Groundhopping journeys

 A midweek West Yorkshire league fixture took me to the border town of Marsden, somewhere I had never been before but quite a scenic location. The opposition were Shelley, a team I know quite well from over the years, them having stints in the semi pro game in both the north east counties and north west counties before withdrawing for financial reasons, like a lot of clubs over the past couple of seasons. The good thing is they haven't packed in all together. Marsden fisheries was the stop off for food pre match, however it's been noticable in recent weeks the prices at chip shops has gone through the roof and on both occasions here and at Tadcaster on the way to York, the quality of chips were very poor so I may have to rethink my pre match meals. The ground is really central with plenty of on road parking just at the side, if able climb the wall or walk round through the car park to the perimeter fence. Given the countryside location I expected to see sheep, but not 3 on the ...

 I decided to head upto the North East on a pre booked trip, after seeing a BBC documentary about the club and the day to day struggles the owners (all fans that just do their best) had just paying the wages on a month to month basis. Some very historic figures from football years gone by hail from Ashington including the Charlton brothers and Bobby Robson. I headed upto Newcastle on the flixbus and caught a train to Ashington for the bargain price of £2 each way, the line only reopened to passenger trains last year in 2025. Upon arrival in Ashington I drew big parallels with Workington, where I used to live, in that it was a huge ex mining area that has lacked much significant investment for a long time. The high Street was tired looking, with country wide problem of too many vape shops, Turkish barbers, takeaways and convenience stores. However their did look to be some really decent, proper cafes, an excellent looking home bakery and a packed out pub. Sadly I had already eaten s...

 Friday night football from the northern league was on the menu for this warm August evening. The opposition, FC Hartlepool, I've watched a lot over the past few seasons, despite still not visiting their ground, they are always a strong, solid team with threat up front and this evening proved no different. As usual I set off in good time, with the roads being extra busy due to the weekend getaway traffic. To find the ground from the south is really easy, follow the A1m and come off at junction 63,then bear left and follow the roundabouts straight on until you get a sign for the club and see the Chester Moor pub. It's only about 3 miles off the motorway and there is plenty of parking, just park opposite the pub for a slightly easier getaway after. At junction 61 is Durham services if you need fuel, although today the were sold out, there is also a McDonald's, Costa and WH Smith.  The game ebbed and flowed, end to end stuff, with neither team really dominating but both pushin...

 A rare trip to the LNER with my dad, for some Monday night football and our first game in the League Cup for 11 years. I had purchased the tickets with huge optimism and excitement to attend, however days after our manager Stuart Maynard was unexpectedly dismissed, a decision I still can't come to terms with. His replacement, the very uninspiring Scott Lindsay. I was looking forward to a visit to the club shop still, it was hugely difficult to navigate with it being packed, despite going in looking for a few new pin badges to add to the collection I instead came out with the new blue and black striped shirt, reminiscent of an old portakabin one we had from the 90s. At £55 shirts have certainly gone up in cost but it really is an excellent design. I didn't know what to make of the game, we played ok in patches and some of the new players show promise but it was far from a convincing performance against mediocre opposition. They cut us upon down the wing for a ruthless opener be...