that is associated with football. Many cups and mugs of it have been drunk at matches, particularly on cold winter days on wet and windy terraces, and huddled up to food kiosks. Sometimes, it was brought in by the supporters, in ‘Thermos Flasks’ but usually dispensed by a willing helper often in a freezing hut or warm and welcoming club house. Surprisingly, this British beverage originated in Canada, where a Canadian based Scottish butcher named John Lawson Johnson developed his business after years of running a very successful butcher in Edinburgh, where his beef stock was very popular.

The products big chance came when Napoleon III ordered tinned beef for his army, but Johnston suggested a canned beef extract, and Johnston’s fluid beef was born. A return to London in 1886 saw him promote his product, which he now called Bovril. Scott and Shackleton took it to the Antarctic, and their use to stem the cold and fortify them was noted.

Johnston’s promotional and advertising skills were exceptional, and one advert showed Pope Leo XIII with a steaming mug of Bovril with the heading “Two infallible powers. The Pope and Bovril. ” Within a few years of launch, Bovril was being sold in over 3000 grocers, pubs, and chemists.

Reproduction advertising material from Bovril’s early days.

It is Scottish football that seems to claim Bovril as its own with an archived ‘Glasgow Evening Post’ from the Friday 23rd September 1892 edition showing an advert for a ‘Grand Football Match’ at Ibrox with a strap line of ‘Bovril Served Hot’. In the same week, the club linked Bovril with pies. Before the start of the ‘Great War’, one stand at Ibrox was known by fans as The Bovril Stand due to a large advert on it. The rest is history as it spread as the preferred drink of fans all over Britain.

Its popularity has waned in recent years with the rise of all types football food, coffee, and alcohol taking over the tradition of a pie and Bovril.

Bovril as a product now comes in stock cubes, jars, and granules, making it easy to make a cup. Even a vegan version, based on beets, was launched in 2020 in conjunction with Forest Green Rovers but this seems to have fallen by the wayside along with a Chicken based version where a group of devotees are trying to get the company to resurrect the product.

Bovril will, I’m sure, be with us for many more years.

There’s still value in County Cup football.

2416 fans turned up at Hillsborough to see the final of the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Cup final and no one was disappointed. It was a cold evening, only 11 degrees, yet it was a pleasant walk to the ground from parking the car just outside the ground, something you couldn’t do when ‘Wednesday’ are at home.

Fans of both teams mingled in the bars and food kiosks before taking their seats. I was able to get one of the padded seats, so I sat back waiting for the players of Worksop Town FC and Hallam FC. Both have had successful years coming second in their respective leagues and both gaining promotion by way of the playoffs. Worksop Town will be leaving the Northern Premier League and returning to the National League North after an 18 year absence. Hallam FC will be leaving the Northern Counties East League, Premier Division, next season, and moving up to The Northern Premier League, East Division a level they have never before played at. Despite these moves there will still be two level between the clubs, Worksop at the 6th level of English Football and Hallam at the 8th level.

Both teams entered the arena to some vocal fans and a drum beat by the Hallam contingent. The grass surface looked like it was starting to be prepared for the close season with patches of sand all over the pitch. After the customary introduction to the supporters and each other the teams stood in the centre of the centre circle with everyone standing and observing a minutes silence on this 80th Anniversary of VE Day.

The Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA Senior Cup is the 5th oldest in the world and next year it will be 150 years old, having been first played for in 1876.

Worksop Town 2 Hallam 1

Friday 8th May 2025, 19.30 kick off. Hillsborough Stadium.

Tigers v The Countrymen

Worksop; grey shorts and shirts the front of which had a vertical black panel on one side, the goalkeeper had an orange top and black shorts.

Hallam; All royal blue strip with the goalkeeper in a pink top and black shorts.

Worksop looked in control from the start but Hallam were letting them come to them and counter attacking with some quick breaks down the wings particularly down the right. Hallam were also controlling the tempo of the game with slow goal kicks, throw ins and set pieces, this was something they continued with all match.

It was Worksop who took the lead when with 16 minutes gone, a cross from the left was beaten out by the Hallam keeper but only onto the head of Aleks Starcenco who directed it down and into the bottom right corner of the net. The game now ebbed and flowed and despite the difference in League levels Hallam held their own to only trail by the one goal at half time.

The floodlights were turned on at half time with it coming over gloomy, and Worksop should have made it two with only 4 minutes gone from the re-start when the ball was blasted over the bar from very close range. A few minutes later, Warhurst in the Hallam goal kept them in the game with a reflex point blank save.

The Worksop dominance continued with the Hallam break aways, and one of these lead to an equaliser when a cross in from the left found Rio Allan, unmarked, and he cleverly dinked it over the goalkeeper into the net. Que celebrations by the players just in front of their fans. Rio Allen had played some skilful football all night and deserved the goal.

This set up a nerve wracking 20 minutes for both fans with the pattern of play resuming as before. Both sides made numerous substitutions, and it seemed destined for penalties to decide the tie, when with a minute to go Worksop struck again, when after a higher tempo attack the ball was received by Aleks Starcenco on the right corner of the Hallam goal area and he blasted it into the top right hand corner of the net. Hallam could not come back in the final 4 minutes of added time but all of their team gave their all. Worksop will have known that they had been in a hard won game, just deserving to edge it on the night.

Football Food

Great to have chips again, they were a good portion, tasty, golden, firm to soft inside, and but for the fact that they were only warm they could have been the chips of the year, score 73.

You have to deal with disappointment to follow the Villa….5….

An early start to head south to watch a grandson’s under 6 game in Northampton and then on to Wembley.

A Wembley trip is an occasion as well as a football match, and for me to go with two grandsons made me reflect on my first visit. Then there were twin towers, and England lost 2.3 to Sweden in 1959. This was only England’s second loss to a team other than a Home Nation on the hallowed turf. Just six years after the thrashing by Hungary and only 7 years before England’s World Cup triumph. Bobby Moore’s statue, with reference to the rest of the team, stands proud outside the entrance.

There have been other changes, too, even since a visit to see Aston Villa lose in a Championship Playoff final in 2018. On my first visit, my father showed me the decaying buildings left over from the British Empire Exhibition of 1924/25, and I showed what was left to my son in 1994 when Villa beat Manchester United. None of that now , the area has been transformed into a modern high-rise city of its own with the tiered walkway that was Wembley Way replaced by a flat pathed area to complement the new living style.

The organisation was fantastic, with the turnstiles and security opened, all of the queuing fans were whisked into the stadium. Inside the concourse offers food and drink and toilets to befit a national stadium.

The vastness of the red seats hit you as you walk into your seating area brought smiles to the grandsons. The immaculate pitch gleamed a bright green despite the grey overhead cloud, and there was no wind or breeze in this bowl.

Strangely, the Villa fans, so vociferous at home and away, seemed subdued, but a ripple of applause broke out as Stan Collymore was spotted standing above a ‘Villa Cannock’ flag.

Crystal Palace 3 Aston Villa 0

Saturday 26th April 2025, FA Cup Semi-final, 17.15 kick off.

Eagles v Villians.

There was little intensity to the start of the game, and Villa looked as if they were playing walking football out from the back as Palace didn’t press them but crowded out the mid field and defence. Palace fans were in ascendancy when 31 minutes Pau Torres made a mistake to let Ismail Sarr cross the ball for Ebrechi Eze to hit a fierce shot into the roof of the net past Martinez’s right hand.

Villa tried to get into the game and, with much of the possession, didn’t create a worthwhile chance despite some hard work by John McGinn.

Villa briefly looked a little sharper at the start of the second half but conceded a penalty . Jean-Paul Mateta stepped forward and placed the ball to the diving Martinez’s left, but with it clipping the outside of the post and going wide Villa fans thought this could be a sign of a come back.

However, Villa players looked like they had tired legs and were often picked off by some strong defending in mid field by Daichi Kamada and Adam Wharton. The Londoners doubled their lead on 58 minutes when Sarr dispossessed Tielemans and surged forward to power a drive along the ground into the left hand corner of the net. Villa made changes and could have reduced the lead but for their own player, Torres, blocking a powerful shot that looked destined to score.

With the minutes ticking away and the Villa fans drifting out, Sarr raced clear of the Villa defence and made it 3 nil, game well and truly over.

Although Villa had over 70 per cent of possession, it was Palace who outplayed them again this season, their defensive tack ticks and fast breaks, capitalising on Villa mistakes.

Palace had a game plan to disrupt Villa’s flow, they made the referee and Villa wait at the start as they held a long huddle, they made very long celebrations for each goal, Eze strutted back to the half way line after his goal celebrations at a crawl, Place came out in dribs and drabs to start the second half with a pause to wait for their 11th player and Henderson , who had a great game in goal should have been penalised by the referee for his time wasting. But despite this, you could not take it away from Crystal Palalce, who very much deserved to win and make Villa look second best.

Hopefully, the long season has not proved too much for Aston Villa and they can win the remainder of their games.

Football Food

The food at our magnificent football stadium was less than magnificent.

I was told I couldn’t just have chips to review for my annual chip league unless I had it as a meal deal with a burger. However, the chips were priced separately. Why not sell them separately then. The burger in what I think was supposed to be a Brioche Bun was awful. It was limp tasteless, just warm and made a McDonalds basic burger seem like a gourmet meal.

The chips were the worst I have had all season and sit bottom of my chip league, a score of 40 was generous. They were cold, dry limp, with no taste, and unfortunately, I left most of them under my seat for someone to clear up, sorry. I won’t ever buy anything inside this stadium again.

N.B. The heading to this post has been used before in my blog. However, it doesn’t reflect the enjoyment fun and smiles that Aston Villa have given me.

An evening at Pinxton FC

With the end of season fast approaching, I decided to get a game in before some time away, will stop me from watching some football. I headed south, two junctions down the M1 to Pinxton. Pinxton was a ground I had visited before but to watch a Derby Singh Brothers game when they were homeless and playing games there.

This is an ex mining village. You park in the car park of the Pinxton Miners Welfare and walk up the hill to the ground. Considering the pitch is on the side of a hill, it only has a slight slope from end to end and side to side. The surface is grass but a little bumpy. The facilities are unusual. There is a small covered two stepped seated stand that holds roughly 50 people in the corner of one side and built into the hill at the back is a food hut which you climb up to past a small covered standing area.

After a day that was beautiful , clear blue sky with the temperature rising to 18, the evening was cooling quickly with a cold breeze. 126 fans had turned up to see Pinxton play Staveley Miners Welfare with both teams on the edge of the play-off places with only a few games left.

Football Histories

Pinxton FC were started in 1994 and played in the Mansfield Bitter League for their first years, gaining promotions and moving up to the Midlands Regional Alliance League in 1997. Some solid seasons in this league gave them heart to join the Central Midlands League in 2004. They made their way to the highest division and won it in 2024 to be promoted to the United Counties Division One.

Staveley Miners Welfare F.C‘s. current club was formed in 1962 as a Sunday team, known as the Nags Head playing in Barrow Hill. There had been a football team in Staveley since the early 1880’s. They started playing on Saturdays in 1989. In 1991 they joined the Sheffield and Hallamshire County League and two years later moved to the Central Midlands League. They were constant members of that league until 1997 when their second place finish in the highest league gained them entry to The North East Counties League.

Their time in the NCEL wasn’t without ups and downs, semi-finalists in the FA Vase in 2012 masked their off field problems. In 2020 they secured grant money to install an all weather pitch and have continued their facilities development in tandem with community involvement. In 2022 the club took a voluntary demotion by one Division to reset a 5 year sustainability plan. They were moved to the United Counties Division 1

Pinxton FC 2 v Staveley Miners Welfare FC 2

Tuesday 8th April 2025 19.45 pm kick off

United Counties League, Division One, 8th v 5th, The Miners v The Trojans

Wharf Rd, Pinxton, Nottingham NG16 6LG

Pinxton; All Royal Blue shirts and shorts with some white chequered images on the lower front of the shirt. Goalkeeper in light lime green with some yellow stripes on the front of the shirt.

Staveley Miners Welfare; All fluorescence orange kit. Goalkeeper in all light green.

Pinxton were the more dominant team in the first 15 minutes, hitting the crossbar and being foiled by a point blank save by the Trojans keeper. They took the lead on 17 minutes when a ball cleared by the Staveley defence was controlled by Kane Hempshall who volleyed a rocket of a shot just to the right of the goalkeepers hand.

The home side were only ahead for eight minutes when Staveley equalised. A ball swung in from the right went over all those in the penalty area it was kept in out on the left, crossed back, where Dan Grierson outfought a defender at the right hand post and headed it down and over the goal line.

Pinxton returned the pressure and but for some great goalkeeping by xxx and a strong Staveley defence could have gone in ahead at half time.

Pinxton played downhill in the second half and, for the first 15 minutes, looked the most likely to take the lead. The game then settled down, and as it progressed into the last 15 minutes, it was Staveley who looked the most likely to score. With the final whistle approaching it looked like the away side had stolen the win when a long throw was headed on for Jack Deakin to riffle the ball along the ground, through defenders legs and into the net.

The game drifted into added time, and with three minutes added, Pinxton were awarded a corner from the right, which their goalkeeper went forward for. The over hit ball was chipped back in where Josh Wright headed the ball into the goal for a draw. The referee blowing for time only a minute later.

A good competitive game, with a draw being a fair result that leaves both teams with a chance of reaching the playoffs with two games left, although Pinxton’s is a slim one.

Football Food

I was happy to have some chips, but although being hot were a bit limp and some were overcooked. A good quantity and a good taste but a score of only 59.

Ilkley Town Bar Chips

A trip to beautiful Wharfedale, nearing the end of another enjoyable football season.

A stop off on the way at Five Rise Locks at Bingley to see the steepness of the canal boat locks, and a coffee in the café where a new to me, Bakewell tart flapjack, had to be tried. Then on to Ilkley Moor and pass the Cow and Calf, rocks of millstone grit, before dropping down to Ilkley itself. The self-indulgence continued with a Yorkshire Cream Tea at Betty’s, well you have to don’t you. Finally, on to Ilkley Town F.C. where they luckily for my waist didn’t have any chips. The problem being that the insurance to fry chips would be too high. Oven chips, maybe?

Ilkley’s ground is part of a modern sports complex on the Eastern edge of town. It is very modern with an artificial pitch and the facilities to pass the ground grading for the league they play in

It is beautifully flat with fencing all around. There is a small seated stand offset to one goal and a small covered standing area in the middle of one side. There is a path way around 85% of the perimeter. The pitch and facilities allow the club to run various youth and senior teams and generate income from pitch hire.

The character of the stadium is enhanced by Ilkley Moor as a backdrop and the Cow and Calf Rocks.

The game I had come to watch was between Ilkley and Yorkshire Amateur. Ilkley needing a win to ensure a playoff place, and Yorkshire Amateur already condemned to bottom position and awaiting the end of season league review to see if they are relegated.

Football Histories

Ilkley Town was formed in the 1960s but disbanded in the early 90s. Reformed in 1994 as Ilkley AFC they played locally and renamed that Club back to Ilkley Town after previously joining the West Yorkshire League. They were elected in 2021 to the North West Counties League and transferred to the Northern Counties East League for this season.

Yorkshire Amateur ẁere founded in 1918, and two years later, we’re founder members of the Yorkshire League, only staying for a few years. They were reunited in 1930. Just two years later, they were losing semi-finalists in the F.A. Amateur Cup.

Skipping to 1952, they were relegated to the second division starting an amazing yoyo period, promoted the next season, relegated in 1956, promoted 1959, Relegated 1962, promoted 1972, Relegated 1975. In 1977, they reached a low point, being relegated to Division 3. In 1978, back to div 2 and with a League reorganisation in 1982, they were founder members of the Northern Counties East League Division Two. 1984 promoted, relegated 1986, 1991 promotion due to league reorganisations, 2018 promoted to the Premier Division, 2021 promoted to the Northern Premier but demoted back to the NECL the following year due to ground grading problems. In 2023, they were relegated to Division I, and this year, they have finished bottom and await their fate. Some journey I for their fans, I apologise if I have made any errors.

Ilkley Town 4 Yorkshire Amateur 1

Saturday 5th April 2025, 15.00 pm kick off Northern Counties East League Division 1

Ben Rydding Sports Club, Leeds Road, Ilkley West Yorkshire, LS298AW

5th v 22nd The Baht’atters v Ammers

Ilkley; Faded Yellow shirts with black shoulders and sleeves, dark blue shorts, goalkeeper all green. Yorkshire Amateur; All red kit with goalkeeper in all orange.

The game started in beautiful sunshine with clear skies although a wind whipping across the pitch made it feel colder than the 11 degrees. It was both teams penultimate game of the season and Ilkley’s last home game.

In the first minute, the referee seemed to bottle it when he put his whistle to his mouth over a hand ball in the away teams penalty area but didn’t blow . threatening with some quick breaks.

Ilkley looked the more assured team with some neat passing moves, but the Ammers looked solid at the back as they competed with passion and energy. By 26 minutes, the game had become scrappy, and my attention was drawn by the planes on their flight path to land at Leeds Bradford Airport and the circling overhead of a Kite. Ilkley looked half the team I had seen recently at Wakefield, and Yorkshire Amateurs looked occasionally threatening with quick breaks. The teams left the field at half time with neither side having left an imprint on the match.

All changed within 4 minutes of the restart when after a home side attack the ball was cleared to Harry Abson who from 20 yards out hit a curling shot with his right foot that broke the back of the left hand side of the goal net with the goalkeeper motionless.

The joy lasted only 10 minutes when from an Ilkley corner from right that was overhit one of their players chased the ball and crossed it from other side for Joshua Parker to run in and head it across goal onto post and in.

Ilkley now upped the tempo but Yorkshire Amateurs doggedly held on for another 10 minutes when a ball along the ground from the left was placed into the right-hand corner by Eliel Maville-Anku. This was a reward for Anku, who had harried all the game.
The away side were now losing heart when, on 77 minutes Ilkley’s number 2 beat the defenders with a crossed ball for Kevin Gozales to run through and tap it home. Shouts for offside and some abuse to the linesman had no effect on the officials.

The game was over with 7 minutes left when an Ilkley player was fouled in the penalty area, and Alfie Dean stroked the ball into the left-hand corner, just evading the goalkeepers finger tips.
Ilkley saw out the final few minutes on top and made their way to the play offs. It was very disappointing that only a crowd of 70 had turned up.

Football Food

As I stated earlier, there were no chips but a packet of Seabrooks Crisps (the best), and a coffee sufficed. The food wagon was good, and the lady serving was very helpful, she hid whilst I took the photo.

St Albans City 70 years on.

An early start from North East Derbyshire down the M1 to Loughborough to my daughters, who then drove us to my son in Northampton. Change cars again, and we were on our way to St Albans to see them play Farnborough.

We parked within Clarence Park, next to the cricket pavilion, in front of which in the past lines were drawn for an inter schools sports day once a year. The reason for the visit was to watch St Albans City 70 years after my first ever visit. I saw my first game here in 1955 when St Albans were in the Isthmian League, and the stadium looked a little different.

Back then the terrace was made of railway sleepers with ash infill and I remember getting a clip behind the ear when on one visit I covered some light cigarette ends with rubbish, and managed to get some smoke slightly billowing upwards. Smoke back then also used to waft across the pitch as a steam train passed as it sped by or slowed for the nearby station. A steam shunter would often be visible at the Hatfield Road end as it moved wagons in and out of the station siding, and the driver would shout over to find out the score. The terracing was concreted in the late 1950s, and as far as I remember, floodlights were added in 1970 when Charlton visited for an opening game.

Some of the terracing was covered, but throughout the old wooden seated stand built in 1922 has soldiered on, with a small part repurposed for hospitality and officials. Behind this stand, you used to be overwhelmed by the smell of wintergreen during match days that has disappeared today.

There is now temporary cover behind each goal, and at one end, this replaces one of the iconic oak trees that became diseased and cut down after offending the Conference League. The glossy programme was only on sale at the club shop and wouldn’t have been found if we hadn’t done a tour of the ground. It’s pleasantly different to the old foolscap folded sheet with the teams printed in the middle. I also seem to remember that the club was known as ‘City’ and not ‘Saints’.

The greatest change is food. Back in the 1950s, at half-time, fans would troop round to the cricket pavilion, when open, to get a cup of tea in a china cup, with maybe a KitKat or a wagon wheel. The club house seemed only used by a selected few. Today, Wow, there is hospitality in the form of food and drink at all four corners.

Football at St Albans has become an experience, to be watched by 1785 fans whose chatter droned out the shouts and commands of the players.

St Albans are fighting a relegation battle which at one point looked impossible until Ian Culverhouse and Paul Bastock (a hero in these parts, who played nearly 300 games for ‘The Saints’ in his world record club appearances of 1286) took over, but now looks like they may only just survive if results go their way. The club is going through an administrative management change that the programme says will free up the owners to pursue their dream to relocate to a new stadium. The size that the city has now grown to, approaching 80000, with the continued support, could in the future maintain an EFL club. I will be sad to see it go, but the new planning laws may finally be the catalyst for change.

St Albans City 1 Farnborough 0

Saturday 29th March 2025, 15.00 pm kick off

National League South, 21st v 11th, Saints v Boro

St Albans; Yellow shirts with dark blue shorts, goalkeeper in fluorescent Pink.

Farnborough; All white with a red stripe down the front of the shirts with the goalkeeper in all black.

It was a very sunny afternoon with clear skies and the temperature rising above 15 degrees. The all grass pitch which famously slopes from one end to the other looked in great condition apart from some sanding in the goals.

What can I say about this game. I will leave it up to a quote from Paul Bastock, ‘A game that was as ugly as me, but nice to come out with 3 massive points, the boys dug in deep and a clean sheet, now let’s bounce onto next week’.

St Albans started with some forays down the wings, but no end product and Farnborough’s favourite and most effective tactic was a long throw into St Alban’s penalty area. These were well dealt with by the Saints defence and Michael Johnson in goal, who was my man of the match with a no-nonsense, competent game.

The pattern was broken on 39 minutes when Johnson kicked a ball from his hands that bounced over Farnborough defenders who had let Alex Wall, playing only his third game for St Albans get behind them and chip it into the net.

Could this have been the prelude to an exciting game? No. We continued back in the original pattern with everyone relieved in the end that the home side gained three points. Although not overtaking any of their relegation rivals, they crept nearer, and with 5 games left, anything could happen.

Football Food

The chips, From ‘Chicken George’, were hot, golden, crispy, soft in the centre, tasty, but the more you ate, the more the seasoning that had been added ruined the experience. Why don’t hey let you add your own salt. What could have been a winning score in my chip league for this season was reduced to a disappointing 65.