CHIRK AAA (Holyhead Road)

FAW TROPHY QUARTER FINAL, CHIRK AAA 9-0 PENLAN CLUB AFC, ATTENDANCE: 150 (est)

With the storms that have been battering the country over the past few days (and weeks for some people) I had little desire to travel any great distance for a game this weekend. However, when every game in the Cymru Alliance, Welsh Alliance and Mid Wales League fell victim to the weather I feared it was going to be a day in front of the TV watching Sunderland v Southampton bore me in the FA Cup.

The New Stand

However, a ray of light appeared in the form of a tweet saying that the Chirk v Penlan Welsh Trophy game was definitely going ahead after a pitch inspection , so a revisit to Holyhead Road was an absolute no-brainer.

I last visited Chirk back in 2004 (also for a Trophy game in which they lost 2-5 to Denbigh Town) and it is fair to say the ground has improved dramatically since then. There is now hard standing down two sides of the pitch and a smart seated stand next to the changing rooms/tea bar.

Founded in 1876, Chirk Amateur Athletic Association are one of Wales' oldest clubs and, in the year of their formation, were also founder members of the Football Association of Wales. They were a hugely successful club in their early years, winning the Welsh Cup on five occasions. 

..and we are off!!

Welsh footballing legend Billy Meredith began his career at Chirk before going on to play for both Manchester clubs and being instrumental in the formation of the Players Union (the forerunner to today's PFA).

In this last eight trophy clash, Welsh National League Chirk were hosting undefeated Swansea Senior League leaders Penlan, who caused an upset by knocking out higher-ranked Garden Village in round 5.
. 

Celebration as Aron Blackwell's
effort hits the net

Today, however, there was never any likelihood of an upset once Chirk had raced into a 2-0 lead within the first ten minutes. Aaron Blackwell gave the home side the lead after 5 minutes before Nicky Williams made it two after 10 minutes.

Congratulations after Nicky
Williams scores his first goal

As the rain began to relent and the sun appear, Williams (34) scored his second from a free kick to make it 3-0 before Khos Jones (39) made it 4-0. 

Penlan were reduced to 10 men when Robert Jenkins was sent off for a professional foul and, from the resulting free kick, Blackwell was played through to make it 5-0 just before half time.

Nicky Williams' free kick makes
it 3-0 to Chirk

As you can imagine, the tempo of the second period was not as intense, as the work had been done in the opening period, but The Colliers added to their tally thanks to further goals from Williams, completing his hat-trick (65) a superb long range strike from Jason Williams (68) and two late efforts from Shaun Morris (85) and Ben Jones (88). Penlan's misery was also compounded midway through the second half when substitute Keiran Meredith was given a red card for dissent.

Chirk will now go on to face South Wales Amateur League side Ton & Gelli BC for a place in the Trophy final.

Aron Blackwell makes it 5-0

Spot the ball

The Chirk team line up pre-match

FORTUNA SITTARD (Offermans Joosten Stadion)

EERSTE DIVISIE, FORTUNA SITTARD 5-0 SC TELSTAR, ATTENDANCE: 2,112

The final day of my journey across Holland was not only a trip to the Limburg region (south) of the country, but also a chance for a little bit of nostalgia for this Evertonian.

There were plenty of Eerste Divisie (Dutch second tier) games to choose from tonight, all within a couple of hours of base camp in Utrecht - Oss, Emmen, Eindhoven - but it was the name of Fortuna Sittard that leapt off the fixture page in big bold letters.

Programme covers from both legs
of Everton v Sittard in 1985

It was purely because, as a young blue, my first experience of European football was Everton's 1984/85 Cup Winners' Cup campaign. This introduced to me names such as, err, University College Dublin, Inter Bratislava, Bayern Munich, Rapid Vienna and, of course, Fortuna Sittard.

This name immediately evokes memories of Andy Gray's hat-trick at Goodison Park in a 3-0 win to effectively seal a Quarter Final tie, before Everton travelled to Sittard to clinch a 2-0 win to set up a semi-final clash against Bayern Munich, the rest, as they say, is history.*

The club was formed in 1968 after a merger of Fortuna 54 and RKSV Sittardia and the club were regular fixtures in the Eredivisie until relegation in 2002. Financial irregularities had also been discovered and the club has been struggling ever since. They sold off the new ground, which had only been opened in 1999, which had replaced the old De Baandert stadium (where the Everton game was played) to help clear debts and there was also talk of a merger with Roda JC.

Fortuna is still under the guardianship of KNVB (Dutch FA) as they are classed as a category 1 club regards their finances not yet being in order. The club needs to submit a plan of action, so they are back in category 2 or 3 within three years. If they fail to do so the ultimate sanction is to have their licence revoked (it was revoked in 2009 but Fortuna had this decision reversed on a technicality).

As part of the plan maybe, the ground has once again been sold to clear debts. Perhaps this explained the work that was going on around the ground, as it was like a building site when I arrived. It looked like offices were being built behind the North side stand.

Back to matters on the field, and it was a comfortable win for Fortuna, thanks in no small part to a superb five-minute hat-trick from Abdelaziz Khalouta (19, 23, 24). The visitors from Velsen had no reply and when Jeffrey Vlug (36) made it 4-0 before the break you sensed a cricket score coming on. 

Telstar managed to only concede one further goal in the second half, Ramon Voorn (67) scoring, but it would be a painful journey home for the 7 hardy souls who travelled south, just wished they could have had a goal to cheer!

The travelling SC Telstar fans - more
stewards than supporters -
but *doffs cap* what a great effort!!

*Everton beat Bayern Munich 3-1 over two legs before beating Rapid Vienna 3-1 in the final in Rotterdam.

FC UTRECHT (Stadion Galgenwaard)

EREDIVISIE, FC UTRECHT 1-2 PEC ZWOLLE, ATTENDANCE: 15,831

Day three and it was west to Utrecht, the fourth largest city in The Netherlands. Utrecht is essentially a student city as Utrecht University is the biggest in Holland.

The old city though has many ancient buildings, dating back to medival times, and a picturesque curved canal, however this is not the first impression of the city you get as when you step off the train, you step into a modern shopping arcade!

As you would expect, I also found the splendid delights of some great beer houses, one of which (Oliviers) produces it's own ale on tap.

FC Utrecht came into being in 1970 as a merger of three clubs from the city of Utrecht: DOS, USV Elinkwijk and Velox.

Stadion Galgenwaard has been Utrecht's home since their formation but has been totally rebuilt in the last decade.

GOAL! The home fans
celebrate in style

The ground is a 10 minute bus ride from the station, but we opted for the 40 minute walk from the city centre, which was broken up by a visit to Ledig Erf, a fine drinking establishment, which is only 20 minutes from the ground. 

The bus to the ground stops near to the Ledig Erf but we opted to carry on walking. This was a great decision as the traffic was so bad that we beat the bus easily. There were also traffic problems outside the city for the visiting Zwolle fans and most never appeared until after half time.

Tickets again were no problem and readily available on the night. After leading 1-0 through Stoke City loanee Juan Agudelo's goal (24) and in control the home side were reduced to 10 men when Adam Sarota was given a straight card for dangerous play. 

As time ticked on Utrecht sat deeper and deeper and once Zwolle equalised through Denis Mahmudov's header (74) they inevitably went on and secured the win when Fred Benson (77) fired home.

Proper nutty - The Zwolle ultras finally arrive

GO AHEAD EAGLES (De Adelaarshorst)

EREDIVISIE, GO AHEAD EAGLES 2-2 RKC WAALWIJK, ATTENDANCE: 7,619

On day two it was a 45 minute train journey north of Arnhem to the city of Deventer. 

Deventer is the home to Go Ahead Eagles, who play in De Adelaarshorst Stadium . Built in 1920, De Adelaarshorst is one of the oldest stadiums still in use today. The capacity is around 8,000.

The club was founded in 1902 as Be Quick, although the name was soon changed to Go Ahead at the request of the Dutch Football Association. The suffix Eagles was added in 1971, after a suggestion from then coach, the Welshman Barry Hughes. Former Arsenal winger Marc Overmars started his senior career at GAE.

After being relegated from the Eredivisie in 1996, 'The pride of the IJssel' finally returned to the top flight for this season after winning promotion through the play-offs (they actually finished 6th in the Eerste Divisie).

Though they are currently in mid-table, tonights game against Waalwijk could arguably be viewed as a relegation six pointer. 

A Lively encounter which was all square going into stoppage time thanks to goals from Jop van der Linden (24) and an own goal from Xandro Schenk (64). 

The home team thought they had bagged the win and the three points with a 90th minute strike, Schenk making amends for his OG. However from the restart Waalwijk grabbed an equaliser when Romeo Castelen volleyed home to send the 300 or so travelling fans into raptures. 

Great atmosphere at a near capacity crowd. Tickets no issue after an e-mail to the club. Pre and post match spent in the excellent De Heks bar with it's 18 beers on tap.

The travelling Waalwijk fans