Groundhopping journeys

 Having not been to Railway for years, I've now visited twice in two months, this one was in the West Riding County Cup Second Round, versus a young FC Halifax side, albeit featuring a couple of players with significant first team experience including centre forward Zac Emerson. I didn't really know what to expect but more or less from the off it was clear there was only going to be one winner, Railway just play without fear and have some talented players, Harris Eggleston was causing a huge amount of problems for Halifax, they couldn't handle him. The first goal came from the other side though, a hospital pass from Halifax allowed Ollie Holt to nip in and finish. The second followed soon after, an Eggleston corner nodded in by tall centre forward Alex Ingham. After the break there was no let up, a cross from the left and Holt finished from 12 yards, to round off the scoring Ben Parkes rattled the fourth home with a thunderous effort. Halifax trudged off to chants of '4...

 A post Christmas trip to merseyside, not to Anfield for Liverpool vs Wolves, but to Litherland Sports Park for Litherland vs AFC Liverpool. AFC are the scouse equivalent of FCUM, the fans breakaway club formed in protest at everything that is wrong with modern football at the top level. Both teams are having tough seasons, Litherland are rock bottom, rooted on 7pts, ironically I witnessed one of those points on the opening day for a tepid 0-0 draw on the Isle of Man. Things didn't get any better after that game for me either, with our ferry cancelled we had to book a last minute logan air flight to get back to the mainland. Anyway back on to topic, AFC Liverpool are not fairing much better down in 20th position albeit with a much healthier points tally than the bottom two and they should have enough to stay in the division this season but for a colossal run of form from either Litherland or City of Liverpool and a complete collapse from themselves. Onto the game and I don't th...

 A boxing day trip to County Durham, for a local derby vs Easington Colliery FC awaited me. We were at the ground in good time ready for an unconventional 11am kick off. Parking space secured in the small but excellently surfaced car park. Admission £7 and £3 for concessions, programmes and raffle tickets available on the gate too. The ground, Welfare Park, has plenty of terraced areas and steep grassy banks to gain the best vantage point. It has a food window, 'marras munch box', although unusually didn't seem to have any bar facility that most of these clubs rely on for a steady stream of income. The crowds flocked though, queues at the turnstile up until about 3 minutes before kick off and probably after kick off too, announced attendance of 633 which is fantastic. Due to the time of day we got a bacon bun a piece and a hot chocolate, standard fare, nothing special like some food I've sampled but amply did the job and filled the hunger until returning home. Onto the ...