Horden CW FC

 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 game and Horden were quick out of the blocks, they gained a free kick on left hand side of the penalty area and an excellent curling shot looped straight in 1-0. They then, not long after had an unbelievable chance to make it 2 but somehow Easington kept it out via the bar and some last ditch defending. As is so often the case, Easington then went up the other end and equalised from the left winger, his shot taking a deflection before nestling in the back of the net. 1-1.  The next action, the Horden number 8 went in with a very firm challenge, I thought he got the ball but his studs were probably up and with the ref deeming it as reckless, he was off. Strangely he took his seat in the dugout, not sure why the ref allowed this but hey ho. Interesting during half time to read D some history of Horden, the fact that in 2016 all of their assets were transferred to create Darlington Town FC, the chairman at the time saying Horden couldn't sustain a club, I think the attendance today states otherwise. Anyway Horden reformed in 2017 and have since achieved a promotion. A scenario of asset stripping very reminiscent of Wimbledon and the creation of MK Dons.

Second half, I had a feeling Horden would be up against it and they were, wave after wave of Easington attacks, the goalkeeper, who had an excellent game along with the captain at number 5 were instrumental for Horden, they also had some luck on their side, as well as some wayward finishing and saved by the woodwork on at least one occasion. I thought Horden will be happy with a point but as I made my way round to the back of the goal, ready for the full time whistle the Horden winger cut in on a rare breakaway attack and scored, 2-1 and the subs and bench were on the pitch, absolute scenes! The ref played at least another good 7 or 8 minutes, giving Horden time to bring their number 16 on from the bench who was a dead ringer for Robbie Savage. The full time whistle blew much to the delight of the home contingent. Good to see the younger section of support watching their local club too, plenty of flags and red smoke greeted the teams at the start.

All in all a good trip this one, it is within touching distance of the north sea so wrap up warm, it's a cold easterly wind! Horden does have a railway station if you are on public transport which I presume is accessible from one of the major transport hubs, either Durham, Newcastle or Sunderland.

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